THERE WAS A COMMOTION AT THE END OF the passageway and Ben came hurrying towards them along with two of Sea Venture’s crewmen.
“You should get out at once. We have a possible intruder.”
Jack shot Costas a glance and the two of them immediately strode ahead with the crewmen.
“What’s the situation?”
“Unidentified aircraft flying in low directly at us. The radar picked it up five minutes ago. It doesn’t answer any call signs. And it’s fast. High subsonic.”
“Bearing?”
“Trajectory 140 degrees. South-south-west.”
They reached the audience chamber and strode together round the platform to the exit on the opposite side. Even skirting close to the edge they could feel the scalding heat coming from the central chimney, a sudden upsurge of volcanic activity while they had been inside the passageway.
“It looks like we’re in for an event.”
“In more ways than one.”
Jack gestured for the others to hurry and waited while Hiebermeyer and Dillen caught up, taking up the rear as they stumbled through the exit tunnel. A wave of scorching gas blew past them as they huddled to one side in the brilliant sunlight outside the entrance.
“It’s an upwelling in the core.” Costas raised his voice against the increasing roar from the chamber they had just left. “One of those events the Atlanteans recorded in their calendar. There might be some lava.”
“Tom York has already ordered a complete evacuation because of the intruder,” Ben shouted. “It’s for your own safety.”
“We’re with you.”
They quickly followed Ben down the steps towards the makeshift helipad, blinking furiously in the glare of daylight. The last of the Seahawks had just taken up position offshore and the only remaining aircraft was Sea Venture’s Lynx, the rotors powered up and two crewmen hanging out of the side door ready to help them in.
“It’s a military jet.” Ben was pressing in his earphone against the cacophony as he ran. “They’ve never seen one like it here before. The Russian FAC captain thinks it’s a Harrier.”
Jack suddenly felt a sickening wave of certainty as he helped Dillen towards the helicopter.
Aslan’s blast-proof hangars. Olga Ivanovna Bortsev.
“They think it’s heading for the submarine. They’ve got a missile lock. They’re not taking any chances. They’ve fired.”
As he leapt into the helicopter Jack saw the streak of two missiles from the FAC craft nearest Kazbek. As they sought their target, a black dot appeared over the waves on the horizon to the east.
She’s not coming for the submarine. She’s come to join her lover in hell.
“Go!” Jack yelled. “It’s coming for us!”
As the pilot wrenched the helicopter off the ground they saw the aircraft hurtle over the submarine, followed by the contrails of the two missiles. Jack spun back towards the open doorway just in time to see the missiles impact and blow off the Harrier’s tail. The Lynx rose with dizzying speed as the wreckage hurtled beneath them, the helmeted figure in the cockpit visible for an instant as the explosion engulfed the forward part of the fuselage. Before they could register what had happened, an immense shock wave threw the helicopter upwards, nearly bouncing Jack and the doorman out of the aircraft as the others held on to anything they could.
The burning Harrier hit the cliff face with the impact of a comet. The aircraft had been aimed directly at the volcano entrance and its remains continued on into the audience chamber, vanishing as if they had been sucked into the maw of the volcano. For an extraordinary moment the fire and noise disappeared completely.
“She’s going to blow!” Costas yelled.
As the helicopter rose above a thousand feet and veered to seaward they stared aghast at the scene beneath them. Seconds after the concussion there was a mighty roar and a jet of flame burst out of the entrance like an afterburner. The Harrier’s impact had compressed and ignited the volatile gases which had collected inside the audience chamber. The cone of the volcano seemed to blur as the colossal rumbling of the detonation reached them. A geyser of fire shot up hundreds of metres where the vapour chimney had once been.
From the edge of the billowing cloud of dust that obscured the cone as it collapsed they saw a rim of fire, tongues of molten magma that began to roll inexorably down the slopes towards the sea.
Atlantis had revealed its secrets for the last time.