The Midas Legacy (Wilde/Chase 12) (46 page)

‘Yeah – if I can light a match in this wind.’

He looked over at the road, now to their right. The leading vehicles were still picking up speed, though the driver of the first TEL was apparently having second thoughts, allowing a gap to open up. That was good – a slower target would be easier to hit. Eddie judged the speeds and distances again. ‘Okay – light it!’

The rearguard jeep had three soldiers aboard. They were in the dark about what was happening: all they knew was that Facility 17 had been attacked, and their job was to protect the missile transporters at all costs. The brutal discipline of North Korea’s military had been drummed into them, hard; taking actions or even asking questions about anything beyond the scope of their orders was an invitation for punishment.

So when the man in the rear seat heard a buzzing noise in the dark sky, he did not immediately open fire upon it. Since their instructions had been to stop anyone pursuing them by
road
, he merely tapped the shoulder of the driver, his immediate superior. ‘Sir! There’s something up there – I think it’s one of our little planes!’

The driver, his rank the Korean equivalent of a lowly private, first class, was no more ready to take risks than his subordinate – especially when said risk would involve shooting at a secret aircraft of the People’s Army. ‘Get on the radio to Colonel Kang,’ he ordered the other passenger. ‘Tell him about the plane, and ask what we should do.’

The soldier made the call, twitching in fear when Kang’s voice roared back at him. ‘What do you
think
you should do, you idiot? Shoot it down –
kill them
!’

The two privates hurriedly raised their rifles. A small flickering light appeared on the aircraft, giving them a target . . .

It took Nina three attempts to light a match, and another two before the fuse caught. ‘Okay, it’s fizzling!’

The microlight was now level with the second TEL, passing over the line of pylons. Eddie got ready to turn for his bombing run. ‘Give it to me!’

She reached out to put it into his upraised hand—

Gunfire sounded from behind. Bullets whipped past, a couple punching holes through the fabric wing and another striking the engine block just behind Nina. She shrieked, flinching just as Eddie threw the aircraft into a hard bank away from the road, snapping his hand back to grab the dashboard. The dynamite tumbled into the forest.

‘Shit!’ he yelled as a loud detonation came from below. ‘So much for stealth!’

The firing stopped. Nina looked back through the propeller at the retreating lights. ‘Great, now what do we do? That was the last stick!’

Her husband curved the plane around, gaining altitude. ‘We either give up and see how far this thing can take us before we run out of fuel . . . or we do something crazy.’

‘Crazy, or stupid?’

‘Usually the same thing with us, isn’t it?’ The convoy came back into view. ‘If I can get
on to
one of the transporters, I can take out the crew, then go full Mad Max and use it to ram the others off the road.’

‘You’re right,’ Nina exclaimed. ‘That’s crazy
and
stupid. And what would I be doing while all this was going on?’

‘You’d be flying the plane, obviously.’

‘Well obviously!’ she hooted.

‘It’s pretty easy. Like playing a video game.’

‘I hate video games!’

‘Except for when you were obsessed with Candy Crush! You’ll get the hang of it long before you hit the ground.’

‘I’m not reassured. And how am I supposed to take the controls when you’re in the front seat?’

‘You’ll have to wait till I’ve jumped out!’ He twisted to give her a small smile. ‘You can do it, trust me.’

‘It’s
you
I’m worried about,’ she replied unhappily. ‘Once you jump . . . that’s it. We’ll never see each other again.’

The smile disappeared. ‘Yeah, when you put it like that, it really does seem like a shit idea.’ He sighed. ‘But I’m not just going to give up and run until they shoot me.’ He altered course to cross behind the convoy and take the plane over the trees above the road. ‘And I’ve got this,’ he added, nodding at the rifle on his shoulder. ‘So at least I’ve got a fighting chance.’

‘But I don’t. Eddie, what am I supposed to do without you?’ It was a question that went beyond the immediate future.

A long pause. ‘What you always do,’ he said. ‘You survive. Somehow.’

‘Not this time.’ Her voice quavered. ‘Not without you.’

‘Hey, you never know – maybe we’ll both survive. I dunno
how
, but . . .’ His smile returned, warm even through sadness. ‘But I’ll only get one shot at this, so I’ve got to take it. I love you.’

‘I love you,’ she replied, wrapping both arms around his chest. ‘I love you so much.’

‘Enough not to think I’m insane for doing what I’m about to do?’

‘I wouldn’t go
that
far.’ She wiped away tears. ‘Go on then, you damn fool. Go and save the world. Again.’

‘We really need to start charging for it, don’t we?’ The convoy was now out of sight behind the trees, though occasional flickers of light through the foliage gave away its position. He turned the plane towards it, pulling back the throttle lever. The engine slowed, the propeller noise dropping considerably. ‘Huh. Okay, maybe it’s stealthier than I thought. I did think that trying to cross the border in a squad of lawnmowers probably wouldn’t work.’

