by Rob Jones
“And we’re armed with nothing but buttocks,” Lea said.
“Exactly.”
“No, we’re not.” Nikolai took the bag from his shoulder and unzipped it. “I stole these guns from their trucks.”
“A break at last,” Ryan said.
“I’ll see your break and raise you a major setback,” Camacho said. “Look down there at the main entrance to the cave.”
Hawke scanned the other half of the Blood Crew as they emerged into the night from the Cave of Zeus. All dripping wet, Kashala was in the lead, Kalashnikov casually shouldered and a pistol gripped by his right hand. Behind him, Demotte stepped out into the moonlight and stared up at the slope.
“Looks like only half of the Groovy Gang’s all present and correct,” Ryan said. “Mukendi and Crombez must be in the tunnel behind us.”
“What are Kashala and Demotte doing?” Lea asked.
Hawke watched carefully. “Looking for something in one of the trailers.”
“Like what?” Ryan asked.
Scarlet shook her head. “Why not go down and ask them?”
Hawke blinked but kept the binoculars fixed on the Congolese and Belgian mercs as they pulled a canvas tarp off the trailer. “I can’t make it out, but they want it really bad.”
“Demotte’s walking over to the other trailer,” Zeke said.
Lea sighed. “What the hell are they doing?”
Jazmin shuddered with fear. “This is madness.”
Hawke turned to the Russian. “Did you see anything when you got the guns?”
Nikolai shook his head apologetically. “No time, sorry.”
“We need to get out of here,” Kamala said. “They’re going to get through this wall any second and then…”
Her words were drowned out by the deep, heavy roar of a grenade explosion and half a ton of splintered sandstone blasting up into the air behind them.
Hawke looked her in the eye. “Too late,” he said with a grin. Throwing her one of the guns Nikolai stole, he said. “At least this time the fight’s a bit fairer.”
Out of the giant cloud of rock dust they saw the outlines of Mukendi and Crombez, each armed with a Kalashnikov. The mercs opened fire and began indiscriminately raking the slope with bullets.
The terrific force of the grenade explosion and the sudden onslaught had galvanized their resistance. The chaos of the dust and grenade smoke gave the ECHO team enough time to take cover behind the north ridge of the gully. Armed only with the handful of sidearms Nikolai had managed to steal from the trucks, they laid down some tactical fire and forced the mercs to take cover on the far side of the gully.
“We need to get down to those trucks,” Hawke called out. “And find out just what the hell Kashala’s up to.”
“I will go!” the Russian monk shouted.
Leaping to his feet, he began to climb up over the top of the rocks.
“No!” Hawke cried out. “It’s too dangerous.”
Mukendi saw his silhouette through the smoky moonlight and opened fire with his rifle.
Nikolai heard the crackle of the gunshots and tried to dive for cover, but it was too late.
The bullet ripped into his body and knocked him to the rocky ground.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
“Kolya!” Lea called out as the Russian crumpled to the ground, screaming in pain. Hitting the rocky slope, he let go of his gun and doubled over in agony. In an exposed position and with a gunshot wound, Hawke knew he had seconds before the mercs finished the kill.
“Cover me.”
“Are you crazy?” Kamala said. In the background, Reaper and Camacho were exchanging heavy gunfire with the mercs as they tried to get closer to Nikolai.
“Do it.”
Before she replied, he scrambled off the trench behind the gully rocks and crossed the battlefield. Skidding to a dusty halt beside the wounded man, he hefted him up over his shoulder and staggered to his feet. Above his head, he looked up to the top of the gully and saw his team unleashing hell on the mercs. Slowly, they were forcing them to retreat back to the cover of the freshly blasted tomb entrance.
He sprinted back up to the gully and dumped the Russian down into the dirt. “Where are you in pain?”
“I think it went into my shoulder.”
Lea scrambled over, bullets tracing over her head. Ripping the Russian’s hoodie and shirt off, the wounded man made a feeble attempt at a joke, but she ignored it. “There’s an exit wound,” she said to Hawke. “In and out.”
“Thank buggery for that.”
Lexi cried out. “Wait, there’s another vehicle approaching.”
