by Rob Jones
“Where now?” Lexi said.
“We could try…”
But before Scarlet could finish, her heart sank as she watched the chopper appear from behind the atrium and descend into the paved entrance outside the bird house.
“Put your weapons down or we will open fire.”
The voice came from the chopper, and was amplified through a megaphone.
Scarlet sighed deeply and reddened with anger. “Do it!” she commanded the others.
They lowered their guns.
“Put the map down and walk away with your hands up.”
“Do it…I’m sorry, but do it,” Scarlet said.
“You’re the boss,” Karlsson said.
Lexi lowered her bag to the ground and they walked backwards with their hands in the air.
The notorious Kodiak stepped out of the chopper and strolled casually to the bag. He looked inside, gave the thumbs up sign to the pilot, and returned to the helicopter. On his way back, he stopped and blew a kiss at Scarlet.
Scarlet’s reply was wordless – the meaning conveyed in her narrowed eyes and clenched jaw.
The six men with submachine guns followed him into the chopper, and she watched with rage as it increased power and began to hover into the air, the mighty downwash of its speeding rotors sending ripples out across the surface of the polar bear enclosure and blowing a little ice cream cart over. Litter from the bins flicked up in the downdraft and blew around like snow. A second later it was high in the sky and turning away.
Then it was out of sight.
“Damn it all!” cursed Scarlet, and lashed out with her boot at the sign directing people to the café. An unusual failure for her, and she wished Kodiak dead for it. She didn’t know if that made her a bad person or not, but that was just fine with her. In her view, anyone with a past like hers was allowed to think whatever they wanted about other people.
“Just cool it, honey,” Karlsson said. “This isn’t over yet. Not by a long-shot.” He tried to put his hand around her shoulder but she pushed it away.
“But they have the map, Brad!”
“But they don’t know how to decipher it,” Lexi said.
“And you can shut up!” Scarlet snarled, still burned by her loss of the map and the thought of having to report her failure to Eden. “It’s all your damned fault in the first place!”
“Hey, I told you they were going to kill my parents…”
“Yeah, whatever,” Scarlet snapped.
She walked away, her head in her hands and her mind racing as problems and solutions fought in her mind. She didn’t like losing and Lexi’s parents being threatened with death brought back other raw memories. It had been a long time since Scarlet had watched those men gun her own parents down and kill them. She was no more than a child, and that was her introduction to the world around her.
Even now, she would wake in the night screaming, her dreams turned to nightmares once again as the agonized faces of her innocent parents rose up in her mind without warning. Her father had hidden her in their wardrobe and she had cowered there. She had done nothing to protect them or save their lives, and now she had failed again.
For this, Kodiak would pay the ultimate price.
“Listen, we have to regroup,” Scarlet said at last, pulling herself together again. “We need to get our heads around this.”
“We’ll sort it out,” Karlsson said reassuringly.
Scarlet scowled. “They have the fucking map and we don’t. That’s all I know.”
“That’s not strictly true,” Lexi said, smiling.
“What do you mean?”
She pulled her phone from her pocket. “You think I’d have that map in my possession for all that time without taking a picture of it?
*
Alex and the others looked up startled as the door to the library smashed open and the man with the black mask stomped into the room. He tore off the mask and kicked the door shut behind him, shouldering a submachine gun as he moved into the room.
“Hi Alex, great to meet you. I’m Joe, by the way.”
“Yeah, I got that…” she smiled for a second, not knowing what to think about a man she had spent years thinking about and now meeting him for the first time amidst such chaos and danger.
“Where are the others?” Ryan asked.
“Massive reinforcements out of nowhere, mate. No way can we fight them and me and Dempsey got cut off in the brawl. We’re going to meet outside and try and take out Vetrov’s chopper before he can get away.”
Before Ryan could reply the library door was shredded by a savage burst of machine gun fire until a hole the size of a beach ball was in the top panel. A second later a grenade flew through the hole and landed in the center of the library.
