And then he realized that when he had ordered the team to cut the power and break the signal from the cabin to the firing module containing the nanodust canister, the Finnish Ministry man had initiated Plan B and set up a launch timer on the base of the canister. Now they watched its tiny digital timer as it counted down to annihilation.
One…
The Great Bell on the clock at the northern end of the Palace of Westminster, better known as Big Ben, began to chime as the countdown for New Year’s Eve finally began. As the first chime sounded out in the night, the darkness above London was illuminated for miles with the first wave of fireworks launched from the barges in the river and off the south bank.
“But we cut the power!” Zoey yelled, her face lit blue and red and green by the fireworks launching all around her.
“It’s no good,” Leo said. “It’s not powered by the mains like all the other fireworks — Karhu connected it to its own power supply and set a timer on it. You can see from the readout it’s timed to go off on the final chime.”
Two…
“So what the hell are we going to do?” Zoey said.
“I don’t know, but when that bell chimes twelve this thing’s going to launch a techno plague over the whole city!”
“We have to hurry!” Zoey said.
Three…
“Yes, I had worked that all for myself.”
“This is too wild even for me, Slim Jim.”
Leo stared at the tiny chrome canister and the hideous timing device Aleksi Karhu had fitted around its base. The small digital readout told him he had only nine seconds to save millions of lives.
FORTY-TWO
Things had been better for Harry Bane. Right now, Alain Baupin was bleeding out in the corner of the viewing platform and nearly unconscious, Lucia and Niko were fighting for their lives with Rafael Ruiz and the former English Pathfinder was now bent back over the edge of the blown-out safety window with a two hundred and fifty pound Jagdkommando trying to heave him up over the edge of the Shard.
He was squirming to reach up and get a decent grip on Hans Steiner, and the Austrian knew it. He laughed as the Englishman struggled to take hold of anything that might save his life or change the circumstances and give him the advantage.
Then Harry remembered the gunshot wounds in the Austrian’s legs, and brought his fist around hard into the bleeding gash.
Steiner screamed in pain as Harry’s hand smashed into the gaping wound and shattered bone, and that was the only chance the Englishman needed. He grabbed Steiner’s collar and heaved the Austrian across the top of him and over the edge.
Steiner now tumbled over the edge of the Shard, screaming like a terrified child as he realized the mop and bucket was no longer Harry Bane’s fate but his own, and worse, he’d have nearly twenty seconds to think about it. Harry watched him fall the first few hundred feet and then turned away. He had seen enough death in his time.
He staggered to his feet, breathless and exhausted. His mind raced as he prioritized the situation — save Alain’s life, help Lucia and Niko or stop Szabo? His heart told him to take out Ruiz first to help Lucia and Niko, save Alain next and then deal with Szabo, but the Pathfinders and MI6 had taught him to take ruthless decisions, and so he headed for Szabo.
“I warned you not to tangle with me!” Szabo cried out, his voice ghostlike and hollow in the howling wind.
“Call me crazy,” Harry called back, “but I don’t take advice from madmen.” He was keeping one eye on Lucia and Niko. It looked like Lucia had been knocked unconscious in the brawl but the Swiss IT man was still fighting with Ruiz, and the two men were now rolling in the rain a few feet from the edge of the hole in the glass where Steiner had met his maker. It was no surprise that Ruiz was getting the upper hand, and was now on top, raining punches down into Niko’s face until he too was nearly unconscious.
Ruiz now staggered up away from Niko before gripping his collars in his hands and heaving him towards the edge of the deck. Harry moved to stop him but then Niko regained consciousness just in time to see what was happening and crawl back away from the edge and fight for his life all over again.
“You want to save your friends,” Szabo said, mocking Harry. “But you can’t save them and the world at the same time…”
“Step away from the laptop, Szabo.” Harry’s voice was calm and measured.
I think not. You have failed,” Szabo said. “Perses is now deployed and I will enter the final sequence to activate its intelligence and set it on the world like a plague!”
“I said step away from it.”
“Never… and this canister is only the first of many weapons.”
Harry shook his head in horror. “You can’t be serious.”
“Manila, Mumbai and Dhaka are next, and after that, Paris, Delhi and New York. This timer is impossible to stop once activated. You cannot stop the will of God, Mr Bane.”
“Perhaps not, but I can stop the hand of a nutcase.”
Harry lunged forward but before he got a yard a loud bang went off and Szabo fell to his knees. Harry turned to look behind him to see Alain Baupin holding a smoking gun.
Without saying a word, Harry raced to the laptop case and looked at the control panel. There was a small bespoke laptop and beside it a slimline subcompact Glock 42 tucked into the padding. He hit the abort button with a sigh of relief but nothing happened. Szabo had been telling the truth — it was all down to Leo now, and all he could was hope his old friend had somehow secured the canister.
He slipped the Glock into his belt and padded over to Ruiz, but the CNI man surprised everyone by wrenching himself away from a bloodied Niko and sprinting across the viewing platform toward the hole in the safety glass caused by the gunfire.
“Wait!” Harry yelled.
But he was gone, leaping through the hole in the glass and disappearing out into the freezing night.
Across the platform, Lucia Serrano had regained consciousness just in time to see the Spanish CNI man make the jump. “Oh my God!”
Harry raced to the shattered glass and saw the tiny figure of Rafael Ruiz as he plummeted to the ground. He prepared to turn away and spare himself the nightmares when he saw Ruiz tear off his heavy winter coat to reveal a backpack. It burst open to reveal another surprise — a base jumping parachute, and the Spanish intelligence man deftly steered himself over London Bridge bus station and vanished into the New Year’s chaos.
“Damn it!” Harry said.
“Hey… we stopped them…” Niko said, his face beaten and bloodied from the fight with Ruiz.
“But we can’t stop the activation protocol,” Harry said with an angry glance at the laptop. “Only Leo can do that now.”
“Then maybe we have only seconds to live…” Lucia said.
Harry and Lucia hugged and let the moment move them to a short kiss. She looked up at him and smiled and he returned the smile, but then he remembered the badly wounded Alain Baupin.
He turned to help him when he saw the Frenchman had staggered to his feet and dragged himself in a bloody trail toward the elevator. He was training the Glock on Harry.
“Alain?”
“I’m sorry, Harry… but I have no choice.”
Harry took a step back and instinctively moved in front of Lucia. A few yards away Niko looked from Baupin to Harry with confusion.
“Why are you doing this?” Harry said, and as he spoke, the heavens opened once again and the rain began to pour down on them.
“The Russians know how to incentivize a man, let’s leave it at that. Now, hand over the laptop.”