The Americans then started firing their anti-aircraft guns from their cranes.

Tracer bullets raced up into the sky-there were so many they filled filled the sky-but Sky Monster banked the the sky-but Sky Monster banked the Halicarna.s.sus Halicarna.s.sus brilliantly, avoiding the laser-like streaks while at the same time Pooh Bear returned fire and unleashed a h.e.l.lfire air-to-ground missile of his own. brilliantly, avoiding the laser-like streaks while at the same time Pooh Bear returned fire and unleashed a h.e.l.lfire air-to-ground missile of his own.

The h.e.l.lfire shoomed out from a pod on the Hali Hali's underbelly and spiralled down towards one of the American cranes and- -smashed into it and detonated. into it and detonated.

The crane's basket was blasted into a million pieces, its occupants and their weapons vaporised.

Judah and all the others on the platform spun at the nearby explosion.

The other crane continued to fire up at the incoming Halicarna.s.sus Halicarna.s.sus, unleashing a thousand rounds of AA ammunition and another Stinger missile-which Pooh Bear just blasted out of the sky a moment later.

Then Sky Monster yelled, 'Pooh! Hang on, buddy! Hang on, buddy! Here we go!' Then to himself he whispered, 'Please G.o.d, Wizard, tell me you got this right...' Here we go!' Then to himself he whispered, 'Please G.o.d, Wizard, tell me you got this right...'

It was then that, roaring down toward the Giza Plateau like an out-of-control missile, Sky Monster lifted the Hali Hali's nose up slightly and jammed jammed all his thrusters back ...throwing the all his thrusters back ...throwing the Halicarna.s.sus Halicarna.s.sus into a deliberate stall ...so that now it looked like a stallion rearing up on its hind legs, its nose up, its tail down... into a deliberate stall ...so that now it looked like a stallion rearing up on its hind legs, its nose up, its tail down...

...at which point, Sky Monster held his breath and punched the second second collective on his console, a thruster-collective marked: collective on his console, a thruster-collective marked: RETROGRADE THRUST SYSTEM. RETROGRADE THRUST SYSTEM.

What happened next startled everyone on the Pyramid's summit- everyone except Wizard.

The Halicarna.s.sus Halicarna.s.sus-dropping through the sky in a graceful flat stall, nose up, tail down-emitted a noise deeper and louder than a thousand thunderbooms.

BOOOOOOOOM!.

The colossal noise came from the eight Mark 3 Harrier retrograde thrust engines that had been incorporated into its armoured fuselage.

By Wizard.

The result was sensational: the ma.s.sive all-black Halicarna.s.sus Halicarna.s.sus stopped in mid-fall, as if it were suspended from giant descender cables, and to the sound of its deafening retrograde thrusters, it swung into a perfect hover, 200 metres off the ground and only stopped in mid-fall, as if it were suspended from giant descender cables, and to the sound of its deafening retrograde thrusters, it swung into a perfect hover, 200 metres off the ground and only a few hundred yards from the Great Pyramid! a few hundred yards from the Great Pyramid!

Sky Monster brought her closer, bringing the big hovering plane's left forward door alongside the platform on the summit of the Pyramid.

It was an absolutely astonishing sight-the ma.s.sive black jumbo jet, bristling with guns and missile pods, hovering with its nose close to the summit of the Great Pyramid at Giza.

From the platform itself, the Halicarna.s.sus Halicarna.s.sus loomed large, super-huge, like an angry bird-G.o.d descended from Heaven itself to wreak its fury. loomed large, super-huge, like an angry bird-G.o.d descended from Heaven itself to wreak its fury.

The initial spell broken, the surviving American crane swung around to unleash a new burst of AA fire, now from point-blank range.

But Pooh Bear, on the Hali Hali's left wing, was quicker on the draw and also at point-blank range.

He loosed a withering burst of fire-a hyper-fast barrage barrage of gunfire-that shook, shattered and blasted apart the crane, turning its occupants into fountains of spraying blood and the crane into Swiss cheese. of gunfire-that shook, shattered and blasted apart the crane, turning its occupants into fountains of spraying blood and the crane into Swiss cheese.

On the platform, Judah's eyes boggled.

He checked the Sun, checked his watch: 11:59:29.

Thirty seconds.

'Hold them off!' he called to his men. 'Hold them off! We only need thirty seconds! thirty seconds!'