Hawke looked down to the road and saw a black car at the head of a trail of dust. It pulled up beside the trucks and a man in a suit climbed out of the driver’s door. Walking around to the rear door, he opened it and Dimitrov stepped out into the night.
“What do you know?” Zeke said. “If it ain’t our Bulgarian mafia boss come to see his little map.”
Behind them, Lea wrapped a shred of the torn shirt around Nikolai’s wound. “Shame the King can’t give it to him then.”
“There are two other mercs with him,” Hawke said.
Reaper peered down as the mafia boss and his merc guard walked over to the cave. “The one in front is called Vizard. I know of him, but never worked with him. He and Crombez are old friends. The other may be called Lagarde, but I’m not sure.”
“Shooting’s gone quiet,” Camacho said.
“They must be out of ammo,” Hawke called over. “They had limited capacity in the waterproof bags when they swam through from the main entrance.”
“Wait,” Lexi said. “Anyone hear that noise?”
Ryan said, “Sounds like a motorbike.”
“It’s no motorbike,” Hawke said. “But it is a four-stroke engine.”
“Up there!” Lea said. “There’s something in the sky.”
Hawke shielded his eyes from the bright moon with his hand and tracked across the sky to where Lea was pointing. “I don’t believe it, it’s a fucking Skyrunner.”
“Eh?” Ryan asked.
“That’s what they were getting out of the sodding trailers,” Hawke said. “And Kashala is at the controls. It must be how they planned to escape after getting the map.”
Kamala followed the black silhouette in the sky. “What in the hot hell is a Skyrunner?”
“It’s supposed to be a light-sport aircraft, you know… for dare devils.”
He looked longingly at the aircraft. It was a military-grade off-road road vehicle capable of flight with the aid of a large parawing deployed behind it.
Lea gave him a look. “All right, but not until your birthday.”
“Thanks, but I can’t wait that long. We’re just sitting ducks while Kashala’s armed to the teeth and airborne. We have to get up there!”
“You really are crazy,” Kamala said.
As she spoke, Mukendi and Crombez sprinted down the slope back toward the trucks. Up in the Skyrunner, Kashala turned in their direction and started to bear down on them.
Hawke saw time was running out. “I’m making a dash for one of the other Skyrunners before anyone else gets there.”
He made it down the slope and was approaching the Skyrunner when Dimitrov, Vizard and Lagarde emerged from the cave. Lagarde saw Hawke, drew his combat knife and charged at him as the Englishman was trying to untether one of the Skyrunners from the back of the trailer.
Hawke saw him in the reflection of the aircraft and ducked just as the merc slashed the blade at his neck. The former commando spun around, punched him in the face and knocked the knife from his hand with a sharp wrist strike.
Vizard stumbled backwards and called out for backup.
Dimitrov and the other mercs were still near the cave, and now they turned to see a fight exploding between the two hardened military men.
Hawke ran to the knife, and reached out to its handle. With his fingers just a few millimetres away he was shoulder-barged roughly to the rocky
ground by Lagarde. His head struck the sloping earth and he fought to stay conscious as the merc pulled his head back and prepared to headbutt him in the face.
Then Lagarde’s head exploded in a cloud of bone fragments and a fine mist of blood. Shot through the head by a fatal shot, the Belgian mercenary tumbled off him and rolled down the slope until crashing into a boulder a dozen yards to the south.
Hawke stayed low, craning his neck and scanning the area to find the shooter. Chances were good they were on his side, but maybe it was one of Kashala’s men whose shot had been wide of the mark and the next bullet was coming his way.
Seeing Reaper with the smoking weapon he breathed a sigh of relief and yelled at him to provide cover fire. The Frenchman signaled that he understood and started dishing out some serious trouble with his submachine gun.
Hawke watched Dimitrov and the mercs dive for cover and seized the moment. He rolled down the slope toward the Skyrunner, sticking his leg out in front of him to act as a brake. Kicking up a trail of dust in his wake and ripping holes in his jeans, he reached the off-road vehicle and climbed up inside. A hail of bullets from Mukendi snaked up the side and pinged off the roll cage.
