Theatre of War (Matt Drake 28) Tenth Anniversary Novel

by David Leadbeater

  Drake knew what he was doing. Trying to get someone to let them in. The platform passed the seventh floor. Time was running out.

  Sutherland gripped the rails harder. “They’re here,” he said through tight lips.

  Drake saw them. Eight faces, indistinct at this distance, but clearly surprised and then maliciously pleased. When several of them grinned, Drake met Dahl’s eyes. “We’re in trouble here, mate.”

  “Use your bar.”

  “What? You want me to throw it at them? Can’t see it making that big a difference to be honest.”

  “On a window, dickhead. Break it.”

  Kenzie hammered at a pane of glass. The bar scratched its surface, taking off a flake but doing very little damage. “This thing go any faster?” she asked sarcastically.

  Drake, eyes above, swallowed hard. “Why haven’t they fired? We’re sitting bloody ducks out here.”

  The sixth floor passed them by.

  Seconds later an object looped out from the top of the building. Drake had a moment to watch as the mercs crowded eagerly at the edge to watch before realizing exactly what was about to happen.

  “Down,” he shouted.

  They’d lobbed a grenade toward the platform. They were laughing and whooping up there, impatiently awaiting the outcome.

  Drake hit the wooden planking just as the grenade exploded. Windows shattered. The blast rocked the cradle outward to its limits and then let it loose. The platform slammed back into the side of the building, rocking from side to side. Drake held on using the gaps between the planks. The others gripped the railings. Kenzie’s legs slipped between the upright bars, but she managed to scrabble around for a better grip and pull herself back onto the platform.

  Amazingly, intact, it continued to glide down the side of the building.

  Drake rolled onto his back, staring up at the sky. Eight heads still peered over the edge of the building as another pineapple-shaped object fell their way.

  “Cover!” he cried, knowing there was none, knowing that even a close hit would destroy the platform or the cables attaching it to the building. Speaking of that, Drake could now see more mercs gathering around the mechanism up top that kept the cables turning. Wincing, he turned away from another grenade plunging straight toward them.

  And then Dahl’s boots landed close to his head.

  “Bar!” he cried out.

  Drake didn’t think, just threw the iron bar upward. Dahl caught it and swung it in the same motion. The bar hit the grenade like a baseball bat striking a ball for a home run. The satisfying crunch of bar hitting bomb was topped only by the sight of the object swirling away at a thirty-degree angle toward the ground.

  “Striiiii—” Dahl began.

  The grenade exploded. A massive blast of sound and air washed over them, this time lifting the cradle into the air so that its cables went slack, and then letting go to crash back down against its moorings. Drake clung on. Dahl staggered into the railings, bending them outward at an alarming angle but holding on.

  The force of the blast shattered windows below.

  The platform, resisting all attempts to destroy it, partly due to the mercenary’s appalling aim, continued downward.

  Drake rose to his knees, still looking up, as rifle barrels were pointed at them.

  “Think you can deflect the bullets?” he asked Dahl.

  But the Swede didn’t answer, already concentrating on something else. A second later he stopped the platform.

  Drake saw a jagged, car-size hole had been blasted into the row of windows they were alongside. Kenzie leapt inside the building. Drake waited for the others before jumping inside himself, hitting a wooden floor and rolling before leaping to his feet. The office was open-plan, airy, and empty.

  Seconds later, the mercs opened fire, a storm of bullets clattering and crashing into the cradle, tearing splinters from the wooden planking making up its floor.

  Drake raced for the stairs.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Hayden dashed back inside the room. Together, she, Kinimaka, Cam and Shaw hurried to the opposite end of the safehouse and the largest window. Cam and Shaw both carried discarded shotguns, each with four shots remaining.

  Hayden opened the window. A cool breeze rushed inside. The rear of the apartment block was a sheer block face, but years of neglect had allowed foliage, trees and wild branches to grow next to the building and blend in with the immediate surrounding area.

  Hayden climbed onto the windowsill, reached out and grabbed hold of a branch.

  “Is that gonna hold me?” Kinimaka asked.

