On the flatbed, Chad opened the door to the chopper and placed his gun safely on the passenger seat, then felt the entire chopper shudder and strain, unaware of the pull on the tail’s boom. He stared down the mountainside as the earth began to implode in sections beneath them.
Will hauled on the cage door while the elevator continued to shoot up the shaft. He jerked the busted frame two or three times to get it open. He grabbed the Professor by the scruff of his shirt and pulled him to his feet, feeling the soaring blast begin to heat the soles of his boots as he shouted to Bradley, “The second we hit the top, jump!”
The elevator screamed up the shaft as the blast wave roared up beneath it.
Will shouted as loud as he could up through the top of the cage, “Jake, get ready to run!”
Jake kicked the brake lock on the mine car that had been sitting dormant on the tracks. “I can do better than run. How ’bout an armored getaway car.” He hauled the old car to the top of the slope leading down the tunnel, ready to roll.
The steel grate on the floor of the elevator cage began to glow red.
“Get ready!” Will shouted.
Then suddenly the top of the shaft was racing toward them. The elevator slammed into the winch pulley and wedged itself into the pulley mechanism.
The cable connecting the elevator all the way to the train held tight for a second—and in that second Will hurled the Professor, then Bradley, clear of the cage before throwing himself out of it onto the rocky floor of the mine tunnel.
As he did so, somewhere out in the snow, the clasps connecting the two cables together could no longer bear the strain of the wedged elevator and the train speeding around the mountain’s descending curves. The two cables snapped loose, sending the detached clasps spinning and whistling through the falling snow. Suddenly freed from one another, the cables shot off in opposite directions.
Jake caught the Professor as Will flung him from the cage, and as the old man held on tight Jake hoisted him over the edge of the mine car and dropped him clumsily inside. “Sorry, Max!”
Will pulled Bradley to his feet. Behind them, the released elevator cage plunged down the shaft and into the fiery blast wave.
“Get in!” Jake shouted over the deafening rumble shooting up the shaft.
Bradley leapt into the mine car.
Will slammed into the back of it, helping Jake set the wheels in motion as the car started squeaking and rolling down the tracks—
—just as the wave of the blast erupted from the shaft.
Hurriedly Jake and Will jumped from the tracks and climbed inside the rolling mine car as it dipped into its descent down the tunnel, quickly picking up speed as Jake and Will sank low into the car, covering Bradley and the Professor.
The car swooped into a roller-coaster run down the tracks. Behind it the blast brought the ceiling down and lifted the floor of the tunnel off the ground. The car shot along the rails as the blast rose from beneath and pursued from behind, pelting the car with stone and warped metal beams.
As the last of the Zhang diamond mines collapsed, the entire earth shook—
—and a tiny square missile of a mine car shot from the dust-gushing tunnel entrance just before the crumbling rocks sealed the mine shut forever.
The mine car hit the ice, bounced, then sailed clear across the rail yard, tipped on its side, and sent its occupants gliding across the slippery slope until they came to a halt in the snow.
The Professor gasped, disoriented and in terrible pain. Then he felt the gentle hands of Shane on him. “Professor? Professor, are you okay?”
“Yes,” the old man whispered feebly.
Shane could see the trail of blood. He quickly took the Professor gently in his arms, and Jake helped him sit the Professor upright.
Will and Bradley stumbled hurriedly through the sleet and snow to join them, heads and torsos bruised and scathed.
“We need to get him to shelter,” Shane said.
“Over there.” Bradley pointed toward the rail yard’s still intact generator shed.
Will and Shane aided the Professor to the shed while Jake, still nursing his wounded shoulder, kicked the door open.
“The second bomb,” Will said urgently as they eased the Professor onto the cold floor of the shed. “We have to stop that train.”
Jake glanced at his watch and saw the red dot moving away from them. “The bomb’s not the only thing on that train. Luca’s still aboard.”
“But how can we catch it now?” Shane asked.
“I know a way,” Bradley answered. “Over the mountain. The train has to go around it. We can cut it off on the other side. If we run—now!”
Instantly Bradley turned for the door and ran. Will bolted after him. Jake made a move but Shane pulled him back, shaking his head. “Not with that shoulder, Jake.”
“I’m coming with you,” Jake insisted. But then a bolt of pain shot through his arm and he caught his breath.
“No, you’re not. Stay with the Professor. Keep him warm and keep him alive till we get back! You hear?”
Jake had listened to himself give the same speech to Sam on several occasions and knew it made sense for him to stay. He looked at the pale Professor and nodded reluctantly. “At least take these,” he said to Shane, quickly kicking off his boots and handing them to the barefoot cowboy. Shane slid them on gratefully.
Jake watched him take off into the driving snow at breakneck speed, then he shut the door of the shed to keep the cold at bay and slid down onto the floor beside the Professor, wrapping both arms around him as tightly as possible, trying desperately to absorb the old man’s shivering and suffering.
The earth literally moved under their feet as they ran. Icy chunks of ground sank and rose, potholes formed, and dangerous new sinkholes opened up as the mountain took on a new shape.
Will and Bradley leapt and sidestepped as they ran, narrowly missing the deadly gaps that appeared randomly in their path.
Shane was starting to gain ground a short distance behind them when the earth lurched and sent a giant snow-covered tree crashing down directly in his path. He stumbled to a halt as the mighty trunk thundered to the ground in front of him in a cloud of snowdust and shattered icicles.
Choof! Choof!
The train. It was close now, rounding the peak nearby.
