‘If he makes it there, he’ll be in the wind,’ Lopez warned.
‘He’s not getting away from us,’ Ethan said, checking his pistol before he tucked it away again beneath his shirt. ‘Christiano, are there any agency vessels down there?’
‘Nothing worth having,’ Rabinur replied as he swerved around a fast right–hander, the jeep rushing down into the small town and the docks ahead of them, glittering green water enclosed in a man–made bay and filled with boats.
‘I can’t see the cab anymore!’ Lopez said, even her keen eyes unable to track the vehicle as it disappeared into the myriad streets.
‘Ignore the cab,’ Ethan said, ‘just get to the docks. We can cut him off from there!’
Rabinur was about to agree when he spotted the vehicle. ‘There it is!’
He swerved across the oncoming traffic as the jeep’s tires squealed on the asphalt and he changed direction.
‘Get to the docks!’ Ethan insisted. ‘It’s the only way!’
‘I can catch him before he gets there,’ Rabinur insisted. ‘Trust me!’
Ethan remained silent as he saw the cab ahead, a battered old vehicle that looked perhaps Russian or maybe French as it clattered down a street, puffs of brown smoke coughing from its exhaust as the driver pushed the geriatric engine far harder than it was designed for.
Ethan gripped the door beside him as Rabinur yanked the wheel this way and that, the jeep’s engine screeching as it zoomed in behind the fleeing cab.
‘Holy crap, take it easy!’ Lopez yelled as the cab loomed before them.
Rabinur, his features twisted with grim determination, failed to hear her as he stomped on the accelerator and swerved out, pushing the front of the jeep alongside the rear of the battered old cab, and then he pulled back in hard.
A crash of metal clattered out above the combined roar from the two engines and Ethan held on for dear life as the cab’s rear wheels spun out and the vehicle shot to the right, out of control as clouds of blue smoke billowed from its tires and the cab spun a hundred eighty degrees and slammed into the wall of a small house barely a hundred yards from the dock entrance.
Rabinur let out a whoop of delight as he stamped on the brakes and the jeep screeched to a halt in the centre of the street. Ethan managed to prevent his head from smacking into the windshield as he pulled his pistol from its holster and shoved his door open. Lopez vaulted from the rear of the jeep, her own pistol drawn as together they dashed across to where the cab sat awkwardly against the wall of the house, steam hissing from beneath the hood and the acrid stench of burned rubber tainting the air.
Lopez rushed the passenger door and shoved her pistol in at the driver, who Ethan glimpsed with his hands in the air beside his head and his face stricken with terror.
‘Don’t shoot, don’t shoot! He made me, he made me!’
Rabinur hurried up alongside Lopez and pointed at the horrified driver. ‘You’re under arrest and so is your passenger!’
Rabinur looked across at Lopez and winked casually. ‘Not so bad, huh?’
An old woman hobbled from inside the small house and began yelling in Malagasy at them, brandishing what looked like a length of broomstick as though it were a broadsword. Ethan steered clear of her and yanked open the rear door of the cab to look inside, then slammed the door shut.
‘He’s gone.’
Rabinur’s jubilance withered as he peered inside the cab. ‘But he…’
‘He jumped out when we lost sight of him,’ Ethan scowled, ‘and paid the driver to flee, which given his traumatized state he did willingly.’
Rabinur’s bravado collapsed into despair and he whirled to Lopez. ‘But I thought we could cut him off and…’
‘He can’t have gone far,’ Lopez said soothingly as she holstered her pistol and backed away from the old woman and her baton. ‘You deal with her, we’ll find Forbeck.’
Rabinur stared at the angry woman as she bore down upon him, and Ethan shoved his pistol back into its holster and started running toward the dock. Lopez caught up with him easily and they sprinted down to the water’s edge in time to hear another engine cough into life.
Ethan dashed onto the quay and saw a sleek blue and white speedboat turn sharply on the water and a burst of white foam explode from its stern as it accelerated away toward the harbor exit. In the water behind it a middle aged man bobbed about on the waves and screamed obscenities at the fleeing vessel.
‘There!’
