Bird gestured with the gun. ‘Come on, we’ll go and see what Billy has to say.’
‘We don’t have time for this,’ said Chau-ling.
Bird ignored her. He motioned for Hutch to leave.
‘The helicopters are coming, they’re going to kill us all,’ Chau-ling cried. ‘Why won’t you listen to me?’ Tears ran down her face.
Bird turned his head and looked at her as if seeing her for the first time. ‘What do you mean?’ he asked. ‘Who’s coming?’
Chau-ling spat at Bird’s face and he flinched reflexively. Hutch lashed out with his foot and kicked Bird’s wrist. The gun flew through the air and thudded against the wall of the hut. Bird grabbed for Hutch’s throat. Hutch ducked and punched him in the solar plexus, putting all of his weight behind the blow. Bird staggered back, winded. Hutch kept up the offensive, hitting him twice more in the stomach and then kicking him between the legs, the attack so fast and furious that Bird had no chance to defend himself. Bird bent over, his arms around his stomach. Hutch dived for the gun but Bird kicked out and sent Hutch sprawling. Hutch managed to get to the gun but as his fingers gripped the butt, Bird grabbed him by the hair. Hutch twisted around and smashed the gun into Bird’s face. Bird fell to his knees and then pitched forward, hitting the ground like a felled tree. He managed to push himself up on to his knees but Hutch hit him with the gun a second time, crashing it down on the back of the man’s neck. Bird fell to the ground again. This time he didn’t get up.
‘Hurry,’ implored Chau-ling. ‘We don’t have much time.’
BART LUCARELLI FLIPPED HIS monocle sight to the side and leaned forward to press both eyes against the eyepieces of the TADS/PNVS display. ‘There she is,’ he said.
‘Got it,’ said Burden. ‘Do you wanna check that Hal and Roger have picked it up?’
Before Lucarelli could click his microphone switch, Roger Warner’s voice came over the headset.
‘Contact at three miles. Do you have it?’
‘Affirmative. Three miles.’ Lucarelli switched his VDU display from the navigation phase to the attack phase and changed the map scale to 1:50,000 to get a close-up view of his target. He flicked the switches that armed the Hellfire missiles. ‘Missiles armed.’
The cyclic between Lucarelli’s legs moved towards his groin as Burden put the Apache into a gentle climb. Altitude would help the missile guidance systems lock on to the distant transmitter. Two miles was the optimum range; close enough so that the missile would be sure to lock on to the signal, but far enough away to ensure that the Apaches wouldn’t be fired upon. According to Jake Gregory, the men on the ground had nothing more powerful than assault rifles, which would be useless against the heavily armoured helicopters, but there was no point in taking unnecessary risks.
Lucarelli used his left thumb to orientate the Apache’s radar to the target area and scanned it. He swallowed as he scrutinised the visual display. Less than half a mile to go. There were two pistol grips either side of the TADS/PNVS system which controlled the forward-looking infra-red sensor and fired the Apache’s weapons. Warner slid his hands around them in a soft caress. One pull of the trigger with his left hand and a one-hundred-pound Hellfire missile would be launched. It was an awesome weapon, its seventeen-pound warhead was more than capable of taking out an armoured tank. Warner could only imagine what havoc it would wreak on the jungle camp.
HUTCH AND CHAU-LING WALKED purposefully across the compound as if they had every right to be there. Chau-ling kept her face down. Three of Zhou’s men passed them without a second glance. Hutch had Bird’s gun tucked into the waistband of his jeans, covered by his sweatshirt.
‘How long before they get here?’ he whispered.
‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘Tim just said that they’d pick up the transmitter and home in on it.’
‘But where are they coming from? From Thailand?’
‘I don’t know.’
Another group of soldiers walked by, smoking cheroots and talking among themselves. One of them looked at Hutch. Hutch smiled and the soldier smiled back.
The two guards at the base of the steps to Zhou’s quarters moved to block their way but Hutch said ‘Zhou Yuanyi’ and rushed by them. Chau-ling hurried after him, taking the steps two at a time. The guards turned and watched them go, unsure whether or not to go after them.
‘Don’t look back,’ whispered Hutch. He stepped across the threshold and pulled out the gun.
