by Jack Higgins
“I’m not the one who has to jump out of a moving plane,” Rich pointed out.
The plane was slowing. It was now or never. Jade took a deep breath. Then she leaped to her feet and ran.
The plane was still moving. Stabb saw her and tugged at his seatbelt. Further down the aisle, Magda was also trying to get up. But Jade was already at the door at the front of the cabin.
There was a long lever, horizontal across the door with a large painted red arrow showing which way it turned in an emergency.
Well, if this wasn’t an emergency then nothing was, Jade thought as she wrenched the lever round.
Rich watched in horror as Stabb brought out his gun. Jade was still at the door. Stabb was taking aim, about to shoot her down.
With his hands and legs tied together, Rich stood up, almost overbalancing. He managed to turn his sideways momentum into a jump – launching himself off his tied-together feet across the aisle.
He crashed into Stabb, sending the man sprawling over the seats. The gun skidded out of his grasp.
With a hydraulic hiss the door swung open. The hiss became an explosion of sound – the wind whipped past the jet which was still travelling at twenty miles an hour. There was a rush of compressed air as the inflatable slide billowed out from beneath the door. Without waiting for it to finish, without wondering whether her weight would be enough to drag the slide down to the ground, Jade jumped.
She hit the chute and bounced, then slid towards the runway that was hurtling past. Her foot dug into the plastic, caught, was free again – and now she tumbled.
Luckily, she was rolling with the fall. She reached out for the runway as it skimmed past, and tumbled out across it, on to the grass the other side. Her ankles were numb from where the ropes had been tied so tight. Her foot was protesting where it had snagged. Her legs felt like jelly. But she was on her feet and running as fast as she could for the nearest building – a long, low storage hangar.
As soon as the plane had stopped, Stabb shoved Rich out of the door. Without the full use of hands or legs, Rich rolled and tumbled down the inflated slide and bumped painfully on to the runway at the bottom.
Magda was close behind him, then Stabb. Immediately, Stabb was yelling at the soldiers grouped round the waiting vehicles. He waved them towards a nearby hangar and Rich guessed that was where Jade had been heading for. There was no sign of her now. He just hoped she had managed to get away.
A soldier yanked Rich to his feet and pushed him towards the black limo. With his ankles tied, Rich immediately fell over again, but he managed to get his hands out to stop himself getting hurt in the fall.
Magda leaned over him, brandishing a knife. It was a vicious-looking weapon with a blade that was serrated on one side. Rich tried to shuffle away from her as the knife came closer to his face. The woman smiled and reached down to cut through the cords binding his ankles.
“Did you think I was going to cut you?” she said, amused. “Well, maybe I will. Later.” She sliced through the cords round his wrists, then stood up and walked to the limousine. “Bring him,” she called to the soldiers standing over Rich.
He was bundled into the limo. Magda was sitting in the middle of the wide bench seat. On the other side of her was a man. Rich recognised him at once from the pictures he and Jade had seen on the KOS website at the internet café – Viktor Vishinsky.
It was an optical illusion. Jade hadn’t intended it to work that way, but she realised as soon as the soldiers raced into the hangar what had happened. She had almost – so nearly – run into the hangar. But at the last moment it occurred to her that if she did, there might be no way out. She could be trapped.
That would indeed have been the case, judging by the amusement and confidence of the soldiers who soon arrived and ran into the hangar after her, or so they thought. Jade had run past the doors, down the side of the hangar. But anyone watching from a distance, expecting her to go inside, would have assumed that was what she’d done as she disappeared from sight, level with the dark opening of the doorway.
Her problem now was what to do next – there was nowhere else to go. There were plenty of other buildings on the airbase, but they were all a long way away. She’d be spotted well before she got to any of them. And it wouldn’t take long for the soldiers to finish searching the hangar and conclude either that she’d escaped somehow or that she had never gone inside.
