The Matt Drake Series Books: 7-9 (The Matt Drake Series Boxset 2)

by David Leadbeater

  Russo groaned as Alicia let out a bawdy laugh.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  By the time Drake and the team boarded a fast jet, Armand Argento was almost ready to offer a theory. Karin took her time ensuring the communications were sound and secure, but before the jet hit thirty thousand feet they were ready. Alicia’s crew were waiting for a “very important person” to whisk them from Paris to Greece, but wouldn’t elaborate beyond that.

  Drake completed a weapons’ check with Dahl. This was the first mission he could remember where the majority of the world’s governments were behind them, supporting them, and their cooperation made a huge difference. The jet was already skimming across the airways, a priority status; Hayden kept the many interested parties apprised whilst Argento mapped out his plan.

  “If we imagine this cave as a subterranean bunker, which is essentially what it is, contained, self-sufficient, then it will have no open or easily accessible doors. No windows. But it must have air vents, do you see? Exhaust vents. More—it must have power cables and even more topside connections. Otherwise the mad scientists—they would die.”

  Dahl smiled and caught Drake’s eye. Kinimaka grinned at them. “This guy’s a real riot, eh?”

  Drake ignored them, watching Mai. Seated beside Yorgi for the trip and behind Smyth and Lauren, the Japanese woman was barely in the game, no doubt ruminating on her situation and the welfare of Grace, whom they had left behind in London. The gulf between them had only widened since the Pythians upped the stakes, and now he could see no easy way across until Mai faced and destroyed her newly risen demons. The rest of the team was buoyant, reinvigorated by the emergence of the fresh lead, but anxious as ever that it may have come too late.

  Argento went on, “So we have all these telltale indicators, yes? Through satellite navigation we can scan the detail of the area and find them. We are using the satellites as we speak. As you say, Olympus is a large area and we’re having to double up because of the surrounding sites, but we will have success. I’m sure of it.”

  Dahl leaned over to Drake. “Satellites,” he said. “We have them now.”

  “How far out from Greece are we?”

  “From landing? Two hours. Alicia’s team should get there about the same time if their mystery guest ever turns up. Karin is trying to find a nearby landing strip.” He gestured at the blond girl working away on a laptop. “Or at least a long patch of flat ground we can land on.” The Swede chortled.

  Argento came back on line. “We’re searching for suspicious shadows, mesh, imaginary borders. Camouflage netting. Pipes. Trails. Even brief heat signatures if we’re lucky, as from a man slipping out for a cigarette. They cannot escape us.”

  Drake’s face turned grim. He was more than ready to bring war to the place where these bastards lived.

  *

  Alicia experienced her second utterly surreal moment in as many weeks at the sight of the famous movie star, Reece Carrera, standing at the top of the steps that led to his private plane. The man’s smile shone like a stadium floodlight and his warm, welcoming voice melted away all her concerns. This really was the best way to travel.

  “Unfortunately,” Crouch commented as they mounted the steps. “We now owe Mr. Carrera, as his last favor was the only one he owed. Still, I can think of no faster or more clandestine way to travel at short notice.”

  “Lucky he was in the area,” Healey said, cinching his jacket tighter.

  “Yeah, he has homes in Paris, London, Vegas and LA,” Crouch said. “All the trouble hotspots. When I first learned of the targeted cities I put him on standby.”

  Alicia shook her head at their boss. “Man, you’re fuckin’ awesome. I’d love to be able to put a movie star on standby.”

  As they reached the top of the stairs Carrera backed away and allowed them access to the luxurious cabin. The first time she had met this man even Alicia experienced a passable sense of awe. This second time however, she was past all that.

  “So Reecey, we got about two hours to Greece. What you wanna do? You ever done it with a soldier girl before?”

  Carrera backed away to give her plenty of room. “Ah, I do have a girlfriend, Miss Myles. Otherwise . . .”

  Alicia slapped him playfully on the bicep. It was like hitting a punch bag filled with lead. “Ach, naughty. I meant what we gonna cook together? You do like cooking, right? That’s pretty much all you ever talk about.”