Lopez pointed to another similar vessel, upon which stood a man who had watched the entire exchange and now stared at Lopez as though she were about to shoot him. Ethan stormed across to the boat and jumped down into it as he held up his badge.
‘Defense Intelligence Agency,’ he announced. ‘We’ll need your boat.’
‘No way!’ the man snapped in perfect American. ‘This vessel is my personal property and we’re not in United States territory. You have no right to…’
Lopez landed cat–like into the boat and pulled the mooring line while one small, flat hand thumped into the man’s chest with enough force to propel him backwards over the side of the speedboat to crash into the water.
Ethan turned the key in the dashboard and the boat’s powerful engines roared into life. He grabbed the polished throttles and pushed them forward, cautious of applying too much power and flipping the boat, but the vessel still surged forward with surprising speed and almost toppled Lopez off the stern as it rocketed away from the quay.
Ethan guided the speedboat into a steep turn, white water spraying in glistening clouds as they plunged through the harbor exit and out toward the open ocean. The harbor walls flashed past on either side as they raced in pursuit of Forbeck, the white trail of his vessel’s wake clear on the ocean before them.
‘He’s got nowhere to go!’ Lopez shouted above the wind. ‘All we gotta do is cut him off!’
Ethan pushed the throttles wide open as they soared in pursuit. The speedboat was maybe a hundred yards in front of them and Ethan could see Forbeck looking over his shoulder at them, one hand to the side of his head.
‘He’s calling for help!’ Lopez said.
The speedboats were both following the coastline south and Ethan knew that there was nowhere for Forbeck to hide unless he made it ashore and was able to disappear into a major town. He was surprised that Forbeck had even stolen the speedboat in the first place, as if he’d simply hidden out for a while they might never have found him and…
‘This is part of his plan,’ Ethan said out loud, ‘he’s already got a rescue coming!’
‘Where the hell from?!’ Lopez asked.
‘Gotta be a helicopter or something!’ Ethan shouted in reply. ‘He’s got MJ–12 financing him, he can afford anything! We need to control him before his support can arrive!’
Lopez did not reply. Instead, she clambered up onto the bow of the speedboat and lay herself flat as she drew her pistol and aimed it dead ahead. Ethan knew instantly what she planned to do and he steered the speedboat gently to port, clearing the turbulent wake of Forbeck’s boat and seeking the smoother ocean to either side.
The speedboat levelled out a little on the waves and accelerated as it carved a smoother path. Lopez aimed carefully and then opened fire. The shots cracked out but were snatched away by the hot wind as Ethan watched for impacts on Forbeck’s boat. Lopez’s second shot appeared to hit the hull, the third moving close enough to Forbeck to force him to duck in surprise.
Forbeck whirled and two shots zipped back toward them. Ethan crouched down a little to avoid making such a big and obvious target as Lopez fired two more rounds. This time, Ethan thought he saw a spurt of gray smoke from one of Forbeck’s two engines.
‘I got him!’ Lopez yelled in delight.
Ethan saw a thin stream of smoke spilling from the casing of Forbeck’s starboard engine, saw the gunman look behind him. Then, without warning, the speedboat suddenly turned sharply to the right amid a huge burst of white water as Forbeck haul
ed the vessel around and charged back toward them.
‘Get off the bow!’ Ethan yelled.
Lopez hurled herself back into the speedboat as Forbeck charged, his pistol aimed ahead of him as he opened fire at Ethan. Ethan spun the wheel and the speedboat’s hull shuddered as it turned hard, and then the bow waves of the onrushing speedboat slammed into their hull as Forbeck raced past in the opposite direction.
Ethan was hurled sideways away from the wheel and tumbled across the deck as the speedboat beside them accelerated away, still trailing a thin plume of smoke. A salvo of gun fire rattled off the decks, showering Ethan in sparks as he ducked his head down low.
Lopez rolled alongside him and let her arms fall onto his body to use him as a rest as she fired four more rounds from her pistol at the fleeing speedboat. This time a thicker cloud of smoke burst from Forbeck’s engine as Ethan scrambled across to the wheel and slammed the throttles wide open again.
‘He’s losing the engine,’ Lopez called, ‘he can’t outrun us now!’
