Chimera Code (Jake Dillon Adventure Thriller Series) (26 page)

Vince Sharp was seated on the pebble beach, gaze locked on the
open water between Nea Kameni Island and Gialos Bay. He watched
the wake of thesmall craft cutting a direct line towards him; away from
a billowing thick black plume of smoke rising up into the brilliant blue
sky. He frowned, deep furrows appearing across his forehead, as he
listened to the sound of the powerful outboard of the craft getting
closer.

Dillon went round the aircraft once to take a look at it, and then
skilfully beached the rib about six feet away from where the Australian
was standing.

Dillon jumped down from the rib and went across to Vince
Sharp. “You made it. Thank the heavens, you’re a sight for sore eyes,
and I can honestly say that I’ve never been so glad to see an overweight
Australian in all my life. How are you my old friend?” Dillon said,
genuinely pleased to see his friend.

“Ditto - but to be honest, chap. When I got your email, I went
straight to the partners who put me on a private jet and a priority
clearance all the way from the UK. Thought I wouldn’t make it in
time, to be honest with you. The chatter I was intercepting between
Ezra and GCHQ did not make good listening. I’m very surprised to
see you both still alive.” Vince sat back down onto the beach.

I asked for?”
“Yes, and a few more for good measure. Now listen up, people.
The 6-cylinder engine has been tweaked, increasing the cruising speed
of 150MPH to 200MPH, but with this, came the need to double the
capacity of the fuel-tanks. The bonus there is that we’ve also increased
the range that it will now achieve, which originally was around a
thousand miles and is now up to around eighteen hundred miles.”
Vince stood up and pointed at the aircraft. “Under each wing you have
forward and rear firing machine guns, and at the tip of each wing you
have a single stinger missile launcher. Inside the cabin you have all of
the standard kit, with the addition of a monitor screen and a HIDSS
helmet linked to all of the weapons, as well as three cameras, one
mounted forward in the nose-cone of the fuselage, there’s another
above just forward of the engine mount, and a third mounted at the
rear in the tip of the fuselage. All three cameras are equipped with
night-vision and heat seeking modes. And that’s about it really. Oh, I
mustn’t forget the last modification you asked for - and I can tell you,
Jake. Adding a forth seat in an already cramped cockpit was a feat in
itself. But why the extra seat?”
“Because there will be four of us leaving this island.”
“Four?”
“Ezra is the forth. That is if we can find him...”
“Surely, if he’s still alive he will have gone to ground, wouldn’t
he?” Vince said gently.
“Maybe he is dead. But, I don’t think so, he’s as wily as a fox,
knows this island like the back of his hand, and could lose himself for
days underground within that network of tunnels under his facility”
Tatiana said walking down to the water’s edge.
“What about the enemy?” Vince said.
“We’ve lost them for the moment, but I’ve no doubt that we’ll
be seeing them again. So, I think it’s time to get the hell out of here.”
Dillon said, and walked off down the beach to join Tats. “You okay?”
“Yeah, fine thanks. Although, this shoulder is killing me and my
head aches like it’s going to explode. But otherwise, I’m fine.”
They all waded out to the aircraft with Vince getting aboard first,
followed by Tatiana and then Dillon climbed the ladder and settled
himself into the pilot’s seat.
Dillon wasted no time in bringing the A-25M on-line, the
single prop spun-up, soon reaching idling speed. Dillon flicked a
switch; his HIDSS helmet sprang to life and he went through a quick
familiarisation routine, before releasing the mooring line and powering
the amphibian craft out into deep water. He turned the nose around
into the light breeze, pushed the throttle forward; and a moment
later they were skimming over the water at one-hundred miles per
hour. The engine roared as the aircraft leaped up into the air and sped
across the clear blue sky, sun glinting off of the single variable pitch
propeller. The virtual screen on Dillon’s visor lit-up with proximity
missile warnings, as they circled Ezra’s villa and the secret facility onethousand feet below. The engine howled with power as the A-25M
skirted the villa and olive groves where Dillon could clearly see the
