Hijack

by Chris Ryan

  More gunfire. Lukas felt a round whizz over his right shoulder. He sensed Sami and Lili separating from him. They had been running too close together. Spread out, they would divide the attack force’s firepower into three. And now, with his two friends at least fifteen metres away on either side, he heard Hector’s harsh voice in his head. If you’re running from an armed shooter, move in a zigzag. That way, you present a target moving laterally, which is harder to hit. And for God’s sake tuck your head down, so you turn yourself into a smaller target.

  Lukas instantly altered his trajectory slightly to the left. At that moment, a round almost brushed his right arm. Not for the first time, Lukas silently thanked the training they’d been given back in Valley House. He zigzagged to the left, upping his pace. The wind was behind them, and he felt it gave him a little more speed. When another round passed over his head, he sensed that the shooter was further away than before.

  He heard Lili’s voice. ‘Over there!’

  Lukas glanced in the direction she was pointing. The land sloped downhill. It would take them out of the shooters’ line of fire, at least momentarily. The three cadets headed towards the dip, still keeping their distance from each other and zigzagging. The gunfire had stopped. Lukas assumed they were out of sight. He didn’t know how long that would last.

  It was still raining and the ground had become marshy underfoot. Lili was leading them along a thin stream that wound its way from up in the hills beyond. The cadets were soaked, so the mud seeping through their shoes barely made a difference. There were hillocks on either side. Lukas considered using them as cover. He was mindful of their strategy: they were a decoy, leading members of the attack force away from Max and Abby. They needed to stay out of range of the shooters, but still draw them in this direction …

  With that in mind, Lukas looked back. That was his mistake.

  He could just discern the outline of a man, perhaps a hundred metres away. Then his foot hit something hard. He fell, twisting his ankle as he did so, and shouted in pain. He tried to scramble back to his feet, but as soon as he attempted to put any weight on his right foot, a shock of agony screamed up his leg. He collapsed to the ground again.

  Lili and Sami reached him within seconds. They urged him to his feet and he gave it another go. It was no good. He couldn’t stand unaided. Wincing with pain, he looked back towards the advancing figure.

  ‘Leave me,’ he hissed. ‘You need to get out of here. They’ll be on us any moment.’

  Something passed between Lili and Sami. They nodded, then gently manoeuvred Lukas back to the ground. Without another word, they disappeared.

  Lukas gasped for breath. The pain in his foot was intense and his lungs burned. A tiny part of him questioned whether he should be surprised that his two friends had left him here. He banished that thought from his mind. They’d done what they needed to do. There was no point all three of them dying. Lukas’s survival was up to him now. Screwing up his face, he tried to crawl. Perhaps if he could find a hiding place – a depression in the ground, or a bush, anything …

  But, apart from the hillocks on either side, there was nothing. No cover. No escape.

  He felt that perhaps the pain was easing a little, and he made another attempt to get to his feet. He was a little steadier now. He couldn’t run, but he might be able to hobble. If he could get over the nearest hillock, perhaps he had a chance …

  He looked back again. The figure was there. Twenty metres away, no more. He had his weapon raised, the butt of his rifle pressed into his shoulder. Lukas blinked in astonishment. He recognised the soldier with red eyes. They sent a shock of fear through his gut. How had he got here? He must have launched a RIB from the trawler. His lip was curled into a sneer and there was no doubt in Lukas’s mind that that his enemy recognised him.

  Nor was there any doubt about what he intended to do.

  Lukas staggered back, his arms raised in surrender. The soldier approached. Ten metres. Five. His weapon was aimed at Lukas’s chest. He was moving his finger from the trigger guard to the trigger. Getting ready to squeeze it.

  He spat something in Spanish, then stared at Lukas, as if relishing what he was about to do.

  Unfortunately for the soldier, he was too focused on what stood in front of him to pay attention to what was approaching from behind.

  Sami and Lili had emerged from the cover of the hillock. They moved silently, and so fast that the soldier didn’t know what had hit him. Lili went low, diving at the soldier’s ankles and pulling his feet out from underneath him. As soon as he tumbled, Sami dived on his body, smothering it and pointing the weapon in a safe direction. The soldier discharged a round, deafeningly loud because it was so close, but it shot harmlessly off into the night.

