Spyder Web
Page 31
‘Yes, sir,’ the pilot reported, ‘about two minutes ago. Kilkenny and Stone are passing through right now and closing. The two boats should be in sight of each other in another minute.’
‘That gives them another ten kilometers before the next barrier.’ Axton switched his microphone back on. ‘This is Looking Glass to Home Office, do you copy?’
‘Home Office here, Looking Glass. We’ve been monitoring your situation. What assistance do you require?’
Axton marked the stretch of river where they would trap Parnell’s boat. ‘I need the Thames flood barriers closed down between Silvertown and Tilbury and I need it done now!’
Spitfire was approaching the turn in the river near North Woolwich when the automated gates began to close. Up ahead, Kilkenny saw the white-water rooster tail of Merlin. The Thames had opened up into a relatively straight passage of water, allowing Kilkenny to push his engines full throttle. Spitfire’s screws bit into the calm river water, bringing it to a boil behind her blades. The bow of the boat rose high in the water, baring her teeth to those in her way.
A thundering sound reverberated off the river, echoing with an explosion of power behind them. Parnell and his passengers looked upriver and saw a man-made shark flying across the water in their direction. The pursuing ship’s vicious image was not lost on any of them.
‘Faster, Parnell!’ Kang ordered. ‘They’re gaining on us!’
‘She’s at full throttle now, but it won’t do much good,’ Parnell replied. ‘I know that boat. They’ll run us down before we can reach the sea.’
Kang slammed a fresh clip into his weapon. ‘Then we’ll have to deal with them here.’
Merlin’s bow rode high, as if the boat was trying to break free of the water. Kang and his lieutenant positioned themselves in the stern of the boat. Both men crouched into a squat position that provided adequate cover and additional support for their arms as they trained their weapons on the approaching craft.
Parnell was right—even with his boat pushed to the limit, the monstrous green vessel kept closing the distance. Kang crouched by the rear deck and waited until Spitfire loomed large enough to provide clear targets.
A voice from above crackled in Stone’s headset. ‘Spitfire, this is Eagle. Do you read me?’
Stone began scanning the skies for the surveillance helicopter. He was unable to hear Eagle’s thumping rotors over Spitfire’s engines. ‘Eagle, where the hell are you?’
‘Ahead of you,’ the pilot answered. ‘I’m skirting the shore parallel to the boat you’re chasing.’
Kilkenny noticed that Stone was talking over his headset and looking around for something. ‘What are you looking for?’
Stone looked ahead over the port side. He found Eagle darting in and out of the low cloud cover ahead of their boat. He pointed at the helicopter and Kilkenny nodded. Stone then crawled into the bow cabin, where he could hear more clearly.
On the basis of Stone’s first signal, Looking Glass had ordered the helicopter downriver to keep pace with Merlin. At full speed and traveling as the crow flies, the helicopter had easily caught up with her. Unfortunately, Eagle wasn’t a gunship, or it could have done more than just watch the action from above. Stone finished the update with the helicopter pilot and emerged from the cabin.
‘What’s the word?’ Kilkenny asked.
‘It seems that the chaps up ahead of us have noticed our approach.’
‘I can’t imagine why,’ Kilkenny commented sarcastically; Spitfire was loud and fast. ‘What are they doing?’
‘Eagle reports that they’re running flat out, but we’re closing quickly. Two of them have taken up position on the stern with weapons ready.’
‘And they’ll be firing once we’re in range.’ Kilkenny studied the shortening distance of water that separated the two speeding boats. ‘All right, everybody, hang tight. I’m going to throw this green beast through some moves.’
The Thames began widening as they approached the sea, the river stretching nearly five hundred meters across as Kilkenny turned the boat on a sharp diagonal course. Spitfire reveled in the challenge, sending foaming white sheets of water into the air.
Kilkenny’s evasive maneuvers slowed their approach toward Merlin somewhat, but it successfully kept the spies from taking an easy shot at them. Kilkenny cut wide toward shore before sharply turning to port again, bringing his side of the boat close in for their first strafing pass. With his left hand on the wheel, Kilkenny raised the MP5 with his right and strafed the metallic blue craft. Stone and Yakushev followed his lead and fired over the starboard side.