‘Take the wheel and get us as close to him as you can!’ Ethan yelled at her.
Lopez responded instantly and dashed to the wheel as Ethan drew his own pistol and leaped onto the speedboat’s bow, gripping the mooring posts as the vessel crashed through the waves. There was no way that he could hit a target under these conditions but he didn’t want Forbeck dead anyway: he only needed to keep his head down. As they closed on the fleeing boat he fired two or three wild shots in Forbeck’s general direction, and through the spray Ethan saw the gunman flinch and duck his head down.
Ethan crept forward onto the bow and shoved his pistol into its holster as he prepared to make the leap. Lopez eased the speedboat in toward Forbeck, who immediately turned away from them toward the open ocean.
Lopez anticipated the turn with admirable accuracy and the speedboat surged through a tighter turn, cutting across Forbeck’s wake while also cutting the corner off the turn. Ethan saw his chance as the two vessels surged together on the turbulent ocean, and he tucked his legs beneath him and then thrust forward with all of his might.
Ethan leaped from the bow of the boat and seemed to hang in mid–air for what felt like an age between the two speeding vessels.
***
XXX
Forbeck looked over his shoulder even as Ethan plunged down toward the stern of his boat and he pulled the vessel away, turning hard to starboard in an attempt to send Ethan crashing into the ocean.
The speedboat turned broadside amid a wall of white water, its propeller whining and spraying clouds of water vapor onto the hot air as Ethan crashed down and slammed into the rear of the speedboat, the stench of overheated engines and smoke filling the air around him as Forbeck spun the wheel with one hand as he desperately tried to aim his pistol at Ethan with the other.
Ethan reached for his pistol but found the holster empty, saw that the weapon had been dislodged by the impact of his landing and had skittered away across the deck. Forbeck fired and a round smashed through the fibreglass hull beside Ethan’s leg as he scrambled to his feet and hurled himself at the gunman before he could take another shot.
Ethan plowed into Forbeck and they slammed down onto the deck, the speedboat crashing out of control across the waves. The gunman thrust the pistol toward Ethan’s face, attempting a point–blank–range kill shot. Ethan swept one arm across Forbeck’s and diverted the weapon just as it fired, the gunshot deafeningly loud in his ear as Ethan pushed his arm forward and jammed it against Forbeck’s armpit, locking the arm away and denying him another shot as Ethan got one knee up and forced himself upright. He swung a left–handed punch that smacked across Forbeck’s temple with a crack loud enough to hear above the engines, wind and waves, but the blow seemed to barely effect the gunman as he swung one knee up into Ethan’s chest.
The blow punched the air from Ethan’s lungs and his vision starred as he gaped for air and forced himself to focus on keeping Forbeck’s gun from pointing at him. Forbeck lurched upright, using his body weight to counter Ethan’s block and turn his grip into a disadvantage. Ethan felt himself twisted over to the right, his arm being locked into Forbeck’s grip as the gunman attempted to change pistol hands, grabbing for the weapon with his free hand.
Ethan swung his left fist around, two fingers pointed at Forbeck’s face as he plunged them into the gunman’s eyes as hard as he could. Forbeck screamed as Ethan’s fingers bit deep into the soft wet tissue of his eyeballs and he scrambled to get away, temporarily blinded by the unexpected move as Ethan fought for position and tried to turn the pistol toward Forbeck.
Blinded and desperate, Forbeck jerked his arm to one side and his pistol flew into the air and crashed into the ocean speeding past the hull. A chunky fist flashed toward Ethan’s face and he ducked his head down as Forbeck’s knuckles crunched across the top of his head. Ethan reeled backwards and crashed into the seats at the stern of the boat, made to scramble to his feet again as he looked up.
A heavy boot thumped across his chest as Forbeck staggered upright and lashed out. Ethan’s lungs convulsed and he slammed onto his back in the boat’s stern, Forbeck rushing toward him and raising his boot again to stomp it down on Ethan’s face and end the confrontation.
Ethan threw his hands up to attempt to block the blow when the terrible sound of splintering fibreglass and metal crashed out and the speedboat lurched across the waves. Forbeck stumbled sideways and crashed into the wheel as Ethan saw Lopez briefly as her boat smashed into Forbeck’s vessel’s hull and threw him off balance.
