The Armageddon Protocol

FORTY-TWO

Things had been better for Harry Bane. Right now, Alain Baupin was bleeding out in the corner of the viewing platform and nearly unconscious, Lucia and Niko were fighting for their lives with Rafael Ruiz and the former English Pathfinder was now bent back over the edge of the blown-out safety window with a two hundred and fifty pound Jagdkommando trying to heave him up over the edge of the Shard.

He was squirming to reach up and get a decent grip on Hans Steiner, and the Austrian knew it. He laughed as the Englishman struggled to take hold of anything that might save his life or change the circumstances and give him the advantage.

Then Harry remembered the gunshot wounds in the Austrian’s legs, and brought his fist around hard into the bleeding gash.

Steiner screamed in pain as Harry’s hand smashed into the gaping wound and shattered bone, and that was the only chance the Englishman needed. He grabbed Steiner’s collar and heaved the Austrian across the top of him and over the edge.

Steiner now tumbled over the edge of the Shard, screaming like a terrified child as he realized the mop and bucket was no longer Harry Bane’s fate but his own, and worse, he’d have nearly twenty seconds to think about it. Harry watched him fall the first few hundred feet and then turned away. He had seen enough death in his time.

He staggered to his feet, breathless and exhausted. His mind raced as he prioritized the situation — save Alain’s life, help Lucia and Niko or stop Szabo? His heart told him to take out Ruiz first to help Lucia and Niko, save Alain next and then deal with Szabo, but the Pathfinders and MI6 had taught him to take ruthless decisions, and so he headed for Szabo.

“I warned you not to tangle with me!” Szabo cried out, his voice ghostlike and hollow in the howling wind.

“Call me crazy,” Harry called back, “but I don’t take advice from madmen.” He was keeping one eye on Lucia and Niko. It looked like Lucia had been knocked unconscious in the brawl but the Swiss IT man was still fighting with Ruiz, and the two men were now rolling in the rain a few feet from the edge of the hole in the glass where Steiner had met his maker. It was no surprise that Ruiz was getting the upper hand, and was now on top, raining punches down into Niko’s face until he too was nearly unconscious.

Ruiz now staggered up away from Niko before gripping his collars in his hands and heaving him towards the edge of the deck. Harry moved to stop him but then Niko regained consciousness just in time to see what was happening and crawl back away from the edge and fight for his life all over again.

“You want to save your friends,” Szabo said, mocking Harry. “But you can’t save them and the world at the same time…”

“Step away from the laptop, Szabo.” Harry’s voice was calm and measured.

I think not. You have failed,” Szabo said. “Perses is now deployed and I will enter the final sequence to activate its intelligence and set it on the world like a plague!”

“I said step away from it.”

“Never… and this canister is only the first of many weapons.”

Harry shook his head in horror. “You can’t be serious.”

“Manila, Mumbai and Dhaka are next, and after that, Paris, Delhi and New York. This timer is impossible to stop once activated. You cannot stop the will of God, Mr Bane.”

“Perhaps not, but I can stop the hand of a nutcase.”

Harry lunged forward but before he got a yard a loud bang went off and Szabo fell to his knees. Harry turned to look behind him to see Alain Baupin holding a smoking gun.

Without saying a word, Harry raced to the laptop case and looked at the control panel. There was a small bespoke laptop and beside it a slimline subcompact Glock 42 tucked into the padding. He hit the abort button with a sigh of relief but nothing happened. Szabo had been telling the truth — it was all down to Leo now, and all he could was hope his old friend had somehow secured the canister.

He slipped the Glock into his belt and padded over to Ruiz, but the CNI man surprised everyone by wrenching himself away from a bloodied Niko and sprinting across the viewing platform toward the hole in the safety glass caused by the gunfire.

“Wait!” Harry yelled.

But he was gone, leaping through the hole in the glass and disappearing out into the freezing night.

Across the platform, Lucia Serrano had regained consciousness just in time to see the Spanish CNI man make the jump. “Oh my God!”

Harry raced to the shattered glass and saw the tiny figure of Rafael Ruiz as he plummeted to the ground. He prepared to turn away and spare himself the nightmares when he saw Ruiz tear off his heavy winter coat to reveal a backpack. It burst open to reveal another surprise — a base jumping parachute, and the Spanish intelligence man deftly steered himself over London Bridge bus station and vanished into the New Year’s chaos.

“Damn it!” Harry said.

“Hey… we stopped them…” Niko said, his face beaten and bloodied from the fight with Ruiz.

“But we can’t stop the activation protocol,” Harry said with an angry glance at the laptop. “Only Leo can do that now.”

“Then maybe we have only seconds to live…” Lucia said.

Harry and Lucia hugged and let the moment move them to a short kiss. She looked up at him and smiled and he returned the smile, but then he remembered the badly wounded Alain Baupin.

He turned to help him when he saw the Frenchman had staggered to his feet and dragged himself in a bloody trail toward the elevator. He was training the Glock on Harry.

“Alain?”

