Necropolis

part of the second floor had gone. Taking Pedro with him, he threw himself to one side and the falling debris missed them by inches, crashing down onto the sofa where Ramon, the man who had started all this, was sitting. The iron rod that had killed him was slanting out of his chest. He was watching it all like a disinterested spectator.
    The six of them staggered out into the garden, leaving the burning house and the remaining creatures —
    nine or ten of them — behind. Professor Chambers fired one last shot. "No more ammo!" she called out to Richard, but there was a strain in her voice and Matt wondered if she had been hurt. He looked at her in alarm. There was a patch of red spreading across the front of her dressing gown. A dark gash showed in the material. But she wasn't going to let the pain slow her down. "How about you?" she demanded.
    "Two more bullets," Richard replied.
    Two more bullets, and the attackers were everywhere. Matt could see them clearly in the light of the flames, their eyes glowing red, their hands clutching knives, axes, chains, and lengths of barbed wire, which they flailed like whips. Pedro was leaning against him, blood running down the side of his face.
    Scott and Jamie were standing together, catching their breath. They had made it outside, but they had nowhere to run. Another creature lumbered toward Professor Chambers, who stood where she was, clutching her wound. Richard shot it twice.

    Matt was almost ready to give up. He couldn't believe that it was going to end this way, surprised and surrounded in a garden in Nazca. Was this what the fight had all been about? He was a Gatekeeper. He had returned to the world after ten thousand years. Was he really going to allow himself to be beaten so easily?
    And then the night exploded a second time, with lights bursting out all around them, slanting in from every direction. Matt and Pedro stood where they were, swaying on their feet. Jamie moved toward his brother. Richard and Professor Chambers swung round with their now useless guns. They were trapped, huddled together in a group with the blazing house behind them, the lights in front, surrounded on all sides. Matt tried to see who it was that had arrived at this late stage. Did he have the power to send them back? He bowed his head, drawing on the last of his strength.
    Then, as if from nowhere, a volley of arrows was fired in his direction. But not at him. They had been aimed deliberately over his head. Some of the creatures on the edge of the house cried out and fell back as they were hit. Another volley followed, taking out more of them. The lights were coming from the headlights of four or five cars that had driven to the edge of the garden and parked in a semicircle. There were men running across the lawn. There were several gunshots. One of the men stopped and reached out for Professor Chambers, who more or less collapsed in his arms. The others continued into the house, blasting away with handguns, searching for any remaining attackers, and setting to work fighting the fire.
    And suddenly Matt knew who they were.
    They had helped Pedro and him when they had first come to Peru, spiriting them out of Cuzco through a network of underground tunnels. The two boys had stayed with them in their hidden city, Vilcabamba, high up in the mountains. They were Incas, the tribe that had once ruled Peru, but which had been reduced to little more than a handful of survivors, living in secret. They had promised to look after Matt and the other Gatekeepers while they were in Peru. And they had come, true to their word.
    They were armed with guns as well as their own traditional weapons, and they made short work of the attackers. Machetes swung through the darkness, slicing into rags and flesh. Bullets hammered through the night. It was over very quickly. Matt, Pedro, Scott, and Jamie waited on the lawn while the last of the creatures was finished off. Richard was now helping to support Joanna Chambers. All the color had left her face. She was barely able to stand.
    One of the Incas came over to them. He was short with broad shoulders and a dark, serious face. "Are you okay?" he asked.
    "We're all right," Richard said. "But Professor Chambers has been hurt."

    "I am Tiso. We came when we heard the first alarm. I am sorry. We arrived too late."
    "We're just glad you're here," Richard said. "Can we go back into the house? We need to get her inside…"
    But it was another half hour before the Incas