The King's Tomb

CHAPTER FOUR

The ECHO Gulfstream cruised thousands of feet over the rice paddies of Guangdong Province. The moon broke the horizon over the South China Sea and the fading dusk of another tiring day gave way to the night.

Hawke had just woken after the long flight from London. Scarlet Sloane was sitting at a table with Vincent Reno and Danny Devlin playing Texas Hold’em. By the looks on the two men’s faces she was winning big style and as he walked across the cabin and joined them it was just in time to see her slide another pile of fifty-dollar bills onto her side of the table.

“There’s no escaping fate, boys,” she said with a wink. “I’ll enjoy spending this.”

Hawke pulled up a chair and looked at Reaper and Devlin with sympathy. “I’d fold before it turns into strip poker.”

“Fold?” Devlin furrowed his brow with fake confusion. “That’s what I’m waiting for!”

Hawke said nothing. Tension had been high in the ECHO team since his bust-up with Lea and for a time he’d blamed the Irishman, but a few texts from Scarlet had set him straight on who was really to blame and it turned out wasn’t Devlin but him. Sure, the former Irish Ranger had pushed his luck on their last mission to locate the Sword of Fire, but he knew in his heart his old friend was right.

He ran his hands over the box in his jacket pocket. The engagement ring was still there, next to his heart but now cold and redundant. It needed the heat from Lea’s hand to come alive, but he was starting to think asking her would be a mistake and that marriage for him was some kind of a curse.

His first wife was brutally murdered on their honeymoon and he’d delayed asking Lea for a long time. When he had finally decided to take the step, they’d argued and broken up within hours. Maybe the smartest thing he could do was toss the ring in the garbage and forget all about it. That had to be the best thing for both of them.

“I’m out.” Reaper folded his hand over onto the table and yawned.

“Smart but boring,” Scarlet said. “I’d have the shirt off your back in the next round.”

“Now you’re talking!” Devlin said.

Scarlet raised an eyebrow. “I won’t stop there, Danny. You’ll be down to your underwear in three rounds and I’m not sure how that benefits any of us, darling.”

Reaper clapped a heavy hand on her shoulder. “C’est vrai. The only way you win when playing strip poker with a man with Danny’s body is to lose and go naked yourself. It saves the eyes.”

“You guys shoot straight from the hip,” Devlin said, and turned his cards down to the table beside the Frenchman’s. “I’ll quit while I’m behind.”

Hawke watched Scarlet smirk as Devlin and Reaper moped down to the end of the plane with empty pockets. She cleared the cash off the table and swept it into her jacket pocket with the single fluid motion of a seasoned Vegas pro swiping her winnings into a chip rack before taking them to the cage.

He opened his mouth to speak but she won that fight too and spoke before he got a word to his lips.

“Someone needs to make the first move, Joe.”

Hawke looked down the cabin at Devlin and frowned. “Maybe I over-reacted when I saw him hugging her.”

“You think?”

“I presume you’re being sarcastic.”

“Clever you. I gave Lea a hug once,” Scarlet said. “Does that mean I’m in love with her?”

Hawke took a deep breath, puffed his cheeks and blew it out again. “I was going to ask her to marry me, Cairo.”

“So get on with it and stop being such a bell-end.”

Hawke contemplated the friendly advice, delivered as ever with Scarlet’s usual panache.

Dammit all, he had known he was wrong the second Lea had walked away with Devlin back in London, but now wasn’t the time for regrets. Lea had gone to Pretoria to bring Kruger down, secure the sword and get a lead on the Oracle and he was leading a team to Hong Kong to rescue Lexi. He had to focus, not stress about the rocky road of his private life.

“Bell-end, eh?”

“You said it.”

Hawke narrowed his eyes. “No, you said it.”

“What are you, a lawyer?”

“You think we could make it work?”

“What makes you ask the question?”

He shrugged. “Just wondered.”

“I don’t think so, darling. I’m not one for settling down. You know that — I’d eat you for breakfast.”

“I’m being serious.”

