The Eden Factor (Kathlyn Trent/Marcus Burton Romance Adventure Series Book 2) (34 page)

Kathlyn was furious. She tried to
strike him but he grabbed her arm and twisted it behind her back. "What
are you going to do with me?" she grunted.

Fayd half shoved, half pushed
her. "We can do an examination the hard way or the easy way. You have
chosen the hard way."

His suggestion horrified her.
"You're not a gynecologist," she growled. "You're not going to
touch me!"

"We'll see about that."

Kathlyn's team was horrified.
Mark and Otis were the closest to getting their brains blown out; Mark actually
found himself holding Otis back. They watched Kathlyn struggle with Fayd, the
one spot light they had managed to secure to the generator giving weak
illumination to their battle. She was a good fighter, as Marcus had discovered
many a time, and she was almost a match for Fayd, who himself wasn't a
particularly large man.  He had shoved the gun into the waistband of his pants
in order to have both hands free to wrestle with her, but Kathlyn decided she
was going to win the fight any way she could and resorted to cutting tactics.
She kicked backwards, throwing the heel of her boot up and back, catching Fayd
in the groin. It was a direct hit, and the man went down.

It happened very quickly. Kathlyn
grabbed the gun from the waistband of his pants and grabbed him by the hair.
Wedging herself behind him, she yanked on his hair and pointed the gun at the
side of his head.

"Drop your weapons!"
she yelled.

The men that Fayd had brought
with him looked confused. Kathlyn's team backed out of the line of fire, their
worried gazes moving between Kathlyn and the hoodlums. They moved far enough
away so one of them couldn't be grabbed and used as a bargaining chip.

 "I said, drop your
weapons," Kathlyn barked again. "If you think for one minute I won't
blow his brains out, you're sadly mistaken. Do as I say!"

Otis reached into his backpack
and withdrew one of the nine millimeter automatics that Tony had given him.  He
pointed it right at de Tormo.

"Listen to her," he
said steadily. "I want every damn gun to hit the ground in the next five
seconds or the fat guy gets it."

Mark, not to be left out,
collected his own gun.  He had never shot a gun in his life, but that didn't
matter. He tried to look like he knew what he was doing.

"We're getting out of
here," he said, flashing the gun at the hoodlums, who had reluctantly set
their weapons on the ground. "Move aside. Move!"

He waved the gun in the direction
of de Tormo, giving the group of men the hint that they were supposed to move
in that direction, away from the cavern entrance. Hesitantly and slowly, he was
obeyed, and Debra Jo, Andy and Larry slipped out.

  Kathlyn watched them escape
with relief. In her grip, Fayd flinched and Kathlyn pulled his hair tightly.
"Be still unless you want this gun to go off," she snarled, though
she was being unnaturally mean. She was frightened and angry and she didn't
want Fayd to know just how shaken she was. "I swear I won't hesitate,
Fayd. What you've done to me is horrible and I won't let you threaten me like
that ever again."

"I didn't threaten you,
Kathlyn," Fayd could feel the barrel against his skull. "I thought
you would want to be a part of something exciting and ground breaking. I cannot
believe you've turned your back on your science like you have. You're not a
Biblical Archaeologist anymore; you're a puppet of your husband and the corporate
establishment. What happened to that adventurous spirit you used to
possess?"

"It's still there," she
said. "But my adventurous spirit doesn't include making Frankenstein
monsters. Do you have any idea how it feels for me to know I have some freakish
creature growing inside me?"

"But it's an opportunity to
learn," Fayd insisted quietly. "This being will bring about more to
the world of science than anything else you can possibly imagine."

"Maybe so. But I don't want
to be a part of it. There are right ways and wrong ways to go about things, and
you chose the wrong way."

"So what are you going to
do?"

"I don't know yet."

"You can't keep this gun on
me forever."

Kathlyn looked over at Juliana,
who was standing poised, ready to jump in. In fact, she came over to Fayd and,
after briefly studying him, slapped him across the face.

