Mendoza rushed him but then the game changed in a second as a bullet tore past him and right through Aurora’s neck, spraying an arc of blood and flesh into the freezing air. She had pulled another knife and tried to throw it at Hawke, and he had ended the threat the way his training told him.
Her eyes widened with terror as she reached up to the wound, but then she started to sway as the blood pressure dropped and she tumbled off the roof of the train and crashed down over the side of the carriage. Her body fell into the dark space between the train and the edge of the platform and she was gone.
“That’s for Alex,” Hawke said.
An enraged Mendoza looked up to see the English SBS man still holding the gun that had killed his girlfriend. Before his next heartbeat the gun fired again and he felt the bullet bury itself in his shoulder. He howled in pain as the hot lead clawed at him from deep inside. Seconds later he was on his knees, swaying back and forth on the carriage roof as the train was slowly gliding to a stop.
Hawke looked up and saw the sign on the platform: München Hauptbahnhof.
“Looks like your final destination, Mendoza,” he said.
Mendoza saw a second bright muzzle flash as the Englishman fired again, striking him in the throat. The Mexican released his grip on the carriage and flew back off the roof, tumbling over in the air like a rag doll. The last second of his life was spent watching the train tracks race toward his face at a terrifying velocity.
CHAPTER TWELVE
After filing various reports with Holtz, the ECHO team gathered in a hotel to drink coffee and brief each other on their missions. The team reacted well when Hawke explained about the deaths of Silvio Mendoza and Aurora Soto, but less well when he told them that a search of what was left of their bodies and the surrounding area revealed they were not carrying the idol when they died.
Lea’s report about Kruger and Van Zyl getting away went down even worse, especially when they figured out that the South Africans must now be in possession of the idol and could be anywhere.
“Wolff won’t be pleased,” Lea said.
Hawke finished his coffee and set the cup down on top of the TV. “So we don’t tell him. The mission’s not over yet anyway, is it?”
“No, but…”
“Come on — where’s your spir…”
“Don’t say it.”
“Sorry.”
He wandered over to the window and sighed heavily. At least the view was good. The room offered a spectacular view of the Königsplatz, the city’s famous square which was modelled after the original Acropolis. He breathed out slowly and rubbed his shoulder. He had smashed it hard a couple of times back on the train and it was starting to give him problems, but he was distracted from the pain when Lea’s phone rang. She cupped her hand over it and whispered Rich to everyone and then she took the call out to the other room.
Hawke rubbed his eyes and wished he had more coffee. His eyes settled once more on the view outside the window of their room. He had never been to Munich before but considering his first trip here had involved the destruction of the Oktoberfest and thousands of euros’ damage on the U-Bahn he thought it would probably be his last trip. Still, it was pretty, and now his eyes were studying across the square where the National Collection of Antiquities was located.
He tried to make a joke about things but the rest of the team was all too concerned with Lea’s telephone call to Sir Richard Eden to pay any attention to him or the outside world. A few moments later, the former Irish Ranger returned. “Rich just had a briefing with the Munich police. Using facial recognition technology and the images we were able to provide them, they think they know where Kruger is.”
“Where?”
“He boarded a private Beechcraft King Air and flew out of Salzburg Airport less than an hour ago. A flight-plan was filed for Belgrade.”
“Belgrade?” Ryan asked.
“Serbia.”
“I know where it is,” he said sharply. “I’m saying — why the hell would he go to Serbia?”
“According to Rich’s MI6 contacts he’s been communicating with Dragan Korać.”
“Who?” Ryan asked.
But Reaper knew. “I know him. I’m not proud of it but I worked for him many years ago.”
The others looked at him, stunned. The Frenchman didn’t share their horror, and dismissed it with a Gallic shrug. “I was much younger then, and it was only one job.”
“Tell us about him,” Hawke said.
“Dragan Korać is a former Serbian commander who fought in the Balkans conflicts. He’s a brutal warlord who now uses his military skills and experience running one of the largest mercenary armies in Europe.”
“I don’t like the sound of that,” Maria said. “I’ve had a lot of trouble in Serbia.”
Hawke heard the word again.
Serbia.
Of all the places in the world the former SBS man had served his country and now fought in for ECHO, nowhere had come as close to killing him as Serbia. It was on a mission in Serbia that Alex Reeve, known to him back then only as Agent Nightingale, had saved his life by talking him safely out of the worst nightmare of his life. He hadn’t been there since then but now he was going back.
“So what’s the plan?” Lea asked.
“I can make some calls,” Reaper said.
“To what end?”
“To get me on the inside.”
Everyone stared at him like he was insane. “Are you crazy?” said Maria. “Dragan Korać sounds like a total psycho, Vincent! You can’t go in alone.”
“It’s the only way,” Hawke said firmly. “And he’s not going in alone. I’m going in too.”
“Now I’ve heard it all,” Lea said. “As if one of us getting killed by this nutcase wasn’t enough you want to go and make it two!”
“Listen,” Hawke said. “We know Kruger’s going to Korać for mercenaries and at such short notice that means Korać will have to go on a recruitment drive. Neither Reaper or me ever got close enough to Dirk Kruger for him to recognize us, and Dragan Bloody Korać has never seen me before either, so it’s an opportunity we just can’t afford to turn away.”
“I don’t like it,” Lexi said. “It seems reckless, and that’s me saying it.”
“I hear all your concerns, but it’s the only way. If we can meet with Korać and convince him we’re mercenaries looking for work he’ll snap us up and we’ll be on the inside.”
“And by the sounds of it, if he works out who you really are you’ll be inside out,” Camacho said.
“Non… it could work,” Reaper said with an evaluating nod. “I’ve worked as a mercenary for a long time. I know these people. I know how they think. Our story will be convincing enough, and better if there are two of us.”
“So let’s get going,” Hawke said, cheerily rubbing his hands together. “But everyone else stays in back-up.”
Lea sighed. “Jet’s in Zurich,” she said flatly. “So an hour till it’s here.”
“A whole bloody hour?” Scarlet whined, turning to Jack Camacho and opening the top button of his shirt. “Whatever are we going to do in that time?”
Before he had a chance to reply, she hooked her finger through his belt and led him out of the room.
“Where the hell are they going?” Lexi asked.
“His choice — maybe another room,” Ryan said. “Her choice — the janitor’s cupboard will suffice, and may even be preferable.”
A chuckle went around the room.
‘Don’t laugh,” Hawke said without thinking of Lea. “I’ve been there and that’s the sad truth.”