by Rob Jones
Everyone else was already in the vehicle, and Devlin had just told a joke but only Lea was laughing. “And do you remember that time when Benny went on leave and we put his car up for sale?”
Lea laughed again and raised her hand to her mouth to cover the laugh. “Oh God, I do! Poor bastard had phone calls requesting test drives all through his holiday.”
“Back to Kloos and the manuscript people,” Hawke said, glancing at Lea. “This isn’t a holiday.”
Her face dropped. “You don’t say? Jeez – we were just talking about old times.”
Devlin said nothing.
“We have to get to Wales in a hurry,” Hawke said. “It’s not going to take long for Zito to get what he wants out of Kloos, and when he does the sword’s his for the taking. That will make Kruger happy, and anything that makes that son of a bitch happy makes me unhappy.”
“Got that right,” Ryan said.
“Can you get us to the sword with what Kloos gave us, mate?”
“Maybe. I’ll give it some thought on the plane.”
Reaper slammed the SUV into reverse and spun the wheels as he brought the vehicle out of Kloos’s side street and onto the main drag. Hawke glanced out the tinted window at the people who were now daring enough to venture back into the city again after the violence around the station.
As if she had read his mind, Lea leaned forward from the middle seats and handed him her iPhone. The day’s horror had already made it to the international press, and there was even a picture of the M-Squadron outside the station on the front cover of the New York Times. The headline ran: TERROR COMES TO AMSTERDAM. Looking closely in the rear of the image Hawke saw Reaper behind one of the trams. Luckily the Frenchman’s face was obscured by the distance.
“What’s going on?” Reaper asked, not taking his eyes off the road.
“You almost got famous,” Hawke said without humor. He showed his old friend the front page of the paper and then returned the phone to Lea.
“Fame is fleeting, mon ami,” Reaper said. “Those who chase it are fools running toward the end of a rainbow that never appears. It is not real life, non?”
“Nothing wrong with chasing a dream, Reap,” Lea said.
“Celui qui court deux lièvres à la fois n’en prend aucun,” Reaper said with his best Gallic shrug.
“Huh?” Devlin said.
“He who chases two hares catches neither,” the former Legionnaire said by way of explanation. “Old French proverb.”
Outside the crowds were growing in number once again as the city slowly came back to life. They were already some distance from the station now, and these people probably had only the vaguest idea about what had happened in the heart of their own city. Amsterdam was a peaceful place, and it wasn't every day that a team of gunmen dragged a kidnapped man across the busiest part of the city, opened fire on anti-terror police and then fled to safety on a speed boat.
And all on his watch.
Hawke pushed back into his seat and closed his eyes. He knew that there would already be an alert out not only on Zito but also on the men and women of the ECHO team who had fired on them. Normally Lea would call Eden and he would start pulling strings connected to the Dutch authorities, but with the old man in a coma there was only one thing they could do if they wanted to get out of the Netherlands and reach the Welsh mountains before Zito.
He half-turned in his seat and faced Lea. “Something tells me we’re going to need Magnus Lund.”
The quiet chatter in the Suburban came to a sudden halt.
“Lund?” Scarlet said. “You mean the walking corpse we met in Miami before the Lost City mission?”
“Know any other people called Magnus Lund?” Hawke said.
“Living dead or not,” Lea said. “Lund is the only contact we have with the Eden Consortium. I say we contact him again.”
“Me too,” Ryan said confidently. “The man proved himself when he sent those rescue helicopters to get us in the jungle.”
“Exactly,” said Kim. “Getting that sanctioned in a country like Peru would have taken a lot of top-level negotiations. So not only did he prove we could trust him but we know he can make things happen. I say we call him.”
“On it,” said Lea, and started making the call. She spoke to his Copenhagen office for a few minutes and then disconnected the call. “That was his assistant. She says he’s in Tehran on business but she’ll pass it on.”
Scarlet sighed. “Great. We only find out if he’s sorted it when we arrive at the airport and get nicked or not.”