Hawke snatched Alex up and screamed at the others to dive for cover. The grenade exploded and sprayed its lethal, twisted cast-iron shrapnel around the room in a burning fireball which set fire to the drapes and bookshelves.
Hawke was dazed, but staggered up and crawled over to Alex.
“Are you all right?”
She nodded, but was also too dazed to answer.
Hawke strained to see through the smoke. “Lea! Ryan!”
Back in the hall he heard the hideous chatter of machine guns as Vetrov’s reinforcements closed in on them. Hawke knew their orders would be to terminate him and the others without mercy and he had only seconds to execute a safe retreat.
He fired the shotgun at the window and blasted the stained-glass out of the frame and over the snow outside where it fell like diamonds. Then, he hoisted Alex over his shoulder in a fireman’s lift and staggered over to the window, clambering through and laying Alex on the soft, cool snow.
Without a second thought, he climbed back through the window into the black smoke and began the search for the others. The smoke stung his eyes and for a second he was disorientated until the sound of Vetrov’s assault on the library helped him get his bearings back.
In the hot darkness he saw Ryan dragging Lea along the floor. Ryan was coughing heavily and looked like he was about to go over.
Hawke ran to him.
“Get to the window and get out!” he screamed.
“I’m not leaving Lea!” Ryan shouted back, grabbing the top of a chair for support.
“I’ll get her – just get out of here – now!”
Hawke watched Ryan flee from the burning room and then he lifted Lea over his shoulder in another fireman’s lift. The two of them went through the window into the icy cold air.
Above them half the complex was now on fire. Hawke looked down at Lea and Alex, and saw that Alex was coughing her way back to life. Then, another grenade landed with a soft thump on the snow beside Lea.
This time, Hawke had time to react and snatched up the grenade. Ryan watched in horror as the former SBS man simply held the grenade in his hands.
“What the hell are you doing?” Ryan asked, taking a step away from Hawke.
“Lie down over Lea, Ryan. She’s unconscious and can’t protect herself.”
“What?”
“Wait… three, four, five…”
Ryan did as he was told and Hawke threw the grenade back into the library. He launched himself over Alex and a second later a colossal explosion ripped through the library. After some savage screams from inside there was silence except for the sound of the flames.
“That takes care of those wankers,” Hawke said, rubbing the soot from his face. “How’s Lea?”
Ryan looked down at Lea and back up at Hawke. “I think… she’s stopped breathing, Joe.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Hawke picked Lea up and ran from the burning building, screaming at Ryan to do the same with Alex. The rage flowed through him like molten lava as he made his way to safety, but he fought it back and kept his focus.
Now, he held Lea’s limp body in his arms as he emerged from the smoky ruins, gripping her tightly as the building blazed behind him. To his right, Ryan Bale dragge
d Alex and staggered out of the smoke, coughing violently as he struggled to heave some fresh air back into his lungs. All around them the swirling Russian snow added an extra degree of chaos to an already terrible moment.
“Is she okay, Joe?” Ryan wobbled over to Hawke, his face smeared with soot from the fire. He took off his glasses and wiped his stinging eyes.
Hawke didn’t reply, but instead he lowered Lea gently to the ground and gave her the kiss of life.
Nothing.
He did it again. This was basic training to a man like Hawke. It didn’t matter that he knew how bad the statistics were. He had to save her life. Again, he took a deep breath, pinched her nose and blew into her mouth, manually inflating her lungs. This was essential to cardiopulmonary resuscitation, designed to restore the flow of oxygenated blood to the unconscious person before they suffered any long-term effects from a lack of oxygen.
But still nothing.
He did it again. He pinched her nose and inflated her lungs, and then once again performed the chest compressions. Ryan looked on in horror, and then finally unable to watch any more he stood up and spun around, his hands on his head, lost, in shock.
“This can’t be happening…” he mumbled.