Zhou was standing over Carver, pistol-whipping him about the face. Winter and Harrigan were watching. All three men had their backs to Hutch. The only person who saw him walk across the wooden floor was the old servant, who scurried away into a side room. Chau-ling stayed in the doorway. Hutch kept his arm outstretched with the gun pointing straight at Zhou’s head.
Winter turned first. He took his cigar out of his mouth. ‘What’s up, old lad?’ he asked. His voice was relaxed, but his eyes were hard.
Hutch didn’t look at him. He walked right up to Zhou and put the gun against the back of his neck. Zhou stiffened and Harrigan’s mouth fell open in surprise.
‘Anyone moves and he’s dead,’ said Hutch.
‘You’ve been watching too many movies,’ said Winter. ‘You’re not going to pull the trigger, and you know you’re not.’
Still Hutch didn’t look at Winter. He took the gun from Zhou’s hand and stepped back. ‘Don’t push me, Billy,’ he said. ‘I’ve nothing to lose any more. You’ve taken everything away. Chau-ling, take this gun.’ He held Zhou’s gun behind him and Chau-ling took it, gingerly, as if she was afraid it might go off accidentally.
‘We can talk about this, Hutch,’ said Winter.
‘I’m through talking,’ said Hutch. He grabbed the back of Zhou’s collar and forced the gun against the back of his head. ‘Now, we’re going to walk very slowly out of here.’
‘Walk where, old lad?’ asked Winter, an amused smile on his face.
‘Just out of here. And stay where I can see you. Ray, get a knife from the table and cut him free,’ he said, gesturing towards Carver.
Harrigan did as he was told. Chau-ling kept him covered with Zhou’s gun.
‘Young lady, I’d take the safety catch off if I were you,’ said Winter.
‘Ignore him, Chau-ling.’
‘I was just trying to help,’ said Winter.
‘Stay where I can see you, Billy. And put your hands in the air.’
Winter raised his arms. He looked longingly at his cigar. ‘Can I put my cigar in my mouth?’
Hutch ignored him. ‘Tim, are you okay?’
‘Oh, it’s Tim, is it?’ said Winter. He put the cigar in his mouth then put his hand back in the air. ‘Old friends, are you?’
Carver stood up unsteadily. ‘I’m okay,’ he said.
‘Chau-ling, help him,’ said Hutch. He pushed Zhou towards the entrance. He kept the barrel of the gun hard up against the back of the man’s neck.
‘I will kill you,’ said Zhou savagely. ‘I will kill you slowly.’
‘Of course you will,’ said Hutch, tightening his grip on Zhou’s shirt collar. ‘Ray, drop the knife and kick it over against the wall.’ Hutch watched as Harrigan obeyed his instructions. ‘Now go outside. Down the steps.’
When Harrigan reached the bottom of the steps, Hutch told Winter to follow him. ‘Do I have to keep my hands in the air?’ Winter asked.
‘Billy, if you carry on like this, I’m going to shoot you in the leg. Now get down there with Ray.’
‘You are a dead man walking,’ said Zhou. ‘Do you hear me? A dead man.’
‘I died a long time ago,’ said Hutch. ‘Chau-ling, keep well away from Billy and keep the gun pointed at his chest.’
Winter tapped his breastbone with his finger. ‘Right here, dear,’ he said.
Hutch pulled Zhou away from the entrance to give Winter plenty of room. Winter shook his head sadly as he went outside. ‘Big mistake, old lad. Big mistake.’
Hutch waited until Wint
er was standing next to Harrigan before he pushed Zhou to the entrance. The two guards had shouldered their rifles and were aiming up the steps. Hutch tapped the gun against Zhou’s head. ‘Tell them to back off,’ he said.
‘You tell them,’ hissed Zhou.
‘Tell them to back off or I’ll blow your head off.’
‘Blow my head off and you won’t have a hostage.’
‘Tell them!’ Hutch shouted.
‘No.’
Hutch’s finger tightened on the trigger but he knew that Zhou was right. He pushed him forward, keeping a tight grip on his collar. ‘Keep close behind me, Chau-ling,’ he said as he started down the steps. She helped support Carver who was having trouble walking on his own. More of Zhou’s men ran over, guns at the ready. A dozen. Twenty. Thirty.
‘A dead man walking,’ said Zhou.
‘If I die, you die with me,’ said Hutch.