"That's for being such a
jerk," she hissed. She looked up at Kathlyn. "Leave him. Let's get
out of here."

"Get Mark and Otis out of
here."

Juliana turned around and emitted
a sharp whistle from between her teeth. Mark and Otis glanced at her, trying
not to take their eyes off their captives, and saw that she was waving them
out.  Mark moved toward the cavern entrance backwards, his gun still up, until
he was standing in the shaft.

"Come on," he called to
the rest of them. "Let's get the hell out of here."

Otis reluctantly moved as well.
"Kat, Juli, let's go. Leave him there."

Kathlyn looked at Juliana.
"Go over there with Mark."

"Not without you."

"I'm coming. You get the
hell over there."

Otis was almost to where Mark was
standing. Juliana had just started to walk away when de Tormo suddenly
flinched, bringing out a small forty-five caliber weapon from his pants pocket.
He turned and fired it directly at Kathlyn, who had the sense to hit the ground
when she saw his abrupt movements. Fayd took the bullet in the shoulder,
landing in a heap at her feet.  But his hired guns dove for their weapons and
suddenly the entire cavern was echoing with violent gunfire.

  There was another smaller
passageway at the rear of the cavern.  Kathlyn threw herself into the narrow
corridor as bullets bounced off the wall above her head.  She came up, using
the corridor as protection as she returned fire. She couldn't see Otis or
Juliana; Mark was in the corridor at the opposite side, unloading his weapon at
the hired gunmen dodging for cover. It was noisy and chaotic. De Tormo was
down, hit by a stray bullet in the forehead.

Fayd's men had the superior
weapons, but there wasn't much coverage in the cavern.  Kathlyn and Mark could
get clear shots at them and already three were dead. A bullet zinged by,
creasing Kathlyn across the cheek with a long, bloody gash. Out of the corner
of her eye she caught a glimpse of Otis, crouched behind an outcropping of rock
and unloading his weapon. It was a surreal vision, like a bad dream. She
couldn't believe it was happening, and she was more concerned for her team than
she was for herself.

There was too much reverberation
going on in the cavern for the rock structure to stand. Big chunks fell from
the ceiling, a large piece hitting one of Fayd's men in the head. It didn't
kill him, but there was lots of blood. With one bullet left, Kathlyn held off
firing until she absolutely had to. She ducked back in the shaft, watching Otis
and Mark take down two more of Fayd's gunmen. She was surprised that they both
had guns, but she shouldn't have been. She had seen them with Tony right before
they left Egypt. Tony was a real worry wart, more than likely compounded by
Marcus' concerns.

Her view of the cavern was
abruptly blocked. A body leapt in front of her, shoving her to the ground.
Kathlyn fell hard, dazed with shock and pain, and the gun with the last bullet
went spinning off into the darkness. A hand reached down and grabbed her by the
hair, yanking her to her feet. She found herself gazing into Fayd's angry eyes.

"How could you let it go
like this?" he snarled.

"Me?" she fired back.
"You're the one that came barging in here with guns. You're the one who
lured me here. If anyone is to blame, it's you."

Fayd had a wild look to his eye.
The wound to his left shoulder was apparently not that bad, but it was bloody.
"Do you have any idea the damage that has been done out there?"

She just stared at him. "Do
you have any idea the damage done in here?"

She put her hand on her stomach.
Fayd caught her meaning and it irritated him. He just didn't understand why she
was so against his goals. Sighing angrily, he listened to the gunshots die
down.

"We have a job to
accomplish, you and I," he said.

"I can't possibly imagine
what that would be."

He nodded his head down the
tunnel, where it grew dark and foreboding.  "That mummy in the cavern is
just the beginning. There's much more down in the bowels. Care to take a
look?"

She didn't know if she should
take him seriously or not.  "What about that exam you were going to do on
me?"

There was extreme hazard in her
tone. Fayd didn't want to go there again, for he was smart enough to realize it
would only lead to disaster. "I won't touch you," he said. "But
I want you to come explore this place with me. I think if you do, you'll
understand the seriousness of what I am trying to accomplish. I need you to
understand this, Kathlyn."