Consumed with the spectacular arrival of the Halicarna.s.sus Halicarna.s.sus, Judah never noticed a second second airborne craft zeroing in on the Pyramid, a very small craft that came zooming in low and fast from the Western Desert. airborne craft zeroing in on the Pyramid, a very small craft that came zooming in low and fast from the Western Desert.

It was a man, possessed of carbon-fibre wings.

The tiny man-shaped figure soared low over the desert, before at the last second, he rose up swiftly-up the slanting side of the Pyramid as if it were an aerial ramp-and landed with a graceful plonk on the far side of the Capstone, on the side opposite the attention-grabbing Halicarna.s.sus Halicarna.s.sus.

It was Jack West Jr.

Back from the dead, and p.i.s.sed as h.e.l.l.

West landed with his wings outstretched and with two big .45 calibre Desert Eagle pistols in his hands. The instant his feet touched the platform, his guns started blazing, taking down four CIEF troopers with four shots.

Then he punched a release clip on his wing-harness and the carbon-fibre wings fell off his back, freeing him, making him even more deadly.

He ran out onto the platform, guns up.

At the same time, in response to the spectacular arrival of the Halicarna.s.sus Halicarna.s.sus, four American helicopters lifted off from their positions at the base of the Great Pyramid: three Apache attack birds and the mighty Super Stallion that Judah had used to bring the Pieces to Giza.

A fifth chopper-a Black Hawk-made to follow them, but it seemed to hesitate on the ground as a scuffle occurred inside it.

Then, a few seconds behind the others, it lifted off and headed for the battle going on at the top of the Pyramid.

Pandemonium reigned on the platform.

With the Halicarna.s.sus Halicarna.s.sus looming alongside it like a ship from outer s.p.a.ce, and Pooh Bear blazing away from the plane's powerful left-side gun turret, all the American troops on the platform were either getting shot or diving for cover behind Samsonite crates or the Capstone itself or retreating to the lower levels of the open-sided structure. looming alongside it like a ship from outer s.p.a.ce, and Pooh Bear blazing away from the plane's powerful left-side gun turret, all the American troops on the platform were either getting shot or diving for cover behind Samsonite crates or the Capstone itself or retreating to the lower levels of the open-sided structure.

In the chaos, Wizard hurled himself on top of Lily to protect her.

Del Piero charged across the platform and slid to the ground beside the little channel, to reach for Alexander, still inside the Capstone.

'Not so fast, Father!' a voice said from behind him. Del Piero turned- -to find himself staring into the barrel of a Glock pistol held by Marshall Judah.

Bam!

The pistol went off and the priest's brains splattered the golden flank of the Capstone.

With a core group of CIEF men surrounding him, Judah stood before the Capstone-cleverly putting it between him and Pooh Bear's guns-and with a glance at his watch, looked to the sky.

At that moment, the clock struck noon and it happened.

It looked like a laser beam from Heaven.

A dead-straight beam of dazzling white light lanced down from the sky, from the surface of the Sun, and accompanied by a tremendous boom boom, it slammed into the Capstone atop the Great Pyramid.

The Capstone, in reply, caught caught this ray of hyper-intense energy within its crystal array-so that the beam remained in place, giving the impression that the Pyramid was now this ray of hyper-intense energy within its crystal array-so that the beam remained in place, giving the impression that the Pyramid was now connected connected to the Sun by this superlong and perfectly straight ray of glowing white energy. to the Sun by this superlong and perfectly straight ray of glowing white energy.

It was a stunning image: the Pyramid-surmounted by the great wooden platform, with the Halicarna.s.sus Halicarna.s.sus hovering alongside it and with helicopters now buzzing and banking around it- hovering alongside it and with helicopters now buzzing and banking around it-absorbing the blazing white beam of pure energy that was shooting down from the sky. the blazing white beam of pure energy that was shooting down from the sky.

It was incredible, impossible, otherworldly.

But it was also oddly right right. It was as if this was what the Great Pyramid at Giza, dormant and mysterious for so many centuries, had been designed to do.

The platform was ablaze with light and sound.

Here at the epicentre of the great Sun-ray, the glow was almost blinding. And the noise-it was all-consuming: the colossal boom of the great Sun-ray combined with the roar of the Halicarna.s.sus Halicarna.s.sus's retro-thrusters and the turning of its regular engines (which were level with the platform) drowned out all other sound.

And in the midst of all this stood Marshall Judah, before the Capstone. He raised one arm toward the Golden Capstone, palm up, and then in an ancient language not heard in thousands of years, he began to recite an incantation.

The power ritual.

The power ritual was seven lines long.

As Judah began to recite it, several things were happening: Pooh Bear.

