He fired the shotgun at the window and blasted the stained-glass out of the frame and over the snow outside where it fell like diamonds. Then, he hoisted Alex over his shoulder in a fireman’s lift and staggered over to the window, clambering through and laying Alex on the soft, cool snow.
Without a second thought, he climbed back through the window into the black smoke and began the search for the others. The smoke stung his eyes and for a second he was disorientated until the sound of Vetrov’s assault on the library helped him get his bearings back.
In the hot darkness he saw Ryan dragging Lea along the floor. Ryan was coughing heavily and looked like he was about to go over.
Hawke ran to him.
“Get to the window and get out!” he screamed.
“I’m not leaving Lea!” Ryan shouted back, grabbing the top of a chair for support.
“I’ll get her — just get out of here — now!”
Hawke watched Ryan flee from the burning room and then he lifted Lea over his shoulder in another fireman’s lift. The two of them went through the window into the icy cold air.
Above them half the complex was now on fire. Hawke looked down at Lea and Alex, and saw that Alex was coughing her way back to life. Then, another grenade landed with a soft thump on the snow beside Lea.
This time, Hawke had time to react and snatched up the grenade. Ryan watched in horror as the former SBS man simply held the grenade in his hands.
“What the hell are you doing?” Ryan asked, taking a step away from Hawke.
“Lie down over Lea, Ryan. She’s unconscious and can’t protect herself.”
“What?”
“Wait… three, four, five…”
Ryan did as he was told and Hawke threw the grenade back into the library. He launched himself over Alex and a second later a colossal explosion ripped through the library. After some savage screams from inside there was silence except for the sound of the flames.
“That takes care of those wankers,” Hawke said, rubbing the soot from his face. “How’s Lea?”
Ryan looked down at Lea and back up at Hawke. “I think… she’s stopped breathing, Joe.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Hawke picked Lea up and ran from the burning building, screaming at Ryan to do the same with Alex. The rage flowed through him like molten lava as he made his way to safety, but he fought it back and kept his focus.
Now, he held Lea’s limp body in his arms as he emerged from the smoky ruins, gripping her tightly as the building blazed behind him. To his right, Ryan Bale dragged Alex and staggered out of the smoke, coughing violently as he struggled to heave some fresh air back into his lungs. All around them the swirling Russian snow added an extra degree of chaos to an already terrible moment.
“Is she okay, Joe?” Ryan wobbled over to Hawke, his face smeared with soot from the fire. He took off his glasses and wiped his stinging eyes.
Hawke didn’t reply, but instead he lowered Lea gently to the ground and gave her the kiss of life.
Nothing.
He did it again. This was basic training to a man like Hawke. It didn’t matter that he knew how bad the statistics were. He had to save her life. Again, he took a deep breath, pinched her nose and blew into her mouth, manually inflating her lungs. This was essential to cardiopulmonary resuscitation, designed to restore the flow of oxygenated blood to the unconscious person before they suffered any long-term effects from a lack of oxygen.
But still nothing.
He did it again. He pinched her nose and inflated her lungs, and then once again performed the chest compressions. Ryan looked on in horror, and then finally unable to watch any more he stood up and spun around, his hands on his head, lost, in shock.
“This can’t be happening…” he mumbled.
“Focus, Ryan,” Hawke said coolly. “Check on Alex.”
Still coughing, Ryan lurched over to Alex while Hawke persisted with Lea, but she was still silent and motionless below him in the Russian snow.
He stared at her face, streaked with soot, and her blackened, tangled hair. One more time, he told himself, and went through the process of insufflation and chest compressions once again.
And then she came to life.
Coughing hard, and moaning, her head moved from side to side as she tried to sit up. Hawke gently pushed her back to the ground. “Take it easy…”
“We’ve got company, Joe,” Ryan said.
In the distance Hawke heard the sound of more shooting.
“Sorry, but it’s time for us to go,” Hawke said. “Sounds like Dempsey’s making headway at the hangar.”
Ryan shook his head. “Joe… I’m sorry but I can’t carry Alex…”
“All right, chill out.”
Hawke considered the situation for a few seconds and then worked out he could carry both Lea and Alex in a double fireman’s lift — one on each shoulder. He’d once seen an SAS corporal do it in the African jungle and he wasn’t going to be outdone by someone from Twenty-Two.
“I’m going to carry both, but I’m going to need you to help support one of them, right?”
Ryan seemed unsure. “Okay…”
“Then we’re going to shoot some more twats, yeah?”
Ryan nodded, and helped take some of the weight by holding Alex in place. With considerable effort, they made their way through the snow to the hangar’s rear door. They looked cautiously through the open roller door at the front onto the expansive snow-covered lawns to the south of the house. Dempsey was there on his own, desperately holding back an assault by more of Vetrov’s men.
Hawke lowered Lea and Alex, both of whom were starting to come back to life, and jogged over to the former Green Beret. “What happened to Phillips and Zimmerman?”
Dempsey clenched his jaw and looked Hawke straight in the eyes. “They didn’t make it. Phillips got taken out in an ambush outside Vetrov’s office and Zimmerman…”
“What?”
Dempsey shut his eyes as if he were trying to rub out the very idea of what he was about to say — to destroy even the memory of it. “Zimmerman was blasted into the water by the shock of a grenade. The last I saw of him one of those damned bastard crocodiles was dragging him under the surface.”
Lea was on her feet now, and joined them.
Hawke took her by her shoulders. “Are you sure you’re all right now?”
“Me? Sure I am. Just took a little nap back there but I’m right up in their faces again now.” She mimed shooting people with her fingers.
Hawke looked at her, unconvinced, but knew there was no option but to press on.
“Look!” Lea shouted. “Looks like Vetrov has stopped enjoying our company.”
Hawke looked and saw the Russian making his way through the snow to one of the choppers. He was flanked on either side by a handful of his goons, armed to the teeth with submachine guns.
“Look at those bastards,” Dempsey said. “Looks like they’re ready for the Battle of Stalingrad.”
“They’ve got every kind of weapon under the sun!” said Lea.
Hawke frowned. “They’ve got more than that — they’ve got all of Alex’s research on her flash-drive, and Mazzarro’s details as well. With that, they’ll be able to translate the map and get to the source of eternal life. Damn it all!”
“But they haven’t got the actual map, right?” said Dempsey.
“Not yet they haven’t, but I’m not going to bet against Vetrov right now. He’s obviously well-connected and he knows Lexi and the others are in Berlin because we know he’s the one who killed Sorokin.”
“And that’s why we have to get that flash-drive back and stop him from getting to Mazzarro,” Lea said.
Ryan spoke next: “And we need to contact Scarlet and tell her to get Lexi and the map the hell out of Berlin before Vetrov’s men catch up with them.”