'We've got a power source breach here, Captain. We need to get your head sprayed immediately.'
Holly opened her mouth to protest, and had it instantly filled with rad-suppressant foam.
'Can't this wait?' she spluttered.
'Sorry, Captain. Time is of the essence. The commander wants a debriefing before we detonate.'
Holly was rushed towards the Mobile Ops unit, her feet barely touching the ground. All around
her Retrieval Cleaners scanned the grounds for any trace of the siege. Techies dismantled the field
dishes, making ready to pull the plug. Grunts steered the trolley towards the portal. It was
imperative that everything be relocated to a safe distance before the bio-bomb went in.
Root was waiting on the steps.
'Holly,' he blurted. 'I mean Captain. You made it.'
'Yessir. Thank you, sir.'
'And the gold too. This is a real feather in your cap.'
'Well, not all, Commander. About half I think.'
Root nodded. 'No matter. We'll have the rest soon enough.'
Holly wiped rad-foam from her brow.
'I've been thinking about that, sir. Fowl made another mistake. He never ordered me not to
re-enter the house, and seeing as he brought me in there in the first place, the invitation still stands.
I could go in and mind-wipe the occupants. We could hide the gold in the walls and do another
time-stop tomorrow night ...'
'No, Captain.'
'But, sir ...'
Root's features regained whatever tension they'd lost.
'No, Captain. The Council is not about to hold off for some kidnapping Mud Man. It's just not
going to happen. I have my orders, and believe me they're written in stone.'
Holly trailed Root into the mobile.
'But the girl, sir. She's an innocent!'
'Casualty of war. She threw her lot in with the wrong side. Nothing can be done for her now.'
Holly was incredulous. 'A casualty of war? How can you say that? A life is a life.'
Root spun sharply, grasping her by the shoulders.
'You did what you could, Holly,' he said. 'No one could have done more. You even retrieved
most of the ransom. You're suffering from what humans call Stockholm Syndrome: you have
bonded with your captors. Don't worry, it will pass. But those people in there, they know. About
us. Nothing can save them now.'
Foaly looked up from his calculations.
'Not true. Technically. Welcome back, by the way.'
Holly couldn't spare even a second to return the greeting.
'What do you mean not true?'
'I'm fine, seeing as you asked.'
'Foaly!' shouted Root and Holly in unison.
'Well, like the Book says, "If the Mud Man gold can gather, In spite of magick or fairy glamour,
Then that gold is his to keep, Until he lies in eternal sleep." So if he lives, he wins. It's that simple.
Not even the Council will go against the Book.'
Root scratched his chin. 'Should I be worried?'
Foaly laughed mirthlessly. 'No. Those guys are as good as dead.'
'As good as isn't good enough.'
'Is that an order?'
'Affirmative, soldier.'
'I'm not a soldier,' said Foaly, and pressed the button.
Butler was more than a little surprised.
'You gave it back?'
Artemis nodded. 'About half. We still have quite a nest egg. About fifteen million dollars at
today's market prices.'
Butler usually wouldn't ask. But this time he had to. 'Why, Artemis? Can you tell me?'
'I suppose so.' The boy smiled. 'I felt we owed the captain something. For services rendered.'
'Is that all?'
Artemis nodded. No need to talk about the wish. It could be perceived as weakness.
'Hmm,' said Butler, smarter than he looked.
'Now, we should celebrate,' enthused Artemis, deftly changing the subject. 'Some champagne, I
think.'
The boy strode to the kitchen before Butler's gaze could dissect him.
By the time the others caught up, Artemis had already filled three glasses with Dom Perignon.
'I'm a minor, I know, but I'm sure Mother wouldn't mind. Just this once.'
Butler felt that something was afoot. Nevertheless, he took the crystal flute offered to him.
Juliet looked at her big brother.
'Is this OK?'
'I suppose so.' He took a breath. 'You know I love you, don't you, sis?'
Juliet scowled - something else that the local louts found very endearing. She smacked her
brother on the shoulder.
'You're so emotional for a bodyguard.'
Butler looked his employer straight in the eye.
'You want us to drink this, don't you, Artemis?'
Artemis met his gaze squarely. 'Yes, Butler. I do.'
Without another word Butler drained his glass, Juliet followed suit. The manservant tasted the
tranquillizer immediately, and although he would have had ample time to snap Artemis Fowl's neck,
he didn't. No need for Juliet to be distressed in her final moments.
Artemis watched his friends sink to the floor. A pity to deceive them. But if they had been
alerted to the plan, their anxiety could have counteracted the sedative. He gazed at the bubbles
swirling in his own glass. Time for the most audacious step in his scheme. With only the barest hint
of hesitation, he swallowed the tranquillizer-laced champagne.
Artemis waited calmly for the drug to take hold of his system. He didn't have to wait long, for
each dose had been calculated according to body weight. As his thoughts began to swirl, it occurred
to him that he might never awaken again. It's a bit late for doubts, he chided himself, and sank into
unconsciousness.
