The Sword of Fire

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

It was nearly dawn when Hawke saw the headlights. He rubbed his eyes and yawned, and stared along the winding road until it vanished on a bend to the south. The lights swept along the side of the villa and then he heard the grumble of the truck’s diesel engine. A moment later it died, and the lights went dark.

“Looks like we’re on,” he whispered. “They obviously park up here and then walk down to the beach to collect the drugs.”

No reply.

He turned and saw both Lexi and Devlin were fast asleep. He shook them by their shoulders and they awoke, startled but silent. “It’s on — a truck just pulled up in Zito’s villa. Keep an eye out for the sub.”

He listened as the cab doors swung open and then slammed shut again. Then he heard the gentle, subdued chatter of men trying to talk on the quiet. He struggled to hear the Italian words with the cicadas chirping all around them.

He turned back to Lexi and Devlin. “Any sign of the Aurora?”

“Not yet,” Lexi said.

Devlin leaned forward. “Why don’t we whack these guys before the sub turns up?”

Hawke shook his head. “Not a good idea. They’ll have a signal for the sub to come ashore and we don’t know it.”

Devlin moved to respond when Lexi interupted him. “There — to the south of those cliffs! Do you see it?”

Hawke followed her arm and saw the dim glow of a light around a kilometer or so out at sea. “That could be them.”

“Could be?” Devlin said.

“Yes,” Hawke said, his voice rising. “Could be.”

They all watched the light and when it closer they saw it was a fishing trawler. Hawke gave Devlin a look as the trawler chugged past Arienzo and headed into Positano.

He opened his mouth to say something but then Lexi saw a second light, smaller and fainter. “There!”

“And look,” Hawke said, indicating the truck parked up on the cliff at the side of the villa. “Watch the headlights.”

One of the men had climbed back inside the truck and was flicking the lights on and off.

“It’s Morse code,” Hawke said, quick as flash. “Just says: All Clear.”

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Devlin said with a grin. “The sub’s coming in now, and no mistake.”

He was right, and so was Hawke — as it drew closer to the cove’s little beach he could now see it was an Aurora, and it looked like it had a crew of one. The other seats were presumably stuffed full of Afghani heroin. This was one particular shipment that wasn’t going to hit the streets and destroy the lives of hundreds of innocent people.

“Looks like there’s one in the sub and three up at the truck,” Hawke said quietly. “Three of us versus four of them doesn’t seem like a fair fight,” he added with a grin.

“You can say that again,” Lexi said.

Devlin nodded. “Let’s pan them bastards out up at the truck before their buddies come in.”

“Agreed.”

“So come on now,” Devlin said, rolling up his sleeves. “Let the dog see the rabbit!”

“When I give the order,” Hawke said.

But the Irishman was gone. He clambered to his feet, climbed up over the low wall and moved across the villa’s lawn.

“Danny!” Hawke moved to pull him back but Lexi grabbed his arm.

“He’s not an idiot, Joe!” she said. “Give him a break — Lea says he’s as brave as they come.”

“Maybe, it’s just that…”

Before he could finish the sentence, they both heard Devlin shouting through the trees. “I’ll knock your pan in, you silly twat!”

“Oh, shit,” Lexi said.

Hawke frowned. “You were saying?”

They climbed the wall and ran along the lawn toward the truck just in time to see Danny Devlin ramming his fist forward into one of the men’s chops. He knocked him hard to the ground but the other men were now making a break for it up the villa’s narrow drive, and one had a phone in his hand.

“Oh, this is just fantastic!” Hawke said.

“Don’t lose your lunch, young man,” Devlin said cheerily. “He’s not going anywhere.”

And with that Devlin took off after the fleeing men.

Hawke looked at Lexi and sighed, but there was no time to discuss Lea’s former commandant. They watched as another four men tumbled out the back of the truck and headed over to them.

“This is just great,” Hawke said. “We’re outnumbered three to one.”

“Is that all?” Lexi said.

Zito’s men bundled in from every angle, taking them all by surprise. If they’d been able to watch the truck for longer they could have counted how many men were in the back but thanks to Devlin they were now in the thick of it and fighting hard to keep a lid on things. If just one of them made a call to Zito the whole operation would be blown and Lea’s life put in greater jeopardy.

Hawke took a punch to the jaw and tumbled backwards toward the cliff. His fall to an early and painful death was stopped by the trunk of a large umbrella pine. The man punched him again, aiming right for the nose, but this time Hawke was ready. He dodged his head to the right and the man’s fist smashed into the hard tree trunk, splitting his knuckles open and breaking some of his fingers.

Hawke punched the wounded man hard in the face and knocked him down in the gravel. As the man propped himself up on his elbows Hawke booted him in the face and knocked him out. Before he knew what was happening he was pulled sharply backward by another one of the men who had grabbed him by his collar.

He spun around fast and smashed a hefty left-hook into the man’s jaw, sending him tumbling over toward the cliff edge. He tottered on the edge of the cliff, eyes wide with fear. Straining to keep himself from falling off, he flailed wildly with his arms, but then a typhoon tore past him.

And its name was Lexi Zhang.

Still fighting with another man, she took a few steps back and spun around to deliver a mighty, spinning hook kick into the middle of his terrified face. Her boot heel slashed across his cheek and powered his head hard to the side, knocking him back off the cliff. He screamed all the way down to the rocks below, but Lexi never heard because she was once again focussing on the fight with the other man.

“Thanks for that, Lex,” Hawke said.

“Welcome,” she said, smashing a hammer punch into her opponent’s nose and knocking him out. He collapsed to the floor beside the man Hawke had belted. “We’re starting to get a little collection of scumbags here.”

“Where’s Danny?” Hawke said.

Hearing a grunt of pain, they looked up to see Devlin appear from behind the truck. He was fighting with the last of the men.

“Question asked, question answered,” Lexi said.

They rushed over to help him as he brawled with the men and as Lexi kicked one of them in the back, Hawke launched himself at the other. Grabbing him by the shoulders, he hauled him away from Devlin and spun him around so he could plant a hefty smack in his face.

That was the plan, but the reality was different: the man was much faster than Hawke had anticipated and was prepared for the attack. He fired a punch at Hawke and struck him hard in the jaw.

The blow sent Hawke reeling toward the edge of the cliff and before he knew what had happened he felt himself going over, tumbling back in the night with nothing below him but a two hundred foot fall to the rocks below.