“Think, think…” Jade urged herself. She tried to decide what Rich would do. He’d probably tell her to do something stupid, or make some comment that sounded really useful but was no help at all. Like: “Hide in the last place they’d ever think to look.” Right – big help. But where was the last place they’d ever think to look?
Jade was peering round the side of the hangar, desperately searching for some hiding place. And then she saw it – not fifty metres away. With luck she could get there without being spotted. And yes, it had to be the last place anyone would think to look for her.
The plane she’d just escaped from.
It was still on the runway, the inflated chute hanging from its side. There was a large cargo bay door open at the back now, forming a ramp sloping down to the runway. If she could get to that before the soldiers came out of the hangar…
The limousine and some of the other vehicles in the convoy were already pulling away. The plane had turned slightly since it arrived to allow for easier unloading. But now the bags and crates had been removed, and it was between Jade and the vehicles, shielding her from sight. If she was lucky.
Not that she had much choice, she decided. She took a deep breath, quickly checked that the way was clear and there was no one coming out of the hangar. Then she ran.
She was out of breath, gasping, as she charged up the ramp into the cargo bay. She looked round, checking there was no one else there. But the place seemed deserted. It was cramped and she had to duck her head as she made her way into the gloomy space, negotiating the cargo nets that held down freight when the plane was loaded and airborne.
Luckily, there was plenty of room behind the various crates and boxes still in the hold for her to hide. Jade knelt down in the shadows, behind a huge packing crate. Peering out, she had a good view out of the back of the plane and across the airfield. She could see the hangar beside which she had been hiding. There was no sign of activity – no one running after her, shouting, pointing…
Jade breathed a huge sigh of relief. And a hand clamped over her mouth, pulling her backwards into the darkness of the cargo hold.
Watching the soldiers out of the window of the limousine, Rich hoped against hope that Jade was all right. Stabb was standing at the back with a group of uniformed troops, shouting at them.
“Your sister is causing Mr Stabb some trouble,” Vishinsky said to Rich. He seemed amused rather than angry. He leaned forward and spoke to the driver in, Rich assumed, Russian.
The limo pulled away slowly, turning in a wide circle. It slowed as it reached Stabb, and Vishinsky wound down his window.
“Don’t waste your time. Leave it to them,” he said. “They know what they are doing, and – where can she go?”
Stabb nodded and said something else to the soldiers. But Vishinsky’s window was rising and the car was moving faster now, so Rich could not hear what he was saying. But he saw Stabb run over to a jeep and climb in beside the driver. Two jeeps were now following the limousine on to a service road and towards the main gate out of the airbase.
“Do you know what this is?” Vishinsky asked as they headed for the main gate out of the base. He reached across Magda and handed Rich a large, plain brown envelope.
Rich opened it cautiously and found it contained three large photographs. They were black and white, grainy and indistinct. He wasn’t even sure at first which way up they should be.
“Yes, they are not very good, I’m afraid,” Vishinsky said. “Blow-ups from a security camera. I am assured they have been enhanced as much as is possible. More than is possible if my expe
rts are to be believed.”
He reached over again and tapped at something in the middle of the top picture. “This – what is it?”
Rich had just about managed to work out that he was looking at a close-up shot of a hand. The hand was holding something – the thing that Vishinsky had pointed to. The other photos were almost identical – the hand moving only slightly between the frames.
“No,” Rich said. “No, sorry, I don’t know.” He shook his head. “It’s pretty small, judging by the size of the hand. And there’s a picture on the thing, a pattern or outline or something. Not very clear.” He put the photos back in the envelope and returned it to Vishinsky.
Rich turned to look out of the window. The countryside looked bare and barren with a little grass poking through the dry ground. In the distance there were hills, which looked just as dry and dusty brown. He had been careful not to show it, but the picture had reminded Rich of something. He just couldn’t remember what. Maybe nothing at all, he decided. The shape on whatever it was that the hand was holding was hardly unusual. But he couldn’t help thinking he’d seen it somewhere recently – a simple outline of a heart.