Bullets tore into Merlin’s hull, splintering the fiberglass and ripping through the cushioned seating. Stone took careful aim and clustered three rounds in a tight circle on the forehead of Kang’s lieutenant, killing him instantly. Kilkenny pulled the boat away, holding his course toward the north shore before swinging back for another pass.
‘How are you two doing back there?’
‘Nothing more than a few scratches to the hull,’ Stone replied.
‘I am also uninjured,’ answered Yakushev.
‘Great! We got one of theirs, but the next pass won’t be so easy. Are you both ready for another run?’
Stone and Yakushev replied by slipping fresh clips of ammunition into their weapons. Kilkenny brought Spitfire about, turning back in the direction of Merlin. He drew an imaginary arc across the water, aiming the boat not for where Merlin was but where it would soon be. Yakushev and Stone crouched on the port side as Spitfire made her next approach.
The dual-opposed engines showed no signs of strain with the grueling paces Kilkenny was running them through. The needle on the engine temperature gauge was centered in the middle of the normal range and the rpms were only three-quarters to the redline. Spitfire was a well-engineered, well-crafted machine.
Kang took aim and fired as the menacing green ship closed upon them. He emptied twenty rounds into Spitfire, raking the bow and shattering the windscreen in front of Kilkenny. Stone and Yakushev popped up briefly just as Kilkenny drove Spitfire over Merlin’s wake. Both fired wildly, their aim disrupted by the hammering of their ship’s hull in the wake behind Merlin. Before Stone could adjust his aim, Kang peppered his chest and arm with several rounds. Stone collapsed backward, landing beside Yakushev as the skirmish ended.
Kilkenny looked over his shoulder and saw Yakushev and the wounded Stone. ‘Andrei, how bad is it?’
‘Difficult to say. He is bleeding extensively, but—’
‘I’m okay,’ Stone said with a start, his head shaking as if he’d just awakened from a bad dream. ‘Just busted up my arm, that’s all.’
Yakushev helped Stone sit up, an effort that caused obvious pain. ‘I am definitely alive—being dead wouldn’t hurt this much.’
‘Sure as hell beats the alternative,’ Kilkenny added, knowing from personal experience. ‘Andrei, there should be a first-aid kit in the bow. See what you can find to patch him up. Hang in there, Stone. You’ll be fine.’
Stone grimaced at Kilkenny, then cupped the hand from his good arm over his ear. ‘Could you ease up on the engines? I’m getting a signal from Looking Glass. They want us to back off.’
‘Back off? All right, but I hope they’ve got something in mind.’ Kilkenny brought Spitfire to a stop while Merlin continued its drive toward the sea. ‘Let me borrow that headset while Andrei cleans you up.’
Kilkenny helped Stone remove his communication gear and body armor. The chest plate had stopped several potentially lethal rounds, leaving only deep bruises on Stone’s chest. His arm, on the other hand, had been torn open. Stone would be fine as long as they could stop the bleeding. Yakushev returned with the first-aid kit and began tending Stone’s injuries.
‘All right,Mosley, what the hell is going on?’ Kilkenny shouted into the microphone.
‘Kilkenny, you dumb son of a bitch,’ Mosley growled back. ‘You really got yourself into it this time. How’s your crew doing?’
‘The river’s blocked about four kilometers ahead of your current position. Parnell’s not getting out that way. Axton’s people are set up to pounce on them as soon as they approach. We also closed the flood barrier you passed through about six kilometers upriver, in case they try to double back.’
Merlin was now a white foaming speck downriver from where Kilkenny stood. ‘Ten kilometers of river is still a lot of area to cover. He may head for shore.’
‘We’ll take our chances,’ Mosley replied, acknowledging the risk. ‘Axton orders you to sit tight and wait for his people to come and get you. You can’t return the boat you stole until they open the floodgates anyway.’
‘I’m deeply offended by your accusation. This vessel was officially commandeered by a legitimate representative of the British government. I merely came along for the ride.’
