The Tomb of Eternity

CHAPTER NINE

Lea awoke to see a blanket of clouds stretching out above the Baltic Sea and on the horizon a faint gray-green line that was the northern coast of Estonia. She wondered how so much misery and terror could exist in a world so beautiful. She thought about why anyone would even want to live forever — what made life so precious was its transience, she thought, and then when she realized that sounded like something Ryan might say she smiled. Maybe she listened to him more than she thought.

Snapping out of her daydream, she rubbed her eyes and checked the screens on the aircrew partition at the front of the private jet. They were now at thirty-six thousand feet and had been in the air for a little over seven hours. They would be in Moscow in less than sixty minutes.

She turned to see Hawke was still asleep on the couch and watched him for a moment — the way his broad chest heaved up when he breathed, the shape of the muscles on his arms, and yet… when he was asleep like this there was a strange kind of vulnerability about him that made her love him even more. She worried that one day his luck might run out, that one of these days he was going to get himself killed.

“You want a drink?”

She looked up to see Ryan standing to her left holding a large tumbler of whisky in each hand.

“Um…” Lea checked her watch. “Sure, why not?”

“In that case there’s a bottle in the cabinet at the back. These are both for me.”

Lea thought about telling him not to be such a dick, but then she remembered why he was behaving like one and cut him some slack. Less than forty-eight hours ago Ryan Bale had watched one of the Lotus’s men brutally kill his girlfriend. The fact she was trying to save his life at the same time made everything he was feeling ten times worse.

“I think maybe I’ll leave it for now anyway,” she said.

Ryan coughed and took a long drink from the tumbler, seeing off at least three fingers of the Scotch. “Suit yourself.”

“What are the Americans doing?” she asked, peering over her seat.

“The Yanks are asleep,” Ryan said flatly.

“Ryan…”

“Listen, don’t even go there, all right?”

“Go where?”

“You know where. That little speech you were about to give me. You know — the one where you tell me it’s not my fault and I’ll get over it in time and bla bla bla.”

“Well, it’s not your fault, and you will.”

Ryan didn’t reply, but instead drank the rest of tumbler number one.

Lea watched him with concern. “Seriously, you can’t get loaded right now, Ryan. I need you — Hawke needs you. Hell, someone’s life is riding on this.”

“Don’t tell me what to do.”

Lea decided to leave it and instead got ready for the landing. The aircraft had begun to descend and Dempsey and his men were awake and checking they were ready for the mission in Moscow. Hawke woke up and smiled at her, and then started his own preparations. He had his war face on.

She watched silently as the jet touched down at Domodedovo and taxied gently to the gate, and moments later they were going through customs. They quickly found themselves emerging into the freezing cold Moscow air and a crowd of people outside the airport. Hawke blew into his hands and smiled at the string of curses emanating from Lea’s lips.

“Cold, Lea?”

“You could say that! It’s cold enough to freeze the nuts off a brass monkey.”

“Never deployed to the Arctic then?”

“Nope.”

As she replied to him, a woman collided with Hawke and moved inside the airport without apologizing.

“Welcome to Russia…” Dempsey said.

Hawke ignored Dempsey’s comment and turned to Ryan. “What about you — cold?”

Ryan shrugged his shoulders and pushed his hands into his pockets before turning to Lea. “And I think you mean it could freeze the nuts on a brass monkey.”

“Don’t tell me what I mean! I meant off so I said off.”

“But that doesn’t make sense,” Ryan said. “The point is that it’s so cold that it would freeze the balls currently on any given brass monkey.”

“What? No! I’m saying it’s so cold it could freeze its damned balls right off, you eejit.”

Hawke opened his mouth to throw in his contribution, when Lea gave him one of her patented warning looks, a look which in this case was cold enough to freeze the balls either on or off him, depending on your preference. He shut his mouth without saying a word and they made their way to the car park.

Behind them, Dempsey, and his two men Dave Phillips and Frank Zimmerman tried to make themselves look like ordinary tourists instead of a trio of former Green Berets on a covert operation deep inside Russian territory.