“Focus, Ryan,” Hawke said coolly. “Check on Alex.”
Still coughing, Ryan lurched over to Alex while Hawke persisted with Lea, but she was still silent and motionless below him in the Russian snow.
He stared at her face, streaked with soot, and her blackened, tangled hair. One more time, he told himself, and went through the process of insufflation and chest compressions once again.
And then she came to life.
Coughing hard, and moaning, her head moved from side to side as she tried to sit up. Hawke gently pushed her back to the ground. “Take it easy…”
“We’ve got company, Joe,” Ryan said.
In the distance Hawke heard the sound of more shooting.
“Sorry, but it’s time for us to go,” Hawke said. “Sounds like Dempsey’s making headway at the hangar.”
Ryan shook his head. “Joe… I’m sorry but I can’t carry Alex…”
“All right, chill out.”
Hawke considered the situation for a few seconds and then worked out he could carry both Lea and Alex in a double fireman’s lift – one on each shoulder. He’d once seen an SAS corporal do it in the African jungle and he wasn’t going to be outdone by someone from Twenty-Two.
“I’m going to carry both, but I’m going to need you to help support one of them, right?”
Ryan seemed unsure. “Okay…”
“Then we’re going to shoot some more twats, yeah?”
Ryan nodded, and helped take some of the weight by holding Alex in place. With considerable effort, they made their way through the snow to the hangar’s rear door. They looked cautiously through the open roller door at the front onto the expansive snow-covered lawns to the south of the house. Dempsey was there on his own, desperately holding back an assault by more of Vetrov’s men.
Hawke lowered Lea and Alex, both of whom were starting to come back to life, and jogged over to the former Green Beret. “What happened to Phillips and Zimmerman?”
Dempsey clenched his jaw and looked Hawke straight in the eyes. “They didn’t make it. Phillips got taken out in an ambush outside Vetrov’s office and Zimmerman…”
“What?”
Dempsey shut his eyes as if he were trying to rub out the very idea of what he was about to say – to destroy even the memory of it. “Zimmerman was blasted into the water by the shock of a grenade. The last I saw of him one of those damned bastard crocodiles was dragging him under the surface.”
Lea was on her feet now, and joined them.
Hawke took her by her shoulders. “Are you sure you’re all right now?”
“Me? Sure I am. Just took a little nap back there but I’m right up in their faces again now.” She mimed shooting people with her fingers.
Hawke looked at her, unconvinced, but knew there was no option but to press on.
“Look!” Lea shouted. “Looks like Vetrov has stopped enjoying our company.”
Hawke looked and saw the Russian making his way through the snow to one of the choppers. He was flanked on either side by a handful of his goons, armed to the teeth with submachine guns.
“Look at those bastards,” Dempsey said. “Looks like they’re ready for the Battle of Stalingrad.”
“They’ve got every kind of weapon under the sun!” said Lea.
Hawke frowned. “They’ve got more than that – they’ve got all of Alex’s research on her flash-drive, and Mazzarro’s details as well. With that, they’ll be able to translate the map and get to the source of eternal life. Damn it all!”
“But they haven’t got the actual map, right?” said Dempsey.
“Not yet they haven’t, but I’m not going to bet against Vetrov right now. He’s obviously well-connected and he knows Lexi and the others are in Berlin because we know he’s the one who killed Sorokin.”
“And that’s why we have to get that flash-drive back and stop him from getting to Mazzarro,” Lea said.
Ryan spoke next: “And we need to contact Scarlet and tell her to get Lexi and the map the hell out of Berlin before Vetrov’s men catch up with them.”
“So what’s your plan?” Dempsey asked Hawke.
“We need to get out of here or we’re fish in a barrel. We’ll go around the back of the hangar through the office door over there and attack from two fronts. When we get there you take out the Bell and we’ll use the Kamov as our escape route, leaving Vetrov with no way out of this blizzard.”