“You should have more faith in humanity,” Kim said.
Scarlet turned in her seat and looked at her as if she were a fool. “You don’t know me at all, darling.”
*
Back in his office, Davis Faulkner twiddled his thumbs as he waited for the video conference to begin. Two of the five large plasma screens on his wall now flickered to life to reveal the faces of Colonel Frank Geary and Karen Conrad, the deputy director of the NSA. Faulkner trusted the NSA more than the CIA. He had more people willing to do his bidding there, not to mention they were military intelligence and more clandestine. He could squeeze much more out of them than the CIA.
“Are we all secure?” Faulkner said.
They confirmed that they were.
“Good. Regarding our earlier conversation, I wanted you both to know that the order has come down to deal with the ECHO team.”
“Deal with them how, exactly?” Conrad said.
“They are to be executed.”
A brief look of anxiety washed over both their faces, but before either could reply, Faulkner spoke again. “And soon. Karen, have you ever heard of a man named Edward Kosinski?”
Conrad shifted in her seat. “I know Kosinski. He’s very capable. He worked for us for a while, but now he’s back with the Company,” she said, referring to the CIA.
Faulkner gave her a look as he lit one of his famous Cuban cigars. “He is indeed – both with the CIA and very capable.” A large cloud of smoke filled the humidified air in front of Faulkner’s face. “How quickly can he put a team together?”
Conrad spoke with confidence. “Within hours.”
“I mean the best team,” Faulkner said firmly. “This isn’t the first time I’ve been given the order to kill ECHO. I’m getting some serious pressure to take these guys out so I’m talking about the mother of all wetwork here, Karen.”
She nodded. “Maybe a few days if you want the very best. I know Cougar is out of the country right now. She’s in Nicaragua.”
“Cougar?” Geary failed to subdue a laugh. “Is she particularly dangerous around young men in nightclubs?” He shook his head. “What’s her real name?”
“I don’t know,” Conrad said. “And I don’t want to know. She was raised in Chicago’s toughest neighborhood, mostly on the streets. She joined the army first chance she got. Ended up in Delta Force before crashing out and working as a mercenary, mostly in Latin America. Army intelligence tests ranked her IQ in the ninety-eighth percentile, which is one in fifty, and it’s a very cunning intelligence, believe me. She is utterly ruthless and as far as we can tell she has pretty much nothing to live for except carrying out hits for large sums of money. Don’t laugh at her codename, Frank – you might live to regret it.”
Geary didn’t look convinced. “If you say so.”
“I do,” Conrad said. “If Kosinski needs the best to take out ECHO then that means Cougar and her team.”
Geary brushed his chin with the back of his fingers. “Is this kill order coming from the President?”
Faulkner locked eyes on him. “No, it is not, Frank. It’s coming from a much greater power than that.”
Geary looked shocked. “I don’t know, sir…”
“You look uncomfortable, Frank. I hope you’re not losing your fucking nerve.”
“No, sir. It’s just that…”
“And we have something a little more delicate to discuss,” Faulkner said, cutti
ng him off. “The sort of business you don’t do in a video conference, no matter how secure, if you catch my drift. I want you both at my office later today. My assistant will send you the time when I’ve checked my schedule.”
“Yes, sir,” they both said.
“And make sure you have a strong drink before you arrive,” Faulkner said. “You’re going to need it.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Snowdonia
Lund had pulled through, and now the ECHO Gulfstream was approaching Llanbedr Airport from the south. Lea followed their descent through the small portside window, watching as they punched through the layers of low, gray cloud and eventually emerged in the stormy world beneath them. Looking over the wing she saw the Irish Sea, twisting and turning in the heaving swells caused by the rainstorm. A flash of lightning streaked across the sky and plunged into the sea, followed by the deep animal roar of thunder.