‘So what’s the plan?’

‘They won’t be able to see us until we come over the trees. I’ll bring it as low and slow as I can, then jump out. The second I go, you climb over the seat and grab the controls. You’ll be heading out over the valley, so that should give you enough time to sort yourself out before you hit anything.’

‘And then what?’

‘I’d tell you to fly this thing as far away as you can, but . . .’ Both knew full well that she had no intention of leaving him. ‘Just make sure you get clear.’ One last loving look back at her, then: ‘All right, here we go.’

He brought the microlight lower over the moonlit treetops, angling to cut across the road. The leading vehicles came into sight, Kang’s SUV and the troop truck now some distance ahead of the rest of the convoy. ‘Okay, get ready, get ready . . .’ He tensed, swinging both legs over the side. ‘Get ready . . .’

The transporters swept into view below, the aircraft crossing above the rearmost—

‘
Now!
’

Eddie jumped.

The drop on to the missile was not great, only around eight feet – but there was no purchase on the smooth, curved surface. He slithered off, hitting the rocket’s hydraulic crane arm, hard, and rolling off it towards the ground below—

One hand caught the transporter’s side as he fell. He swung from it, dangling with the huge wheels churning just inches away. ‘Arsing cockery!’ he gasped as his gun bounced off the road and disappeared over the edge of the gorge.

He flailed his free arm, managing to get a secure hold. Relieved, he pulled himself higher, glancing forward to check the road ahead.

Startled eyes stared back at him in the truck’s wing mirror.

The transporter’s driver barked a hurried command to the other men in the cab – as the chatter of gunfire resumed from behind.

43

The men in the trailing jeep could hear the microlight still shadowing them, but couldn’t see it – until it overflew the transporter ahead. They opened fire as it continued across the valley.

Eddie’s leap threw the little aircraft wildly off balance, sending it into a steep climb as it banked drunkenly to the right. Nina, clambering into the front seat, screamed as she was almost pitched after her husband. Bracing herself, she pushed the stick to the left, levelling out with a lurch – only for more bullets to lance up at her.

The wing took several hits, fabric tearing. She looked up to see a yard-long rent in the dark material, its edges flapping furiously. The microlight rolled again. ‘Oh shit,
shit
!’ she panted as it veered back towards the road.

The convoy reappeared below, growing larger as the plane lost height. She was past the third transporter, heading for the second as another burst of fire came from the jeep. The wing puckered again, the engine taking more hammerblow impacts – and stuttering.

She tried to swing away from the looming TEL, but the controls felt as if they were submerged in molasses. The nose pitched upwards, too slowly. Glaring red tail lights swelled before her like devilish eyes—

The little plane finally banked, but too late.

The wingtip clipped the missile, swinging the microlight sharply back around. It crashed against the rocket’s left side, its wing snagging on the great hydraulic clamp securing the weapon for transport.

The fuselage tore loose. Nina was almost flung on to the road, just catching one of the ladder rungs running along the length of the missile’s erector arm. The broken bodywork hit the road below her, breaking apart.

Eddie hauled himself up on to the third transporter, crouching on a narrow footplate beside the missile. The gunfire from the trailing jeep had stopped – he guessed they were afraid of hitting the rocket – but he could no longer hear the microlight’s engine. Hopefully Nina had got clear—

The reason for the aircraft’s silence was frighteningly revealed as its mangled remains bowled past. The propeller clanged off the TEL’s side just beneath him, slashing a foot-long tear in the sheet metal. The jeep swerved to avoid the debris, falling back.

Nina hadn’t been in the wreckage. He looked ahead, desperate for any clue to his wife’s fate. The road curved, bringing the rest of the convoy back into view – and revealing her hanging from the second transporter’s side.

The TEL’s wheels whirled beneath Nina. Above the long blank slab of the transporter’s side the ripped wing flapped like a flag, the lines that had secured it to its frame now whipping in the wind.

Shock giving way to fear, she pulled herself up. Arms straining, she swung and tried to hook a foot over the edge of the bodywork—

Lights flashed behind her. The third transporter had pulled out, the driver waving furiously from his side window.

Warning the soldiers in her own vehicle that she was there.

Another message crackled over the SUV’s radio. Kang listened with growing disbelief, then shouted an order into the mic. ‘They are still alive!’ he snarled to his passengers. ‘They are on the transporters!’

‘Perhaps we should stop so your men can get a clear shot,’ said Mikkelsson icily. ‘They seem to have trouble with moving targets.’

