Raiders

CHAPTER THIRTY

Nigel Sim looked like he was about to have a heart attack. “What did you just say?”

“Shot, sir! We was standing on the front door with those armed coppers, just like you told us to when these maniacs turned up out of nowhere and just started shootin’! When I saw them go down I legged it down here to tell…”

The guard’s sentence was cut short when a bullet tore into his neck and exploded out the other side, smashing into the giant Turner reproduction on the wall behind Nigel’s head. Before anyone could react or even scream, a second bullet hit him in the head and blew the front of his skull off.

The dead man slumped to the floor, and it was only then that Mason noticed that Nigel was also dead. The second bullet had continued on its trajectory after drilling through the guard’s head and torn into the director’s chest. Blasted out of his chair and back against the wall, his body had slid down to a heap beside his filing cabinet and left a long trail of blood painted on the wall behind him.

“Oh my God!” Ambrose managed to squeak out. “What the hell is going on?”

“How the hell did they know we were here?” Caleb said.

“They must have seen the Napoleon note after all,” said Mason.

Milo frowned. “And trailed us from the airport, maybe?”

“Possible,” Ella said. “The delay at the airport in London must have given them a head start.”

“So they were waiting for us at Oxford airport,” Virgil said. “Bastards.”

“Dangerous bastards,” Ben said.

Eva was in shock, staring at the body of the dead director, but Zara was already on the case. Pulling a Glock from her pocket, she had beaten even Caleb in the race to draw her weapon first.

“You’re too slow old man,” she said. “One of these days you’re going to get shot.”

“I can’t believe they killed Nigel!” Ambrose said, his voice barely a whisper.

“And they’ll kill you too if you don’t get away from that door!” said Virgil.

Ben spoke rapidly, the tone of his voice deadly serious. “I don’t know where the hell you got those weapons from but you’re not licensed to use them in this country.” He drew a Glock 19 and slid a round into the chamber. “No one fires except me, or we’re all in a deep lake of hot shit for the next ten years, got it?”

Ben fired a short burst of shots, professional and controlled, and the enemy dived for cover in the darkened corridor outside the office. “We need to get out of here!”

“We have what we need,” Mason said. “We have to get to Paris.”

“What about me?” Ambrose said. “I can’t go to Paris!”

“You’re going to a safe house,” Ben said. “Holloway — get on it.”

The other MI5 man pulled his smart phone from a pocket and started to make a call.

Looking over his shoulder, Mason had a clear view of the path Kiya and the Raven were taking to approach the office. They had anticipated an armed response and were now taking cover behind a large glass case full of ancient Egyptian coffin lids arranged in a vertical display.

“They’re behind that case,” he said.

Zara nodded. “I see the bastards.” She fired off a shot, then another. The sound of the Glock discharging in Nigel’s office was crude and savage, and Ambrose clamped his hands over his ears and nearly jumped out of his skin.

“Dammit!” Ben said. “I said no one fires!”

“So sue me,” Zara said coolly. “I’m not taking a bullet just because some James Bond wannabe tells me not to fight, even if you are Ella’s boyfriend.”

“Ballistics are going to love this crime scene…” Ben muttered.

Ambrose was now the color of putty. “I’ve never seen anything like this in all my life,” he said. “Are they trying to rob the place?”

“Look,” Mason said. “Ben’s right. We have to get out of here. These guys are insane and it’s obvious they’ll kill anyone to get what they want.”

Ambrose had an idea. “We have tunnels here, beneath the Ashmolean. They go all over Oxford.”

Mason shook his head. “No way. I’m not leading my team, or you, down into some kind of labyrinth when I have no way of knowing how to get out. It’s suicide. Think again.”

“They’re getting closer,” Ella said. “Behind that giant thingy on the right.”

Eva rolled her eyes. “That’s the shrine of King Taharqa.”

Caleb frowned. “Whatever you call it, it’s great cover and gets them one step closer to this office.”

“There are too many of us for one vehicle,” Ben said. “Holloway, I want you to take Doctor Lloyd to the safehouse in Cumnor.”

“The rest of us are going back to the airport,” Mason said. “Don’t even think about trying to stop us, Ben.”

Ben fired another shot at the approaching enemy. “I’m only one, and there are seven of you. I can’t stop you without shooting you and I’m not going to do that, am I now?”

“Come with us!” Ella said. “We need all the help we can get.”

Ben glanced at Mason. “Well?”

Mason gave Ella a withering look, but relented. “Fine, but only to the airport, then we go our separate ways.”

“So what now?” Virgil asked.

Mason blew out the window and holstered his gun.

“Dammit!” Ben said. “Did anyone hear what I said about guns?”

“We can get out this way,” Mason said, ignoring him. “I’ll stay here and hold them off and you get everyone to the cars.”

Ben led the others to the safety of the cars parked outside in Beaumont Street while Mason and Zara let rip with their Glocks, emptying both magazines in an attempt to hold Kiya and Tekin back for as long as possible.

“I’m out, Jed,” Zara said.

“Me too,” said Mason. “Time to make tracks.”