Joe Hawke Series Boxsets 4

by Rob Jones

  When they opened fire, he remembered the words of his father, repeated like a mantra through a childhood of excitement and wonder – never give in and never give up. He said it himself now. The words fell quietly from his lips like a prayer as he reloaded his gun with calm, steady hands. He knew no other way of being. That was why he saw everything he ever did right through to the end no matter how hard or dangerous.

  It didn’t matter what he was doing.

  He never gave in, and he never gave up.

  To do so would be to betray everything his father had taught him, everything the marines and the SBS had taught him.

  It would also betray the memory of all his ECHO teammates who had made the ultimate sacrifice in this crazy adventure and lost their lives.

  Mukendi renewed his assault on them. Lea and Reaper dived either side of the line of fire as the Kalashnikov’s muzzle began to spit fire and spray hot lead into the gravelled yard. The former French Legionnaire was first to hit the ground and return fire, successfully killing the mafia thug in the machinegun nest. Hawke and Ryan fired on the others and drove them back into cover, but they quickly regrouped and returned fire.

  They retreated into the arcade and Hawke slammed his muscle-bound back up against the rough stone wall as he reloaded his weapon. With only the glow of a half moon to light the courtyard, he squinted into the confusing silvery gloom.

  The black shadows of more mercs bobbed up and down as they used the arcade’s support columns for cover. They were running around the outside of the courtyard and heading out to the parked trucks.

  In the chaos of the fire fight and with the air think with gun smoke, he saw the archaeologist under the truck panic and break cover.

  Lea had seen it too. “It’s the guy in the suit!” she yelled out. “He’s getting away with the lyre!”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  With Reaper and Ryan pinning Mukendi down outside the arcade and Scarlet and the others still heavily engaged in battle with Kashala in the main courtyard, Hawke and Lea chased the Bulgarian archaeologist into the forest surrounding the castle. As they sprinted deeper into the woods, they heard Ryan calling out behind them.

  “What are you doing here?” Lea said.

  Hawke frowned. “I thought you were with Reap?”

  He caught up with them, SIG in his hand and straining for breath. “He’s on top of it,” he gasped, thumbing the safety catch. “Sent me to help you.”

  Lea’s face was white in the moonlight. “This is chaos.”

  “Our friend in the suit is getting away with the lyre,” Hawke said. “Look.”

  Weighed down with the weight of the solid bronze relic, the older man was moving into the darkness but struggling to stay ahead of them. Seeing what he thought was a way to escape his pursuers, he clambered over a six-foot chain-link fence and fell down the other side into the dirt.

  Ryan charged forward, stuffed his gun into his holster and leapt up at the fence. Pushing his fingers through the chain-links, he began to climb up to the top. Hawke grabbed him by his belt and pulled him back down to earth.

  “What the hell?” Ryan said. “I can get him!”

  “Not in there you don’t.” Hawke nudged his head to a small white sign attached to the fence a couple of panels further down. “I can’t read Bulgarian but the little picture of a wolf is giving me a serious clue about what’s behind this fence.”

  Ryan peered at the sign in the darkness.

  Внимание! Вълците!

  “I can’t read Bulgarian either,” he said. “I really must address that.”

  Lea walked over and looked him in the eye. “Are you for real?”

  “Sorry, and thanks Joe. Looks like you might have saved my life.”

  They heard movement in the trees and saw Kamala and Nikolai emerging from the trees to the east. They had made their journey down from the ridge in good time, back at the castle the sound of Scarlet’s team fighting Kashala’s men echoed in the windy night.

  “But what about the guy with the lyre?” Lea asked.

  Hawke stared at the trees beyond the fence. The sound of howling wolves drifted through the gaps in the black pine trunks. “Something tells me he’ll be back.”

  “You’re pretty sure of yourself,” Kamala said.

  Lea nodded. “Tell me about it.”

  “I prefer the term easy confidence.”

  They heard branches breaking and rustling leaves and then the sound of someone cursing and breathing in the darkness.

