leapt for their lives into the ocean, the great warship went vertical— its bow rising high, its aft section completely submerged.
The rest of the French carrier group was frozen in shock.
Outside full-scale war, this sort of thing was unthinkable. No country had lost an aircraft carrier since World War II.
Which was probably why they were slow to react when, a minute after the explosion, the Black Raven swung into a hovering position ten feet above the waves of the Atlantic and plucked two tiny figures from the chop, raising them up on a cable-harness into its rear bomb bay.
Once the two figures were safely inside it, the sleek Sukhoi rose into the air and blasted off into the sky, away from the shattered remains of the Richelieu carrier group.
Aloysius Knight strode back into the holding cell of the Black Raven, saw Schofield and Mother lying there looking like a pair of drowned rats.
Schofield glanced up at Knight as he entered. 'Set a course for the English Channel, off Cherbourg. That's where the first Kormoran ship is. We have to find it before it launches its missiles on Europe.'
Knight nodded. 'I've already told Rufus to take us there.'
Schofield paused.
Knight appeared unusually sombre, almost. . . sensitive. What was going on?
Schofield looked around the tight confines of the holding cell, and it hit him.
'Where's Gant?' he asked.
It was then that, behind his amber-tinted glasses, Knight's eyes wavered—just slightly. Schofield saw it and at that moment, he felt something inside him that he had never felt before.
Absolute, total dread.
Aloysius Knight swallowed.
'Captain,' he said, 'we have to talk.'
ENGLISH CHANNEL COASTLINE, NORTHERN
FRANCE
26 OCTOBER, 1700 HOURS LOCAL TIME
(1100 HOURS E.S.T USA)
With a burst from its thrusters, the Black Raven landed on a cliff-top overlooking the English Channel, lashed by driving rain.
Out of its cockpit stepped Shane Schofield. He dropped to the muddy ground and staggered away from the fighter, oblivious to the storm around him.
After Knight had finished telling him about what had happened in the Shark Pit with Gam and Jonathan Killian and the guillotine, Schofield had said only three words.
'Rufus. Land now.'
Schofield stopped at the edge of the cliff, jammed his eyes shut.
Tears mixed with the rain hammering against his face.
Gant was dead.
Dead.
And he hadn't been there. Hadn't been there to save her. In the past, no matter what happened, he'd always been able to save her.
But not this time.
He opened his eyes. Stared into space.
Then his legs gave way beneath him and he dropped to his knees in the mud, his shoulders heaving violently with every desperate sob.
Mother, Knight and Rufus watched him from the open cockpit of the Raven, twenty yards away.
'Fuck me . . .' Mother breathed. 'What the hell is he going to do now?'
Schofield's mind was a kaleidoscope of images.
He saw Gant—smiling at him, laughing, holding his hand as they strolled along the beach at Pearl, rolling up close against him in bed. God, he could almost feel the warmth of her body in his mind.
He saw her fighting in Antarctica and in Utah. Saving his life with a one-in-a-million Maghook shot inside Area 7.
And then—shocking himself—he saw Killian at the castle saying, 'I love to observe the look of pure horror that appears on a person's face when they realise that they are, without doubt, going to die.'
And he saw the world from now on . . .
Without her.
Empty.
Meaningless.
And with that, he looked down at the Desert Eagle pistol in his holster . . . and he drew it.
'Hey there, champ,' a voice said from behind him. 'Whatcha planning on doing with that gun?'
It was Mother.
Standing right behind him.
Schofield didn't turn around when he spoke. 'Nobody cares, Mother. We could save the world and nobody would give a shit. People would go on living their lives, completely unaware of soldiers like us. Like Gant.'
Mother's eyes were locked on the gun in his hand. Rain dripped off it.
'Scarecrow. Put the gun away.'
Schofield looked down at the Desert Eagle, seemed to notice it for the first time.
'Hey,' Mother said. Solely to distract him, she asked a question that she already knew the answer to. 'What did she mean when she said, "Tell him, I would have said yes"?'
Schofield looked away into the distance, spoke like an automaton.
'She could read me like a book. I could never keep anything secret from her. She knew I was going to propose in Tuscany. That's what she was gonna say yes to.'
He shifted his grip on the gun. Bit his lip. Another tear streaked down his face. 'Jesus, Mother. She's dead. She's fucking dead. There's nothing left for me now. Screw it. The world can fight its own battles.'
With a quick move, he placed the gun under his chin and pulled the—
But Mother moved faster.
She tackled him just as the gun went off and the two of them went rolling in the mud by the cliff edge.
And they fought—Mother trying to pin his gun-hand, Schofield trying to push her clear.
Taller, stronger and far bulkier, at first Mother had the jump on him. She pinned him underneath her great weight and punched his gun-wrist. The Desert Eagle dropped out of his hand. Then she smacked him hard in the face—
The blow had a strange effect on Schofield.
It seemed to focus him.
With almost disturbing ease, he grabbed Mother's left wrist with two fingers and twisted it. Mother roared with pain and Schofield—with perfect centre-of-gravity manipulation—threw her clear off him.
And they both stood.
Facing each other on the wind-lashed cliff, squaring off in the driving rain.
'I won't let you do it, Scarecrow!' Mother yelled.
'I'm sorry, Mother. It's too late.'
Mother moved.
She advanced quickly, unleashing a bone-crushing right, but Schofield ducked it, hit her back, square on the nose. Mother swung again, but Schofield—perfectly balanced in the mud— avoided that blow too, and hit her again.
Mother staggered back to a standing position. 'You're gonna have do more than that to get rid of me!'
She lunged at him again, driving into him with her shoulders, tackling him linebacker-style, lifting him off his feet and sending them both crashing to the earth.
Over by the Black Raven, Aloysius Knight and Rufus just stood there in the rain, watching the fight like stunned spectators.
Rufus took a step forward, making to intervene—but Knight stopped him with a light hand to the chest, never taking his eyes off the battle.
'No,' he said. 'This is for the two of them to sort out.'
Schofield and Mother rolled in the mud, struggling.
Mother seemed to have him pinned when suddenly Schofield landed a short sharp elbow to her jaw and—again with surprising strength—rolled her clear.
He stood.
She stood.
Both were dripping with mud.
Mother staggered slightly, tiring, but she re-engaged anyway, swinging blindly.
Schofield parried every blow easily now, martial-arts-style. Mother roared in frustration just as he spun on one knee and swept her legs out from under her, and Mother fell unceremoniously onto her butt in the mud.
Having won for himself the distance he needed, Schofield walked back over to his gun, picked it up.