damage caused by the Assassins’ attack.
Dillon told Tatiana to watch the camera monitor screen for any
unwelcome guests.
“Doesn’t appear to be much going on down there now,” said
Dillon. “The defence systems are still armed; even though it looks
quiet enough; I’m not getting any closer, just in case there are Assassins
inside the control room and they’ve re-booted the mainframe.”
“What if they are
in
the control room?” Vince said, dabbing the
sweat from his brow with a dubious looking handkerchief.
“Ground-to-air missiles. Ezra had them all over the place, and
they’re all showing a status of being armed and dangerous.”
He took the aircraft lower; they swept wide around the olive
groves. A lone Assassin glanced up as they flew over. A stream of
bullets from its Uzi SMG followed but the A-25M was moving far too
swiftly. The aircraft banked over hard to the right, and levelled out at
three hundred feet as it raced towards the cliffs, disappearing over the
brow towards the water below. Dillon headed out towards the Sea of
Crete, before lifting his visor and turning to Tatiana, said. “So what
do you want to do?”
“Make another pass, but come in from the north side of the
island; Ezra must be down there somewhere. If anyone can get out
alive, it’s Ezra.” They flew over the deep blue water of the Aegean
Sea, keeping low and close to the island’s eastern coast-line. Returning
low over the arid land from the north, sweeping as low as Dillon
dared with ground-to-air missiles in the vicinity. The A-25M circled
the villa grounds and olive groves several more times. There was no
sign of Ezra, nor any other members of his staff for that matter. “I’m
switching the cameras to heat seeking mode. Keep a close eye on your
monitor screen.”
“What am I looking for?”
“If there’s anything alive down there, it will show up red on the
screen.”
The next moment, Tatiana shouted from the rear of the cramped
cabin. “Dillon, you’d better drop your visor and take a look this.”
Dillon gazed at his virtual screen inside the HIDSS helmet. “Hell
streuth. Why do they not give up.”
“I think we can assume that Assassins are in control down there.”
Vince said, and then added. “If they are, then those missiles could be
extremely hazardous to our health.”
“I agree. So what do we do now?” Said Tatiana. “I know Ezra is
my uncle, but he’s very adept at looking after himself.”
“I’ve got something on the forward camera.” Dillon swept round
in a wide arc once more.
“What is it?”
“Three figures. Running away from one of the olive groves...”
“Try and get closer next time, Dillon. Let’s see who it is.”
The A-25M banked, flying straight towards the glinting sunlight.
Like a bullet it hurtled across the sky and then suddenly dropped,
gliding in a descending arc towards a dirt track ran parallel to the cliff
top, the deep red colour of the volcanic rock stood out against the
deep blue of the sea far below.
Tatiana could see distant figures, sprinting over the parched dirt.
And then she recognised Ezra.
“He’s on his own,” said Dillon.
“Can you shoot his pursuers?”
“At this altitude and height? I’ll cut all three of them in half!
Ezra’s far too close to them... It’s impossible to distinguish the targets
with these type of machine guns anyway...”
The amphibian aircraft roared over the cliff top and banked
at distance, single propeller flashing silver against the sun; and then
they returned for another pass. Ezra, surprisingly for his bulk, was
sprinting ahead of his two pursuing Assassins. He was unarmed... and
carrying something in his clenched fist that glinted a multitude of
candy colours and then, in a flash they were over and gone.
Dillon banked the aircraft once more - a distant droning insect
to those on the ground.
“If I land, we’d be sitting ducks,” shouted Dillon. “Vince, what
do you think?”
Vince was sat in the rear of the cockpit with his net-book on his
lap. “They’re armed, both carrying SMGs and they’re closing on Ezra
fast. They obviously want him alive, or they would have shot him by
now. But he hasn’t got much longer.”
“Dillon, we’ve got to help him!” screamed Tatiana. “We’ve got
to help him now!”

Ezra, sweat pouring down his body, glanced up as the A-25M
roared low overhead. He was as good as dead, he knew, but the small
circular optical disc he was carrying in his right hand could not fall
into the wrong hands...