“I’m sorry, Harry… but I have no choice.”

Harry took a step back and instinctively moved in front of Lucia. A few yards away Niko looked from Baupin to Harry with confusion.

“Why are you doing this?” Harry said, and as he spoke, the heavens opened once again and the rain began to pour down on them.

“The Russians know how to incentivize a man, let’s leave it at that. Now, hand over the laptop.”

“What’s so important about the laptop?” Harry said. “Aren’t the Russians more interested in the dust?”

“The laptop, Harry… now.” Alain raised the gun and aimed it at the Englishman’s heart.

Four…

The people cheered and whistled as the world-famous bell rung four and all around them the fireworks display crackled and buzzed, but Leo knew that if he couldn’t get the canister out of the pyro holder they were cheering their own agonizing deaths.

“Damn thing’s welded in!” he said.

Five…

“You have to hurry up! We’re running out of road, niknak,” Zoey said.

“Could do with that puukko knife right about now,” Leo said, frowning.

“That particular knife is sort of busy right about now,” Zoey said.

“Then I have to belt it out with brute force.”

Six…

“A man’s answer to everything.”

“Any better ideas?”

Seven…

Zoey looked up to the striking clock tower and back to Leo. “No… but what if it breaks apart when you kick it?”

Eight…

“Then we’re all dead, but we’re all dead in about four seconds anyway so I don’t see the risk. Just make sure you catch it.”

Nine…

“Well, duh…”

Ten…

Leo kicked the canister out of the pyro holder and it flew right past Zoey’s clasped hands and sailed out into the night.

Eleven…

“What did I say about catching it?”

“Sorry.”

Twelve…

The timer triggered the firing mechanism but there was nothing inside the pyro holder to launch. They looked down and saw far below as Maja Eklund caught it in her hands and give them the thumbs up.

“She’s got it!” Zoey said.

Leo took a second to get his breath back, and it was then he noticed the top of the Shard was ablaze. The flickering white and orange light was unmistakably a fire even from this distance in the night, and if he strained his eyes he was even able to see the plumes of black smoke billowing up from the upper storeys.

Zoey peered down at Maja and patted Leo on the arm. “Let’s get outta here.”

“Good idea. I hope Harry’s all right.”

“Only one way to find out, Scooter — but what about Karhu?”

“He can stay in the Thames with all the other turds for all I care,” Leo said. “And yes, by the way.”

“Huh?”

“To the date thing.”

“Ah…” She smiled and linked her arm through his. “Great.”

“You like Chinese food?”

“Whatever makes your heart beat faster, Chief.”

Harry shielded his eyes from the driving rain as he scanned the Frenchman’s face for any sign he might lose consciousness because of the blood loss, but he looked like he was holding on. Behind him fireworks lit the night purple, red and orange and the sound of people cheering wildly drifted up from the ground.

“I’m not giving you the laptop, Alain.” Harry was sure Baupin could have no knowledge of the gun he had taken from Szabo’s case, and he moved his hand up slowly to his side.

Baupin shook his head sadly. “Too bad, then you must die.”

Baupin raised his gun but Harry was faster, opening fire with the compact pistol. An enormous spider web fracture instantly appeared on the reinforced glass window behind the Frenchman. Baupin looked shocked for a moment, as if he hadn’t really expected the Englishman to shoot at him, but then dived for the cover of one of the girders with surprising speed and fired back a lethal volley of bullets.

Lucia and Niko scrambled out of the line of fire and Harry crashed into the floor. He rolled out of sight until he was behind the cover provided by the top of the stairs. Baupin’s bullets followed Harry as he rolled in the rain and then danced up onto the reinforced glass walls, smashing holes in them and sending shards of glass into the howling gale.

Harry shielded his eyes as he checked the magazine. Three rounds left. Not good, but better than nothing and he knew he had to make them count. He fired a shot back and the bullet ricocheted off the ground a few inches in front of Baupin’s boots. The Frenchman jumped back but Harry fired again.

This time the bullet struck Baupin in the upper arm, shattering the bone and forcing him to drop the weapon. It landed with a smack on the floor just as the Frenchman was grunting in pain and gripping at the wound with his other hand. He moved to pick it back up, and Harry fired his last shot and struck Baupin in the chest.

A look of confused terror and regret crossed the stricken man’s face as he stumbled back and toppled over the edge of the viewing platform, screaming as he went. Niko and Lucia peered over the edge and watched him as he spun around in the wind on the short journey toward the pavement three hundred meters below, and then they pulled themselves back before the wind claimed two more lives.

As Niko picked up the laptop case and collected the guns, Harry walked over to Lucia and steered her away from the jagged hole and toward the center of the platform. “It’s over,” he said. “We’d know by now if the dust had deployed.”

She looked at him with confused relief in her eyes. “Really?”

“Really,” he said, glancing at his watch. “And if we’re quick we can catch the end of the fireworks.”

“And what about Paradise?” she said.

“Paradise?”

“In the Prado you told me when all this hell was over you would take me to Paradise?”

“Ah…” he said.