“They’ll stop.”
“How long to Cairo?” Mai asked.
“Big pyramid over there.” The driver pointed out the window. “Five minute drive.”
“And then our arms are twenty minutes away,” Smyth pointed out.
“It’s gonna be tricky,” Drake said. “Real tricky.”
CHAPTER TEN
Between them, Alicia and Kenzie kept the driver at close to full speed the entire way. Even so the mercs were closing in by the time the outskirts of Cairo came into view. Drake breathed a sigh of relief to see the packed, mostly paved streets; the various homes with sheets draped outside windows and across small balconies, the impromptu stalls set up in street corners and tiny niches; all dusty and dirty from the desert, the rain and the circumstances. The pathways were uneven, rocky, strewn with rubbish. Their taxi driver veered toward the nearest, accepted cash, and waited for them to evacuate the car.
Drake jumped into night-time Cairo. A general hubbub filled the air, shouts and catcalls punctuating the background noise. The air smelled of rotting rubbish laced with spice and other things Drake couldn’t identify — a complex smorgasbord of odors.
They started walking swiftly, Smyth checking back to work out the progress of the following mercs. Each building here was built almost atop the next, with an ancient, sculpted church sitting alongside a new wooden-fronted, gray-blocked structure with no visible gap in between. The road twisted and turned, passing cafes and carpet and jewelry shops. Hayden took point, with Kinimaka and Crouch just a step behind. The ambient light was minimal, enshrouding narrow passages, sunken shopfronts and anything that might be trespassing there.
Smyth caught up. “Best pick up the pace. They’re right behind us.”
The dull drone of queuing motor cars and the high-pitched squeak of scooters came from the right. A deeper quiet came from the left. Hayden used her cellphone’s GPS to follow a winding path to the busy street, hoping it would help them disappear.
Drake dropped back, making sure Smyth was not alone at the rear of the group.
Mai went with him. The mercs were visible now, jogging and waving their guns carelessly. One of them spotted Drake and gave a shout.
Instantly, he ducked aside. A shot rang out, passing between Mai and him. Smyth ducked into the shadows and quickly climbed a rickety ladder onto a balcony, then crouched down to wait. Drake slunk back, seeking half-light. Mai leapt atop a nearby stall, hoping it would hold for at least a minute.
“Saw them,” a man shouted. “Swear down I did.”
Five men appeared, walking carefully now; the other three in their party probably taking an alternative route. Drake waited for Smyth to make his move.
A warm wind drifted up the passageway between buildings, stirring litter and making eddies in the piles of sand. Smyth leapt into their midst just as it died away.
Landing feet first, his right elbow slammed down onto a merc’s neck with crushing force. The man collapsed instantly. Smyth kicked out at the next, keeping his balance. A gun flew through the air. Mai dived off the unsteady stall, losing a perfect target because the shaky supports collapsed just as she leapt. Still, she adjusted and came down in front of her adversary, taking him out with two blows. A merc spun quickly, bringing his elbows up to block her next attack, then pushed her away. Mai lost her footing on the uneven ground, went down to one knee. The merc, if he’d pressed ahead with his attack might have won, but the focus of his thoughts centered only on his weapon.
Lifting the gun took several seconds.
Mai balanced her weight on one hand and kicked out with both legs, taking him at the shins and watching him crash to the floor. His gun hit concrete and then she was upon him, a flashing blur in the dim, golden glow of the single light.
Drake slunk out and came up behind the lead merc just as the man turned and took aim upon an embattled Smyth. The soldier’s back was turned; he would never have known. Drake snapped the man’s wrist without mercy and caught the gun before it fell to the floor.
“You were once a soldier,” the Yorkshireman whispered. “What happened?”
He didn’t wait for answer, smashing the man about the temples and seeing him stagger away. Two mercs were down, motionless, the other three struggling and bleeding.
Drake waved at his colleagues. “C’mon, folks. Show mercy to these wankers. Maybe it’ll persuade them to get another job.”
They melted away quickly, all three conscious that it would take a while to catch up. Mai slipped out her own cellphone and they ran hard, following the path they thought Hayden would have taken.
Drake stayed on the lookout for the three rogue mercs as well as the ones they’d spared, knowing in his blood that men like that were far from being able to learn new lessons. Already, he knew, they’d be back in the chase.
Smyth kept an eye to the rear, Mai to the front. Drake called Alicia.
“Where are you?”
She explained. Drake guessed they were just a few minutes apart.
“Three to five unaccounted for,” he said. “Possibly tracking you.”
“Understood.”
They ended the call, both focused fully on their colleagues and surroundings. Drake, Mai and Smyth ran across a busy road, weaving between cars and around people, darting back into the shadows on the other side. They were only eight minutes from their safe house now but couldn’t afford to lead the mercs there.
“I see Yorgi and Kenzie,” Mai said. “Up ahead.”
Drake squinted, barely able to make them out, and was reminded briefly of Dahl’s comment about needing glasses. Were his eyes failing or was it the dull light?
Just ignore the mad bastard.
That usually worked. Drake checked around once more, seeing nothing untoward. Bit by bit, they caught up to the rest of the team who were moving at half pace.
Hayden looked back. “All good?”
“Yeah. Two taken out. Rest probably still coming.”
“We’ve seen no sign of enemies,” Kinimaka said.
“They’re here though,” Kenzie said. “Close by.”
Alicia stopped. “How can you—”
They came from the side street, three at first and then the ragtag remnants of the earlier tussle. Alicia, Kinimaka and Hayden saw them coming and immediately jumped in to prevent any gun-play. Drake, Mai and Alicia ranged around as the rest of the team engaged.
A shot rang out, the barrel of the gun forced toward the ground, the bullet striking and glancing away. Dahl kicked the offender hard in the face, sending him smashing back into a brick wall. Kenzie jumped in feet-first, pushing another man into a wooden structure, watching as the timbers fell all around and buried him. With a wry grin she picked up the sharpest spar of wood.
Then spotted a lone gunman, hovering at the back of the mercs. She used another’s back to leap into action, and brought the spar down upon the man’s face. He raised an arm to block the blow and the gun went off, the bullet shooting high into the night. Kenzie swung twice more, drawing blood and forcing the man down.
Behind, in the general melee, the rest of the team were taking on opponents. Drake used his environment; throwing a merc against a low balcony and then watching him fall into a narrow opening, unconscious. The next he brought down a line of washing upon, tangling and blinding the man. A few well-placed punches left him wrapped in a heap, groaning. Drake stood aside as another leapt in, then watched him trip headlong over the wrapped-up bundle on the floor. Another gun went skidding from another hand, rattling across the concrete and ending up at the base of a wall. Drake picked it up not just for protection but to prevent some civilian stumbling across it tomorrow.
Mercs swung wildly. Dahl climbed a balcony to leap from, came down like a mountain on two mercs, and rendered them unconscious. Kenzie found herself on a similar balcony, a merc having followed her up there; then prodded him with the spar. The man caught it, wrenched it away but unbalanced and fell, arm pin wheeling, onto the concrete below. Kenzie dropped in his wake and saw blood seeping from the back of his head.