The colonel glared at him. ‘We will not stop! Two people cannot have destroyed the entire facility – they
must
have had help from the American special forces you warned us about. If they take the warheads or the plutonium, it will be a disaster for my country!’

‘And for you,’ Sarah said quietly, her face expressionless.

Kang regarded his companions with fury. ‘We will
not
stop.’ He bellowed more commands into the radio. ‘I want those spies dead before we reach the airbase! Do not stop for any reason! If they damage the missiles, I’ll have you all shot as collaborators!’ His voice rose to a spittle-flecked screech. ‘
Kill them, right now!
’

The jeep pulled out to overtake Eddie’s TEL, the huge vehicle obligingly shifting to the right of the road to make room. As it drew alongside, the soldier in the front passenger seat stood and grabbed the ladder rungs, pulling himself aboard the transporter. The man behind him followed suit, the jeep dropping back once both were clear.

Eddie scrambled forward. The Koreans still couldn’t risk shooting at him, but the first man had drawn a knife or bayonet, and his companion was doubtless doing the same. He rounded the clamp locking the missile in place and headed for the cab. The soldier was rapidly gaining on him, driven by the fearlessness of youth or the terror of being blamed for failure.

The rungs ended at the base of the rocket’s nosecone. With the warhead not fitted, the truncated tip stopped a few feet short of the transporter’s cab. Eddie clambered on to the flat deck beneath it, ducking underneath the missile as if to start back down its other side – then halted.

The pursuing Korean reached the nose—

A brutal uppercut smashed against his jaw. He staggered – and Eddie clamped both hands around the rocket’s support arm to pull his feet up and kick the soldier hard in the chest.

The man flew off the transporter’s side with a winded scream. He hit the road with a harsh snap of breaking bones – and the jeep ran him over with a deeper, wetter crunch. The impact flung the vehicle off course. It hurtled out over the valley, arcing down to an explosive landing a hundred feet below.

Eddie lowered himself. One soldier down, but where was the other?

A flash of movement in his peripheral vision – and he spun to see the answer in the form of a glinting blade. The second man had climbed over the missile to come along its other side behind him!

Nina finally found secure footing. Panting with exertion and fear, she saw that she was about a third of the way along from the missile’s foot. The microlight wing entangled on the clamp obstructed her way forward. A glance back. No sign of Eddie on the side of the last transporter, but nor was there any trace of the jeep following it.

She had no time to wonder what had happened to either. The second jeep was falling back towards her, the transporters moving over to let it by. A soldier in its rear raised his rifle—

Fearful adrenalin forced her into motion. She clambered back towards the missile’s tail, expecting shots to come at any moment. But none did. Of course: if the missiles were unfuelled, the Saudis wouldn’t pay hard currency for one with bullet holes in the side, and if they
were
fuelled, it might explode.

That would not protect her for long, though. The jeep matched speed with the transporter, the man in the back reaching up to pull her to her death—

Nina kicked at him, knocking him back. Angered, he tried again, but by now she had reached the TEL’s rear, passing the erector system’s fulcrum. Jutting out behind the missile was its launch stand, a hefty metal framework some eight feet deep that would lower to the ground as the rocket was raised vertically for firing. She climbed up on to it as the soldier made another lunge. He caught her ankle, but a swipe from her boot broke his grip and nearly did the same to his fingers. He let out a shrill cry and retreated.

She negotiated one of the stand’s feet to come around the transporter’s rear. The gaping bell of the rocket engine loomed menacingly behind the framework. Another soldier in the jeep stood to climb after her—

A bullet clanged off a beam inches from her head.

A private in the cab of the last transporter leaned further out of the passenger-side window. ‘I almost got her!’ he crowed, adjusting his rifle’s aim. ‘This time I’ll—’

Another shot came – but not from his gun. The driver, a lieutenant, had drawn his sidearm and fired across the broad cab. The bullet hit the soldier in the temple, the other side of his skull exploding outwards. He collapsed, his twitching corpse hanging limply out of the window. His gun rattled against the door on its shoulder strap.

The other members of the transporter’s crew reacted with shock. ‘You heard Colonel Kang!’ the young officer yelled at them. ‘If anything happens to the rockets, we’re
all
dead!’

‘Yes, sir!’ gulped a cowed soldier. ‘But . . . but what about the spy?’

The lieutenant looked ahead. The men in the jeep had ducked at the rifle shot, but were now raising their heads again. ‘They’ll catch her. We’ve got a spy of our own to—’

Something thumped on to the cab roof above them.

Eddie grabbed the soldier’s hand as the knife stabbed at him. The two men struggled, the Yorkshireman slowly forcing the blade upwards – then slamming the Korean’s wrist against the missile’s truncated nosecone. One hit, two, and the man cried out, losing his hold on the weapon. It landed near his feet. Eddie shifted position so he could kick it away, sure he could easily take down his opponent in a contest of raw strength.