 Her green eyes studied him.  She
could see something of an impasse coming and she didn't want to end up in hand
to hand combat with him again.  But more than that, she was curious about the
depths of the cave, too. It was a gnawing instinct in her to explore,
discover.  It was why she had become an archaeologist in the first place. But in
order to go with him, she had to have some reassurances first.

"Call off your last gun out
there," she said. "I need to make sure my team is okay before I do
anything."

Fayd turned back to the cavern. 
He shouted something in Arabic and the lone hired gunman shouted something
back.  Kathlyn stepped forward, telling Otis and Mark to cease fire. They did
so immediately.  When the bullets stopped flying, the first thing she did was
enter the cavern to see what had become of Juliana.

It was smoky and dusty, the
strong smell of gunpowder in the air. The walls were pocked with fresh gouges.
Kathlyn found Juliana huddled behind a very small outcropping of rock, her left
hand bloodied by a bullet that had passed through the palm. She stood up as
Kathlyn approached, coughing and holding her hand.

"Are you okay?" she
asked Kathlyn.

Kathlyn had forgotten the big
gash across her jaw line. It bloodied the entire right side of her neck.
"I'm fine," she reached for Juliana's hand. "What happened to
you?"

Juliana winced. "Got lucky,
I guess. Could have been my head instead."

Kathlyn wasn't a medical doctor,
but it didn't look good. "Can you move your fingers?"

"No.  There's definitely
some damage."

Mark and Otis walked up,
exhausted, wide-eyed with adrenaline. Kathlyn looked at them. "We've got
to get her to a doctor," she said.

 They were all looking at
Juliana's hand. "Kat?" Juliana said softly.

"What?"

"You'd better take a
look."

Kathlyn had no idea what she
meant. Juliana nodded her head, silently telling her to turn around. When she
did, she saw Fayd standing there with his gun in his hand. It wasn't raised,
but the threat was obvious. Kathlyn had used all but one bullet; he had
retrieved it when she had been occupied.

 Kathlyn made sure Juliana was
protectively behind her. Mark and Otis didn't make a move, afraid he would fire
and hit one of the women if they so much as blinked.

"Fayd," Kathlyn said
steadily. "What's that all about? I thought we agreed no more guns."

He was very apologetic. "I
need you, Kathlyn," he said. "Your team can go. But I need you to
stay with me."

Mark opened his mouth to protest,
but Kathlyn shut him down. "Okay," she put her hand on Mark to quiet
him. "Just let them leave and I'll do whatever you want."

Fayd didn't say anymore. He just
stood there, gun in hand, as Kathlyn tried to force her team to abandon her.
She knew Fayd wouldn't hurt her, but she had no such assurance that he wouldn't
shoot Otis or Mark. They were intent on protecting her. She was intent on
protecting them.

Juliana was growing pale and
Kathlyn convinced Mark to help her from the cave. Otis proved more difficult,
but she finally managed to talk him into leaving.  Someone had to tell Marcus
what was going on and she entrusted Otis with that very important task.  He
finally followed Mark and Juliana from the cave, though very reluctantly. 
Kathlyn half expected him to bolt back in and start shooting.

Fayd's last hired man was still
standing there amidst the bodies of dead. Fayd said something to him in Arabic
and he, too, left the cave.  When it was empty and still, he turned back to
Kathlyn.

"Let's go," he said
quietly.

"Only if you leave the gun
here."

He dropped it on the ground.
Kathlyn preceded him into the second tunnel.

***

The phone in the administrative
tent rang and rang. The worker who had answered it didn't even speak English,
but the person on the other end spoke broken Arabic and told him to find Dr.
Burton. At least ten minutes passed before Marcus could be located down in the
tomb and subsequently returned to the surface. Since it had only been six hours
since Kathlyn's call, he wasn't sure who it could be. The voice on the other
end immediately had him on his guard.