Part 48 (2/2)

Now he only had to utter seven lines.

It took him fifteen seconds.

And there, atop the Great Pyramid at Giza, under the blinding Sun-ray from the Tartarus Sunspot in the roaring wind and the blazing heat, to the horror of everyone else watching powerlessly, Mustapha Zaeed-his voice resonating with evil reverence- uttered the final words of the ritual of power.

This time, West had no doubt that the ritual had been performed correctly.

It sounded like the end of the universe.

Flaring light.

Clas.h.i.+ng thunder.

The very Earth shook.

What followed next made man's most spectacular fireworks shows look positively puny.

The dazzling-white beam of light reaching down from the Sun pulsed brilliantly, as if it were doubling in intensity.

An unearthly thunderclap boomed, causing West's ears to ring, and a white-hot ball of superbrilliant energy thundered out of the sky, racing down the length of the vertical beam before rus.h.i.+ng headlong into into the Capstone... the Capstone...

...where the Capstone received it within its crystal array.

Inside the Golden Capstone, the energy-burst rushed down through its seven layers of crystals-each layer refining the beam into an ever-smaller, ever-more-intense thread of superluminous light.

And then this superthin beam struck Lily in the heart.

The little girl convulsed, hit by the lightbeam. The beam, however, seemed to pa.s.s right through right through her chest and strike the soil in the crucible. her chest and strike the soil in the crucible.

With a blinding flash, the soil was instantly transformed to cinders.

Seen from the outside, the Capstone shone with blinding brilliance as it received the energy-burst, before with a terrible whump whump, the white-hot ball disappeared into it, and the phenomenon abruptly ceased and all was quiet, save for a deep humming that came from the Capstone and the drone of the Halicarna.s.sus Halicarna.s.sus's engines.

West could only stare at the Capstone, and wonder what had happened to Lily inside it. Could she have survived such a phenomenon? Or had Zaeed been right when he'd said she would die in the ceremony?

Zaeed stood beside the Capstone, his arms raised in triumph, his face upturned to the sky. 'A thousand years! A thousand years of Islamic rule!'

He rounded on West, eyes glowering, hands spread wide.

'The ritual is done, infidel! Which means my people are unconquerable! Invincible! And you-you-will be the first to feel my wrath!'

'Is that so?' West said, jamming a new clip into one of his Desert Eagles and aiming it at Zaeed.

'Fire your weapon!' Zaeed taunted him. 'Bullets cannot help you anymore!'

'Fine,' West said.

Bam!-he fired.

The bullet hit Zaeed square in the chest, sending him jolting backwards. Blood sprayed outwards and the terrorist dropped to the ground, to his knees, his face the picture of shock and confusion.

He stared at his wound, then up at West.

'But ...how ...?'

'I knew you were on my plane after the Hanging Gardens,' West said. 'I knew you'd try to stow aboard. How else were you going to get here? You've been chasing this all your life, you weren't going to stay away. So I let you stow aboard.'

'But the sand...'

'While you were hiding in the belly of my plane, I took the liberty of changing the sand in your black-jade box,' West said. 'It's not the soil of Arabia anymore. What you put inside the Capstone was the soil of my my homeland. You just performed the ritual of power for my people, Zaeed, not yours. Thanks.' homeland. You just performed the ritual of power for my people, Zaeed, not yours. Thanks.'

Zaeed was thunderstruck. He looked away, considering the consequences. 'Your 'Your soil? But that would mean...' soil? But that would mean...'

He never finished the sentence, for at that moment life escaped him, and Mustapha Zaeed dropped to the platform, dead.

There came a sudden pained shout-'WEST!' -and West spun to see Marshall Judah lunging toward him, blood and flesh dangling from his ripped-open eye socket, and an M-4 a.s.sault rifle in his hands, taken from one of his dead CIEF troops. -and West spun to see Marshall Judah lunging toward him, blood and flesh dangling from his ripped-open eye socket, and an M-4 a.s.sault rifle in his hands, taken from one of his dead CIEF troops.

It was point-blank range.

Judah couldn't miss.

He jammed down on the trigger.

The gun literally exploded in Judah's hands.

It wasn't a misfire, or a jam. It was a total outward explosion. The gun broke outwards in a hundred pieces and fell crumbling from Judah's hands.

Judah frowned, confused-then he looked up in horror at West and said, 'Oh my G.o.d ...you... you you have the power...' have the power...'

West stepped forward, his eyes deadly. 'Judah, I could forgive you for what you did to me, putting that chip in my head. I could forgive you for the beatings you gave Horus. But there's one thing I cannot forgive: killing Doris Epper. For that you have to pay.'

As he spoke, West picked up the end of Judah's long safety rope, unclipped it from its anchor near the Capstone.

Judah stepped backwards, toward the edge of the platform where the Halicarna.s.sus's Halicarna.s.sus's wing loomed. He held his hands up. 'Now, Jack. We're both soldiers and sometimes soldiers have to-' wing loomed. He held his hands up. 'Now, Jack. We're both soldiers and sometimes soldiers have to-'

'You executed her. Now I'm going to execute you.'

And West threw his end of the safety rope past Judah ...into the still-rotating jet engine of the Halicarna.s.sus Halicarna.s.sus that hovered immediately behind Judah. that hovered immediately behind Judah.

Judah spun as the rope flew by him, saw it enter the yawning maw of the engine.

Then he saw the future, saw what would happen next and his one good eye boggled with fear.

He screamed, but his scream was cut short as the enormous turbine swallowed the rope ...and sucked the rest of the safety rope the rest of the safety rope in after it. in after it.

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