The soldier also realised he was physically outmatched. In desperation, he used a large pump mounted on top of one of the vehicle’s enormous fuel tanks as a springboard to hurl himself at Eddie. The Englishman fell backwards on to the cab roof, the Korean landing on top of him.

Eddie punched him, but couldn’t deliver the blow with full force. The soldier responded with a screaming barrage of flailing fists. The Yorkshireman managed a partial roll to force the smaller man off him, then sent another punch at his face. This one hit home, the Korean shrieking as he lost a couple of front teeth. Eddie shoved him away—

The soldier reacted to something ahead, eyes popping wide. He grabbed a spotlight on the cab’s front edge. Eddie followed his gaze – and saw that the transporter was approaching a hairpin bend. Fast.

The TEL lurched as the driver threw it into the corner. Six of its eight axles were steerable, giving it a much tighter turning circle than a conventional articulated truck, but the tyres still tore into the broken road as the mammoth vehicle started to skid. The soldier clung more tightly to his handhold, but Eddie had nothing to grip. He slithered across the roof, his head jarring against the cab’s rear edge as he dropped back on to the deck behind it. Coloured stars flared before his eyes.

They cleared just in time to reveal a steep drop looming below—

He threw out his arms, one hand catching the fuel pump as he went over the edge.

The remaining jeep had been forced to brake hard as the second transporter went through the hairpin, dropping behind it to avoid being barged off the road. The soldier in the rear looked back at the third TEL, reacting in shock at the sight of two men on its roof: a soldier of the People’s Army and a bald foreigner in a leather jacket. ‘Look, behind us!’ The other passenger turned, equally startled by the sight. ‘We’ve got to help him!’

‘What about the woman?’ protested the driver. The redhead was climbing around to the truck’s right-hand side.

‘He’s already killed one of our men!’ The soldier pointed at the body hanging out of the third transporter’s window. ‘He must have taken out the other jeep too – he’s more dangerous! If he sabotages the missile . . .’

He didn’t need to say more: Kang’s threat had been explicit. The driver braked again, preparing to draw alongside the last transporter as it came out of the turn.

Nina hauled herself around the launch stand and sidestepped along it to reach the fulcrum – realising too late that with the truck having turned almost one hundred and eighty degrees around the hairpin, she was once again on the outside of the road with the steeply sloping valley dropping perilously away below her. ‘God
damn
it!’

She was about to go back when she saw something different about this side of the vehicle. Partway down the transporter’s otherwise featureless flank was a recess, inside which lights were glowing. A control panel?

There were hefty hydraulic jacks at the TEL’s rear corners, which she guessed stabilised it while the missile was raised for launch. If she could extend them, the metal feet would act as anchors, dragging the transporter to a halt. That would also force the one behind to stop, as there was not enough room for the hulking vehicles to pass one another.

Gripping the rungs, she climbed along the transporter’s side. The valley spread out before her, the SUV and the truck now a long way ahead. The first TEL had also extended its lead over its two siblings.

She quickly reached the recess. It did indeed house a control panel, several red bulbs giving her enough illumination to make out a rank of switches, some gauges and two large twist-grip levers. She hesitated, then started flicking the switches. A motor whined loudly, some of the lights turning green. ‘Okay, whatever I’m doing, it’s something . . .’

The last bulb changed colour, a hissing thrum joining the sound of the motor – but the powering up of what she assumed were the hydraulic systems had drawn attention. A surprised shout reached her over the noise. She looked forward to see a man glaring out of the cab window at her. He withdrew . . . then the door opened and he climbed out.

Fingers straining, Eddie clung to the fuel pump as the TEL came around the hairpin. Dirt and stones spat up at his legs. The front wheel was directly below him, the long overhanging cab stretching out ahead with a corpse slumped from the window. The skidding vehicle finally straightened out, swinging him back against its side with a bang. He found purchase on the edge of the deck, dragging himself higher.

The soldier was already back on his feet.

Eddie jerked his hand clear as the man’s boot stamped down. Another strike caught his thumb as he dodged again. He tried to find a new handhold, but the Korean had seen a fresh target: the dangling man’s other hand, gripping the fuel pump. He drew back his leg to strike . . .

Something caught the moonlight. The knife. It too had skittered across the roof, wedging against a filler cap.

Eddie lunged for it. The soldier saw him move, twisting to kick the weapon away—

The Yorkshireman reached it first.

He drove the blade into the soldier’s Achilles tendon. The Korean screamed, staggering as his leg buckled. Eddie yanked out the knife and rammed it up into his calf muscle, then pulled him forward. The man toppled over the side with a wail that ended suddenly as he hit the road face-first, breaking his neck.