The Sword of Fire

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

Hawke made a hook-turn and carefully guided the parachute with the steering lines as he descended down into London. He’d passed a thousand feet by the time he got the chute on his back and now as he drifted over the capital city he remembered the earpiece and palm mic he’d stuffed into his pocket back at Horak’s place. He pulled it out of his pocket and shoved it in his ear.

“Anyone around?”

After a few seconds he heard it crackle to life.

“Earth calling Joe Hawke. Everything all right, darling?”

Hawke grinned as he heard Scarlet’s voice. “Not too bad, thanks.”

“What about the Agusta, Joe?” she asked. “Can you see where it went down?”

Hawke scanned the horizon and saw a column of smoke spiralling up from the ground. “Looks like it crashed in Hyde Park.”

“Thank God,” she said.

“And where are you?” he asked.

“Monsieur Reno landed our chopper in Trafalgar Square. Can you see us yet?”

“I can’t see you, no, but I can see your ego.”

“Touché, Josiah. What happened to Vermaak?”

“I’m sorry to say that we fell out with each other — permanently.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” she said. “Why don't you give this lark up and head over to the Comedy Store?”

“I might just do that.”

“Talk about taking idiotic risks,” she said.

“I think on my feet, Cairo. You know that.”

“Fucking good job you watch James Bond films is all I can say, Hawke.”

“Hey! Less of that! I just like to complete missions with a certain élan, that’s all.”

She laughed and he saw them now. They were standing around the bottom of Nelson’s Column a few yards from a parked up Eurocopter. He saw Lea’s parachute but there was no sign of her or Devlin. He glided the parachute down into the square, and executed a perfect landing right in front of Scarlet and the rest of the team. As he unfastened the parachute he realized that dozens of tourists were now forming a circle around him and filming him on various devices.

“You always did like to make an entrance, darling,” Scarlet said.

The rest of the team joined them, and Hawke gave her a withering look, but then his face grew more serious. “Kruger got away with the sword.”

“You’re kidding?” Kim said, taking a step back and looking him up and down. “You mean you haven’t got the sword stuffed down your pants?”

“No,” Hawke said. “And its trousers. We’re in London.”

She winked at him. “No, I meant pants in the English sense.”

“Ah,” Hawke said mischievously. “In that case then yes, I do have a powerful sword stuffed in my pa-.”

“Do not finish that sentence,” Ryan said. “I’m trying to eat a hot dog.”

“When we get back to Elysium,” Scarlet drawled sarcastically. “Can we please call this Operation Fuckup?”

Mack gave a wheezy chortle. “I like that. You always could make me laugh, Sloane.”

“Hey, what happened to Bruno?” Hawke said.

Scarlet shrugged her shoulders. “Ryan, any idea?”

Ryan shoved his hands in his pockets and shook his head. “None at all.”

“Maybe he’s still out there,” Kim said.

Reaper lit one of his roll-ups, totally ignoring the banter. “Tell me, Joe — what happened to Kruger?”

Hawke sighed. “He jumped out somewhere over West London. He’ll be long gone by now.”

“Either way,” Scarlet said. “I’m glad you’re safe.” She kissed him on the cheek.

“Steady on, girl.”

“Twat. By the way — great news.”

“You finally worked out how to use a corkscrew?”

“No.”

“You’ve figured out why the wave function collapses when you measure it?” Ryan said.

Scarlet cocked her head and gave them a scowl. “Funnily enough — no to both of those asinine comments. Rich is out of his coma. The hospital just called Lea when you were playing Roger Moore’s stunt double a few seconds ago.”

He peered over her shoulder and saw Lea and Danny embracing each other on the other side of the square. “What’s going on there?” he asked.

Scarlet bit her lip and looked away for a moment. “Joe… Lea just told Danny about the letter…”

But he had gone. He was storming toward them with the blood pounding in his ears. The adrenalin from the mid-air fight and the parachute jump was still pulsing through his veins. He knew he was being irrational but he was powerless to stop himself.

He pulled Devlin away from Lea and landed a punch on his jaw, knocking him over onto the ground. The Irishman crumpled under the hefty blow but managed to stagger back to his feet in time to save his pride.

“Joe!” Lea yelled. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“He’s been asking for it since the start of the mission — all over you, laughing, joking, taking the piss, taking stupid risks!”

Lea looked genuinely confused, tears still in her eyes. “What? What are you blathering about? Danny’s an old friend and he was just trying to calm me down because I was upset.”

“Upset?”

Devlin rubbed his grazed jaw. “After reading the letter up there in the chopper, you fool.”

“But still…” Hawke stopped mid-sentence, already knowing he had gone too far.

Lea looked distraught. “I can’t believe you’d do something like this.”

“And I can’t believe you’d tell him about the letter before me. I still don’t know what it says!”

Lea sighed and pulled her hair back behind her ears. “I was upset and he asked me why I was crying. I’ve known Danny longer than anyone here, Joe — including you!”

“But still…” He felt the adrenalin from the jump still coursing through his veins.