  Hayden stepped out, heart in mouth. “It’s thick and sturdy. You wanna go first?”

  “No. I’ll watch your backs.”

  Hayden shimmied along the branch, holding tight with her thighs, until she reached the thick trunk. Behind her, Shaw and then Cam followed. Kinimaka waited until they’d all grabbed other timber appendages before venturing out of the window. Gingerly, he balanced on the tree limb and then started to crawl across.

  Behind him, the door to the apartment crashed in once more.

  Kinimaka flinched. The branch cracked. The whole thing skewed downward and Kinimaka saw the next few seconds flash before his eyes. Three floors, straight down, through tangled foliage. It was going to be bad.

  He yelled out, grabbing for purchase. The branch snapped off. Twigs and leaves slapped him in the face. His body rolled. He hit another large branch, lost momentum, and then fell off, still grasping at thin air.

  Above, the mercenaries poked their heads out the window.

  Cam and Shaw were ready, and immediately fired. Two mercs flew back into the apartment, hit. Two more ducked down. Cam and Shaw moved position.

  Hayden was descending as fast as she could in pursuit of Kinimaka.

  The Hawaiian hit another branch and grabbed hold. Again, it arrested his fall, but his questing fingers just couldn’t get enough purchase. They slipped.

  He fell again, crushing foliage as he went. A branch jabbed his thigh, drawing blood. Another whipped his cheek like a smartly swung crop. A solid tree limb caught him just three feet from the ground.

  Groaning, Kinimaka deliberately rolled off. “I’d rather have hit soft grass,” he whispered, landing with a gentle bump on a bed of foliage that had taken years to form.

  Ten seconds later, Hayden’s figure filled his eyeline. “You okay?”

  “After this is over, I’m going to return and cut this goddamn tree down. I’m pretty sure it whacked me from branch to branch just for fun.”

  Two more booming shots were discharged from Cam and Shaw’s guns. The brickwork around the safehouse window exploded and another man yelled out in pain. Seconds later the pair landed surefootedly beside Mano.

  “Move.” Hayden helped Kinimaka to his feet with a grunt. “Clearly, we’re compromised. We have to warn Drake and the others and find somewhere completely off the grid.”

  “Hope you’ve got a place in mind.” Kinimaka winced as bruises made themselves felt. “These guys aren’t gonna give up.”

  “I have an idea,” Hayden said. “I just hope it’s still free.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  Mai decided big, loud and angry was the way to go.

  With so many female prisoners, so many corrupt guards, and such a slim timeline, there really was only one option. A prison break could happen in a number of ways but, with help only from the outside, she had no choice.

  Riot.

  She waited until lunchtime so that the inmates were out of their cells, the internal doors and gates were open, and the way to Zuki’s cell was clear. Before being locked up, she’d agreed with Alicia and Bryant that—if they didn’t hear from her beforehand—they would unleash their distraction just after midday on the second day.

  First, they had enlisted Dai Hibiki’s help in finding a competent hacker who could take down the prison’s security systems. That man struck at 12:04. Sixty seconds later, Alicia and Bryant detonated low-yield explo
sives outside the rear wall, beyond the security fencing. The sound of the detonation was clear inside the prison and sent the guards into turmoil.

  The cell doors—even the special ones like Zuki’s—all opened, fire alarms wailed, and all the outer security measures kept failing and coming back online every thirty seconds. The sprinkler system exploded into action, smoke alarms went off, and all the lights flashed.

  Mai, aware the military would be alerted about unrest at Shin Kudo, raced out of the yard, through the common room, and back toward Zuki’s cell. There was no sign of any guards.

  Inmates milled in singles and in groups, some who’d not seen the light of day in years taking a dazed walk. The atmosphere was wary and tense.

  And loud. The alarms were shrieking now.

  Ahead, Zuki’s cell appeared. The royal princess was standing in the opening, leaning nonchalantly against the wall. “I thought this might be your doing.”