Ethan scrambled to his feet even as Forbeck recovered himself and the gunman’s hand fell upon a crowbar lodged behind the wheel. Forbeck grinned maliciously as he yanked the crowbar from its braces and staggered toward Ethan, blood spilling from where his head had hit the wheel during Lopez’s collision.
Forbeck raised the thick crowbar and brought it crashing down toward Ethan, who leaped to one side and let the weapon smash down onto the deck as he dashed past Forbeck and rolled along the deck.
Forbeck turned and raised the crowbar once again as Ethan’s hand rested on his lost pistol and he whirled, aimed at Forbeck’s left knee and fired.
The gunshot smashed through bone and muscle and Forbeck screamed as his leg gave way beneath him amid a fine spray of crimson blood that splattered the boat’s pristine deck. The gunman slammed down onto the deck as Ethan, his chest heaving, crawled to one side and reached out to close the speedboat’s throttles. The vessel slowed on the ocean until it became stationary on the swells, and Ethan could hear Lopez’s craft turning nearby and closing in on them.
‘Are you okay?’ she yelled as she guided the speedboat in alongside Forbeck’s and saw the gunman writhing in agony on the deck, both hands clasped around his knee.
‘Never better,’ Ethan gasped and wiped blood from a cut on his lip that stung sharply. ‘You wanna call an ambulance for this asshole?’
*
Ambokala Hospital,
Manakara
Madagascar did not possess the kind of medical facilities that most western people considered a human right, and that was something that Ethan was determined to capitalize on as he stepped out of Rubinar’s jeep and looked at the building before him. A hospital designed to treat mental patients that had recently been refurbished, it had only a rudimentary emergency service, which he and Lopez witnessed as they walked into a small ward of bare walls and minimal furnishings to see Forbeck lying on his back on a metal bedstead with a mattress that might possibly have been older than the town itself.
A saline drip had been inserted into Forbeck’s right arm and his leg had been set and dressed, but Ethan had quietly ensured that there was little in the way of pain relief for the wound Ethan had inflicted. The dressings were clean but thick blood stained the mattress beneath the wound and Ethan knew that Forbeck could hardly expect to escape without an infection at best and the loss of his leg at worst.
Ethan eased alongside the bed and looked down into F
orbeck’s strained eyes.
‘Greetings,’ Ethan said. ‘Remember me? We took a little boat trip a couple hours ago?’
‘Go to hell,’ Forbeck seethed through gritted teeth.
‘How’s the leg?’ Lopez asked, then looked at it and sucked her teeth as she shook her head. ‘I wouldn’t put much on you walking out of here on that thing. Mind you, I wouldn’t put much on your ever walking again if you stay here too long.’
Forbeck glared at her.
‘I’m an American citizen,’ he snapped over his pain. ‘I demand that you contact the consulate and have me repatriated so that I can receive proper treatment after I was attacked and shot by this assho….’
‘Ahh that’s the problem you see,’ Ethan cut across him. ‘You’re an American citizen all right, but there’s no record of you entering the country. That makes you an illegal immigrant and therefore not eligible for medical treatment here other than at your own expense.’
‘Furthermore,’ Lopez went on smoothly, ‘not only do we have witnesses who saw you steal that speedboat from the docks, but also witnesses who saw you open fire on us. You do know that we’re Defense Intelligence Agency, right?’
Ethan saw trepidation on Forbeck’s face, and then shock as both he and Lopez flashed their badges at him.
‘Opening fire on an intelligence agent carrying out the course of their duties is a federal offence anywhere on earth,’ Ethan said, ‘and the attempted homicide of not one but two agents will get you… what do you think, Nicola?’
‘Oooohh, I’d say about thirty years, no parole,’ Lopez replied. ‘You look to be about forty Forbeck, so you’ll get out just long enough to use what’s left of your leg for a year or two before you drop dead of old age.’
Forbeck scowled and spat weakly in her direction. ‘Get me a doctor or I’ll sue the pair of you and your department for a breach of my human rights!’
The Extinction Code Page 20