As Jack Brooke had promised, there was a black Audi Q7 SUV waiting for them in the car park, and Dempsey used the remote to blip open the doors. Without a second glance he opened the rear hatch and nodded appreciatively as he inspected what Hawke could see was a mini-arsenal of weapons. Apparently, being the American Defense Secretary opened doors shut to the rest of the world.

The Audi pulled away and Hawke watched the sad Soviet-era concrete and glass architecture of Domodedovo recede into the distance as they headed toward the Moscow Oblast.

A short drive later they were pulling up outside the perimeter fence of Vetrov’s dacha and Hawke couldn’t wait to start shooting. It was time for the fight-back from hell.

Scarlet watched Lexi closely as she filled out the paperwork and accessed the safety deposit box in the Berliner Bank. The Chinese assassin opened the box and Scarlet and Karlsson got their first view of the notorious map.

“I was disappointed when I saw that portrait back in Shanghai,” Scarlet said. “But this is even more boring. I can hardly believe all the trouble there’s been over it.”

Karlsson agreed, and nodded his head. “I was expecting a treasure map, not… this.”

Lexi smirked. “That’s just what I thought. I also expected…well — a map, so you can imagine my disappointment when I first saw it.”

“Just as well you couldn’t read it, eh?” Scarlet said. “Or you’d be halfway to the elixir and we’d be twiddling our thumbs in London.”

“That’s not fair!” Lexi said. “I told you, they forced me to hand over the map.”

“Save it for someone who gives a damn, darling,” Scarlet said, as she studied the map. She was looking at a small document made from some kind of papyrus. It was covered in what looked a little like Egyptian hieroglyphics and other strange symbols which she thought could denote some kind of territorial position, but deciphering squiggles wasn’t her thing. That was what the boy was for.

Karlsson glanced at his watch. “I hate to break up what could be an interesting little cat fight, ladies, but we’re going to need to get back to the car and get out of here.”

Scarlet nodded. “Brad’s right. We need to report to Eden and get this thing somewhere safe.”

They made their way through the bustling lobby of the bank and to the car park, where they climbed into the big Beamer and belted up. Brad drove out of the car park and into the Berlin traffic.

“Something’s not right,” he said, checking the rear-view mirror.

“Oh great,” Lexi said. “A tail?”

Karlsson nodded.

“Easy, darling,” Scarlet said with a smirk. “I’m sure we can persuade whoever it is to go and find someone else to play with.” As she spoke, she opened the glove compartment and pulled out a box of nine mil bullets. “I suspect it’s the chap who almost got the better of you at the airport.” She began to load the bullets into her gun.

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Lexi said, as Brad checked the mirror again.

“We’re off,” Brad said, and accelerated across into the left-hand lane.

“They’re closing?”

“Uh-huh. Big Merc.”

Scarlet laughed. “How original. Do these guys have a contract with Mercedes or something?”

“It looks like a hijacked cab, actually, but it sure as shit ain’t driving like a cab.” He turned to Lexi. “I’d say this Kodiak guy has been on our tail waiting for a chance to snatch the map and I guess some local cab driver just got unlucky today.”

Karlsson tucked in tight just in front of a large removals truck and kept an eye on the Merc taxi that was now trailing only two or three cars behind them. He pulled out a little to get a better view and saw the driver of the Merc was loading what looked like a pump-action shotgun.

“Better get ready for some action,” the former Seal said.

Scarlet raised an eyebrow and gently ran her hand down his thigh. “Why, are you feeling horny, Brad?”

“If I were, kitten, you’d already know it.”

Lexi rolled her eyes. “Now? Really?”

Scarlet ignored her. “In that case, I guess our tail is upping the ante…” She leaned forward and looked in her side mirror. The removals truck signalled to exit the road and now the Merc raced up behind them.

“Ah shit!” Karlsson muttered.

A white muzzle flash behind them was followed a second later by the sound of the car’s rear being peppered with shotgun pellets. The rear window shattered into thousands of pieces and Karlsson swerved hard into the adjoining lane to avoid a second shot. With his heavy hands gripping the wheel, the American floored the throttle and changed up through the ZF eight-speed box.

“Listen to that three liter turbo,” Karlsson said. “Purring like a lioness.”