  Mai felt her lips tighten. She wasn’t quite sure what to say to this privileged piece of shit but wanted her motivations to be absolutely clear. “We get you out. You tell us everything you know. If you don’t, or I think you’re lying, I throw you right back in here. Deal?”

  Zuki nodded. “I wish I had someone like you when I was searching for the treasures. When I was fighting against the other royal families. Maybe, when I rule again, I’ll keep you as a foot slave.”

  Mai stopped what she was doing and turned for a moment. “Did this place not give you a dose of reality? You saw some of what was going on.”

  “I am above all that. The old royals, the true royals, do not concern themselves with such pettiness. It is so far beneath our station as to be insignificant. Let the peasants rip themselves apart. The royals will always rule from afar.”

  Mai grabbed her arm and led her away from the cell, along the main aisle toward the common room.

  Three minutes later, they skirted a group of laughing, jeering inmates. Mai could see a figure lying prone at their center, a trickle of blood running along the stone floor. A sense of morality struck her, making her slow.

  Zuki kept going. “We will not have long. There’s no time to waste.”

  But Mai couldn’t leave a guard to the mercy of these prisoners. Using an elbow, she pushed her way into the crowd, only to stop when she got a look at the man lying on the floor.

  One of the guards who’d propositioned her.

  Now that was an entirely different situation.

  You reap what you sow, Mai thought. Karma had come knocking for this guy, and she—because to Mai’s mind at this moment Karma was definitely a she—was out for some good, old-fashioned vengeance.

  Mai turned away, caught up with Zuki, and never looked back. Together, they flew along narrow passageways that had previously been gated. Mai saw guards and prison personnel cowering in some of the rooms, barricaded behind their own desks and file cabinets, and felt a jab of guilt. Most of these people were just doing their jobs. They didn’t deserve this.

  Zuki ran ahead, looking neither left nor right, seeing nothing and nobody. Mai wondered what it took to be so aloof and uncaring, so utterly beyond human morality.

  Still, the alarms blared, and lights strobed. Ahead, the final gate stood open, leading to a lobby where visitors were processed. Mai saw a group of guards gathered there, probably for their own protection and to wait for reinforcements. She shouted at Zuki to wait, to slow, but the princess either didn’t hear her or didn’t care.

  Zuki flew at them, screeching. The guards stared in alarm. Some had batons, others Tasers, and Mai was alarmed to see at least two with guns. Primarily though, she was shocked to see Zuki carve her way through the guards.

  Kicking, punching, spinning, dropping low and then rising up, the royal brat exhibited a stunning technique, clearly honed through years of hard practice. The kind of fighting skills she showed—it couldn’t be taught. It was instinctive, innate. Mai realized that if she concentrated on the men with guns, Zuki would take care of the rest.

  She smashed into the first with a shoulder barge, sending him staggering back into a low desk and tumbling over it. She spun on the spot, smashing a high kick into the other’s face. The man staggered, losing his balance. Mai was careful to relieve him of the gun and knock him unconscious so that he would fully recover and then turned back to the first shooter who was picking himself up off the floor, still holding his weapon.

  He raised it. Mai threw her handgun at his face, where it connected solidly with his temple. The man collapsed, stunned.

  Mai whirled again and saw Zuki laying out figures left and right. As soon as she was able, she grabbed the woman’s arms and steered her toward the door.

  “Who the hell are you, fresh meat?”

  The voice, female, came from their backs. Mai turned to see Yuna, the mountain of corpulent muscle that had greeted her in the yard yesterday, standing in the doorway with her arms crossed. One of the discarded guns lay close to her right foot, so close that Mai might not be able to reach it before Yuna could bend down and scoop it up.

  “A diversion,” Mai said. “To give you a break from normality. Embrace it.”

  “I’d like to embrace you.”

  Mai shifted carefully, ready for anything. “You don’t want to slow us down.”

  Yuna chewed her gums in speculation. “I don’t? You know me better than I know myself? Tell me what I’m thinking right now.”

  Yuna licked her lips. Mai ignored the uncomfortable shudder running along her spine. Their window of escape was closing fast. Already, Mai could imagine Alicia chomping at the bit, waiting as close to the front gate as she dared.