  She flounced past, heading to the onboard kitchen as if she owned the place.

  Russo came next. “You’ll get used to her, Mr. Carrera. Some say she’s a bitch. Me? I’m undecided.”

  Alicia heard Crouch muttering some apology, but once Caitlyn was inside and the door was shut Carrera headed straight to the kitchen.

  As she’d expected.

  “So, you like cooking?” Carrera grinned.

  “I like lots of things, Reecey. Some involve knives, others forks and spoons. I’m a forward thinking kinda girl. Always ready for the next adventure.”

  Carrera nodded as he washed his hands. Alicia couldn’t help but notice their size. The man could do great damage with those things, especially since he worked out at a gym five times a week. Strong hands, capable hands, she thought. Makes a girl feel all secure. Only one man in her life had accomplished that before, and only for a short time.

  “You like linguini?” Carrera asked. “I make a spice medley all of my own. Makes it taste—” he kissed his fingers. “Fantastico!”

  “Ya got corned beef hash?”

  At that moment the pilot’s voice came over the intercom, asking for seats to be taken prior to take-off. Carrera’s odd look transformed immediately into another smile and he turned away. Alicia followed him, allowing her eyes to travel downward as he walked.

  Russo watched her from the nearest window seat. “Having fun?”

  Alicia plonked herself down beside him. “Got any ice cubes? I need to cool down.”

  “You’ll have your hands full soon enough,” Russo said with a touch of irony. “Soon as we land we’re at war.”

  “Have they found something?”

  Russo nodded at Caitlyn. “She’s still tuned into the feed between Argento and SPEAR. All that bollocks about steam vents and electrical cables appears to have paid off. There’s a hidden underground bunker or cave just on the fringes of the national park.”

  “Defended?”

  “Well, not obviously but I’d say yeah. It’s close to the only main road in the region. They might also have camouflaged choppers that we can’t see and God knows what else. But we have the two best teams in the world, right?”

  Alicia shrugged. “Maybe. If we swop you for that Agent Collins in LA, I’d feel better.”

  “Piss off. Damn, you’re a confusing one. You run from one team to the next. Even a biker group. One boss to the next. And there’s always a . . . um, romantic angle. Somebody to be with. Then there’s the question of girls or boys—which is it that you like?”

  “You asking for yourself or Caitlyn?” Alicia asked lightly.

  “Maybe I’m asking and hoping for a serious answer.”

  Alicia wasn’t ready for this. Not yet. What surprised her though was where the support came from—Russo. Big, strong, able to take the knocks. A support platform she could abuse endlessly when the time came to vent, to take back her life.

  If it ever came.

  “All right, Russo. You want serious? How about this . . . now isn’t the time. When the time is right and if you’re around I’ll tell you. I’ll use you. How’s that?”

  “Good enough.”

  The two sat in stony silence for a while as the jet climbed. In truth, Alicia wasn’t sure she even wanted somebody to help divert the course of her life. Maybe she would just die alone and skip all the pain of revelation. She’d made it this far.

  Caitlyn turned around then. “They’ve pinpointed a location,” she said. “We’ll land in Larissa and then chopper in with the Greek Army and Special Forces. No holds
barred, guys. If this is their weaponization factory it has to be wiped off the map.”

  “No way of planning a stealth attack?” Healey asked.

  “We have to assume they have an early warning system. Pressure plates, infra-red, whatever. We know Dudley at least is top-notch. The feeling is that the best assault is a blitz, and with the choppers they should only get five minutes warning.”

  Alicia noticed as Caitlyn allowed her eyes to lock onto Healey’s for a moment, communicating a private message. The pair hadn’t yet managed that date and for that matter, Caitlyn herself still struggled to find a way through the pall cast by her recent past. Damn, our team’s even more fucked up than Drake’s.

  Then she turned her attention to the job at hand, ignoring Reece Carrera’s questioning glance, and prepared her brain for hard battle.

  There would be time enough later to set everyone’s problems to rights.