“But still nothing!” Lea cried. “Why would you do this, Joe?”

“I thought…”

“You thought what?”

“He thought we were enthralled in a mad passionate embrace,” Devlin said sarcastically.

Hawke jabbed a finger at him. “You keep out of it. You’ve been pushing me since the start of the mission.”

With tears in her eyes, Lea raised her hands to her face and turned in a circle of desperation. “I don’t believe I’m hearing this.”

Hawke felt the ring box in his pocket. It had been there since Washington when he picked Alex up from the hospital, awkward, out of place. He felt the anger rise in him.

“If you don’t trust me then we can’t be together,” she said, her eyes flashing with defiance.

“If you didn’t give me a reason to doubt you then there wouldn’t be any reason not to trust you.”

She gasped. “So you don’t trust me? Is that what you’re saying?”

“I don’t know what I’m saying.”

“And what about you,” Lea said, lowering her voice and trying to mimic Hawke back on the Aurora in Italy. “I thought you were reminiscing about our little romance in Zambia…for fuck’s sake!”

“Eh? That was just me and Lex pissing about.”

“But you still don’t trust me,” she said sadly.

“I…”

“In that case, maybe we should just go on a break!” Lea cried out, loud enough for all to hear.

“Maybe we should!” Hawke knew he couldn’t back down now, but he also knew Lea well enough to know she wouldn’t either. It turned out they were the immovable object and the irresistable force of relationships.

“If that’s what you want, ya stupid eejit!”

“If that’s what you want.”

“Come on, Danny,” Lea said. “Let’s get out of here.”

Hawke watched Lea and Danny walk across the square and after a few seconds they were gone, melted into the bustling London crowd. He carried on staring long after they had slipped out of sight, almost unable to believe what had just happened: he had lost not only the Tinia idol to the Oracle, but now Kruger would hand him the Sword of Fire too and he would use them in his quest for the mysterious king’s tomb.

And now he had lost Lea Donovan, the person he cared about more than anyone else on the world. The woman he loved and wanted to marry.

He saw a group of tourists watching him now, and some even had their phones out to film him, but he turned his back on them all. He saw the rest of the ECHO team across the other side of the square watching him, but he turned his back on them too. His heart was racing and he was consumed with anger and confusion as his mind processed what to do next. All he knew was that he needed to be alone.

He turned on on his heel and started to walk in the opposite direction Lea had taken with Danny. Ahead of him was his hometown, but he was just a stranger here now.

“What’s happening, Joe?”

It was Scarlet’s voice in his earpiece.

“Joe, are you there?”

He knew the rest of the ECHO team wanted to know what had happened, but he couldn’t face them — not after this. His mind was in turmoil as he tried to get a grip on what had just happened. He tore out the earpiece, tossed it on the filthy ground and walked away until he was lost in the crowd.

Lexi Zhang took the elevator to her parents’ apartment. So this was it. Maybe her father would pull through, but that wasn’t what it had sounded like when she spoke with her mother. This was probably the last time she would ever see her father alive, and she felt shame wash over her when she thought about all the times she had decided to call him, and then lowered the phone down. Life had a way of punishing things like that, and she knew this was punishment time.

The elevator hit the tenth floor and she heard the same, sad metallic ping that had marked so much of her childhood. The door slid open and she saw the dimly lit hall where she had played as a child, lonely and full of dreams.

Mr Liu was playing his music too loud in No. 3 again. Some things never got old. Maybe later she would go around and tell him his fortune, but now it was time to see her father. She hoped her mother was holding things together, at least. She was a very capable and strong woman and right now they needed each other more than ever.

She fumbled through her bag for the key and then slid it into the lock.

Nothing happened.

She tried it again and realized something was jamming it, so she rang the intercom and called out to her mother.

“Mama?”

No response.

“It’s Xiaoli.”

She heard her mother fumbling with the lock. She imagined her frail hands struggling with the thing, her mind distracted by her dying husband. A wave of sadness came over her. She was not expecting it to feel like this and worked hard to control herself.

The door clicked open an inch, but stayed ajar.

“Mama?” Lexi pushed the door open halfway and peered down into the unlit hall. This was strange. Her mother always kept the hall light on at this time of night. Then again, these were very different times, she considered with a sad shrug.

“Mama?”

She stepped inside, and she saw it a second too late to react.

The man was somehow above the door, holding himself in place with the sheer power of his arm and leg muscles.

He powered an aggressive leopard punch into her throat and then a split second later he delivered a savage thunderclap strike to her right hear. The first blow nearly crushed her windpipe and the second one knocked her off her feet and ruptured the tympanic membrane in her ear. She was confused, disoriented and now struggling to breathe and unable to main her balance.

Lexi Zhang collapsed to the floor in her parent’s hall and looked up just in time to see Monkey leap down from the position he had wedged himself in above the door. He landed beside her with the agility and terrifying power of a panther, and then cocked his head as he leaned in to deliver a Shaolin horn punch that slammed her into a cold, silent darkness.