  Hawke jutted his chin at the trees. “Here he comes now.”

  As the Bulgarian ran back out of the trees, lyre in hand, Ryan clapped Hawke firmly on the back. “Looks like you were right.”

  “You must help me.” The man saw them standing on the safe side of the fence at the top of the slope and now began clambering back up toward them. “I’m not one of them. My name is Parvanov. I am an archaeologist from Sofia.”

  A wolf growled in the gloom and he screamed in terror as he scrambled up the rocks. He reached out for the habitat’s perimeter fence with two bleeding, trembling hands and shot a horrified glance over his shoulder at the darkness behind him.

  “Please!” he called out. “They’re behind me! They know I’m here.”

  “I’m not surprised,” Lea said. “Given all the noise you’re making with that great big yap of yours.”

  Reaching out his hand in desperate supplication, he called out to them. “Please, get me out of here!”

  “Throw me the lyre,” Hawke said.

  Even now, Parvanov’s mind was still plagued with indecision. With the lyre held tight to his chest, he turned and looked over his shoulder.

  “There’s no time to think it over, professor!” Lea said. “Throw us the lyre.”

  A long, eerie howl directly behind him in the tree line persuaded him to yield. He took a step back and heaved the lyre over the top of the fence. Nikolai reached out and grabbed it like a falling baby. “Safe and sound, Hawke.”

  “Now, help me get back over!”

  Their eyes came first, tiny amber lights glinting in the night as they reflected the ECHO team’s Maglite beams. Then came the hungry growls and more ghostly yelps and howls. Finally the alpha of the pack stepped out into the clearing and looked up at the man on the rocky slope. It took another step toward him and curled its lip to reveal razor-sharp yellow fangs shining dully in the moonlight.

  “You have to save me!” he said, his voice wobbling and breaking with fear. “I can help you!” he said, even more desperate now. “I can tell you things! I can tell you things about Dimitrov and Kashala that you wouldn’t believe!”

  “I prefer a source I can trust,” Lea said. “And that kind of rules you out, wolf bait.”

  “No!”

  More of the animals moved out of the shadows until the entire pack was standing in a horseshoe around the base of the rocks. The alpha surged forward and jumped through the air with its mouth wide open.

  Parvanov swung a defensive arm in a sideways motion but the wolf easily sank its fangs into him. As the professor screamed and desperately tried to shake the heavy animal off, the rest of the pack rushed forward. Moments later he was nowhere to be seen. All that was left of him now was his hoarse screams as the wolves sank their teeth into his neck and face and started the long, steady work of tearing him apart.

  Lea winced. “That’s not nice at all.”

  Scarlet raced up the path with her team a few steps behind her. Zeke first, followed by Camacho and Lexi. The group had been together a few seconds when they heard a noise in the trees to the south. Turning and raising guns, a wave of relief went around the team when Reaper burst out of the tree line with a big toothy grin.

  “Mukendi got away,” he said with a shrug. “But I think I might have wounded him, and what the hell is that noise?”

  “A vulpine feeding frenzy,” Ryan said.

  “Eh?”

  Lea sighed. “He means wolves are eating Dimitrov’s archae
ologist.”

  Reaper frowned. “Beurk.”

  “Exactly.”

  Hawke grimaced. “Quite. Listen, we have the lyre and I’m guessing from the sound of the screaming men and gunshots that you’re on a tactical retreat?”

  “You guess right,” Scarlet said.

  “In that case, let’s get the hell out of here and get back to a hotel.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  When Scarlet looked around the room, she groaned. “It’s not exactly up to my usual exacting standards, is it now?”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” Ryan said. “Some people say cockroaches make nice pets.”

  She looked at him. “Exactly who says that, boy?”

  “No one,” he said apologetically. “No one has ever said that.”

  “The boy folds like a lawn chair.” She threw her bag on one of the beds and collapsed down beside it. Taking a deep breath, she sighed with relief that the shooting had finally stopped and dreamed of her imminent shower.

