Hawke knew there and then he’d be able to hear the South African’s screams for the rest of his life, but he shook the thought from his mind and strapped himself into the harness. When it was safely on, he pulled the cord to open the chute but nothing happened.
London was racing toward him at over one hundred miles per hour so he had to operate the reserve chute and pray to all that was holy that it was packed right. He was too low now to fix another problem, and as he reached for the reserve parachute’s cord he remembered and old Paras joke Eden had told him over drinks one night.
Never worry about it if anything goes wrong with your parachute — you’ve got the rest of your life to sort it out.
He smiled and pulled the cord.
The pilot chute deployed and the speeding air stream around him caught hold of it and pulled the sleeve and main canopy from the packtray.
As the suspension lines tightened up he watched the reserve chute flare out into the blue sky above him.
He was safe.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
Hawke made a hook-turn and carefully guided the parachute with the steering lines as he descended down into London. He’d passed a thousand feet by the time he got the chute on his back and now as he drifted over the capital city he remembered the earpiece and palm mic he’d stuffed into his pocket back at Horak’s place. He pulled it out of his pocket and shoved it in his ear.
“Anyone around?”
After a few seconds he heard it crackle to life.
“Earth calling Joe Hawke. Everything all right, darling?”
Hawke grinned as he heard Scarlet’s voice. “Not too bad, thanks.”
“What about the Agusta, Joe?” she asked. “Can you see where it went down?”
Hawke scanned the horizon and saw a column of smoke spiralling up from the ground. “Looks like it crashed in Hyde Park.”
“Thank God,” she said.
“And where are you?” he asked.
“Monsieur Reno landed our chopper in Trafalgar Square. Can you see us yet?”
“I can’t see you, no, but I can see your ego.”
“Touché, Josiah. What happened to Vermaak?”
“I’m sorry to say that we fell out with each other — permanently.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” she said. “Why don't you give this lark up and head over to the Comedy Store?”
“I might just do that.”
“Talk about taking idiotic risks,” she said.
“I think on my feet, Cairo. You know that.”
“Fucking good job you watch James Bond films is all I can say, Hawke.”
“Hey! Less of that! I just like to complete missions with a certain élan, that’s all.”
She laughed and he saw them now. They were standing around the bottom of Nelson’s Column a few yards from a parked up Eurocopter. He saw Lea’s parachute but there was no sign of her or Devlin. He glided the parachute down into the square, and executed a perfect landing right in front of Scarlet and the rest of the team. As he unfastened the parachute he realized that dozens of tourists were now forming a circle around him and filming him on various devices.
“You always did like to make an entrance, darling,” Scarlet said.
The rest of the team joined them, and Hawke gave her a withering look, but then his face grew more serious. “Kruger got away with the sword.”
“You’re kidding?” Kim said, taking a step back and looking him up and down. “You mean you haven’t got the sword stuffed down your pants?”
“No,” Hawke said. “And its trousers. We’re in London.”
She winked at him. “No, I meant pants in the English sense.”
“Ah,” Hawke said mischievously. “In that case then yes, I do have a powerful sword stuffed in my pa-.”
“Do not finish that sentence,” Ryan said. “I’m trying to eat a hot dog.”
“When we get back to Elysium,” Scarlet drawled sarcastically. “Can we please call this Operation Fuckup?”
Mack gave a wheezy chortle. “I like that. You always could make me laugh, Sloane.”
“Hey, what happened to Bruno?” Hawke said.
Scarlet shrugged her shoulders. “Ryan, any idea?”
Ryan shoved his hands in his pockets and shook his head. “None at all.”
“Maybe he’s still out there,” Kim said.
Reaper lit one of his roll-ups, totally ignoring the banter. “Tell me, Joe — what happened to Kruger?”
Hawke sighed. “He jumped out somewhere over West London. He’ll be long gone by now.”
“Either way,” Scarlet said. “I’m glad you’re safe.” She kissed him on the cheek.
“Steady on, girl.”
“Twat. By the way — great news.”
“You finally worked out how to use a corkscrew?”
“No.”
“You’ve figured out why the wave function collapses when you measure it?” Ryan said.
Scarlet cocked her head and gave them a scowl. “Funnily enough — no to both of those asinine comments. Rich is out of his coma. The hospital just called Lea when you were playing Roger Moore’s stunt double a few seconds ago.”
He peered over her shoulder and saw Lea and Danny embracing each other on the other side of the square. “What’s going on there?” he asked.
Scarlet bit her lip and looked away for a moment. “Joe… Lea just told Danny about the letter…”
But he had gone. He was storming toward them with the blood pounding in his ears. The adrenalin from the mid-air fight and the parachute jump was still pulsing through his veins. He knew he was being irrational but he was powerless to stop himself.
He pulled Devlin away from Lea and landed a punch on his jaw, knocking him over onto the ground. The Irishman crumpled under the hefty blow but managed to stagger back to his feet in time to save his pride.
“Joe!” Lea yelled. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“He’s been asking for it since the start of the mission — all over you, laughing, joking, taking the piss, taking stupid risks!”
Lea looked genuinely confused, tears still in her eyes. “What? What are you blathering about? Danny’s an old friend and he was just trying to calm me down because I was upset.”
“Upset?”
Devlin rubbed his grazed jaw. “After reading the letter up there in the chopper, you fool.”
“But still…” Hawke stopped mid-sentence, already knowing he had gone too far.
Lea looked distraught. “I can’t believe you’d do something like this.”
“And I can’t believe you’d tell him about the letter before me. I still don’t know what it says!”
Lea sighed and pulled her hair back behind her ears. “I was upset and he asked me why I was crying. I’ve known Danny longer than anyone here, Joe — including you!”
“But still…” He felt the adrenalin from the jump still coursing through his veins.
“But still nothing!” Lea cried. “Why would you do this, Joe?”
“I thought…”
“You thought what?”
“He thought we were enthralled in a mad passionate embrace,” Devlin said sarcastically.
Hawke jabbed a finger at him. “You keep out of it. You’ve been pushing me since the start of the mission.”
With tears in her eyes, Lea raised her hands to her face and turned in a circle of desperation. “I don’t believe I’m hearing this.”
Hawke felt the ring box in his pocket. It had been there since Washington when he picked Alex up from the hospital, awkward, out of place. He felt the anger rise in him.
“If you don’t trust me then we can’t be together,” she said, her eyes flashing with defiance.