“If we get out of this, Brad, we must make sure you and this car get some alone time.”

“Very funny…”

“We’re like sitting ducks on this damned street!” Lexi said, ignoring the banter.

Scarlet leaned out her window and fired three well-aimed shots from the Sig.

“Thanks for the warning!” Karlsson said, rubbing his ear.

“Don’t be such a baby, Bradley,” Scarlet said, and fired another shot. The Merc saw it coming and ducked in behind traffic.

“Damn it!” she said. “Lexi’s right. We need to get off this street so they have nowhere to hide.”

Karlsson weaved through the traffic with an ease and confidence that impressed Scarlet, not that she would ever have told him that. “I think we’re going that way!” He pointed to a side-street and skidded dangerously over two lanes to make it.

A quick check in the rear-view and it was clear more action was needed. The Merc was also leaving the main street and closing the gap on them. Worse, the driver with the shotgun was reloading and preparing to take another shot. They were now in a more built-up area with people walking along the sidewalks, exercising dogs and jogging with their iPods.

“What now?”

“Keep going,” Scarlet said. “There’s a quiet stretch ahead without any people on the pavements. I’ll take them out then.”

“You’re pretty confident.”

“I’m pretty and confident, darling,” Scarlet said, sliding around in her seat and leaning out of the window once again. She coolly aimed the Sig at the Merc, compensating for the drift of the cars and the uneven road surface as best as she could before firing a single shot at their pursuer.

Karlsson turned his head to check the mirror just in time to see Scarlet’s shots hitting the pursuit car. The Merc’s front tire blew out and sent the car screeching uncontrollably all over the road.

Scarlet smiled as she watched the man struggling to bring his vehicle back under control. He fought against the drag of the blown tire for a few seconds but lost the fight, plowing uncontrollably through a stack of boxes being delivered to a local store and spraying oranges and lemons into the air like confetti.

Scarlet put the gun in the side pocket, sure her work was done, while Karlsson took advantage and accelerated hard along the street.

Behind them in the chaos, the car-jacked Merc came to a juddering halt, skidding so its side was now facing the traffic. Undeterred, Kodiak lowered the window, leaned the barrel of the shotgun on the top of the door and fired.

A second later Brad was fighting was for control of the BMW. They mounted the sidewalk and a woman walking two cockapoos on sparkly pink leashes leaped for her life to avoid the Beamer. After a few seconds Brad brought the powerful car back under control.

“What the hell just happened?” Lexi asked, nervous.

“Bastard got us,” Karlsson said. “Feels like the rear tire’s out.”

The wounded Beamer squealed to a noisy, whining stop, its rear driver’s-side panel spinning around and smashing into a parked Honda and setting its alarm off. Customers at a near-by café screamed and ran for safety, while one of the waiters made a call on his cell phone.

“Everyone okay?” Brad asked, taking a quick look at the others.

“Fine,” Scarlet said, smacking the dashboard with the heel of her palm. “Damn it!”

“What about you, Lexi?”

“I’m okay, but you should know Kodiak is walking toward us and loading his shotgun.”

“And matey-lad over there’s probably calling the rozzers,” Scarlet said, nodding at the waiter.

Brad turned to Scarlet and smiled. “This is just like our first date!”

She rolled her eyes and opened the door. “We have to get the map to safety, Bradley, darling. Do stop trying to be funny.”

“Got it.”

A terrific explosion behind them signalled that Kodiak had fired the shotgun once again. Scarlet saw a cloud of smoke rise from the sawn-off weapon in the Russian’s hands and then shot-pellets sprayed over the side of the BMW. She ducked behind the front of their car and returned fire from the Sig while Brad and Lexi clambered out and took up defensive positions. Over their heads they heard the sound of a chopper approaching from the north.

“Police?” Karlsson asked.

Scarlet shook her head. “I doubt it. They’ll respond in cars first — listen.” She pointed in the direction they had just come from. Over the sound of the traffic and the screams of frightened pedestrians was the sound of police sirens.

“Which means…”

“Exactly,” Scarlet said. “Kodiak’s got back-up.”