Burning Angels

87

Kicking up a wind-whipped plume of ocean spray, the Wildcat put down on the damp sand. The tide was receding, and the beach was at its firmest where it was soaked with water.

The pilot kept the rotors turning as Jaeger, Narov, Raff, James, Kamishi and Alonzo piled off. They’d landed amongst the most stunning of landscapes. Dale had led the kid south, until they’d rounded a rocky headland taking them out of sight of Amani resort itself. Here, the low cliffs dropped abruptly into the sea, the red rock being cut into a series of dramatic wave-sculpted forms.

They fanned out into defensive positions, taking cover behind the rocky outcrops. Jaeger dashed forward. A figure came running out to meet him. It was Dale, and beside him was the distinctive form of the kid.

Simon Chucks Bello: the most wanted person in the world right now.

After a few days at Amani, the kid’s hair looked even wilder, stiffened by exposure to salt, sand and sun. He was wearing faded shorts that were two sizes too big for him, plus a pair of shades that Jaeger figured he’d borrowed off Dale.

Simon Chucks Bello was one cool dude. And he didn’t have a clue how important he was to all of humankind right now.

Jaeger was about to scoop him up and run him the fifty metres to the waiting chopper, when a chill froze him to the bone. With zero warning, something tore apart the mist of sea spray swirling above the Wildcat’s rotors, the scream of its descent ripping into Jaeger’s consciousness.

The missile ploughed into the roof of the Wildcat, ripping open the thin skin like a tin-opener. It detonated in a blinding flash, a storm of red-hot shrapnel slicing through the helo’s hold and piercing the twin fuel tanks. They ignited, punching a dragon’s breath of fiery death through the disintegrating fuselage.

Jaeger stared, transfixed, as the plume of destruction tore upwards and outwards, the noise of its eruption pounding into his ears and echoing back and forth across the seashore.

It was all over in less than a second.

He’d called in enough Hellfire strikes to recognise the high-pitched, tortured wolf-howl of the missile. He and his team – and Simon Chucks Bello – were the target of one right now, which meant there had to be a Reaper overhead.

‘HELLFIRE!’ he screamed. ‘Get back! Get under the trees!’

He dived into some thick vegetation, dragging the kid and Dale with him. Unsurprisingly, Simon Chucks Bello was wide-eyed and frozen with fear, his pupils dilated to an impossible size.

‘Keep hold of the kid!’ Jaeger yelled at Dale. ‘Calm him. And whatever you do, do not lose him.’

He rolled on to his back and delved into his combats, pulling out his compact Thuraya satphone and punching speed-dial for the Airlander. Miles answered almost immediately.

‘The helo’s been hit! There must be a Reaper above us.’

‘We’re on it. We have the Taranis involved in a nasty little dogfight with a Reaper right now.’

‘Win it, or we’re toast.’

‘Understood. Plus get this. We’ve detected three 4x4s making for the resort. They’re moving fast, maybe five minutes out from the front gate. I don’t believe they’re coming with any good intentions.’

Shit. Kammler must have deployed a ground force, as well as drones. It made sense for him to have done so. He was too careful to leave the kid to an unverified Reaper strike from ten thousand feet.

‘Once we kill his drones, we can get the Taranis to deal with the road convoy,’ Miles continued. ‘But they’ll likely be in amongst you by then.’

‘Right, there’s a bunch of boats along the beach, at the jetty,’ Jaeger told him. ‘I’m gonna grab one and bring the kid out that way. Can you get the Airlander down for a pickup at sea?’

‘One moment, I’m passing you across to the pilot.’

Jaeger spoke a few words to the Airlander’s pilot. Pickup plan sorted, he prepared to move.

‘On me!’ he yelled into his radio. ‘All, on me!’

One by one his team gathered. Having taken good cover, all had survived the Hellfire strike.

‘Okay, let’s move it – and fast.’

With that, Jaeger started sprinting down the beach, his team right on his heels. They knew better than to ask for any kind of an explanation.

‘Keep the kid in the centre of us!’ Jaeger yelled over his shoulder. ‘Shield him from fire. The kid is all that matters!’