Drake continued hugging the walls, finally arriving at a concealed exit. He clicked his earpiece. “Another tunnel right here. Leads deeper into the mountain.”
As he spoke several men, hidden guards no doubt, leaped out of the tunnel’s deeper murk, striking at him with sharp weapons. Drake blocked two knives at once, then struck into his opponent’s body with a clenched fist, twice, three times, each punch a devastating hammer blow to the ribs. Both men went down groaning. Alicia nipped in to his left, grabbing the arm of another man and bending it until he screeched. The knife dropped and the man followed it, rendered unconscious. Drake dragged the next man out into the open, handing him off to Mai. Two more filled the gap, guns drawn. Drake opened fire before they did, ending their lives. He moved inside the tunnel even as he heard the voices of terrified technicians rapidly revealing whatever Hayden demanded of them.
Drake crept along, Alicia closer to him than his own shadow. “If Dudley escaped this way,” Dahl said, “I figure he has a good ten minutes’ head start on us. Get your flat Yorkshire feet moving or let me lead.”
“I’m creeping so I can hear Hayden’s outcome,” he told the Swede. “Dudley might have slipped out the front for all we know.”
“Naw, lad, not bleedin’ likely!” A voice cracked from up ahead, “Here. Chew on that while I make me escape!”
Something bounced down the tunnel toward him, something that jumped and bobbled and leaped with each metallic clang. Drake backed up fast, slamming into Alicia and Dahl and having to wait until those at his back squeezed out of the tunnel.
Not fast enough. The grenade exploded into a fiery ball and a whoosh of air sped along the enclosed space. Drake wasn’t free and saw the flames and the shrapnel about to destroy his face until, at the last moment, something huge took hold of his jacket and yanked him back into the cavern. Drake gasped, head and legs flying forward, back arched, as he took flight. The heave sent him rolling head over heels and away from the gout of flame.
“Jesus.”
Drake glimpsed the immense thighs, the bulky torso and thick neck of Mano Kinimaka. The big Hawaiian held out a meaty paw. “You’re welcome, dude.”
Drake climbed to his feet, dusting himself off. Hayden paced over to them.
“It’s not good. Dudley escaped with the sample and three aerosolized prototype boxes containing a derivative of bubonic plague, which is to say the plague mixed with a variety of old and contemporary diseases, weaponized in the form of an aerosol. Luckily, we got here before they could engineer more. This derivative gives them such a range of options…” She shook her head in fear.
Alicia and Mai slipped back into the tunnel.
Drake eyed the scientists. “We should wall them up down here.”
“Some were coerced, it seems, but yes others did it for the money. We can wall those up if you like.”
“Antidote?” Dahl eyed the scientists who regarded him with dread.
Hayden answered. “Dudley took it with him.”
“Are you sure?” Dahl growled at the boffins, most of whom mouthed silently in abject fear, but half a dozen attested to the evil Irishman’s fast getaway with everything they had concocted.
Alicia and Mai reappeared. “Tunnel’s still passable,” the Englishwoman said. “But barely and some of it looks unstable.” She paused. “I’m game if you are.”
“Game is hunted and killed by cowardly men with big guns and tiny penises,” Mai said quietly. “We are soldiers. We’ll hunt them.”
Russo nodded vehemently and Caitlyn looked like she wanted to applaud.
Drake nodded. “The road,” he said. “Or a hidden helicopter. Those are Dudley’s only options. Call the birds back.”
“Stealth is always an option,” Mai said. “We were trained to be ghosts drifting like mist along the terrain for days if need be. Weeks.”
“We’re not exactly dealing with Ninjas here,” Alicia pointed out. “At best they’re trained mercs.”
The team exited fast. Crouch led his team out first, using Healey and Russo as point men. Hayden fell in next to Drake.
“The geniuses inside told us one more thing,” she said with a slight smile. “An older woman and a younger man escaped with Dudley. The woman was complaining.”
Drake grinned. “Mint! Le Brun and Bell. That rules out a covert escape. They’ll be hightailing it back to Pythian-land.”
Dahl, one step behind, shook his head in wonder. “It never fails to stun me — the crazy, lazy mixed-up language that shoots out of your mouth. I mean mint? What does that even mean?”
“Good.” Drake looked surprised. “Y’know? As opposed to you saying ‘oh, dearest darling Johanna, that was such a stupendous movie’, us Yorkshire folk go—‘that were mint’. Same thing, only we save words and time. Think of all the extra hours we so easily gain.”
Outside, four of the choppers had returned and were hovering inches above the ground. The Greek soldiers milled around, directionless. Hayden spoke to their boss and then paged Caitlyn.
“You still have a connection to Argento?”
“I do. What do you need?” Caitlyn had been listening into their comms so would be fully briefed.
“Satellites. Lots of them.”
Caitlyn signed off to contact the Italian. Half the Greek soldiers fanned out to search the area, hoping to flush out any marksmen, runners or even people who may be concealed. Drake and the others climbed aboard their helicopters.
Almost immediately Caitlyn came back on the line. “I have Armand. He’s… a little excited.”
Drake flinched as the Italian’s loud chatter filled his ears. “I have them! Well, surely it’s them! A convoy of three cars, black SUVs, speeding away from you and toward the coast. The eastern coast. Damn things weren’t there five minutes ago, now they’re zooming along in close formation. Go, go, go!”
Hayden waved at the pilot, twirling her finger upward and to the east. “He’s nothing if he’s not enthusiastic,” she commented drily.
Two choppers rose, team SPEAR’s and team Gold’s, black vultures seeking out prey. As one their noses dipped and they shot forward, skimming the trees. Almost straight away Drake spotted the black tarmac ribbon.
“We’ve got ‘em.”
Both helicopters found the road and followed it, swinging with the curves. As they raced through the air Argento spoke up. “Oh no. I’m using a satellite with a built-in redundancy. It’s the only one available. There’s a ten-minute delay. Our friends, it seems, have a chopper of their own. It just lifted off — and I’m calculating back to real time here — about two miles in front of you.”
Drake’s leaned forward with a serious face. “Don’t worry,” he said quietly. “We have two choppers and we’re about to shoot theirs right out of the bloody sky.”
CHAPTER THIRTY TWO
Drake hung on as their pilot picked up the pace, chasing the black tail of the bird ahead. To his right, Hayden was floundering, beset from all sides by agitated parties desperate to know the situation — at least three governments, cooperating teams and ministers, the American military, the British, even Greek Special Forces that had been left behind at the cave. In the end she removed the headphones from her head and held them together.
“Let ‘em prattle away to each other.”
Their pilot turned his head, staring back into the rear cabin. “They’re within range, Miss Jaye.”