He turned the ignition and fired up the engine, ducking his head to evade another bullet as the engine turned over. He revved it and smashed his boot down on the throttle, sending the off-roader surging forward through the chaos and gun smoke.
He headed for the machinegun nest Kashala’s men were improvising near to the cave’s entrance, but changed his mind when he saw Mukendi. The Congolese merc had decided to make a break for another of the Skyrunners and was now dangerously exposed.
Spinning the wheel hard to the right, he brought the car around and headed straight for him. High velocity rounds whistled and whined and traced through the roll cage, missing him by a hair’s breadth as he swung the wheel and struggled to keep the Skyrunner level on the dangerously steep gradient.
The four-stroke twin cylinder engine growled as he raced over to Mukendi. The merc had almost reached the safety of the Skyrunner when Hawke felt his own vehicle swerve wildly out of control. Flicking his head around to the rear he saw a cloud of shredded rubber bursting out behind his Skyrunner. One of the mercs had taken out his left rear tire and now his vehicle was almost uncontrollable on the rocky slopes of Mount Ida.
All right, if you insist.
Turning to face down the slope, he floored the accelerator pedal right down to the metal and gained as much speed as he could.
“Joe!” Lea called out.
Hawke pushed a button on the dashboard and deployed the parawing. Seconds later a vast canopy of bright yellow ripstop polyester billowed out behind the Skyrunner and the entire vehicle lifted off the ground and started flying through the air. He cut the four-stroke and fired up the Rotax air engine, turning in the air as he did so.
Staggering toward his car, a panicked Dimitrov took another look at Mukendi, screamed at him to bring the situation under control and seize the map at all costs. When he piled into his car and spun around in the gravel parking lot, Mukendi set to work, padding over to the transport truck. Behind him, Demotte ran to one of the Skyrunners, determined to get into the air and join the dogfight.
“Dimitrov’s making a break for it!” Lea said.
“Yeah,” said Ryan. “But I’m more worried about what that crazy dude is going to pull out of the back of the truck.”
Scarlet wiped the dust from her eyes. “Joe’s on him – look!”
Lea looked into the sky and saw Hawke turning in a tight arc and heading straight for Mukendi. Standing legs apart and raising an automatic rifle into the air, the Belgian fired at him with zero fear. Up at the gully, Lea watched Hawke take evasive action but then Mukendi broke off the attack, turning instead on them.
Rounds snaked up the slope, spitting a line of gravel chips and dry sandstone dust up into the air as they raced toward their position.
“Take cover!” Lea yelled.
Reaper rolled into the cover of a boulder and wiped the dust from his eyes. Reloading his weapon, he shielded his eyes and watched Hawke turning the Skyrunner in the air for another run at Demotte, who was still trying to get airborne. Bearing down on him, he fired his Heckler and Koch submachine gun at the Congolese soldier and sent him scurrying away from the last Skyrunner. Emerging from a cloud of dust, he dived over the tailgate and disappeared inside one of the trucks.
Reaper didn’t like the prospect of what was about to come back out again, and his fears were confirmed when Mukendi and Demotte emerged from the truck. Demotte was holding some rocket grenades and Mukendi stood with a hefty Russian RPG over his shoulder. Standing beside the truck’s tailgate, he never flinched as he took aim at Hawke and fired the weapon.
The rocket spiralled through the air, flashing in the moonlight as it ripped a trail towards the Englishman’s Skyrunner.
“Oh God!” Lea cried out. “It’s going to hit him!”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
“And he’s not going to like that,” Ryan said.
Scarlet stared at him. “No kidding, Sherlock?”
“He’s in trouble, guys!” Lea said, her voice tight with fear.
Hawke pulled hard on the steering mechanism and twisted the canopy hard to the right as he struggled to evade the incoming rocket grenade. One direct hit and he would be dead before he hit the ground, but from a height of over a thousand feet that would be a mercy.
Turning to the right and gaining some altitude, he made it just in time. Reaper and the others breathed a sigh of relief as the grenade screeched past the Skyrunner and disappeared into the night at the head of a bubbling smoke trail.
“Close,” Reaper muttered.
