The Messiah Secret

63

Nick Masters stood in the entrance to the cave. Down the slope he could see the unmoving shape of one of the three men he’d left on sentry duty. Over to his right, in a left-hand turn, the evil light-grey painted shape of the Hind gunship was unmistakable.

‘Shit,’ he muttered.

‘What the hell’s that gunship doing out here?’ John Cross asked.

As he spoke, the Hind lined up for its next attack, and a short burst from its cannon chewed up the ground immediately in front of the cave entrance. Both men ducked back inside.

Masters tore his glance away from the Hind and looked around the cave. There was no other way out, that was for sure, and nowhere they could hide where the gunship’s weapons couldn’t find them.

Despite the odds, Masters knew they had to neutralize the Hind. But how? With three men dead — and a friend whom he now realised was way too greedy and ambitious for his own good — he was fresh out of options.

‘Wait here,’ Bronson hissed at Angela, and crept forward.

JJ Donovan was cowering behind a pile of rocks, trying to make himself as small as possible. He was staring fixedly at the cave entrance.

Bronson stepped up behind him, smashed the butt of the pistol into the side of his head, then grabbed him by the collar and dragged him to the back of the cave.

‘What on earth are you doing, Chris?’ Angela snapped, her indignation at Bronson’s attack on an unarmed man temporarily overcoming her fear.

‘I’m giving us an edge,’ Bronson said, resting the barrel of the semi-automatic pistol on Donovan’s shoulder so that the end of it rested against the side of his neck. ‘As I see it, there are two groups of armed men out there fighting each other. I don’t know who this guy is, but if his people come out on top, the fact that he’s my hostage might mean we can talk our way out of here.’

‘And if the other group wins?’

He sighed. ‘Then it won’t matter either way.’

When Masters had seen the Barrett on sale in the arms bazaar in Islamabad, he’d immediately decided to buy it. He didn’t imagine they’d need to use it, but it was a useful insurance policy. Now he was glad he’d spent the extra money.

The Barrett is arguably the most powerful rifle in the world. In expert hands it is capable of placing a half-inch bullet in a man-size target at a range of well over a mile.

And Masters was an expert. A former SEAL, his particular speciality had been sniping. Thirty seconds after the Hind’s heavy machine-gun had annihilated three of his men, he had the weapon loaded and aimed, and was looking through the scope towards his target.

But that, of course, was only half the problem. There was no doubt in Masters’ mind that he could hit the Hind. But hitting it wouldn’t be enough. The supersonic half-inch bullet would leave a hell of a dent in the chopper’s armour plating, but wouldn’t penetrate it. There was no point in aiming at the twin cockpits, because they were heavily protected, and the engines, too, would be a difficult target with no guarantee the round would destroy or even damage them.

But there were weaknesses with the Hind, as with all helicopters, and these were what Masters was going to try for. And he would, he figured, have only the one shot. If he missed, and the crew of the gunship spotted he was firing from the cave, they’d torch the area and that would be that.

He had to make the shot count.

He turned to John Cross. ‘I need a clear shot at that gunship, and the only way I’m going to get it is if the crew are lookin’ somewhere else. Can you exit the cave with your hands up, and then move over to the left?’

Cross looked shocked. ‘Sounds like a hell of a bad idea to me.’

‘If you can think of something better, just tell me right now.’

Cross stepped forwards and peered cautiously out of the cave entrance. The Hind was quartering the area, the crew apparently looking for anyone else outside the cave.

‘OK, Nick,’ he said at last. ‘This had goddamn better work.’

Lowering his Kalashnikov to the ground he walked slowly to the mouth of the cave.

A sudden noise from his left attracted his attention. Another helicopter, this one a small utility aircraft, was approaching. As he looked, the pilot flared and landed it about a hundred yards away, keeping the rotors turning.

Cross stepped forward and raised both arms above his head in a clear and unequivocal gesture of surrender. He just hoped that the crew of the gunship hadn’t been instructed to sanitize the area, and that they would be prepared to take prisoners.

Well, he reflected, as the nose of the Hind swung around towards him, he’d soon find out.