Under any circumstances - could not.
The missing blueprints were now hindering the progress of the
Chimera Programme - availing Ferran & Cardini and the Government
valuable time. And as Ezra had said before, those individuals involved
were enemies of every Western democracy, and Ezra was their Achilles
Heel. Their weakness.
How could Kirill and Ramus hope to hold every government
around the planet to ransom with the Chimera virus programme
if there was an identical programme to counter all the commands?
There to throw a spanner in their plans for a worldwide computer
meltdown? There to
piss on their fire
before the fire is even lit? No, they
needed the blueprints.
Ezra did not dare to glance over his shoulder. But he could hear
them, hear their rubber soled running shoes on the dirt of the track.
Ezra considered himself a fit man, but these two bastards had chased
him for miles; virtually all of it across uneven cross-country terrain.
The Assassins had known the exact layout of his facility, and from the
very start, had played out the entire attack with the sole intention of
drawing him out and to send him fleeing across the countryside with
bullets at his tail. It hadn’t taken them long to separate him from his
group. They had known. Known what he carried.
A grim smile twisted his lips. He kept going, finding that extra
reserve of energy, stored for such occasions. Ezra’s endurance had
been pushed to its limit and he could feel his body using every last
drop of adrenalin, using reserves that he never dreamed he had - the
large man did not know how he still managed to put one foot in front
of the other.
For the past half a mile the two Assassins had slowly wound him
in, like a big fish on the end of a line. Now they were just thirty paces
behind him and panic settled like a dark demon across his soul. With
his heart pounding, all that he could think of - was what to do? What
in God’s name was he going to do?
Why hadn’t they just simply gunned him down as soon as he’d
started to run?
They knew; knew that he held the key to the final piece of
encryption that would fully complete the Chimera Programme - the
key to unlocking everything stored on the small disc. With him dead, it
would take them a lifetime to crack - but with him alive, and drugged
to do whatever they wanted?
Mere minutes. He’d seen, first hand, what they could do.
He shivered. He did not want to be caught.
Better to
die
, he thought.
He strode on keeping up the pace with every ounce of strength
left in his body.
And then he was there...
There was a shout from behind him as one of the Assassins
realised what was about to happen.
Ezra pounded up to the ridge and in silence, without looking
down, leaped with all his might. Hands lightly brushed against his
back. An Assassin had followed him, not from choice but from
momentum and speed.
Ezra had launched himself over the cliff and into - nothing...
He kept the disc tightly gripped in his hand.
There were no final words. No shouts of
Geronimo
. Ezra merely
kept his mouth shut, even though the world had opened up before
him... So large... So colourful...
And he knew; this was the first time he had truly
seen
.
The first time he had
felt
.
And the first time he had felt so
light and carefree
.
Fresh Santorian air raced past his tear-blurred vision.
Ezra fell.

The A-25M banked once more; the forward machine guns
rattled off hundreds of rounds and the Assassin on the cliff top was
cut to pieces - it all happened so quickly that it didn’t even know
anything about it.

“Get down there, down to the base of the cliffs,” she commanded.
“What good will it do? Ezra’s gone, Tats.” Dillon said softly.
“Just do it, Dillon.”
Dillon stared at her for a moment, but altered course and flew

along the cliff top and then dropped down towards the sea far below.
He flew a wide circle and came in low over the water, waves rolled
onto the shore, but showed no signs of life. For a while Dillon cruised
up and down the stretch where Ezra would have dropped, searching;
but Ezra had gone.

“Tatiana, we can’t search forever,” Vince said gently.
“I know. Just a few more minutes.”
Propeller whining, the A-25M circled and searched. Finally, it

To the west the sun was starting its journey over the horizon,
and behind them in the distance the red cliffs of Thira. Dillon was
drained and exhausted, had levelled out at five thousand feet and the
A-25M had reached its cruising speed on a northerly heading.

The two Assassins walked slowly into the control room, stopped
just inside the doorway, looking down at the congealing blood they
were standing in. Then looked around at the blood soaked prostrate
figures sprawled over workstations and on the floor, their blood
sprayed up the walls and across the ceiling of the chamber.