  CHAPTER THIRTY ONE

  Drake cooled his heels on the tarmacked runway as Alicia’s jet came in to land. The SPEAR team had only emerged into a fresh morning fifteen minutes ago and thought it beneficial to wait for the world-class backup. Truth be told, he was looking forward to seeing his old sparring partner again. In the past the miles between them could never have been enough, but lately that was far from the case. Even Mai had grown to accept the turbulent, passionate heroine though Drake wouldn’t like to test that theory right now.

  The SPEAR team were going in fully manned. Yorgi and Lauren would remain aboard the choppers, but were still an active part of the operation. The greater the number of people that monitored a mission’s comms the larger the amount of information could be gleaned from them.

  The jet taxied around. The pilot barely had time to apply the brakes before Alicia opened the door and bounded down the hastily attached steps, a deadly, playful puppy with blond hair and a penchant for violence. Drake couldn’t be sure but he thought her eyes were searching for him, only him, because when they locked on a light illuminated inside them.

  “Drakey!”

  She came up to him, pushing Kinimaka aside with a mock angry face, and just stood there. “Been a while.”

  “Not really, love. Three or four weeks, max. Ya missed me?”

  “Like the modern age misses Attila the Hun, baby.”

  Drake snorted. “Oh, so put you together with a wannabe historian and an archaeological treasure hunter for three weeks and you’re suddenly a soothsayer? Should have done it years ago.”

  Hayden pushed by them as Crouch walked up. The pair shook hands, and then both teams were rapidly introduced. Drake had imagined a more momentous meeting place for two of the world’s most respected teams, but perhaps their first battle together would be more significant—on the slopes of Mount Olympus.

  “We all set?” Crouch’s voice broke through the din of soldiers familiarizing themselves with new comrades they would soon fight alongside. “Anything changed?”

  Karin broke free from Healey, the young man’s exuberance written all over his face. “No adjustments to the plan. We’re ready to go.”

  The large team strode over toward the waiting choppers, squatting like black prehistoric birds on the runway, their rotors already turning. Five in total, two had been reserved for the new arrivals.

  Alicia stopped with her foot on the skids. “Damn, two of you are gonna have to join us. Um, Torsty, would you mind?” With a flourish she maneuvered him onto their bird. “Drake?”

  Mai was already there, giving Alicia the eye. “Thought I’d get to know your team. Do they know about the Taz moniker?”

  Alicia rolled her eyes. Drake grabbed a seat in the other chopper and held on as all five birds rose and then swooped fast toward their destination. He made ready, having lost count of the many times he had done this in the past, never knowing the outcome or even more than basic details of the actual assault plan. But it never fazed him, and it never got old. Times like these were when he felt more alive, closer to death but brimming with vitality and life, sat beside his friends as they attempted to save the world once more.

  “Ten minutes to target.” The pilot’s voice broke his reverie.

  “Don’t worry,” he said in acknowledgement of Lauren and Yorgi’s apprehensive faces. “This is where we make the Pythians pay for all their atrocities. This is where we end them.”

  “Five minutes.”

  Rolling gusts buffeted the chopper as it pounced out of the skies, swinging down toward the fast-moving landscape below. Hugging tree tops, diving into valleys, twisting left and right through hills and approaching the great mountain, it followed its twin into battle. Drake watched the navigation module flash until they were practically on top of their target but below, he saw nothing.

  A moment later, everything changed.

  The tell-tale streak of a rocket-propelled grenade shot from the scenery below, straight into the front end of Alicia’s chopper. Drake caught his breath, knowing who was aboard in addition to the members of Crouch’s team. The bird dipped fast, fire raging from its cockpit. Drake’s pilot acted on instinct, following the chopper down. Another RPG flashed upward, this one shooting wide of the mark. As Alicia’s chopper neared the ground it leveled slightly, black clad figures crowded the doors and the skids and then leaped off, rolling to the ground below. Flames still covered its front end. Then, as more figures leaped free, the bird lunged back up, still in control.

  Nice maneuver, Drake thought. The pilot had used the grenade strike to fool its shooter into thinking that they were out of the game, landing his team safely and then dipping away. First class. How would their own pilot fare?