“The office door is locked,” Dempsey said. “I tried to blast through with this but it was no good.” He showed Hawke the only weapon he had left – a small pistol.
“No fucking problem at all,” Hawke growled, and cocked the pump-action Remington with one hand. He was still thinking about Lea almost dying back at the library.
“Here we go again…” Lea said.
Hawke aimed the Remington at the door and fired three Hatton breaching rounds into the heavy, locked door in just four seconds – top hinge, handle lock, bottom hinge, and booted the door out of the way. An old technique he’d learned back in his Special Boat Service days. Any locked door on the floor in seconds.
Leaving Ryan and Alex behind, they ran into the blast of icy air and were outside again, where they split into two teams, Hawke and Lea on one side and Dempsey on the other, each approaching the choppers from opposite ends of the hangar.
The fire-fight was short. Not expecting assaults from two different directions, Vetrov and his men retreated to the dacha to regroup and re-arm. Seizing the moment, Dempsey fired a burst of submachine gun fire into the Bell’s fuel tanks and sent it up in a massive fireball. The smoke poured out of the wreckage and gave them a few seconds of cover.
“Now!” Hawke screamed. “Everyone into the other chopper!”
They climbed in the helicopter and fired her up. Hawke looked over the instrument panel display and made a quick check while Lea and Ryan helped Alex into the back seat. Dempsey started firing at the main entrance to the house while Hawke hovered the Kamov a few feet above the icy tarmac.
“Now, Dempsey! We have to go!”
“Those bastards took out two of my men!” screamed the American as he sprayed a vicious volley of submachine gun fire at Vetrov’s grand entrance, taking out several of his men. He turned to climb into the helicopter when Vetrov carefully aimed a pistol at him and shot him through the throat.
Hawke watched in horror as Dempsey’s eyes widened and then blinked maniacally as he took in what had happened to him. He raised his hands to clasp at the blood pouring from his throat, but it spilled out onto the snow, unstoppable. Hawke leaned over to grab his hand, but a second shot from Vetrov ripped through the former Green Beret’s chest and blew his heart out. He collapsed into the snow like a matchstick man.
Now the smoke began to clear, and
Vetrov screamed orders at his men to move forward and retake the remaining helicopter. With no time to think, Hawke lifted the collective, raising the Russian military chopper into the air amidst a barrage of machine gun fire from Vetrov and his men.
They gained altitude fast and a second later they were out of sight, flying up into the swirling snowstorm.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Venice
Eden’s Gulfstream touched down at Venice Marco Polo Airport and trundled to a private gate on the southern apron. They took a taxi to the hotel that Eden had arranged for them in advance, racing through Triestina before crossing the Ponta della Libertà – the Freedom Bridge that separated Venice from the Italian mainland.
They rode most of the way in silence, the terrible image of Dempsey’s brutal murder still fresh in their memories, not to mention what had happened to his two men. Alex took it particularly hard – all of this was, after all, part of a mission to rescue her.
They emerged from the car into a bright, cool Venice day and moments later they were climbing into a gondola and giving the driver instructions to take them to the Gritti Palace, where Eden had booked some rooms to serve as a temporary headquarters during the mission to save Mazzarro. Hawke and Ryan carried Alex, and laid her down on the rear seat while Lea told the gondola driver where they needed to go.
Less than half an hour later the gondolier was gently cruising toward the mooring area outside the luxury hotel and for the briefest of moments Hawke almost relaxed, turning his face to the warm Italian sun and grateful to be out of the Russian winter at last.
“One of these days,” he said, staring at the impressive façade of the eighteenth century building ahead of them, “someone’s going to tell me where Eden gets all his cash, because this isn’t the kind of place Her Majesty’s Government hires out for its lackeys.”
Lea smiled, but said nothing. Moments later and with the help of the hotel staff, they were inside the hotel and swiping the card in the door of their room.
Inside, Sir Richard Eden rose from his chair by the window and offered a solemn nod as a greeting. He didn’t look happy.