* * *
Jade stopped struggling as soon as she saw who it was. Dex Halford took his hand from Jade’s mouth and put his finger to his own lips to warn her to be quiet. Together, they ducked down behind the crate.
“How did you get here?” Jade whispered.
“I could ask you the same thing,” Halford said quietly. “It wasn’t hard to guess where they were taking you when Stabb mentioned a nearby airfield. There’s not a lot of choice. It’s quicker across the back fields than by road, and your brother had at least left me a working tractor, even if my Range Rover will need towing out of the pool when I finally get home.”
“You stowed away?” Jade realised. “In here?”
Halford nodded. “Told the crew they were to prepare for take-off, which I expected they’d find out soon enough anyway. The moment they weren’t looking I sneaked in while the back was open. What about you?”
Jade shrugged. “Managed to get free and jumped. Then I legged it.”
“That why it was a bumpy landing?” Halford smiled. “I’m bruised all over.”
“They’ve still got Rich,” Jade said. “I couldn’t get him out too.”
“That’s all right,” Halford said, suddenly serious. “Let’s go and get him back.”
“And how do we do that?”
Halford peered round the crate and then got unsteadily to his feet, pushing himself up with his walking stick. “We start by stealing a jeep,” he said.
Although some of the military vehicles had followed Vishinsky’s car from the airbase, there were still a couple of jeeps, a large lorry and the tank on the runway close to the plane. Most of the soldiers had gone to help with the search for Jade – still centred on the hangar fifty metres away. It looked like it might be possible to get to a jeep, but Jade wasn’t sure what they’d do then – could they even get off the base?
Halford couldn’t run – the best he could manage was a fast hobble, leaning heavily on his stick as they left the plane. Things went wrong almost at once.
A soldier came round the side of the plane, heading back towards the convoy of vehicles. He almost walked into Jade and Halford as they emerged down the cargo ramp.
The speed of Halford’s reaction took Jade by surprise. She hardly had time to see his arm shoot out before the soldier was lying unconscious on the ground and his rifle was somehow in Halford’s hand.
But one of the soldiers by the nearest jeep had either seen or heard. He was shouting to the others, pointing. Then suddenly he was diving for cover as Halford put a bullet into the ground close to his feet.
“Pity,” he said. “But maybe that was looking too easy.”
The soldiers were firing back now, and Halford and Jade were forced to duck into cover of their own – behind the tank. Jade hoped there was no one inside it. The hatch on the top was standing open, which was a good sign. She didn’t want to think what might happen if the gun swung round to fire at them or if the huge armoured vehicle started to move. She pressed herself against the cold metal as Halford leaned round to fire. He pulled back before another volley of shots pinged off the armour plating close by.
“Can’t keep them pinned down for long,” Halford warned. “I might be able to cover you so you can get to one of the jeeps.”
“Then what?” Jade had to shout to be heard above the rattle of gunfire.
“Drive it over here and pick me up.” He made it sound easy.
“Yeah, right,” Jade muttered, bracing herself to run through a hail of bullets. “Let’s hope they left the keys for us.” Maybe this wasn’t the best time to confess she had little idea how to drive.
But as it turned out, she didn’t have to. A soldier appeared from the other side of the plane, behind them – running straight at the tank. Halford hadn’t seen him yet and the soldier was already bringing up his machine pistol.
Jade yelled. But her shout was lost in the rattle of machine-gun fire. Bullets kicked up earth, stitching a line across the ground close to Halford. He was turning, aiming the rifle, but too late.
The line of bullets reached Halford, drilling into his leg, cutting right through it. Jade screamed as Halford’s leg was severed at the knee, coming completely away. He gave an angry shout and collapsed.
19
Halford was staring in disbelief at the ragged end of his trousers, where his knee had been. “You shot my leg off!” he shouted in disbelief.