‘And the girl, too?’
‘Shut up,’ said Hutch.
‘I’ll make you a deal,’ said Zhou, his voice suddenly silky smooth. ‘Let me go and I’ll allow the girl to live.’
They were halfway down the steps. More soldiers appeared to Hutch’s left, shouting and pointing their M16s and AK-47s. ‘Keep walking,’ said Hutch.
Zhou shouted at his men. As one they aimed their guns at Chau-ling.
‘What did you say?’ asked Hutch, jamming the gun harder against Zhou’s skull. ‘What did you say to them?’
‘I told them to shoot the girl when I give the word.’
Hutch looked over his shoulder. ‘Behind me, Chau-ling, get close behind me.’ Chau-ling was shaking with fear. She had one arm around Carver, and was waving the other from side to side, not sure where to point her gun. ‘Come on, stand next to me,’ Hutch urged.
‘Drop your gun,’ said Zhou. ‘Drop your gun or she dies.’
HAL AUSTIN PULLED BACK on the cyclic and lowered the collective as he put the Apache into a hover, almost five hundred feet above the treetops. The second Apache was a hundred feet to his left and slightly behind him. Austin clicked his microphone switch. ‘You okay over there, Pete?’
‘Ready when you are,’ said Burden.
‘Okay,’ said Austin. He dipped the Apache’s nose slightly. ‘Let her go, Roger.’
Austin’s Apache rocked as the first missile streaked away from the right-hand stub wing. It arced upwards and then dipped down as the missile’s radio frequency seeker kicked in and guided it towards the distant transmitter. Even through the helmet’s night vision system, Austin couldn’t see the target, though it was visible on the radar screen. Without the transmitter, they’d have spent weeks searching for the camp.
Burden’s Apache fired the first of its missiles. It shot away after the first Hellfire. Warner let his second Hellfire go, and it was followed almost immediately by another from Burden’s Apache. Austin kept the helicopter in a steady hover, compensating for the buffeting caused by the firing. Austin followed the progress of the missiles through the monocle sight.
‘Looking good, Roger,’ he said. ‘It’s looking good.’
HUTCH PUSHED ZHOU DOWN the steps, keeping a tight grip on his shirt. All the soldiers were shouting and making stabbing motions with their guns. Hutch kept Zhou moving, forcing him away from the building and towards the compound gates.
‘Give it up, Hutch,’ said Winter. ‘You don’t stand a chance.’
Soldiers crowded around Hutch and Zhou, so close that he could smell their sweat. He began to drag Zhou around in a circle. Zhou had to put his hands out to the sides to keep his balance. ‘I’ll fire,’ said Hutch. ‘Tell them I’ll fire.’
‘A dead man walking,’ said Zhou. He began to laugh, a sound like rattling stones.
The night air was suddenly split by a shrieking sound and something streaked over their heads. A second later the building exploded. The force of the blast threw Hutch to the side and he lost his grip on Zhou’s shirt. He felt a blast of burning air that seared his exposed skin. He covered his face with his hands and staggered away from the building as bits of timber and metal ripped through the air around him.
A second explosion sent him sprawling again. A piece of timber clipped his shoulder and he felt the flesh rip open. He fell to his knees and started to crawl. The air around him seemed to have been sucked away, it was like breathing in a vacuum. He looked around for Chau-ling. She and Carver were lying face down in the dirt. He pushed himself up off the ground and headed towards her but a third explosion knocked him off his feet and he lay on his back, gasping for breath.
‘THREE,’ SAID LUCARELLI, HIS face pressed against the TADS/PNVS eyepieces. ‘And four.’ He sat up straight and flicked across the helmet’s monocle sight. ‘Four hits.’
‘Nice shooting,’ said Burden over his headset.
‘Fire and forget,’ said Lucarelli. ‘The frequency seeker did the rest.’
‘Ready to activate the laser guidance system?’ asked Burden.
‘Coming right up,’ replied Lucarelli. He used the monocle sight to target the laser designator and pressed the laser trigger on the right-hand mission grip to lock the missile on to its target. The four frequency-guided Hellfires had all hit the same area of the warlord’s camp and it was well ablaze, with tongues of red and yellow flames leaping into the night sky. Now that they knew exactly where the camp was, the remaining missiles could be independently targeted. Lucarelli picked out a group of huts which he figured were barracks for the troops or storage facilities, and aimed the laser at the largest. He pressed the missile trigger on the left-hand grip and the missile streaked away in the general direction of the camp, almost immediately reaching its maximum speed of Mach 1.17.