They watched the progress of their flight on the little screen. Still over Guangdong Province, and with their journey almost at an end, they now turned into their final vector. She let out a heavy sigh. “Look, I know you’re only a man so I’ll explain it in simple terms. You were a bell-end. We established that, right?”

“Right.”

“Exactly right, but you’re a bell-end that wants to make things right.”

“I’m not sure I like bell-end being used in anything but the past tense. A one-off sort of thing rather than a permanent condition.”

“Bear with me.”

“Fine.”

“So the way you make things right is to grovel profusely and then go ahead and do your wedding ring thing.”

His eyes narrowed. “Grovel profusely for how long?”

“There are no rules. It’s an indeterminate time decided only by Lea, darling.”

“Got it.”

Scarlet’s phone rang. She checked the screen and said “Eden” before taking the call. “Hey, Rich. You have something new?”

“Yes, I have something new.” His voice was weak thanks to his recent recovery from an induced coma, but the tiny speaker on the phone made him sound even more fragile.

“What’s up?”

“A reliable source has managed to refine the target’s whereabouts in Hong Kong today.”

The team shared an excited look.

“Turns out our man Rat is hopelessly addicted to gambling, but it’s mostly illegal on mainland China so when he wants to lose some money, he likes to travel to the casinos in Macau, or the…”

“Or the racecourses in Hong Kong?” Hawke said.

“You read my mind.”

“Any idea which one?”

“Better than an idea. Rat will be at the Happy Valley Racecourse on Hong Kong Island this evening. They’re running a big race there tonight and Mr Rat wants in on the action.”

“Tonight?” Devlin asked.

“Happy Valley Racecourse runs races on Wednesday nights,” Eden said. “An old friend of mine, Monty Devane, happens to be on the board of the Hong Kong Jockey Club and he’s already working with their security to try and track him down. He’ll brief you when you arrive. In the meantime, I’ve arranged with the British Embassy for you to be fast-tracked through the airport by an officer with MI6 named Chris Raynes. He will introduce you to another man in the Special Duties Unit.”

“Who are they?” Devlin asked.

“The SDU is a tactical unit within the Hong Kong Police Force whose main work is in counter-terrorism.”

“And they’re happy working with us to track down one of the Zodiacs?” Scarlet said. “They’re Chinese agents after all.”

“It’s complicated,” Eden said. “There are factions within the top of the PLA and not everyone is supportive of the way the Zodiacs work.”

“I get it,” she said. “Sounds like we’re all set up and ready to go.”

“I’ve done all I can,” Eden said. “Now it’s over to you.”

When he disconnected the call, a silence filled the cabin. No one had talked to Eden about the coma he had suffered, but they were all pleased to see he was having such a strong recovery. If he had died, the leadership of the operation would have passed to Hawke and Lea, and that wouldn’t exactly be easy with the way things were right now.

Hawke broke the silence. “All right — get some sleep everyone. It’s not long till we land in Hong Kong and we’re back on the clock. It could get rough. Lexi needs us in a big way right now and this could easily be our last chance. The Zodiacs aren’t the easiest people to track down and I don’t like Rich’s chances of being able to get us this close a second time.”

“I agree.” Reaper cracked his knuckles.

Scarlet sniffed. “Another game of poker anyone? You know what they say — sleep’s for pussies.”

“Count me out,” Reaper said. “I need to rest. I’m not as young as you.”

“And you can forget me as well,” Hawke said with a wry smile. “I’ve seen you play too many games to go up against you.”

“What a couple of jessies,” Devlin said, sitting down opposite Scarlet. “I’ll play you Cairo, and I’ll kick your ass too.”

Scarlet gave the deck a professional riffle shuffle and started to deal. “This I have to see.”

Hawke smiled and walked over to the couch where he collapsed down onto it and stretched out ready for what Ryan had started referring to as a nanonap. He wasn’t exactly sure what one of those was — in his day back in the regiment, it was “forty winks”, but he was prepared to give it a go.

He’d need the rest if the Zodiacs were as ruthless as the briefing notes described them to be.