Somewhere over all that water, somewhere through the storm, was the place she had once called her home, but turning back into the small, private jet she realized that had all changed now. Scarlet was talking quietly to her brother in a hushed phone call, Danny Devlin was cheating Ryan out of a few quid in a poker game, Kim was reading the front pages of newspapers now dominated by the news of the attack in Amsterdam; Vincent Reno was sending a text message to his twin sons.
And Joe Hawke was sleeping, arms crossed over his chest, eyes firmly shut against the world.
Wherever these people went was her home now.
Yes, ECHO was her family, and Hawke was something even more than that. She had thought many times about whether or not they would take the next step together and marry, but their lives were so hectic and filled with danger it seemed almost self-indulgent. What if something happened to one of them? She knew only too well what the death of his first wife had done to him. Maybe he had been scared away from marriage forever. She had thought about asking him to marry her, but that just wasn’t her. That was something Cairo Sloane would do, not the girl from Galway that she saw when she looked in the mirror.
But if he asked her she would say yes in a heartbeat.
“Ready for the off?”
Startled out of her thoughts, she looked up to see Hawke smiling at her. He had just woken up and looked tired but up for the challenge ahead.
“We’ve stopped?” she asked. She had been staring out of the window and not even noticed they had parked up and the door was open.
“Yes,” Scarlet said. “So get off your arse, you lazy cow. We have a magical giant-slaying sword to find.”
Lea flipped Scarlet the bird, got out of her seat and followed Hawke down the compact airstair and onto the soaking wet tarmac.
The airport was located inside Snowdonia National Park and was originally opened in World War Two as part of the No. 12 Group of RAF Fighter Command. It was small and thanks once again to Magnus Lund, getting out to the car park was fast and easy. Also thanks to the reclusive Dane was the chunky Toyota Highlander sitting at the end of the carpark in the pouring rain.
Hawke blipped the locks and after putting their bags and weapons in the back they all piled inside and got out of the wet. The former SBS man fired the engine up and cranked the heaters to full blast as he drove the enormous SUV out of the carpark and headed south along the coast.
They turned inland at Barmouth and followed the estuary west, passing through Bontddu and the ancient market town of Dolgellau. Ryan pointed out that long before the Romans, this was the land of the notoriously hardy Ordovices, one of the last Celtic tribes to hold out against the Roman invaders.
Scarlet yawned and closed her eyes. “Thanks for that, boy. I needed something to help me get to sleep.”
Steering through a labyrinth of narrow roads and lanes, some almost turned into tunnels by the canopies of overhanging oaks and ashes, Hawke made good progress in the rainstorm. He followed the road south for a moment before it twisted around to the west and brought them along the south side of the mountain range.
They were on a straight road now, lined with ancient dry stone walls and deep in a valley between two impressive mountains. Cadair Idris was on their right – its peak was obscured by the low-hanging rain clouds, and ahead of them they could just make out Llyn Mwyngil, a large lake also known as Tal-y-llyn. Carved by glaciers millions of years ago, there was a route leading up to the peak of the mountain from its shores, but the ECHO team didn’t have time for sight-seeing.
Hawke turned a hard right at Abergynolwyn and drove the SUV on the final leg, dropping down to third as he crossed the Cader River on a tiny bridge and pushed the SUV up the western slopes of the mountian.
“No sign of Zito,” Kim said from the back.
“Plenty of places around here for a rat like that to hide,” said Devlin.
Hawke pulled the Highlander up on the side of the track and killed the engine. “I think this is about as far as we can go in this thing. We’re on foot from now on.”
Lea emerged from the SUV, shivered and pulled up the collars on her jacket. The others followed and Hawke padded around to the back. He opened the rear door, checked his weapon and then slung his bag of tricks over his shoulder. Scarlet did the same, followed by the others as they each got tooled up ready for the search ahead: guns, flashlights, rope, and anything else they could fit in.
Ryan sniffed and shoved his hands into his pockets. “We still have time to get to the peak before nightfall and fulfil the legend.”
“What do you expect to see?” Kim asked,
“Fuck knows,” he said bluntly. “I want a fag.”