‘I’ll bet you did, smart-ass. Tell Stone to hang in there; help’s on the way. You guys did real good out there.’
‘Thanks.’
Kilkenny helped Yakushev dress Stone’s wounds. One bullet had left a deep gouge in his forearm, while another had passed through his biceps. Stone was in good spirits despite his pain, keeping a stiff upper lip in proper British fashion.
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Downriver, Kang relaxed a little as Spitfire faded from view. He knew that he’d hit one of the snipers. Perhaps a lucky shot had found the driver of that devil boat. In any case, they had broken the pursuit and were now moving unopposed toward the ocean. Kang was just about to ask for Merlin‘s ship-to-shore phone when Parnell eased back on the throttle.
‘Why are you slowing down?’
‘I’m not sure,’ Parnell replied as he looked downriver, ‘but it appears that the floodgates have been closed.’
Both sides of the shore were illuminated by scores of police lights. Parnell could only imagine that many of the small figures lining the embankments had weapons trained on them as they approached. A pair of river patrol boats began moving toward Merlin. Before anyone said a word, he turned the wheel around and pushed the accelerator forward, leaving the ambush behind.
‘What are you doing?’ Kang shouted as Parnell turned his boat around.
‘They’ve closed the river,’ Parnell shouted back, stifling Kang’s complaint. ‘I can outrun their patrol boats, but we have to get ashore before it’s too late. There’s an abandoned dockyard a few kilometers back that we can use. With any luck, the police are spread so thin that we can escape by land.’
The closure represented by the wall of concrete and steel that tamed the river’s floodwaters caused a brief sensation of panic that Kang quickly suppressed. Parnell was right: It was time to get off the river. ‘Go. If we can evade our pursuers, my people will get us out of the country.’
‘What about Roe? We can’t leave her behind.’
‘I agree,’ Kang replied icily.
Upriver from Parnell’s boat lay the idle Spitfire. Stone’s wounds were tended as well as Kilkenny’s training and the onboard supplies would allow, and the three men waited for further assistance.
Kilkenny was still wearing Stone’s headset, monitoring the British radio traffic, when Mosley called out, ‘Kilkenny, you still there?’
Kilkenny switched the headset back into the send/receive mode. ‘Yeah, Cal. What’s up?’
‘Parnell caught a whiff of us and turned tail; he’s heading back in your direction. The British have a chopper and a pair of patrol boats keeping an eye on him. I want you guys to lay low and let him pass. We’ve got him bottled up, Kilkenny, so no more heroics. Understand?’
‘Loud and clear.’ Kilkenny flipped the microphone off and slammed his fist into the ship’s deck in frustration.
‘What did you find out?’ Stone asked.
‘They reached the blockade and have turned back. They’re heading our way, and Axton wants us to stand aside while his people try to chase them down. If Kang and Parnell are as smart as everyone thinks, they’ll dump that boat and disappear onshore.’
‘Where are we?’ Stone asked as he tried to peer, uncomfortably, over the ship’s side.
Kilkenny stood up but found no landmarks that meant anything to him. ‘Hell if I know—I’m not from around here.’
‘I’m afraid I won’t be much help, either,’ Yakushev added.
With Yakushev and Kilkenny’s aid, Stone stood up and studied the shoreline carefully, trying to get his bearings. ‘We’re in Essex, east of London proper. There are some old docks about a kilometer back. Parnell’s a local lad, like me, so he’s probably familiar with the area. If he’s going to abandon ship, he’s going to do it there.’
‘And he’ll make land before your people can run them down,’ Kilkenny concluded. Other than Spitfire, Parnell had the fastest boat on the Thames. The spies would be safely inland before the authorities could put anything near them by land or river.
Over the short period of time they’d spent together, Stone had taken his measure of Nolan Kilkenny and he already knew what thoughts were going through his mind. ‘Orders or not, we can’t let that happen.’
‘I agree with him,’ Yakushev said in defiance of Axton’s order. ‘We must intervene.’
‘I hate sitting around anyway.’ Kilkenny surveyed the river for Parnell’s boat. ‘We don’t have much time. Let’s get into position.’
