The Sword of Fire

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

As Hawke led Lea, Reaper and Mack into the ground floor of the mansion, they all heard a strange, electrical crackling sound and then another bright blue flash. It was followed by the sound of a man’s terrified screams.

“Through here!” Hawke said, darting toward a door on their left.

They entered the room they had seen from the outside but there was no sign of any flashing light or sword. Then, a section of the wall containing the bookshelves slid to the right and revealed Vermaak and an Italian. The bookshelves were on a fake wall and now both men stood in an open doorway leading into another previously hidden section of the drawing room. The South African was holding a commando knife in his hand and the Italian was armed with two pistols.

“Well, howdy Tex!” Scarlet said.

Vermaak scowled at her. “Shut the fuck up, bitch.”

Everyone stared at Hawke, looking for his lead, but there was nothing he could do so he turned to Lea and gave her an apologetic smile.

“Guns out of holsters and on the floor,” Vermaak said. “And then raise your hands to whatever god you choose.”

Hawke pulled his Glock from the holster and lowered it down to the large Persian rug on the floor, and Lea and the others followed a second later. “You really are starting to get on my tits, Vermaak,” he said.

“I’m glad to hear it, you bastard,” Vermaak sneered. He lifted the blade and pointed its tip at Hawke’s face. “You and this knife have a date with destiny, Pom. I was going to retire this week — make this my last job. But now I know you’re on the guest list I’ve decided to stick it out a bit longer.”

“Please, not in front of my girlfriend,” Hawke said.

Vermaak scowled. “You think you’re so damned funny, Hawke. You always did, even back in the day when you were just an ordinary soldier. But now you’ve met your match.” He tossed the knife into the air. It spun around and he snatched it back with a commanding swipe. “I’d kill you right now, but unfortunately Mr Kruger has other plans for you and the rest of these losers.”

“How kind.”

“If it was up to me I’d gut you with this blade and let you bleed out on the floor before shooting your friends down like the stray dogs they are.”

“I’d pay good money to see you try,” Mack growled.

“I think I’d plump for meeting your Mr Kruger if that’s the alternative,” Lea said.

“Keep the hands high and get over here, bitch,” the South African commando said. He walked to Lea and pushing the gun in her face. “You want to die today?”

Lea kept her mouth shut, and Hawke used the moment while Vermaak was distracted to remove his earpiece and slide it down into his shirt. Reaper and Mack saw him and did the same.

Vermaak walked away from Lea, smiled coldly at them and raised the pistol in their faces. “For you, the war is over.”

Scarlet Sloane led Kim, Ryan and Danny Devlin around the back of the stables and over toward the hangar compound. They followed a narrow trail cutting through a small copse of chestnut trees and then emerged once again much nearer the site. Now she could see a low jumble of red-brick buildings and a small helicopter hangar beside them. Inside the hangar was a Bell 204 and outside were the AgustaWestland and a Europcopter.

“That’ll be our place then,” Devlin said, rubbing his hands together.

“And that looks like Kruger’s escape plan,” said Ryan. He pointed at the AgustaWestland on the tarmac outside the hangar. Its engine was idling and some men were milling around it. A few meters behind a man was servicing the Bell 204 helicopter just inside the hangar.

“Let’s get on it,” Scarlet said. “Then we can get back to Hawke.”

They made their way to the hangar but then everything changed. One of the men in an office saw them and ordered an attack. The next thing they knew someone was firing grenades at them from a handheld launcher. The first went wide but the second caught them before they could take cover and blasted all four of them into the air.

Ryan landed on the grass at the side of the airfield, but Scarlet, Kim and Devlin had been too close to the blast and were now sprawled out in the sun, as lifeless as three corpses. With more incoming grenades Ryan scrambled over to them. They were all alive, but out cold. The shock wave had knocked them for six, and now another grenade exploded right beside him and nearly dealt him the same hand.

He realized he wasn’t just putting his own life in danger by not taking cover — he was endangering the lives of Scarlet, Kim and Devlin too. The men attacking them were unlikely to waste ammunition on unconcsious combatants.

He leaped to his feet and sprinted for the cover of the hangar. Bursting through a side door, he found himself in a long corridor which was lined on either side with several windowless doors. A line of three strip lights lit the dreary, gray breeze block walls as he made his way toward an internal entrance that led through into the main hangar.

With the rest of his team out of the game, it was up to him to sabotage the heliopter, but when he turned into the hangar he was faced with the terrifying sight of two men staring back at him. One of them was a giant with a shaved head. He was wearing mechanic’s overalls and gripping a heavy wrench in his hand. The other was Bruno, and now the Italian spoke.