  Kamala returned from the bathroom, slipping a small bottle of pills into her pocket. “But that’s why you love him, right?”

  Lea saw the small plastic bottle but said nothing. It was probably just headache tablets and none of her business. Watching the former Secret Service agent in battle had given her no cause for concern and she believed she was more than up to the job.

  “Who says I love him?” Scarlet asked.

  “I can see it in your eyes.”

  “Then you should have gone to Specsavers, darling.”

  “Huh?”

  Hawke laughed. “She’ll explain another time.”

  Lexi gave him a sideways glance and turned to the relic on the bed. Lifting it up she balanced it in her hands and was impressed by its substantial weight. “Now then, let’s have a proper look at this little harp and see what all the fuss is about.”

  “Lyre,” Ryan said. “It’s a lyre, not a harp.”

  “Looks like a little itty bitty harp to me,” she said without apology.

  “This from the woman whose idea of a successful first date is if she hasn’t broken one of his arms.”

  “You don’t know me at all,” Lexi said. “When I’m on a date I’m actually a kind, quiet woman. A pussycat, really.”

  After a suitable pause, laughter broke out in the room and dispersed some of the tension that had been building since Kim Taylor’s murder a few days ago. The team had done their usual and simply avoided the subject, but now it felt like they could finally put it behind them and concentrate on getting the job done for Francken and getting their cash.

  “Pussycat,” Ryan said. “More like a two hundred kilo tiger.”

  She glared at him. “Are you saying I’m fat?”

  “No, not at all,” he said hurriedly. “Not fat at all. Lean, strong in fact. Lithe. I’d use the word lithe and please don’t beat me up.”

  More laughter as Lexi gave him a play punch on his shoulder.

  Lea pulled a chair out from under the desk and sat down. It felt great to get the weight off her feet but she knew they still had business to attend to. “So what have we got, Ryan?”

  “I know you’ll be amazed to hear it, but I’m having trouble with these symbols.”

  “Fuck me,” Scarlet said, loud and clear. “You mean you can’t do it and we need someone else?”

  Ryan ignored her. “There’s a lot of water damage for one thing, but the real problem is they’re just not something I’m particularly familiar with, and Uncle Google has been no use at all. Anyway, I’ve done some research and our best bet is a Dr Jazmin Benedek. She’s a Hungarian archaeologist with some serious specialist skills in the Orpheus myth and the top bod in Europe on the subject. She works at the museum in Buda Castle on the Danube and from what I can tell she should be able to work this stuff out much quicker than I can using only online resources. Decryption is long and hard work.”

  “And there’s another reason we should contact her,” Lea sad. “If she really is the top academic authority on Orpheus it’s not going to take long for Dimitrov to track her down and send Kashala after her. They need a new archaeologist after what happened to the last one.”

  “She’s right,” Hawke said. “We have to assume Dimitrov will have photos of the lyre and its symbols. We all know Professor Parvanov isn’t going to be of much use to him anymore, so he’s going to be on the lookout for a new expert.”

  A brief silence fell over the room as the team remembered watching the wolves dragging a kicking and screaming Parvanov into the woods.

  “Plus,” Lea continued, “they’ll presume we’re going to take the lyre to her anyway so we need to get a move on and get there as fast as possible. Time is running out.”

  Camacho checked his watch and raised an eyebrow. “What’s the quickest way to get there?”

  Ryan was already on his laptop. “Eight hours by car.”

  “That’s no good.” Lea had also gone online on her phone. “That’s the main route into Hungary and has tolls, too. Don’t forget we’re on the run now. We’ll get picked up at the border for sure.”

  Hawke nodded. “We’ll take the main road until we get to the border and then break off and go in on a country lane. Both countries are in the EU so the border won’t be manned at every single country track. Then we get back on a main road and get into Budapest. How long for that?”

  Ryan tapped away at his laptop. “More like ten hours.”