Unable to go over the tree, Shane cut left and followed the newly defined landscape directly down to an embankment overlooking the train tracks. He saw the train cut around the corner fast. Further up the embankment he saw Will and Bradley reach the edge of the drop just as the train cleared the corner. Without hesitation they jumped, one at a time. Bradley landed and rolled on the roof of one of the middle cars, while Will was lucky to land on the flatbed at back.
Shane took a running leap and made a slippery landing on the coal heap behind the engine, sending a landslide of coal toppling off the side of the car, into the forest. He dug his boots into the loose coal and grabbed on to the sliding mound as best he could to stop himself from following over the edge. He soon slid to a stop, and suddenly felt eyes on him.
Looking left toward the engine, he saw Xi shoot him an ugly, angry snarl. Xi hoisted his shovel over his shoulder and rushed full force toward Shane.
There would be no more delays. No more distractions. At last the train was in motion and so was the plan. Mya’s plan. It was Mya who planted the seed of destruction in Chad’s head. It was Chad who convinced Richard to come on board. And it was all three of them who slowly, cunningly swayed an already sinister-minded Sen to risk everything for a financial reward greater than anything he or his predecessors could ever have imagined. Now it was just a matter of time and distance. Both of them were quickly diminishing.
Mya had already set the bomb ticking and left it in the cradle of the wooden crate on the floor of the master carriage. Then she quickly made her way into the next car. She locked the doors at each end and swiftly opened cabinets and drawers, sweeping hundreds of diamonds into small black velvet bags. When the sacks were full and the cabinets empty, she turned to the display in the center of the room. The large, spellbinding diamond inside—the Eye of Fucanglong—seemed to beckon to her. Each facet of its perfect surface picked up the light of the chandeliers and whispered to her softly, lovingly.
Everything you want, you shall have.
Everything you see through my eye, shall be yours to possess forever.
Your reward is coming.
Mya placed the velvet bags on the floor and stepped toward the bewitching diamond, her gaze transfixed on the giant jewel. Her hand was calm, slow, and confident as she reached for the door to the display cabinet. Her fingers rested lightly on the key sitting in the lock of the glass door, her eyes unblinking. With a soft click she turned the key.
Then, suddenly, her head snapped upward at a loud
thud-thump
on the roof of the car, her gaze broken. She took her hand off the key and pulled her pistol from the holster inside her knee-high boot.
On the roof of the car, Bradley had landed, leaping from the embankment. He crouched low and held on to the roof railings as tight as he could, then glanced back to see Will jump a second later, landing with a crash on the flatbed car carrying the chopper. Bradley pulled himself to his feet—
—just as a bullet shot up through the roof.
He panicked. Dropped. A thin beam of light shot up into the falling snow as a second bullet pierced the roof beside his head. Bradley stared at it for a stunned second, then rolled recklessly before the next bullet was fired. He tumbled clear off the side of the car, hooking his fingers onto the roof railing at the last second. His legs and body kept rolling as his fingers held on tight, his legs swinging wide, then snapping back, his shoes kicking straight through one of the windows of the exhibition carriage.
He let go of the roof railings as his legs and torso followed through the window, wrapping him tight in the curtain as he crashed inside, sprawling across the floor in a splash of red velvet. When he finally unraveled himself, all he saw was the snout of Mya’s pistol. And beyond that, the smiling face of Mya herself.
“Get up!”
Doctor Cyclops held up the rusty scalpel and examined it. He decided he needed a more capable tool.
He staggered back to the operating utensils jingling on the wall of the bedroom carriage. Blinking hard in an effort to focus, he considered a jagged knife, then the saw, before finally settling on a set of rib-cutters. He smiled his cracked, rotted smile. “Yes. Let’s cut you open and see what beautiful things you’re hiding inside, shall we?”
It wasn’t a question Luca needed to answer. All he needed to do right now was pull himself out of his druginduced daze as fast as possible. All he could do was tug on the ropes. Harder and harder. The knots tightened around his wrists with every yank. But at the same time the ropes themselves stretched a little, giving him more length, more movement, inch by inch.
As Doctor Cyclops swayed his way over to the bed, he opened the rib-cutters wide. Taking an unsteady stance beside the bed, he used the tip to draw a line down Luca’s naked torso. “I’ll start here,” he said, touching the two points of the open cutters against the base of Luca’s throat. He traced a line down Luca’s body to the base of his cock, pressing so deep he drew blood that trickled through Luca’s pubic hair.
“You should thank me,” the doctor said. “Not many people experience the pleasure of seeing their own death coming.” With a giddy, satisfied smile, he brought the cutters back up to Luca’s throat. “Although I should warn you: this is going to hurt. A lot.”
Will landed with a crunch on the flatbed, knocking the wind out of his lungs. He gasped for air in the whirling, swirling snow and saw Chad spin around at the sound, immediately locking eyes on him. He was down to the last of the chains, unstrapping the landing skids of the chopper. Chad smiled and unclasped the second-to-last chain at the cleat, pulling it loose. Then he picked up one end of the chain, wrapping it around his hand and wrist, letting the rest dangle like a weapon.
Will coughed and struggled for breath, dragging himself up onto his hands and knees. But not fast enough.
Chad stepped confidently around the chopper, swung the chain in a circular motion, then brought it down as hard as he could across Will’s back.
With a cry Will collapsed facedown on the rumbling floor of the car, his chin hitting the metal floor hard, his teeth biting down on his tongue.
“You think you can stop us now?” Chad shouted above the clatter of the wheels on the tracks. “When are you gonna give up, boy?”
Will spat blood from his mouth. “I was taught never ever give up.”
“I know that lesson all too well. It’s a hard class, but for some of us it actually pays off. For others, it’s the last lesson they ever learn.” Chad cracked the young man’s ribs with another belt of the chain, and Will collapsed against the flatbed once more.