The missile soared upwards, and then it arced down towards the jungle as the laser receiver in its nose sent instructions to the fin control, guiding the missile towards the reflected laser light on the target. The Apache rocked from side to side but the cyclic moved between the co-pilot’s legs as Burden swiftly compensated for the motion.
A laser-guided missile roared away from the other Apache.
Lucarelli waited until the Hellfire had exploded before sighting his laser on another area of the camp. He had plenty of time. It was like shooting fish in a barrel.
HUTCH KNELT DOWN BESIDE Chau-ling. She was unconscious but he felt for a pulse in her neck and it was strong and regular. He lifted her up, surprised at how light she was in his arms. The soldiers who had just minutes earlier been threatening to kill them were running for their lives, those who weren’t lying dead on the ground. The floor was littered with corpses, discarded weapons and bits of burning debris.
‘Hutch?’ It was Carver, struggling to his feet.
‘Can you walk?’ asked Hutch.
Carver’s hair was red and matted with blood and his mouth was badly gashed. He put his hand to the side of his head and then stared at his bloody palm.
Another missile shrieked overhead and hit the water tower. Hutch ducked as bits of metal and concrete exploded around them.
Carver saw Zhou’s gun in the dirt and he picked it up. He ejected the clip, checked that it contained bullets, then slotted it back. ‘Come on,’ he said, ‘there’ll be nothing left of this place by the time they’ve finished.’
They ran for the entrance to the compound.
ZHOU YUANYI OPENED HIS eyes. The night air was filled with screams and shouts from terrified men. Something burned his hand and he pulled it away. All around him were small pieces of burning wood, the remains of his headquarters. Something whistled through the air like a banshee and exploded into the latrine building as he stood up. There seemed to be fires everywhere, crackling and spitting. Two Chinese mercenaries ran past Zhou, AK-47s in their arms, their eyes wide and fearful. There was another whistling sound overhead and one of the barracks exploded. The impact blew Zhou backwards and he hit the ground hard. He lay stunned for a few seconds, the taste of blood in his mouth, then he rolled on to his front and got to his feet, his ears ringing.
> He ran towards the armoury. He knew it was the most dangerous place to be, but he also knew that if the camp was being attacked from the air then it was his only chance of fighting back. AK-47s and M16s would be no use against helicopters or planes. There were two guards crouched outside the armoury, assault rifles clutched to their chests, frozen in fear.
‘Open the door!’ Zhou shouted.
Another missile screeched overhead. It arced downwards and ripped into the base of the transmitter tower. It exploded in a ball of orange flame and the tower toppled sideways.
One of the guards unclipped a key ring from his belt and tossed it to Zhou. ‘Open it yourself,’ he shouted. He grabbed his colleague by the shoulder. ‘Come on, let’s get out of here.’
Zhou held out his arms. ‘Stay with me,’ he shouted.
The guard who’d been carrying the keys shook his head vehemently. ‘If we stay here, we’re dead.’
Zhou stepped forward and pulled a pistol from the man’s belt. He pointed it at the guard’s face. ‘If you run, I’ll kill you here and now.’ The two men stared at each other. The second guard slipped his finger inside the trigger guard of his AK-47. ‘There are missiles inside,’ said Zhou. ‘I can shoot them down. If we don’t do something they’ll kill us all.’
The guard glared at Zhou, then he nodded slowly. He put down his assault rifle and held out his hand for the key ring. Zhou gave it to him. As the guard fumbled for the right key, two more missiles exploded inside the compound, so close that the ground shook under Zhou’s feet. The door opened and Zhou pushed his way inside. He rushed through an anteroom lined with assault rifles and into the main storage area which was filled with boxes of ammunition and grenades. He pointed to the four metal cases containing the Grail missile systems.
‘Take one each,’ he said. ‘And hurry.’
The armoury trembled as another missile exploded outside. Zhou grabbed one of the cases and ran for the door. The armoury was a potential death trap and he wanted to get as far away from it as possible.
The Solitary Man (Stephen Leather Thrillers) Page 46