“Glad you’re on board, Ryan,” Kim said sarcastically.
“Here.” Scarlet tossed him one through the rain.
They followed the track which led up to the peak but its visibility was poor due to the conditions. Like everyone else, Lea scanned as far as the weather would let her for any signs of Giancarlo Zito and his men, but the mountainside was theirs.
“Not much longer to the peak,” Ryan said from the back. “His voice was hollowed out by the wind and rain.
“Thank all the fucks for that,” Scarlet said. “We have a private beach house in the Caribbean and we’re getting our faces blasted off by a howling gale in Snowdonia.”
“We have a wrecked headquarters in the Caribbean,” Lea corrected her.
“Still better than this.”
“Focus on the job,” Hawke called out form the front. “Like I said – we’re not on holiday.”
Lea looked back at the Highlander but it was now completely gone, lost inside the veil of mist and drizzle covering everything in the valley.
“Looks like we’re in the location that Kloos specified,” Ryan said.
They stopped hiking and lowered their bags to the ground. It was bleak. The wind was howling and the fog grew thicker with each minute.
“And we actually have to spend the night here?” Scarlet said.
“That’s what Kloos said,” said Lea. “He was very clear about how we had to follow the legend. Whoever spends the night on the top of Cadair Idris becomes either a poet or a madman.”
“Sounds like a load of bollocks to me,” said Scarlet.
“There’s a reason why the manuscript specified this particular cairn,” Hawke said. “It must have something to do with the legend, so we’re going to spend the night here and see what happens.”
Kim looked around at the gloom and frowned. “At least we won’t get bothered by anyone, that’s for damn sure.”
“Unless Zito turns up,” Reaper said, and started to set up the first tent. “But that’s only going to happen if he breaks Kloos.”
They followed his lead and put up the two four-man tents on the leeward side of the peak, tucked in out of the wind and rain. Hawke and Lea shared their tent with Reaper and Devlin, while Scarlet shared hers with Ryan and Kim, and when they were dry they gathered in Hawke’s tent and shared out some food. Devlin produced a bottle of whisky and they passed it around.
After
eating, they settled down and got ready for a long night, but then in the new quiet, a slightly drunk Devlin started speaking. “So,” he said casually. “There were three men trying to join the SAS. One from the Grenadier Guards, one from the Paras and one from the Royal Marines...”
Lea groaned. “Come on, Danny.”
“Heard it anyway,” Scarlet said. “It’s shit.”
Hawke said nothing, and Devlin continued, unmoved. “They’re on their last test. The Guardsman goes in and the SAS sergeant gives him a revolver with six rounds and tells him his wife his upstairs. He has to go and kill her if he wants to get in the regiment.”
“We’ve all heard it before, mon ami,” Reaper said.
“A minute later the Guard comes downstairs and says that he just couldn’t do it. He loved his wife too much. So then they ask the Para to do the same thing, and sure enough a minute later he comes back down with the revolver and says he can’t do it either. He just loves his wife too much.”
Lea glanced at Hawke and then back to Devlin. “Leave it, Danny.” Her voice was tense and anxious.
Hawke said nothing, but just stared at the Irishman from across the room.
“And then the Commando takes the gun and goes upstairs. They all hear him fire the weapon – all six rounds. A few moments later the Commando comes back downstairs, all red in the face and worked up and he says ‘You fuckin’ assholes coulda told me they were blanks – I had to strangle the bitch!”
Without a word, Hawke lashed out and pinned Devlin to the ground by his throat. He had respect for the Irish Ranger Wing but they were no match for a former RM Commando and SBS man. If he wanted to he could have killed him on the spot. The Irishman would have been unable to offer any real resistance and Hawke wouldn’t have broken a sweat.
The tent was tense as everyone waited for Hawke to do whatever he was going to do next, but then he pushed the Irishman away with a powerful arm and stormed out of the tent into the storm.
“You total fuckin’ eejit, Danny! I told you Joe’s wife got killed, what the hell were you thinking?”