  They weren’t out of this yet. Other inmates were approaching behind Yuna, some armed with Tasers, chair legs and other makeshift weapons. The guards were starting to recover. Mai had just a few seconds to make a decision.

  The exit door was behind her, the landscaped arrival area and parking lot beyond it. Mai struggled to choose between Zuki, Yuna and the guards’ safety.

  But her mission objective overruled everything. Zuki held the key to America’s survival and, after that, the fate of the rest of the world.

  “I’ll come back for you,” she told Yuna.

  “I’ll be waiting.” Yuna blew her a kiss.

  Mai turned, shoved Zuki out the door, and ran. There was a commotion at her back, but she didn’t have time to check what was happening. Ahead, the landscaped gardens forming the front and public view of the prison ended at a sixteen-foot-high, galvanized-steel gate topped with barbed wire. The gate stood open, the way through clear, but the guard towers to both sides appeared to be manned. Mai could see shadowy figures behind the glass up there staring down at her.

  Running was about as risky as things could get. The guards would be armed. Mai slowed and looked around for a car.

  Zuki gestured at her. “What’s next?”

  “Nothing,” Mai muttered. “It was a rushed plan. The guard towers didn’t really figure.”

  Zuki glared. “Then you are useless to me. I will leave you here.”

  “Hey, you’re going nowhere.” Mai was examining the guard towers. “We have a deal. Renege on that and I’ll kill you where you stand.”

  Had Alicia and Bryant neutralized the towers? Perhaps they’d thought of it after all. Mai’s instinct was to trust them, to stick to the original plan. Behind, Yuna was leading a charge out of the prison. Still, above, the figures behind the tower doors only stared.

  “Move.”

  She pushed Zuki ahead and broke into a run. They passed through the first gate, along a wide patch of no-man’s-land, then exited the final gate. A long, dusty road stretched both ways. Empty. Mai studied both horizons.

  “Now what?” Zuki asked.

  “Now? You’ll tell me everything you know about the Devil’s plan to destroy the United States. And I mean everything. If I think you’re telling me the truth, you go free. If not...” Mai let her threat hang in the air like an arrow aimed at her enemy’
s heart.

  “I honor my deals,” Zuki said with spite and passion in her voice. “But believe me when I say this—there are certain people working at Shin Kudo who will receive my future attentions.”

  Mai eyed the massive structure at their back. “I can live with that.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Oddly, the sight of Alicia Myles lifted Mai’s spirits through the roof.

  It was a strange feeling and one Mai longed to forget. But when Alicia and Bryant appeared driving along the road, collected them and then roared off, Mai was able to relax for the first time in days.

  The journey took forty minutes. Alicia and Bryant had prepared a safehouse, all ready for Zuki’s arrival, which further enervated Mai. By the time they arrived, night was falling, and Mai was ready to unwind after two hard days in prison, but the danger and the revelations were only just beginning.

  Bryant took her aside as they passed through the side door of a warehouse, allowing Alicia to lead Zuki into the dim, dusty interior.

  “Are you okay? I was worried.”

  “Keep that to yourself. We have work to do.”

  Mai made to walk past, but Bryant placed a hand on her shoulder. “I am sorry you had to go through that.”

  Mai patted his hand and then removed it. “Later, Bryant. Drake and the others need to hear what Zuki has to say right now.”

  Alicia took Zuki to a desk they’d dragged into the center of the warehouse. On the desk was a computer monitor around which sat four chairs. There were bottles of water, energy bars and a brand-new set of handcuffs.

  Alicia nudged Zuki. “We gonna need those?”

  “I will tell you everything and then you will free me. That is the deal.”

  Alicia patted the gun at her waist. “Any funny business and I’ll air condition you. Got it?”

  Zuki didn’t reply.

  Alicia pushed her down into a chair facing the computer screen.

  Mai was happy to let Alicia take responsibility for a while, grabbing herself a bottle of water and two energy bars. As she ate, Bryant circled the table, clearly frustrated and fraught.