The Plagues of Pandora

CHAPTER THIRTY TWO

Drake hung on as their pilot picked up the pace, chasing the black tail of the bird ahead. To his right, Hayden was floundering, beset from all sides by agitated parties desperate to know the situation — at least three governments, cooperating teams and ministers, the American military, the British, even Greek Special Forces that had been left behind at the cave. In the end she removed the headphones from her head and held them together.

“Let ‘em prattle away to each other.”

Their pilot turned his head, staring back into the rear cabin. “They’re within range, Miss Jaye.”

Hayden winced. Drake knew she would have to send the request up the chain of command and that would only lead to more gibbering. By the time…

Hayden fixed Drake with a stare. “Dudley. Two mercs. Le Brun and Bell, right?”

“Right. We believe.”

Hayden tapped the separate device in her ear. “Caitlyn, can you get anything tasked to tell us how many are in that chopper?”

“It’s not that easy,” Caitlyn said after a minute. “Besides, don’t you have aerosolized plague on there?”

“The scientists told us all three aerosols were stored inside boxes. I’m damn sure they’ll be resilient.”

“Still…”

Drake chewed on a nail. “You do realize how this all fits with the Pythians’ idea, don’t you? The Pandora plague. Engineered in Pandora’s birthplace and then transported in a box. If you didn’t know it before you sure as hell do now — these assholes have more cracks in them than a politician’s promise.”

“Totally apeshit,” Dahl agreed. “Destroy them.”

Karin jumped out of her seat, staying low. “Caitlyn’s right. You can’t risk—”

The pilot cried out and the chopper veered violently at the same time. Karin sprawled head first, smashing her nose against Kinimaka’s shin. For as second the world turned on its side and then they were level again.

“Evasive maneuver,” the pilot said calmly. “They’re firing on us.”

Komodo hauled Karin upright and strapped her in. Kinimaka apologized for his clumsiness. Karin laughed. “Sure, Mano, next time I show my inexperience make sure your stupid shin’s not attached to your leg.”

A second missile separated from the lead chopper. Drake watched as their pilot again dodged the lethal streak.

“Fuck this,” he said. “Get alongside so we can fill ‘em full of holes. Make them force land.”

The pilot threw the cyclic stick at the top speed symbol. The chopper accelerated rapidly and the gap closed. After a minute the lead chopper swung across the landscape, making a sharp turn and Drake saw a gleaming blue expanse ahead.

“The Aegean Sea,” Hayden said. “That can’t be good.”

The reason for the chopper’s maneuver soon became clear as a town began to unfold amid the countryside below.

“Larissa,” Hayden said. “We can’t shoot them down now. Stay close.”

Three helicopters blasted across the skies, heading for the bright, shimmering blue. If Drake had needed any reminder as to the madness of their opponents it soon came as Callan Dudley threw open the side doors of his chopper and pointed a machine gun at them. Laughing, he opened fire, strafing the skies with lead. Their pilot dropped down and back, tucking in behind the mercenary’s bird.

“That guy’s starting to friggin’ annoy me,” Smyth’s voice declared over the comms.

Drake stared at Dahl, then Kinimaka and the entire chopper erupted with laughter. Judging from the noise across their connection the second chopper descended into the same state. Smyth grumped aloud. “What? What the hell you laughing at? Guy’s a total dickhead.”

Drake enjoyed the moment of levity. Sometimes, it was all you needed to gain total focus. In other ways, it reminded you of what you were fighting for. Men like Callan Dudley would never understand.

All three helicopters shot over the town, Dudley loosing rounds into the sky for sport. Drake noticed red blips following them on the radar and pointed them out to the pilot.

“I saw them. They’re the army helicopters.”

“Good.”

“If they land in Larissa with those aerosols…” Mai warned.

Hayden nodded as she listened to her headset. “Already on it. The risk is off the scale. The Greeks…” she sighed, “are trying to come to a decision.”

But the chopper flew fast and straight, arrow straight, with the Irishman firing recklessly toward the rooftops of Larissa and the blue expanse only growing larger ahead. Occasionally Dudley would lean out dangerously and take a potshot at their bird. A bullet glanced off a skid, then some framework. Eventually Dahl leaned out and fired back, peppering the chopper’s body with holes.

Drake glared. “Stop it.”

“Guy’s pissing me off. I didn’t aim for the engine.”

Then Larissa was behind them and a golden coastline opened out. A sandy beach stretched north and south, dotted by leafy parasols and timber-constructed lifeguard stations. Small figures were laid out on sunbeds down there. Children ran through the waves, splashing and brandishing plastic spades and buckets. Life was good for relaxing locals and vacationing travelers.

And then Drake saw it was about to get incredibly, infinitely worse.

“Where the hell are they—” Hayden began and then clammed up in horror. “Oh no.”

Dudley’s chopper dived toward the deck of the biggest cruise ship Drake had ever seen.