Scarlet elbowed him in the ribs. “And Mukendi fancies another go – check it out.”
He looked over to the old Ural truck where Demotte was reloading another rocket grenade into the launcher. Mukendi hoisted it up over his broad shoulder and took aim, ready for a second shot.
“Not this time,” Ryan said. He lifted his pistol into the aim and fired on them. The rounds punched a line of holes in the canvas side of the transport truck and made the Congolese soldier swing around to find the source of the gunfire. Slowly a shit-eating grin appeared on his face as he aimed the RPG directly at them instead.
“I have a bad idea about this, mes amis.”
“Funny that,” Scarlet said. “Because that’s just what I was thinking.”
A white flash as the launcher fired the grenade and then a puff of smoke. Mukendi threw the weapon to the ground, pulled a pistol from his holster and made his own bid for the last Skyrunner.
Reaper, Scarlet and Ryan had other problems. The RPG thundered through the hot afternoon air directly on their position. Mukendi had been half a kilometer away, and that meant they had around a second and a half to react if they wanted to save their lives.
All three of them dived out of the crag and hit the dirt just as the grenade ploughed into the jumble of rocks and exploded. Rolling down the slope as fast as they could, each of them was pelted in a hot, sharp shower of rock splinters and gravel dust.
“Fuck it inside out!” Scarlet yelled as she tumbled down the slope, darting her arms and legs out to try and slow herself.
Reaper twisted around and slammed his hands down on the ground. Using them as brakes, he slowed himself in good time, but shredded his palms. As he came to a stop in the dusty dirt, he looked down at his ripped, bleeding skin and gave a Gallic shrug.
Ryan came tumbling to a stop a hundred yards below, and the Frenchman sprinted over to him. “Where’s Cairo?”
“I don’t know,” he muttered. “Unless there’s a bar around here, then I do know.”
Reaper desperately scanned the slope for any sign of her. “No bars, mon ami… and looks like the King is on Hawke’s tail.”
“I’m here,” Scarlet called out, clambering back to her feet and dusting herself off. “That was close.”
“I’ll say.�
�� Ryan rubbed the dust out of his bloodshot eyes and watched the final Skyrunner flying up in a wide arc and approaching his old friend’s six o’clock. The rest of the team gathered around him and looked into the sky with fear in their hearts. “He’s heading directly for Joe!”
Another shrug. “That’s Kashala’s funeral.”
“At least we have the codex,” Lexi said.
“The codex!” Ryan called out, desperately patting down his pockets. “I lost the codex in the explosion!”
Lea scanned the ground where they had been attacked by Mukendi. “I don’t see it.”
“There!” Reaper called out. “It’s blowing down the side of the mountain.”
They watched in horror and disbelief as Mukendi diverted from the Skyrunner and ran forward to the codex. Covered by Crombez, he snatched it up out of the dirt and retreated back to the trucks.
“We’re out of ammo and they’re getting away!” Lea turned in a circle and grasped her head with her hands. “Damn it!”
“Just relax,” Scarlet said. “We still have my pictures. The real problem is that now they have the same information we do.”
Above their heads, Hawke was firing on Dimitrov’s fleeing truck when he heard the whine of the other Skyrunner Rotax engine at his six o’clock. Twisting in the seat, he saw Kashala closing in on him. He couldn’t be sure, but it looked like he was trying to steer the parawing while holding a Kalashnikov in one of his hands.
“This guy just doesn’t get the message.”
Kashala fired on him. The rounds missed Hawke’s head by inches, but punched a neat line of holes in the side of the engine’s fuel line. As the precious liquid sprayed out into the air, Hawke knew the fight was over. Rapidly losing altitude, he steered the parawing to port and brought the Skyrunner back down to earth with a hefty smack.
The engine cut out completely seconds later and ramming the engine into neutral, he steered the vehicle down the slope toward his friends. As he pulled up beside them, they all watched the enemy a few miles away to the west. Mukendi had pulled the truck up at the side of the road and Kashala was landing the Skyrunner in the scrub beside it. Reunited, they took off in the same direction as Dimitrov, the codex safely in their possession.