  Hawke said, “Then we drive through the night and we’ll be there first thing in the morning. What are the chances of you being able to get hold of this Dr Benedek’s phone and warning her about Kashala?”

  Ryan shrugged. “Not great, but I can give it a try. Her office phone would be straight-forward – just a matter of looking her up on the museum website, but it’s way too late for her to be at work. I doubt her personal number is online for just anyone to find.”

  Camacho landed a hefty slap on the young man’s back and nearly knocked him off the side of the desk. “But you’re not just anyone, are you?”

  “All I can do is try my best,” Ryan said.

  Hawke cracked a mineral water and fell down on the bed beside Scarlet. After a few wolf-whistles and giggles, he said, “Anything we need to be aware of in Budapest?”

  Ryan shook his head as he closed the laptop. “Some anti-government protests have been rumbling on for a few days but nothing that need concern us. We should be in and out in a few hours.”

  “In that case let’s get cleaned up and ready to hit the road. This Dr Benedek’s life is in danger.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Hungary

  The historical home of Hungarian kings for centuries, Buda Castle had occupied its position on the banks of the Danube since 1265. Today, the grand baroque vision that loomed over the famous river was much newer, constructed in the late eighteenth century. As they approached it, the team were impressed by the vast and ornate complex and the green copper domes sparkling in the sunshine.

  The security at the castle’s museum was lighter than they had expected, especially compared with most public buildings in Western Europe and the States. It was also busier than any of them had reckoned on and as they made their way through the meandering crowds of visitors, Lea gave a silent prayer that King Kashala hadn’t yet managed to locate Dr Benedek for Dimitrov.

  After a long drive through the night they were finally able to get through to her personal assistant here at the museum. Thanks to the short phone conversation, they knew she was safe as of half an hour ago but they all understood how fast the future could come at you when a man like Kashala was on the warpath.

  With Camacho and Zeke waiting back in the hire cars and Lexi sent around to the staff parking lot in case the Blood Crew turned up there, they followed the signs until they reached the section where Benedek’s office was situated. Here, Hawke posted Scarlet, Reaper, Nikolai and Kamala at the end of the staff corridor with orders to keep an eye out for any sign of approaching trouble. Then, he, L
ea and Ryan walked down to the professor’s office and tapped softly on the door.

  “Got your translation head on, mate?” Hawke said.

  The young Londoner nodded reluctantly in reply. “But I hope her English is better than my Hungarian. When a voice sounded from inside the office, he added, “She says come in.”

  They stepped inside and the professor rose from her chair. Hawke was surprised by how young she was, especially considering her long list of publications and achievements, and when she spoke, it was in flawless English. “You’re the people who phoned about the Orpheus lyre earlier today?”

  “You speak English?”

  “Of course. Now, are you the people who phoned my PA this morning?”

  Ryan breathed a sigh of relief. “We are.”

  Jazmin raised an eyebrow. “She said you were archaeologists. You don’t look much like archaeologists to me.”

  Hawke raised his palms. “Maybe archaeologists was a slight exaggeration, but we work in the vague vicinity.”

  “Treasure hunters or thieves?” Jazmin asked, reaching for her phone. “And should I be nervous?”

  “You could say that,” Lea said. “But not because of us.”

  The Hungarian woman’s eyes danced momentarily over the hessian sack Hawke held in his hands. “I don’t understand… is that the lyre?”

  Lea nodded. “Yes, it is, but we can’t talk about it here. We think you could be in danger.”

  “So you told my PA on the phone, but as you can see I am in perfectly good health.”

  Hawke gave Jazmin Benedek the sack and she gently pulled out the lyre. As she extracted it from the sack, she handled it as if she were holding a newborn baby. “If this is authentic, we have in our presence one of the greatest discoveries of our lifetime.”

  Lea looked at the professor with expectant eyes. “And is it?”

  Jazmin’s eyes were fixed on the ancient instrument as she turned it over in her hands. “I think it really could be, but I must have more time to make my assessment. Forging such a thing wouldn’t be the hardest thing in the world to do.”