He was waging his own private war with the four American helicopters. He had knocked out one Apache helicopter with gunfire and had just fired a h.e.l.lfire missile at the rising Super Stallion. The missile slammed into the front windshield of the Super Stallion just as the big chopper came level with the platform.

The CH-53E exploded in a giant ball of flames-and lurched in mid-air, before it fell, dropping alongside the platform, its swirling rotor blades missing the lower levels of the platform by inches before the whole chopper smashed smashed down in a crumpled heap on the sloping southern flank of the Great Pyramid itself. down in a crumpled heap on the sloping southern flank of the Great Pyramid itself.

It now lay at a 52-degree angle-the slope of the Pyramid-at the spot where the platform's struts met the Pyramid, its body crumpled and broken but its rotors still buzzing in blurring circles of motion.

Judah had recited two lines by this time...

Pooh Bear swung around in his gun turret and had just zeroed in on the American Black Hawk chopper when-to his surprise-he saw the Black Hawk fire a missile into the back of one of its own Apache attack birds.

It was then that Pooh saw the pilots of the Black Hawk: Zoe and Fuzzy. In the confusion earlier, they'd escaped their bonds, stolen the Black Hawk and leapt into the fray.

But then suddenly a CIEF trooper leapt up onto the Halicarna.s.sus Halicarna.s.sus's wing, trying to take out Pooh Bear's turret guerrilla-style. Pooh couldn't turn the turret in time. The man had him, raised his Colt rifle- Bam!

The CIEF trooper was. .h.i.t in the back of the head by a long-distance sniper shot, a shot that had been fired by- -Stretch, sitting in the side door of the stolen Black Hawk, holding a sniper rifle.

Pooh saw the Israeli, alive and with the good guys, and he smiled for the briefest of moments.

Judah had recited four lines...

West.

He was waging his his own private war against the eight men guarding Judah at the Capstone: six CIEF troopers, Koenig and Kallis. own private war against the eight men guarding Judah at the Capstone: six CIEF troopers, Koenig and Kallis.

He strode forward, eyes fixed, face set, both of his guns held outstretched in front of him.

The old warrior in Jack West-a warrior Judah had helped create-had returned ...and he was a mean motherf.u.c.ker.

West shot four of the troopers-all right between the eyeb.a.l.l.s. One shot, one kill.

Another he grabbed from behind, snapping his neck, before using the dead man's body as a shield to receive fire from Cal Kallis while emptying the dead man's M-4 into two others. Then the wily old n.a.z.i, Koenig, lunged at him from the side with a knife, but he received two rounds to the nose for his trouble, the force of the shots sending him flying clear off the platform.

Judah finished the sixth line...

'Hold him off!' he called to Kallis as he began the last line.

That left West facing Cal Kallis-who now stood between West and Judah-in the midst of the maelstrom of light, wind and sound.

It was a stand-off from which there could be only one winner.

But there was also one more figure at work in all this.

Beyond the mayhem happening on the platform, unseen by anyone,the exit door above the left wing of the Halicarna.s.sus Halicarna.s.sus opened and a figure emerged from it, skulking low, moving swiftly, holding something small in his hands. opened and a figure emerged from it, skulking low, moving swiftly, holding something small in his hands.

He scurried out from the doorway and onto the wing. Then he leapt down from the front of the wing onto the wooden platform, heading-again unseen-in the direction of Wizard and Lily.

West and Kallis faced each other.

Then they moved, at exactly the same time, lifting and firing their guns simultaneously, like a pair of wild west gunslingers- Click! Click!

They were both dry.

'f.u.c.k!' Kallis yelled.

'No ...' West breathed.

For he knew that it didn't matter now.

Judah also knew. Their eyes met, and West's face fell.

He was too late.

By a bare few seconds-no a bare few metres metres-he was too late.

With a smile of insane delight, by the light of the Tartarus Sunspot on the Day of the Rotation, Marshall Judah uttered the final words of the ritual of power and looked triumphantly to the heavens.

Nothing happened.

Granted, West wasn't sure what should should have happened. Should the sky darken? Should the Earth shake? Should Judah turn into some giant all-powerful dragon? Should West's gun turn to dust? have happened. Should the sky darken? Should the Earth shake? Should Judah turn into some giant all-powerful dragon? Should West's gun turn to dust?

Whatever was supposed to happen to show that the United States of America had just earned itself a thousand years of undisputed worldly power, it didn't manifest itself in any visible way.

And then West saw that, indeed, nothing had had happened. happened.