'She's away,' said Foaly, leaning back from the console. 'It's out of my hands now.'
They followed the missile's progress through polarized windows. It really was a remarkable piece
of equipment. Because its main weapon was light, the fallout could be focused to an exact radius.
The radioactive element used in the core was solinium 2, which had a half-life of fourteen seconds.
This effectively meant that Foaly could tune the bio-bomb to blue-rinse only Fowl Manor and not
one blade of grass more, plus the building would be radiation-free in under a minute. In the event
that a few solinium flares refused to be focused, they would be contained by the time-field. Murder
made easy.
'The flight path is pre-programmed,' explained Foaly, though no one was paying a blind bit of
attention. 'She'll sail into the lobby and detonate. The casing and firing mechanism are plastic alloy
and will completely disintegrate. Clean as a whistle.'
Root and Holly followed the bomb's arc. As predicted, it swooped through the decimated
doorway without knocking so much as a sliver of stone from the medieval walls. Holly switched her
attention to the missile's nose-cam. For a moment she caught a glimpse of the grand hallway where
she had, until recently, been a prisoner. It was empty. Not a human in sight. Maybe, she thought.
Just maybe. Then she looked at Foaly and the technology at his fingertips. And she realized that the
humans were as good as dead.
The bio-bomb detonated. A blue orb of condensed light crackled and spread, filling every corner
of the manor with its deadly rays. Flowers withered, insects shrivelled and fish died in their tanks.
Not one cubic millimetre was spared. Artemis Fowl and his cohorts could not have escaped. It was
impossible.
Holly sighed, turning away from the already dwindling blue-rinse. For all his grand designs,
Artemis had been a mere mortal in the end. And for some reason she mourned his passing.
Root was more pragmatic. 'OK. Suit up. Full blackout gear.'
'It's perfectly safe,' said Foaly. 'Didn't you ever listen in school?'
The commander snorted. 'I trust science about as far as I could throw you, Foaly. Radiation has a
habit of hanging around when certain scientists have assured us it has dissipated. No one steps
outside the unit without blackout gear. So that counts you out, Foaly. Only bipedal suits. Anyway I
want you on monitors, just in case ...'
In case of what? wondered Foaly, but he didn't comment. Save it for an I told you so later.
Root turned to Holly.
'Are you ready, Captain?'
Going back in. The idea of identifying three cadavers didn't appeal to Holly. But she knew it was
her duty. She was the only one with first-hand knowledge of the interior.
'Yessir. On my way.'
Holly selected a blackout suit from the rack, pulling it on over her jumpsuit. As per training, she
checked the gauge before tugging the vulcanized cowl. A dip in pressure would indicate a rip, which
could prove fatal in the long term.
Root lined up the insertion team at the perimeter. The remains of Retrieval One were about as
eager to insert themselves into the manor as they would be to juggle Atlantean stink balloons.
'You're certain the big one is gone?'
'Yes, Captain Kelp. He's gone, one way or another.'
Trouble wasn't convinced. 'Because that's one mean human. I think he has magic of his own.'
Corporal Grub giggled, and got an immediate clip on the ear for himself. He muttered something
about telling Mummy and quickly strapped on his helmet.
Root felt his complexion redden. 'Let's move out. Your mission is to locate and recover the
bullion. Watch for booby traps. I didn't trust Fowl when he was alive, and I definitely don't trust
him now that he's dead.'
The phrase 'booby traps' got everyone's attention. The idea of a Bouncing Betty anti-personnel
mine exploding at head height was enough to dispel any nonchalance in the troops. No one built
weapons of cruelty like the Mud Men.
As the junior Recon officer, Holly was on point. And even though there weren't supposed to be
any hostiles in the manor, she found her gun hand automatically straying to the Neutrino 2000.
The mansion was eerily quiet, with only the fizzle of the last few solinium flares to alleviate the
stillness. Death was there too, in the silence. The manor was a cradle of death. Holly could smell it.
Behind those medieval walls lay the bodies of a million insects, and under its floors the cooling
corpses of spiders and mice.
They approached the doorway tentatively. Holly swept the area with an X-ray scanner. Nothing
under the flagstones but dirt, and a nest of dead money-spiders.
'Clear,' she said into her microphone. 'I'm going in. Foaly, have you got your ears on?'
'I'm right there with you, darlin',' replied the centaur. 'Unless you step on a landmine, in which
case I'm way back in the Operations Room.'
'Are you getting any thermals?'
'Not after a blue-rinse. We have residual heat signatures all over the place. Mostly solinium flares.
It won't calm down for a couple of days.'
'But no radiation, right?'
'That's right.'
Root snorted in disbelief. Over the headsets it sounded like an elephant sneezing.
'It looks like we're going to have to sweep this house the old-fashioned way,' he grumbled.
'Make it quick,' advised Foaly. 'I give it five minutes tops before Fowl Manor rejoins the world at
large.'
Holly stepped through what used to be the doorway. The chandelier swung gently from the
concussive force of the missile's detonation, but otherwise everything was as she remembered it.
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