Part 41 (1/2)
”Alby!” a voice called.
He turned, and saw Wizard standing at the bottom of a flight of stone steps that burrowed down into the floor to his right. Lily was with him.
But then Alby heard more voices, and he looked out at the Pillar just in time to see, appearing inside the templefortress beyond it, some heavily armed Congolese Army men led by an AsianAmerican US Marine.
The Pillar lay exactly halfway between them and Alby.
A pained shout from Zoe made Alby spin on his knees. He saw her fingers at the top of the halfraised drawbridge. Saw them slipping slowly out of view...
This is all happening too fast,his mind screamed.Too many choices, too many variables.
Escape with Lily, grab the Pillar, or help Zoe ...
And suddenly everything went silent and time slowed for Alby Calvin.
In the silence of his mind, Alby faced his choice.
Of his three options, he could do two.
He could make it to the Pillar and get back to Wizard and Lily in the tower-but he couldn't do thatand help Zoe. If he took this option, Zoe would drop into the crocfilled lake and die.
Or he could help Zoe and, with her, join Wizard and Lily-but that would mean leaving the Pillar to these intruders. And that could haveglobal ramifications.
Global ramifications,he thought.
The Pillar or Zoe.
One choice could potentially save the world. The other would save a single life: the life of a woman who was dear to him and to those he cared about, Lily, Wizard and Jack West.
It's not fair!he thought angrily.This is not a choice a kid should have to make! It's too big.
Too important.
And so Alby made his choice.
A choice that would have farreaching consequences.
Time sped up again and Alby leaped to his feet and ranback toward the halfraised drawbridge, toward Zoe.
He scrambled up the sloping wooden bridge, clawing at it with his fingernails. He came to Zoe's fingers, hooked over the edge, just as they slipped a final time- -and he caught one of her hands with both of his, leaning back with all his strength to hold her.
Below him, Zoe snapped to look up, a new look of hope leaping across her face. Then, knowing that one of her hands was secure, she used her other hand to loosen the grip of the warriormonk hanging from her belt and wrenched him free of her.
The warriormonk screamed as he fell away from her, landing with a splash in the water below before several large reptilian shapes converged on him and took him under.
Then with Alby's help, Zoe hauled herself up and over the edge of the drawbridge.
”Thanks, kid.”
”We really have to go,” he said.
They slid together on their b.u.t.ts down the sloping drawbridge, landing on their feet inside the tower-just in time to see the Congolese Army men reach the Pillar on the other drawbridge and bring it to the attention of Switchblade.
”d.a.m.n. The Second Pillar...” Zoe breathed.
Alby swore under his breath, but he'd made his choice.
”This way,” he said firmly, pus.h.i.+ng Zoe down the stone steps inside the tower, to the spot where Wizard and Lily waited with Ono and Diane Ca.s.sidy.
Lily called, ”Quickly! There's an escape tunnel down here. Come on!”
Alby made to follow Zoe down the steps, but it was right then that the most unexpected thing of all happened.
He got shot.
HE'D BEEN about to follow Zoe down the stairs when suddenly somethingslammed into his left shoulder, spinning him, hurling him three feet backward, into the nearby wall.
Alby slumped to the base of the wall, dazed, in shock, his left shoulder burning in a way that he'd never felt before. He looked down at it to discover that the entire shoulder was awash with blood.
His blood!
He saw Zoe down at the base of the stairs, saw her try to come for him, but it was too late-the Congolese Army men and the AsianAmerican Marine were now entering the tower-and Wizard had to pull Zoe back down the stairs and into the escape tunnel down there.
Leaving Alby just sitting there against the stone wall, dumbstruck, bloodied, and horrified, and now at the mercy of the US Marine coming toward him.
DARK, WET, and narrow, the escape tunnel led northward.
Through its tight confines they ran, Ono leading the way, holding a flaming torch above his head. He was followed by Lily and Diane Ca.s.sidy, with Wizard and Zoe bringing up the rear.
”Oh, G.o.d! Alby!” Zoe cried as she ran.
”We had to leave him!” Wizard said with surprising firmness.
”I think he got hit-”
”Wolf can't be so evil as to kill a small boy! And we had to get away! We have to protect Lily! What did you manage to get from the sacred island?”
”We grabbed the Orb and its sighting device, but we lost the Second Pillar!” Zoe said.
”Alby saved me instead! Wolf's men got it before they got him!”
Wizard kept running hard. ”After he's done with the Neetha, Wolf and his rogue army will now have both Pillars, plus the Firestone and the Philosopher's Stone! They'll have everything they need to perform the ceremony at the Second Vertexand at every other vertex to come! This is a disaster!”
They dashed up a long flight of stone steps and came to a concealed stone doorway cut into a small cave, the end of the escape tunnel.
Emerging from the cave, they found themselves on the banks of the wide jungle river that fed the Neetha waterfall.
To the south, three volcanoes loomed over a seamless green valley-except for a newly opened hole in the canopy, the Neetha's ravine was completely hidden by the jungle.
Shouts and gunfire made them whip around.