25.

Krish Takes a Swallow – Suit Up And Stand By – It's the Final Countdown - All Hell Prepares To Break Loose

The breeze was cool around the heart of the island, but Krish was slick with sweat. Renee did her best to keep a comforting smile on her face for him, resisting every impulse to pull her hand out from under his neck to wipe it dry, but his eyes were seldom on her. His gaze flicked around the sky instead, the pupils drawn into tiny dots trapped in a huge sea of green. She wondered if he was actually seeing anything. He murmured occasionally, things in Hindi that she couldn't grasp save the occasional name – hers, Kyra's, Tsuchi, other names she suspected were his family. He hitched in a hard, painful breath and each movement gave his heart another bout of rapid thudding.

Is this him dying? she wondered. And if it isn't, can this whatever he has get worse?

She felt completely helpless and angry at this reminder of fragile humanity, glared up at the sky and didn't see what he might. I thought this fucking place was supposed to help people. How do I square this with what's below?

Krish murmured something unintelligible and placed his thin, paled hand on hers. She looked down into his face again and squinted. He shifted, squeezed her hand. "Tsuchi." He smiled, but the eyes were unchanged.

Renee heard the sounds of people talking on the other side of the little creek and jerked her head up. He was right. Tsuchi had returned.

. . .

Rose helped Tsuchi sort out the handful of pill bottles. "Blood pressure medication, honey. This one's pain... diabetes complications... We'll get blood pressure down him first and then pain. Hopefully by then he'll be with it enough to know what else he can take and when. You have any problems?" She looked the young man in the eye.

"Went okay, very scary. Not at all like a game, but Ben helped me." He flashed Rose a quick grin and took the two proffered bottles, then sat down next to Renee.

Rose blinked twice, very quickly. "He did?"

"Mhm."

She let it pass with no further comment, watching to be sure the two of them had no problems. Renee tilted Krish's head as his shaking hand came up to take the water bottle from her. He swallowed easily enough, then took the small handful of pills from Krish. "Okay," he rasped. "I'll be okay." He let the water bottle drop, then reached out to take Tsuchi's hand, squeezed it hard, closing his eyes at last. The young man beamed down at him.

The archaeologist shot Rose a look over the prone body. Pills don't work that fast she mouthed.

Rose shook her head. Wasn't the pills he really needed, honey. She didn't need to mouth the reply to get the response across.

Renee rocked gently back on her heels to contemplate that.

. . .

Mittelwerk absorbed Hurley's fiery outburst with the same long, cool look of disinterest he wore since disembarking. The protector's passion left him unmoved outward and in, although one of his assistants shifted uncomfortably in the still, warm air. The scientist shrugged and stood back up, brushing flecks of bark from his pants and taking a long sniff. "Time?"

"Fifteen minutes, Doctor."

"Pass out the masks." He turned his face back towards Hurley. "Please forgive my rudeness in declining to offer you one." He took a plasticky bundle from one of the Korean guards and pulled it over his head in a practiced, easy movement. The other guard muttered something into a walkie-talkie; presumably the rest of the island force would be donning theirs as well.

Hurley took an angry step forward, prompting the guards to put a hand on each holster. "Ignore him; he'll do nothing," came the muffled order. "Ladies and gentlemen, please observe. Eight minutes now by my watch."

. . .

Ben gripped the binoculars tightly enough to whiten the knuckles, lowered them to glance at Bernard. Korean guards had arrived in a nearby field a short time earlier; the two factions had a view of one another but the Koreans would still have a push upland to strike the Temple. A flurry of movement pulled them into a line with a notable fashion difference.

"Gas masks. One thing you'd really think we'd have kept around after all that nonsense a few decades ago." The older man shrugged.

Ben pulled a dour face. Bernard had a point even as the irony of the situation settled in hard. "Wind's coming from the ship's direction."

"Still got that hope?"

Ben jerked his head the side quickly in an wry little jiggle. "We're gonna find out fast."

. . .

A klaxon sounded on the Helgus Antonius, the one minute warning for crew members to clear the deck. Metal scraped and clanged as a comparatively small platform loaded with half a dozen canisters slid into position on the foredeck; mechanical winches locked into place, and a series of beeps began to whittle down a count.

It seemed as if the island collectively held its breath in unison with Hurley on the beach, a line of scientists watching him through plastic and glass as if he were some particularly interesting bug about to face an extinction level event. Which, he figured, was probably about the case for them.

He decided to ignore them and faced the cargo ship instead. He closed his eyes.

Please!

. . .

Three more beeps. Two.

One.

. . .

The platform creaked in a hellish cacophony and launched its cargo in an elegant arc towards the island. Hurley opened his eyes and saw it reach the top of its trajectory, the six barrels still strapped to a heavy pallet with the pallet side up. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Mittelwerk jerk forward, hands outstretched, having calculated something only he so far saw.

"No!"

The arc began to complete and the canisters smashed down – into the ocean, forty yards away from the island, dispersing its deadly cargo harmlessly into the water.

. . .

Mittelwerk whirled on the guards and barked something in German. The jopok looked at him through glassy mask lenses and did nothing. He ripped the mask off and screamed again, this time in English. "Secondary containment! Take prisoners!" He pointed a finger where Hurley had been standing, turned his head to confirm.

Hurley was already halfway up the beach, shuffling his large form out of danger at a brisk pace. He glanced back over his shoulder at the stunned scientist and began to laugh at the look on the older man's face. It touched off a cold taste of real infuriation.

"Why is he getting away?" he yowled. Mittelwerk ignored one of the assistants who was trying to flag for his attention, jabbing a finger at the guards instead.

"You said he was of no concern," came the reply.

"That was then, you ridiculous bags of meat! Get after him!" He whirled on the young lab assistant. "What?"

The young man pointed wordlessly on the horizon. There were now two huge vessels on the horizon. Mittelwerk stepped towards the water and openly gaped in disbelief.