"We are done here," Anandur said in his ear. "We are coming back."
"Anyone hurt?" Yamanu asked.
"Well, yeah. We left no one standing. But if you are asking about our side, no. We are all good."
Thank the merciful Fates for that, and also for Number One leaving the earpiece Yamanu had given him activated, so he had known the Eight were in trouble and could send help.
The enhanced Eight had been hit hard, and though the wounds had already closed, the evidence of the battle was all over their uniforms, which were drenched in blood. The women were white-faced and shaking, covered in blood, some of it from the soldiers who'd shielded them and some from the injuries they had sustained themselves.
The older Russian scientist was in bad shape. Doctor Petrov's face was gray, his side dark and wet, and his younger counterpart, Dimitri Volkov, had his arm around him, holding him upright while a woman held her hand over the wound.
That was probably Anita, Petrov's friend, whom Number One had told them about. She had been a nurse before being trafficked to the island, which was fortunate for Petrov because she knew what she was doing.
Julian rushed toward them, got the scientist down against a stack of shoring timber, and peeled Anita's hand away to look.
"Through and through, low on the flank," the physician said. "It didn't hit any major organs, but I need to stop the bleeding before he can be moved." He pulled a couple of pressure dressings from his medical kit and slapped them over the entry and exit wounds, binding them tight. "That will hold until the cove."
Anandur and the rearguard came down the ramp.
"Checkpoint's cleared and the road behind us is dead for now," Anandur reported. "There were more of them than we expected, and we bought a few minutes by taking them down, but soon every guard in the resort sector is going to descend on the checkpoint and follow the scent from there."
"We'll be gone by then." Yamanu turned and waved toward Navuh's staircase and the secret entrance to the tunnel. "Keep moving, people. Help the wounded."
"The equipment!" Petrov raised his voice despite his injury. "We need it."
"We've got it," Anandur said.
His team was carrying it from the truck and heading straight for the staircase.
"Norman and Duncan, you are with me," Yamanu said. "Let's finish setting up the explosives. The rest of you get in the tunnel and keep going."
They had already planned to set up explosives to hide the fact that the chests were gone. The goal was to bury the excavation site and collapse the chamber where the chests had been, so that when the Brotherhood forces got to the basement, they would find a cave-in and not an empty chamber. It would be days, perhaps weeks, before anyone realized that anything had been taken out of there. Now they added the collapse of Navuh's staircase and the secret tunnel entrance. Once everyone was through, they would detonate the explosives and seal the entrance to prevent pursuit.
Once it was done, Yamanu activated the comms. "The explosives are set, and we are about to go in."
Once the charges went off, there would be no doubt that the island had been infiltrated, and the backup measures would have to be implemented.
"The EMP is airborne," Onegus said. "The missiles for the cross-island tunnel are ranged and ready. The missiles go as soon as you detonate the basement, but we hold off the EMP until you confirm that everyone is in the cove and ready to get into the water."
"Understood. I'll confirm when we're out of here and again when we reach the cove."
"Copy. Standing by."
Yamanu did a final sweep of the basement before following Duncan and Norman into the tunnel. Once they were on the other side, he pulled the panel shut behind them even though there was no point in it now that they were going to blow the whole thing up.
The Jeep was gone, used to transport the injured scientist, the mothers with small children, and as much lab equipment as they could load into it.
"Two hundred feet should do it," Duncan said.
Yamanu nodded and kept walking. He stopped a little farther than the Guardian had suggested. "Go ahead."
"With pleasure." Duncan pulled the detonator out of his pocket. "Cover your ears, gentlemen. One, two, and boom!"
The dual explosions were deafening even with his palms clamped over his ears, but the tunnel was sealed behind them, and the excavation site was once again buried under a heap of rubble.
Hopefully, the mansion was still standing.
They'd planted the explosives carefully, but the structure was so weakened from the previous collapses that there was no telling if it could sustain any more hits before giving up.