  Lukas could do nothing but watch as his two friends ruthlessly dealt with the soldier. Sami unclipped the weapon from his chest and handed it to Lili. While she made it safe, Sami raised one fist and inclined his head slightly. ‘I’m extremely sorry about this,’ he said, his voice quite earnest, before slamming his fist hard onto the soldier’s neck: once, twice, a third time before the soldier’s eyes glazed over and he went limp. Sami and Lili turned to Lukas.

  ‘You okay?’ Sami asked. He was out of breath.

  Lukas nodded, then winced as he tried to walk.

  Sami stood up and pointed at the soldier at his feet. ‘I don’t know how long he’ll be out,’ he said. ‘Maybe no more than a few minutes. And his mates might be searching for him.’

  ‘Can you walk?’ Lili asked Lukas.

  ‘I’ll do my best,’ Lukas said. He pointed ahead of him. ‘We’ll keep going that way, yes?’

  ‘As fast as we can.’ Lili pointed back the way they’d come. ‘Look.’ There were more figures on the horizon, heading in their direction.

  Lukas set his jaw. He held on to Sami for support and started to limp as quickly as he could. ‘Come on,’ he said. ‘What are you waiting for?’

  Max’s heart beat fast. His lungs burned. He was running on adrenaline and nervous energy. He and Abby ran side by side, soaked to the skin, gusts of wind trying to knock them to the ground.

  ‘How much further?’ Abby shouted.

  Max didn’t know. A mile? Maybe a little more? ‘Just keep running!’ he yelled. ‘We have to get to that transponder!’

  As he spoke, he saw something in the distance that chilled him. Lights in the sky. An aircraft. Could it be a fast air attack? Were they too late?

  ‘It’s a helicopter!’ Abby shouted. ‘It’s coming from the RAF base. Look, there’s more than one. They must be reacting to the flares.’

  Max wiped rain from his eyes as he ran and squinted in the direction of the lights. There were several helicopters speeding towards them. Even if Abby was right, however, and they had been alerted by the flares, Max couldn’t allow himself a feeling of relief. His instinct told him that an Argentine air strike was still imminent. They had to get to the transponder.

  They upped their pace. Suddenly, the choppers were very close. There were five. Each had a searchlight scouring the landscape. The powerful lights illuminated the driving rain that swirled and eddied across the sky. As the choppers flew overhead, Max and Abby threw themselves to the ground. They didn’t want to be spotted. It would be too easy for the helicopter crews to mistake them for invaders. They pressed themselves into the rough grass as the searchlights fell on them, the rotors of the chopper deafeningly loud, the downdraught stronger even than the wind. But they were gone in a second, hurtling towards the site of the invasion …

  The two cadets pushed themselves to their feet and continued to run, battling through the elements and ignoring their own exhaustion. Max could see a fence up ahead. It looked like the boundary of a minefield and he thought he recognised where they were.

  ‘We’re close!’ he shouted to Abby. ‘Keep going!’

  They ran hard.

  ‘Choppers!’ Sami shouted.

  They were approaching fast.

  �
��They’re coming from the RAF base, I think,’ Lili yelled. ‘They must have seen the flares. Get down! We don’t want them to mistake us for invaders!’

  They hit the ground. Lukas winced with pain. As the helicopters passed over, their searchlights lit up the ground all around them. After they had passed, Lukas rolled over and looked back. He was searching for the soldier Sami had knocked unconscious. There was no sign of him. Lukas was relieved.

  It was short-lived.

  As soon as the helicopters had thundered past, the dark outline of a figure rose on the horizon. Lukas felt a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. He knew it was the red-eyed soldier. He had regained consciousness, and was now staggering towards them.

  Lili had his weapon. Lukas glanced at it meaningfully. ‘Fire some warning shots!’

  But Lili was already kneeling in the firing position, ready to lay down suppressing rounds. She cocked the weapon with a dull clunk and aimed it carefully. Lukas prepared himself for the sound of gunfire.