Jade was staring in disbelief too. She was expecting blood to be pumping out, Halford to be unconscious – maybe even dead. But there was no sign of any blood, and the man seemed angry more than in pain.
The soldier who had shot Halford also looked confused. He hesitated, then brought the gun up again.
But Halford recovered first and fired a single rifle shot from the ground. It caught the soldier in the shoulder, spinning him round and slamming him to the runway.
“Just a flesh wound,” Halford assured Jade.
“He shot your leg off,” she said.
“I meant him – he’s just got a flesh wound. I can manage without my leg,” he assured her, heaving himself up on his stick. “God knows, I’ve managed without it for long enough already.”
And only then did Jade realise why Halford walked with a stick and a limp. “You’ve got an artificial leg.”
“Not any more,” he said, prodding at the detached lower leg with his walking stick. “And with it goes our chance of getting to a jeep. Too many soldiers out there now.” He paused as the tank rang with the sound of bullets impacting on its armour. “They’ll soon realise we’re pinned down and rush us. I doubt I can hop out of here, but I’m open to any other suggestions.”
Jade could think of only one possibility. Desperate, and probably stupid, and definitely dangerous, but it was all she could offer. “Can you drive a tank?” she asked.
The sergeant in charge of the soldiers with the convoy knew he had them beaten. Stabb had told him he could kill the girl if he had to, but probably it wouldn’t be necessary. She and the man who had appeared from the cargo hold of the plane were pinned down behind the tank. And the soldiers that the sergeant had recalled from searching the hangar would be able to come round behind them. There was no way they could escape. He smiled confidently and gave the order into his radio for the troops to move in.
He had barely finished speaking when there was a shout from the soldier next to him and a burst of rapid fire. The sergeant looked up in time to see the hatch on top of the tank turret slam shut. He swore. It might take a while to get them out, but they were still trapped – inside the tank. Things could be worse.
Then the huge powerful engines of the tank coughed into life and things were worse. The tank was moving. Slowly, ponderously at first, but picking up speed, the tank headed right at the sergeant and his men. They fired at it, a storm of bullets rattling off t
he tank to no effect.
Then men were running, out of the way of the tank and away from the jeeps and the truck. The tank ploughed into the side of the truck, ripping off its canvass cover and crunching through the back axle. The truck lurched sideways and stood at an ungainly angle as the tank passed – moving on to the jeeps behind.
One of the jeeps was shunted aside so violently it rolled and bounced across the runway. The tank drove straight over the other one, its tracks biting into the side of the jeep as the heavy tank rose up over it, before smashing down and crushing the smaller vehicle.
The sergeant was shouting into his radio, alerting the soldiers at the main gate and giving them instructions, but he doubted anyone was listening. He could already see the guards running from their hut by the gate. Moments later, the tank drove right through it – gate, hut, fence. Planks of wood went flying. Glass exploded into fragments. Barbed wire stretched and tore. Dry earth was flying up from the tank’s tracks as it rumbled across the road and on to the bare ground beyond.
The road through the wilderness swung in a long loop from the airbase to the main road, so Rich found that he could see the base in the distance out of the side window of the limousine as it reached the outermost point of the curve in the road.
He was looking straight at it when the gate and the hut beside it exploded into fragments and a large battle tank smashed through. Brown dust trailed behind it like smoke as the tank set off towards the main road. But it wasn’t using the looping service road that the limo and jeeps had taken. It was heading in a straight line – a far shorter distance.
Rich watched, holding his breath and trying to work out if the tank would reach the main road before they did. He didn’t know who was driving the tank, but he could make a pretty good guess. “Beats a Range Rover,” he murmured to himself. “Why does she always have to go one better?” He wondered how long it would be before someone else noticed…
The driver pulled a mobile phone from his pocket. He listened for a moment, then turned to look out of his side window in surprise. The car lurched as he saw the tank heading rapidly for the road ahead of the convoy. Vishinsky and Magda, alerted by the jolt, were also staring in amazement out of the window.