The Eden Prophecy

CHAPTER 39

Danielle held the ATV’s throttle at full and the four-wheeler flew down the sand gathering speed. Seeing no sign of Keegan or the airboat, she planned to race into the water as far as possible and then dive off with Sonia in tow.

They could swim out into the dark and hide in the reeds and the murk of the swamp. Their pursuers were still unlikely to shoot at them for fear of hitting Sonia, and eventually they’d have to leave or risk trouble with the Iranian military. But that did not help Hawker, and unless Keegan showed up and began throwing some fire support their way, Hawker wouldn’t last long.

As they roared down the hill and onto the mud flat, Danielle listened for Hawker’s shots. She knew he was deadly accurate, enough that she didn’t look to either side, only ahead. If someone popped up it would be the last thing they did.

No one rose to challenge them, no one cut them off. Fifteen seconds and they’d be in the water.

And then suddenly, something was wrong.

She felt Sonia’s hands slip from her waist, felt her fall away, and felt the ATV surge forward with the sudden reduction in weight.

She slowed slightly and turned a bit, enough to see.

Sonia had fallen in a heap, tumbling like a ball.

“What the hell?”

Danielle began a turn to pick her up, but shots flew her way. Tracers that she hadn’t seen before in this fight. It was like they knew Sonia had fallen and could now open fire. She cut away from the incoming, but a shell or two hit the front right wheel.

The tire exploded. The ATV went down hard like a racehorse with a broken leg. Danielle flew off again, hit the mud at the swamp’s edge, and slid forward like she’d landed on ice. Covered in mud, she hit the waterline and lay sprawled in muck.

A group of men were moving toward her, a second group racing toward Sonia. Unbelievably, the young woman stood and began to move toward them.

Staying low, Danielle unholstered her Beretta. From behind her a great noise came zooming forward. The airboat roared out of the darkness with Keegan at the helm. Rapid fire from the twin guns on the tripod scattered the men who’d come for her, but it was too late for Sonia. The men had her and were dragging her off.

Danielle raised her gun to fire but couldn’t without hitting Sonia. She heard a shot from Hawker’s ArmaLite. But then nothing.

The tables had been turned. They hauled Sonia into the waiting Humvee, threw her in the back, and slammed the door. Seconds later they were racing off. The other men piled on the sides of the second Humvee and the surviving sand rail, and the ragtag convoy raced off with its prize.

In a moment they were gone, disappearing into the dunes.

Danielle looked around. The light from the burning vehicles flickered across the desert, illuminating the wreckage of the battle: dead men, ruined machines, smoke, flame. Up on the slope, alone in the center of the carnage, it lit upon Hawker, stunned and immobile and staring after the departing vehicles.

Hawker could not believe what he’d just seen. Their enemy had taken Sonia. What’s more, it seemed as if she’d given herself up willingly at the very edge of freedom.

Why?

His mind raced, but he found no answers. Had she fallen? Had she been injured by some gunfire he didn’t see? Had she been trying to save them by sacrificing herself?

He had no idea. And in truth, the reasons didn’t matter. They had her and they had the stone and things were infinitely worse than they’d been twenty-four hours ago.

On the sand beside him, the man Hawker had clubbed with the rifle was coming to.

Hawker looked down. The young man looked familiar. Hawker had seen him in Paris. This was the man who’d managed to jump off the boat and disappear into the Seine.

The man looked up with glazed-over eyes, and the fury that rose in Hawker became hard to contain. Twice this man had tried to murder friends of his; twice he’d been the cause of anguish and grief.

“You’re a dead man,” Hawker growled.

A wave of fear washed across the man’s face.

He turned from Hawker.

“Look at me, you son of a bitch!” Hawker shouted.

The man did not respond. He was moving his arm toward his face. He had something in his hand, something small.

Danielle was coming up the side of the dune.

The man’s hand moved.

Hawker snapped the gun toward him.

“No!” Danielle shouted.

Hawker’s rifle cracked and the echo of its report rolled across the night.