  It didn’t come. There was just an impotent click from the weapon.

  ‘Stoppage,’ Lili hissed.

  ‘We don’t have time to strip it down,’ Sami said. ‘Look, he’s coming. We have to –’

  The word ‘move’ was drowned out by a crack of gunfire coming from the soldier. ‘He’s got a handgun!’ Lukas shouted. ‘We have to get away from him!’

  Sami and Lili pulled Lukas to his feet. A sharp pain ran up his leg. Every step he took was agonising, even with his friends’ help. Behind him, the soldier was advancing implacably. He fired another shot, and Lukas could tell that the round had fallen just short of them. The handgun was moving into range.

  To their right, the land undulated.

  ‘That way!’ Lukas pointed. ‘It’ll give us cover.’

  ‘How long for?’ Sami said grimly.

  ‘Maybe enough time to clear the stoppage on the rifle.’

  ‘We can’t shoot him,’ Sami said.

  ‘We might not have a choice.’

  ‘I don’t think we’ll have enough time,’ Lili said. ‘He’s moving pretty fast for a guy who was unconscious a few minutes ago.’

  ‘I should have hit him harder,’ Sami muttered. ‘He’d be safer that way.’

  ‘We’d be safer that way,’ Lili said. ‘He’ll kill us if he gets close enough.’

  They struggled to the top of the next hill. The pain in Lukas’s leg was insane. As they hurried downhill, he stumbled and fell to his knees with a cry of agony.

  Then he saw something.

  Twenty metres away was a fence. It was identical to the fence that had cordoned off the birdwatching area they had visited with Peter. One of the upright wooden posts was set at a 45-degree angle to the ground, as though falling. Just to its right was a red metal sign. It said: ‘Danger: Mines’.

  Lukas narrowed his eyes. He glanced from the sign to the wooden post, and then to a patch of low brush twenty metres from their position.

  ‘I’ve got an idea,’ he said.

  22

  Incoming

  ‘There it is!’ Max shouted. ‘The listening station!’

  They were running alongside the birdwatching area where the albatross had visited them. Max felt a tingle of fear in the side of his body closest to the minefield. He put the minefield out of his mind and, Abby at his side, hurtled towards the concrete structure.

  Morning was coming. There was no sign of the sun – it was too overcast. Just a faint lightening of the sky. It allowed the outline of the listening station to emerge more clearly, like a ghostly figure stepping out of the mist.

  Abby suddenly grabbed Max by the wrist, forcing him to stop.

  ‘What are you doing?’ he demanded.

  ‘I just wanted to say …’ Abby whispered. Her wet hair was plastered to her face, her eyes very wide. ‘We could be running straight into an airstrike, and if it hits before we can destroy the transponder …’

  ‘We have to go, Abby.’

  ‘I know. I just wanted to tell you …’ She held out one hand and touched his cheek.

  ‘I know,’ Max said. He gave her a warm smile. ‘Me too …’ He looked towards the listening post. ‘We need to …’

  ‘On it,’ Abby said. She grinned at him and pushed the wet hair off her face. They started to run again.

  The hole that Max had found in the fence was still there. The two cadets passed through it and sprinted along the path that led down to the station. Max’s whole body was tingling now. He had to repress the urge to turn and run in the opposite direction. He and Abby were putting themselves in danger, making themselves a target. But they didn’t have an option. They kept running.

  And they were only halfway to the listening station when they heard it.

  It was very distant, but unmistakable: a boom that reverberated above the sound of the wind and the rain. Max and Abby stopped for a moment, breathless, staring at each other.

  ‘Oh my God,’ Abby said. ‘Fast air.’

  Max nodded. ‘Fast air,’ he agreed. ‘Incoming.’

  Lukas couldn’t put his plan into action himself. He wasn’t mobile enough. He had to observe, crouched on the wet earth, as Sami kept watch at the brow of the incline, and Lili got to work.

  The wonky wooden post was clearly rotten. That was why it failed to stay upright. So when Lili ran up to it, it took only a few moments to yank it from its setting and force it to lie flat on the earth. As she did this, Lukas watched with satisfaction as the wire fencing on either side collapsed with the post. It served two purposes. Anyone stumbling across the scenario would think that someone had pulled down the fence in order to cross it. And the ‘Danger: Mines’ sign was now face-down on the ground, invisible to anybody who was not looking for it.