“Well, look who it is… get him!”

Inside the drawing room, Kruger and Zito were leaning against a substantial mahogany desk while the other men lounged around on various chairs. The bodies of two dead men were still sizzling on the floor. They looked like they had been seriously burned.

Mack saw them first. “Run out of sausages for the barbecue, Dirk?”

Kruger looked up at his prisoners. “Ah — Josiah Hawke and some other key members of the Red Hand Gang, and all right here in my new house.” He was holding a large tumbler of what looked like vodka filled to the brim with ice. He gave them a smile and took a sip of the drink.

“Your house?” Lea said.

Kruger gently pushed the leather swivel chair around with his snakeskin boot to reveal the dead body of Pavel Horak. A single bullet hole was drilled into his forehead and a look of terrified surprise was etched on his face for eternity. “Sadly, Mr Horak tried to modify the agreement he had struck with the Oracle. As you will know, he is not a man to trifle with.”

“The Oracle?” Lea said, taking a step back.

“Bugger me,” said Hawke. “I thought you were working for him,” he nodded in the direction of Horak’s corpse. “But I can see now how such a working relationship would have its limitations.”

“So you gave the Tinia idol to the Oracle?” Lea said.

“You catch on quick.”

“How could you?”

“Only the Oracle knows the purpose of the idols.”

“If you’re involved with Wolff then you’re a bigger fool than I imagined, Kruger,” Hawke said. His eyes were drawn to the bag containing the sword. It was parked innocuously on a long leather couch running under one of the bay windows.

Kruger saw him looking at the bag and his smile grew wider. “You want it, don’t you? You want to know what it really is, and what it does! You want to know about the gateway.”

“You’re a bastard, Kruger,” Lea said defiantly. “How could you work for a man like the Oracle?”

Kruger took more of the vodka while he and Vermaak shared a glance for a few seconds. “He has taught me a great deal. For a long time I thought diamonds and gold were the most precious things in this world. How wrong I was… how wrong I was.” His voice started to trail away, but then he came back sharp and loud. “The question you have to ask yourself, young Miss Donovan, is whether or not the Oracle really is a man.”

“There’s an obvious joke there,” Lea said, never taking her eyes off Kruger. “But I’ll leave it till the company’s better.”

“I’m not interested in your pithy one-liners, Donovan,” Kruger said, rounding on her. “Tell me, any luck working out who killed your daddy?”

Lea lunged for him, cursing his name as she rushed forward but Hawke grabbed her arm and stopped her. “Leave it, Lea. He’s baiting you and you should know better.”

Kruger laughed and finished his drink. “Quite the temper on that one, indeed. Quite the temper…” he tutted. “Very sharp.”

Lea scowled at him. “You join me in a fair fight and you’ll find out just how fucking sharp.”

Kruger ignored her comment. “When the Oracle has this sword, he will be able to open the gateway to the king’s tomb. After that, your fight will be over.”

“What do you mean gateway?” Reaper asked.

“Yeah,” Lea said. “And what king’s tomb?”

Kruger cackled. “I’m loving this. The great ECHO team begging me for information. It doesn’t get any better than this.”

“Oh, it does,” Lea said. “Like when the Oracle works out he’s used you for all he needs and then has you snuffed out. I just hope I’m there to see it.”

Reaper nodded. “Et moi, aussi.”

“The Oracle is very generous to loyal servants,” Kruger said. “And as for the second part of your little fantasy — you’ll all be dead within the hour, and about fucking time too.”

“People have threatened that before, mon ami,” Reaper said. “And yet here we all are.”

Hawke pointed at the dead men on the floor. “What happened to these men, Kruger?”

“Ah — yes, very sad… they tried to wield the sword, but unfortunately it turns out the legend is true.”

“What legend?” Lea said.

Hawke sighed. “Where the hell is Ryan when you need him?”

“The legend of the Sword of Fire states that only a person of innate goodness can wield it. Those with an evil lurking within are, apparently, char-grilled. It has something to so with negative and positive ions.”

“And you haven’t given it a try yet, ya lavvy heid?” Mack said. “Good to see you rate yourself as highly as the rest of us do.”

Kruger looked at him with disgust. “No, I haven’t tried it. What I need is someone new to try it for me.” His eyes crawled up to Lea and a second later a grin spread on his tanned face. “That is why you’re going to wield the sword next, Lea Donovan.”