The King's Tomb

CHAPTER SIX

Hawke burst into action, using his formidable upper-body strength to slam spectators aside as he pushed through them in pursuit of Rat. Some objected, but they settled back down again when his jacket flapped back to reveal the flash of the Glock’s grip in his shoulder holster.

The young Chinese assassin spun around and fired on him, the bullets cracking above the sound of the cheering crowd.

“Get down!” Hawke yelled.

Only the gaggle of people around him heard the command. They hit the deck with their drinks and betting stubs still in their hands, no time even to scream. Hawke dived down and hurled himself in a forward roll. When he exited the roll he was gripping the gun and squinting as he aimed at Rat. He moved to fire on the man and stopped himself, cursing. Too risky, you idiot.

He pounded along the top row of the Grandstand after the assassin, grimly aware he was chasing a man several years younger but up for the challenge nonetheless. Either side of him the SDU men were drawing their weapons and barking commands into their palm mics as they closed in on their mark.

Rat fired again. The bullet traced over Reaper’s head as he slammed into the ground. The bullet missed, but far behind him he heard a horse grunt in pain and turned to see one of the animals in the race collapse into the turf. The jockey was crushed under its weight and a sense of confusion in the crowd started to morph into fear as they realized the horse had been shot.

Hawke knew things were about to get badly out of control. Of all the situations he tried to avoid, pursuing someone in a crowded public space offered the most opportunities for innocent bloodshed and carnage. Now the racecourse authorities were using the tannoys to calmly instruct everyone in the venue to move slowly to the exits.

Great, it just got much harder to take Rat down, he thought. “We need to move quicker,” he said into the comms. “He’s heading across to the pavilion stand, Danny. You’re closest.”

“Ah, for fuck’s sake, Hawke. I just got myself a beer!”

“Stop pissing about, Danny,” Scarlet said.

“I’m on him already,” Devlin said, his voice suddenly businesslike. “Bastard’s slowed down to a walk to blend in, but I know a rat when I see one.”

Up ahead, Hawke saw some officers in the regular Hong Kong Police Force swarming around one of the entrances. “Looks like we have some back-up.”

Devlin’s voice crackled over the comms. “He’s walking past the Pavilion Stand and continuing north. He’s either heading toward the Racing Museum or the Jockey Club HQ, or maybe… no wait. He’s turning left. All units, the mark’s heading toward the exit at the northwest section of the course, just past the Happy Valley Stand.”

“I have him,” Scarlet said.

“Moi aussi,” Reaper said. “I see him now. He’s very calm.”

“He just walked through the line of punters at one of the betting windows.”

They made it to the betting hall and pushed through the long lines of gamblers who were still trying to make a wager.

“Over there!” Scarlet said. “I see him.”

Hawke saw him too. He was heading for a fire escape in the far wall of the betting hall, and looking pretty shifty as he did it. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw the ECHO team and decided to make a break for it. Bursting into a run, he kicked open the fire door with his boot and vanished into the darkness beyond it.

“He’s doing another runner!” Hawke yelled. “Get after him!”

They sprinted through the shifting crowd, pushing their way through until they reached the fire escape. With Devlin right behind him, Hawke kicked open the door. Finding himself in a corridor lit by emergency lighting, he lifted his gun into the aim and made his way toward the only other place Rat could have run — a set of concrete steps leading down to what he presumed was an underground car park.

They reached the top of the steps and Eddie Cheung and the SDU men filed down first. Seconds later, they came under heavy fire. Rat had ambushed them and was blasting them with his handgun. He was deadly accurate, instantly killing the SDU attachment who had been in the lead.

Hawke and the others slammed into the cover of the stairwell doorway and prepared to fire back. He and Scarlet were one side and Reaper and Devlin on the other, each of them holding their guns up to their chests ready to attack.

Hawke indicated with two fingers that he and Scarlet would go in and the others were to provide cover fire. When he gave a curt, shallow nod to everyone, they all knew it was the sign to go. He and Scarlet spun around and opened fire in the doorway. It was a relentless and ruthless attack, and by the time Reaper and Devlin moved in to provide the support fire, Rat was hit, struck in the shoulder and spun around like a top.

The Zodiac agent stumbled over at the top of the steps and crashed all the way down to the bottom. The concrete steps were unforgiving, and on the way down he broke his left wrist and sustained a concussion. Lying in a heap at the base of the stairs, he tried to lift himself up but quickly gave in, howling in pain as he applied pressure to his wrist to lever himself up. He collapse back down onto the floor and clamped his eyes shut as he gave a silent prayer.

Scarlet was first to reach him. When she saw the state he was in, she stuffed the gun inside her holster and pushed the toe of her boot down on his throat.

“Well look at that,” she said. “Looks like we caught a rat.”

Hawke walked over to her and also holstered his weapon. Upstairs at the ground level the crowd was growing restless as the race drew to a premature conclusion and the authorities continues to order them out of the grounds. Excited voices garbled over the tannoy system and another confused roar filled the grounds, but down here a very different atmosphere was unfolding.

The Englishman leaned over, twisted a fistful of the man’s collar in his fist and dragged him up to his feet. “You’re coming with us, sunshine.”

“Where are you taking me?”

“I have a good friend I think you should meet.”

Hawke pulled his fist back and then piled it into the man’s face, instantly knocking him unconscious.