Kilkenny piloted Spitfire to the center of the river before turning her perpendicular to the river’s flow, with the port side facing downriver toward the approaching boat.
‘How’s your shooting arm?’
Stone stretched and flexed his right arm; it felt weak. ‘It’s a bit wobbly, but otherwise fine.’
‘Good, because we’ll need all the firepower we can muster if we’re going to offer effective harassment. The plan is the same as before. We’re not going to try to stop them, just slow them down and keep them on the river until help arrives. I hope everyone’s ready, because here they come.’
Merlin rounded the slight turn in the river and came into view with a prominent fan of water issuing from the speeding boat’s tail. Yakushev and Stone crouched and took aim on the approaching ship while Kilkenny eased the throttle into low gear. As Merlin approached, Kilkenny hoped his opponents would assume that the drifting craft offered them no threat.
Merlin left the patrol boats far behind, and only the police helicopter kept up with the blue craft. Parnell showed no sign of veering his boat out of the main channel as it approached Spitfire.
‘He’s going to pass close, probably thinks we’re out of commission,’ Kilkenny whispered to his crew. ‘Let’s draw him in before we open up. On my mark, gentlemen.’
Merlin was almost upon them when Kilkenny shouted, ‘Now!’
All three opened fire on Merlin—bullets shattering the blue fiberglass hull as they struck. Kilkenny concentrated his fire on Parnell, strafing the bow deck and windscreen. Both Kang and Parnell ducked, but Parnell didn’t move fast enough for Kilkenny’s deadly aim. Three rounds caught Parnell in the right shoulder, shattering his collarbone and upper arm. The blow turned Parnell halfway around and nearly cast him overboard. His left hand, still clutching the wheel, pulled Merlin into a sharp starboard turn toward Spitfire.
Kilkenny dropped his weapon and slammed Spitfire‘s throttles forward. Too late.Merlin‘s upturned bow surged forward and struck them broadside, her keel driving deeply into the grinning shark’s mouth on Spitfire‘s tapered bow. The high-tech composite hulls of both ships exploded into a million tiny pieces. Kilkenny and his shipmates were flung overboard as Merlin plowed deeper into Spitfire, trying to capsize her. Merlin‘s hull, now locked into Spitfire, broke in two as the green ship’s reinforced keel rolled up from below and, like an ax, struck it amidships. The stern half of Parnell’s vessel, carried forward by th
e engine’s momentum, catapulted over the capsized boat into the river.
The captain’s chair that Roe was lashed to broke free from its base, ejecting her into the water, seat and all. Kang hit the water clear of the largest pieces of the broken vessel.
Merlin‘s stern crashed down on Parnell and the fractured fiberglass hull tore into his clothing and skin. Parnell’s pain gave way to sudden panic as the back half of his precious Merlin grabbed hold and dragged him down. He flailed vainly to free himself from the wreckage, clawing hopelessly at the water, but each second that passed found him another foot beneath the surface.
At ten feet, Parnell could hold his breath no longer and he coughed the oxygen-depleted air from his lungs. He gagged on the first trickles of water that ran down his throat as he inhaled the river. Each involuntary spasm, his body’s frantic search for air, sent another mouthful of the river into his rapidly flooding lungs. Twenty feet down, he was no longer aware of the brown-black world that surrounded him. Parnell’s mind had closed in upon itself in the final moments of consciousness.
The broken stern of Merlin spiraled silently downward into the silty river with the body of Ian Parnell impaled upon its fractured end. A few scattered bubbles sprang loose when the wreckage struck bottom, tumbling upward to the surface. The weight of the stern pushed Parnell’s body down into the soft river bottom.
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Kilkenny grabbed hold of Stone’s jacket as Spitfire capsized and they were flung into the river. Once in the water, he threw his free arm across the injured man’s chest and pulled him clear of the wreck. Yakushev broke the water’s surface nearby, still shaken from the crash as he seized hold of the Spitfire‘s hull.
With Stone in tow, Kilkenny swam over and joined Yakushev beside the wreckage. ‘You okay?’
‘I’m a little bruised,’ Yakushev replied, ‘but otherwise fine. What about Kang and Parnell?’