  All lights turned green. Men shouted and moved to the doors. Drake watched as another bird hovered beside them, its chain gun hammering bullets into their assailants below. Hayden and Kinimaka jumped, then Smyth, Komodo and Karin. Drake went last, with a final look toward Lauren and Yorgi.

  “Stay safe.”

  “You too.”

  The ground came up hard. Rolling, he was fast on his feet, gun up. The grenade launcher was down, riddled with bullets. He ducked as a shot whickered by, a bullet from a sniper’s rifle. Dahl, several feet ahead, sent a hail of gunfire in his direction, ensuring he wasn’t heard from again.

  “We got an entrance yet?” Drake asked through the comms.

  “Following a trail,” Alicia came back. “Where the hell you been?”

  “Scenic tour.”

  Drake followed his companions among the slopes, the green underfoot giving way to jagged rock then turning back to green. Dense bushes blanketed the area. Mountain fissures and small ravines cut to left and right. Ahead, their vision was filled by a gigantic, gray rock face, rising to enormous heights and painted whiter with snow as it climbed. Drake couldn’t tell which mountain was the actual Olympus peak but it was up there somewhere, the seat of the gods.

  All those tombs we found. But nothing here? It occurred to him then for the first time that, yes, they had found a chain of three tombs—stretched between Iceland, Hawaii and Germany—but what if there were more? Another chain? A different myth. Instead of the Vikings, something even older? Prehistoric man. Whoever lived and breathed and died in all those lost kingdoms. It was said that satellite images proved that the so-called cataclysms which destroyed ancient kingdoms such as Atlantis and Mu had not happened—the earth’s crust’s tectonic plates revealed no signs of such significant upheavals, but definitive truths and answers rolled like waves and changed like the tides. The world was once believed to be flat. Nobody believed we could walk in space, land a rocket on an asteroid and that there was life on Mars.

  Now . . .

  Today’s definitive truths are tomorrow’s sorry mistakes. History proves this. Drake threw the deluge of notions aside as more gunfire broke out ahead.

  Alicia threw herself below the rising curve of a deep ravine. Bullets skipped off the top, rocketing toward nowhere. Drake landed near her boots, rolling in. Dahl was behind him and Mai was to their right.<
br />
  “Four o’clock,” the Japanese woman said. “Armed mercs protecting a doorway.”

  “Use a grenade,” Hayden said over the airwaves. “These assholes will have an escape route and no mistake. Time is against us.”

  Alicia quickly complied. Drake had almost protested, wondering if the blast might block the entry but then realized such frivolities didn’t matter. Moving forward was everything. An explosion brought screams and then a sudden silence. Drake peeked his head out.

  “Clear.”

  They ran, followed closely now by Hayden and Kinimaka, Smyth, Komodo and Karin. Alongside them came Crouch and his team. Drake helped drag the bodies from a small entrance, draped with dark netting. The tunnel inside was dimly lit, a gantry of low wattage spotlights attached to the roof. The team pounded along it as the Greek soldiers crowded at their back. Rock walls narrowed and widened.

  “This place will be purely makeshift,” Hayden’s voice whispered. “Temporary. They haven’t had time to establish anything permanent yet, so take it down hard and fast.”

  A pool of light irradiated the walls ahead, spilling from a wider space. Alicia ducked and dived into a niche as gunfire roared in the confined space. Drake joined her, firing back blindly.

  “No grenades down here,” Hayden’s worried voice whispered through the comms. “We don’t know what chemicals they’re mixing.”

  Alicia shook her head. “What does she think, I’m stupid?”

  Drake snuck an eye around the corner. “You can’t help the way you look, Myles.”

  “Ah, so you’ve grown a bit cocky since I left, eh? No one to keep you in check. We’ll have to find a way to fix that.”

  Drake placed a hand on her shoulder and gripped softly. “Truth? I’ve missed you, Alicia. Who would have guessed it?”

  “And how’s the lady friend?” The Englishwoman motioned at Mai on the other side of the tunnel. “Seems a bit . . . uptight. More than usual.”

  “Long bloody story.”

  “I’ll settle for the gag reel.”