The Plagues of Pandora

CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR

Mayhem and chaos ruled in Greece. Dudley proved his madness by refusing to flee and forcing his saviors to pepper the cruise ship with round after round. His screeches of laughter were audible even above the clamor. Drake crawled hand over fist to grab Lauren and pull her out of the line of fire. Dahl took hold of the screaming bikini-wearing girl and Alicia took hold of Yorgi’s ankle and hauled him off the wounded hero.

“Get inside, Yogi.”

She scooped up the injured man and carried him inside as bullets chewed the deck around her ankles. Not wanting to appear too hasty she used her free hand to return fire at both black choppers. Drake grabbed her and heaved her to safety.

Hayden immediately took charge of Lauren and flew down the stairs, Kinimaka at her heels. Smyth and Crouch followed closely, then Karin, screaming into her comms to alert Caitlyn.

Drake knew they could scream all they wanted. Without an antidote Lauren was dead.

He stayed put with Dahl, Alicia and Mai. The old soldiers. Waiting for any chance they might get. Russo joined them. Everyone expected Dudley to order his escape at any moment but the irrational Irishman hung around.

Drake eyed Dahl. “He’s madder than you.”

“I’m not entirely sure I approve of that statement.”

“Oh, yeah, now I remember. You dropped out of private school because it was too… what? Cliquey? Snobbish?”

“I dropped out of a private school. They’re not all like that. And I don’t really want to talk about it, particularly not now.”

“When this is over then. Over a pint?”

“Ah, Drake, I have to say sitting in a bar with a glass of milk just doesn’t do it for me.”

Drake stared through wreckage as bullets smashed into the sky deck again, a spotlight for Dudley’s riotous fury.

“Next time it’s beers all around. Believe me.”

“Is that wise?”

“Mai isn’t dead, Dahl, not like Kennedy, and I’m not an alcy. I can handle it.”

“Of course you can. I was just… um, are the two of you okay?”

Drake smiled a little at the big soldier’s clumsy attempt at sympathy. Truth be told it had come out a hundred times better than anything Drake could have tried. Soldiers like them never became all warm-hearted, most showed their respect and love for their adopted families through time-honored traditions such as cutting sarcasm and caustic wit.

“Tell you later,” he said at last. “We’ll get drunk together, you and I, Alicia and Mai. And right the world. Who wouldn’t want to be at that table, involved in that conversation with us?”

Dahl pointed to the skies. “It’s a deal, my friend. So long as we survive this.”

His last word was accentuated as a Greek military chopper joined the fray. Dudley must have seen it coming, but still chose to remain. As the chopper flew over the ship’s deck Dudley’s men fired on it. The chopper swooped and evaded, men hanging on inside. Its front end rose a little and a missile flew from its underbelly. Drake heard an explosion and then a rain of metal and fire spilled onto the deck. Men crawled through the debris, screaming.

“Jesus Christ!” Russo yelled.

“Keep your knickers on, Robster.” Alicia patted his arm.

“The laws of damnation and luck tell me that wasn’t Dudley’s helicopter,” Dahl said just as the Greek chopper swung hard left, raked by a volley of lead. Metal pings raked its entire right side. Drake saw a skid strike the side of the deck and the huge vehicle bucked forward, nose-diving hard. More bullets shattered its back end. Men leaped clear of the rearing vehicle, slamming into the deck and rolling, some instantly peppered by bullets.

In another moment the helicopter dropped over the side of the deck, smashing into the sea. Dahl was on his feet and sprinting the moment it was out of sight, four comrades at his heels.

“We have to save those soldiers.”

Outside, the fires burned bright and pure chaos slammed into Drake’s every sense, almost overwhelming.

But he did notice one thing as he stooped to help the nearest soldier.

Dudley’s chopper was already a speck in the sky. The madman had escaped and he’d taken two aerosolized boxes with him.