  ‘He’ll be here in less than a minute!’ Sami hissed.

  The trap was set. Lukas hobbled over to the area of low brush, helped along by Sami. Lili ran to it from the fence. Together, they lay on their fronts amid the wet, spiky foliage. It was deeply uncomfortable, but once again Lukas could hear Hector’s voice in his mind. The best place to hide is the most uncomfortable. Look for a location where nobody would want to venture. As a thorn pressed into the side of his face, it occurred to Lukas that Hector would approve.

  Then they saw him. The soldier appeared at the top of the incline. His red eyes seemed to burn in the dawn light. He clutched his handgun in both hands. He scanned the area, plainly looking for the cadets. For an awful moment, Lukas thought his gaze had settled on their hiding place. He held his breath, making certain he didn’t move even a millimetre. The soldier scanned past their position and, after what felt like an age, his eyes fell on the collapsed fence. Squinting, Lukas could see the expression on his face: a dismissive sneer. He thought he could interpret the soldier’s thoughts: that he now knew how to find the three stupid kids who had attacked him …

  The soldier stepped forward. He was unsteady on his feet, as though he hadn’t fully recovered from Sami’s brutal punches. Still clutching his weapon, he staggered down the hill towards the fence. Lukas swallowed hard. Despite everything – the murder of the old farmer, the death threats he’d given Lukas and Max – he didn’t want the soldier to step on an anti-personnel mine. Surely there wouldn’t be any so close to the perimeter fence. Whoever erected it would have included a buffer zone. Still, he felt a metallic chill down his spine as the soldier climbed over the fallen fence, lifting his legs high to avoid the roll of barbed wire. And he held his breath as the man headed into the minefield.

  He was ten metres beyond the perimeter fence when Lukas said: ‘Now.’

  There was no decision-making time. It was a reflex action. Max and Abby ran. Not away from the listening station, to where they had a chance – a small chance – of finding safety. But towards it, knowing that the boom they’d heard in the distance was a fast air strike, and they were at ground zero.

  Within seconds, they were alongside the building. Max led the way to the transponder. The painted iron
door was there, and the concrete block in front of it. He could see the dim red light of the transponder glowing. At the same time, he could hear the roar of the fast air approaching. He knew that in the time it took him to cover the handful of metres between him and the transponder, the aircraft would travel hundreds of metres. He threw himself towards the transponder with no clear idea of how he was going to disable the device.

  Then he was alongside it. He gripped it in both hands and gritted his teeth as he desperately tried to pull it away from the concrete block.

  It wouldn’t budge.

  The roar of the aircraft was getting louder. It was close, ready to take out the listening station. Rain and sweat trickled into Max’s eyes as he desperately tried to yank the transponder away from its fixings …

  But he couldn’t.

  ‘Move!’ Abby shouted.

  Max glanced to his left. She stood by his side, straining to lift a football-sized rock above her head.

  ‘MOVE!’ she repeated. ‘NOW!’

  Lili stood up. She had the assault rifle. She pointed it at the soldier’s back. It had a stoppage, of course, but he didn’t know that.

  ‘Hey!’ she shouted. ‘Over here!’

  The soldier spun around as Lukas and Sami got to their feet. His eyes widened as the facts of his situation dawned on him. The three cadets were out of range of his handgun, whereas he was very much in the line of fire of Lili’s assault rifle.

  ‘Tell him he’s in a minefield,’ Lukas said. ‘Tell him that if he takes even a single step, he could stand on an anti-personnel mine.’

  Lili translated Lukas’s words into Spanish. She had to shout, because in the distance there was the boom of an aircraft. Lukas and Sami exchanged a worried look. Lukas knew what that noise had to be: fast air, coming in to launch a strike on the listening station. He felt his mouth turn dry as he thought of Max and Abby, heading straight into the danger zone. If the aircraft was incoming, surely that meant they had failed to destroy the transponder in time …