Thunder God

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Jason Lao met Scarlet and the rest of her team at Hongqiao International Airport and less than an hour later they were flying in a Chinese army helicopter south over the city and out over Hangzhou Bay on their way to Dragon Island. Below them in the water Scarlet saw a tiny armada of RIBs racing across the bay, filled with whatever forces Lao could put together with the smallest amount of fuss.

It seemed the self-styled Thunder God had finally rattled someone high enough up in the food chain to give Lao some extra muscle and the authority to go in and take him out. Scarlet Sloane was only too pleased to be heading up that operation with all of her SAS experience.

The thought of a whack-job like Sheng getting hold of the map and using it to locate the elixir of immortality was enough to freeze the blood in her veins, but what really enraged her was the thought of Joe Hawke and Lea Donovan, kidnapped and held at his mercy. That had happened once before in Greece when Zaugg took Lea, Ryan and Sophie, and she had sworn never again. Now was revenge time and Sheng would pay not only for his crimes, but for everything Zaugg had put them all through as well.

Now, sitting in the lead helicopter her mind was focused like never before, and the events of her turbulent past seemed to align in perfect clarity for the first time. She could finally begin to understand what was happening in the world. For men like Zaugg and Sheng, limitless wealth wasn’t enough. They wanted more. They wanted the ultimate power — the power to live forever. Men, she thought… total idiots.

But these men were dangerous idiots. They knew the power existed somewhere in the world, but it was hidden by the ancients — maybe even the gods in the far distant past. But all that remained today was an ancient map, older than time itself for all anyone knew, and whose very creation was perhaps the biggest mystery of all.

Zaugg had tried to find it and failed in spectacular fashion, but only thanks to the bravery and determination of a handful of people from all walks of life. Even Joe Hawke had turned out to be an asset, something she was pretty skeptical about when he had walked back into her life in Geneva.

Perhaps one day he would know the truth about her — about everything — but that wasn't her call to make. For now she was focused on rescuing him and Lea and stopping Sheng and his insane henchmen from getting their hands on the map of immortality. Something told her that would be very bad news indeed, plus she thought of all the fun she could have taunting Hawke with the fact she had saved his life. Some things were beyond priceless.

A warm subtropical breeze blew in through the open door and brought her attention back to the moment. Opposite her, Bradley Karlsson was joking with one of Lao’s soldiers, but most of the humor seemed to be lost in translation. Times like these had a way of bringing people together, no matter what languages they spoke — they all knew the way missions like these panned out. They all knew not everyone would be coming home after the battle.

At the front of the chopper Lexi was sharpening her combat knife. Something told Scarlet that Lexi and the Lotus had met before, and that Lexi Zhang had decided this time would be the last. Opposite her, Hart was sitting silently with her eyes closed.

Ryan and Sophie were sitting to her left at the rear of the helicopter, talking quietly with one another while Sophie checked her gun was fully loaded and ready for action. Ryan looked at the weapon in her hands with cautious eyes. Perhaps he should have stayed back in Shanghai at their makeshift headquarters, but he’d insisted on joining Sophie, probably just to impress her. Whether Ryan Bale really wanted to be there or not, it was too late to change his mind.

Now, the chopper raced away from the Chinese mainland, followed by several more behind it, and trailed further back by the RIBs as they crossed the choppy waters that separated Dragon Island from the rest of China.

Then the pilot communicated to them from the cockpit. “Two minutes!”

Scarlet checked her watch and made sure her HK subcompact was ready to go. She was also carrying her old SAS-issue combat knife and several grenades. This was going to be her last hurrah, she thought. She was getting too old for this lark. She needed to retire while she was still young enough to enjoy it.

Retirement, she had decided, was definitely wasted on the old. The only problem was she needed a lot more money that she had. For a moment her thoughts turned to all the gold and treasure she had seen in the vault of Poseidon in Kefalonia and now the enormous stash in Khan’s tomb, hidden from the world in the Mongolian mountains. Why, she asked herself, was she still so poor when she seemed to have such a natural talent for tracking down stupid amounts of gold? Then, the sound of the blades whirring fast above her brought her back to reality once again.

Her own personal stash of treasure would have to wait, for now at least. She had an old friend’s arse to pull out of the fire and she was looking forward to the challenge.

It didn’t take long for Hawke and Lea to devise a plan to rescue Han and neutralize Sheng’s island defenses. From the surveillance he had done on the roof of the boatshed, it was clear the island was not well protected, presumably because Sheng wasn’t expecting a full-scale military assault any time soon.

There were two outposts on the wall surrounding the northwest part of the island — the part facing the Chinese mainland — but only one seemed to be manned. In that one he had counted two or three men acting in the capacity of guards. Sheng’s paranoia seemed to run as far as a couple of general purpose machine guns but that was about it. It might not look like much but it was enough to cripple an advancing helicopter or rigid inflatable that wasn’t expecting it.

Taking Luk’s knife, Hawke climbed the wall of the outpost and when he was on the roof he gave Lea the signal. She moved forward and threw some stones at the door, and then ducked back down in the long grass.

A man opened the door and poked his head outside.

Hawke leaned over the edge of the roof and grabbed the man by his throat and lifted him a few inches off the ground until he passed out. Another man inside saw what was happening and began firing indiscriminately through the open doorway, but Hawke dropped down through the skylight behind him and struck him on the back of the head with the handle end of Luk’s knife.

“All done!” he shouted, picking up the man’s weapon.

“Less than a minute, Joe,” Lea said. “I’m impressed, but I hope you’re not so fast in bed tonight.”

“That’s rather presumptuous, Donovan.”

“Hey, all I meant was…”

She was stopped by the sound of two small jet engines whining from somewhere behind the complex.

“What the hell is that?”

“Sounds like Sheng’s private jet,” Hawke said. “They must have got the information out of Han quicker than we thought…”

Hawke and Lea climbed onto the roof of the outpost and looked over the complex wall to the eastern side of the island where the runway was located. There, on the tarmac, they saw the same shiny white jet they were brought to the island on, only this time Sheng was striding back out to it with Luk a few yards behind him.

“Any sign of Han?” Lea asked.

Hawke frowned. “Not at all, and that’s what worries me. If Han told… wait — look there!” He pointed into the western sky where several helicopters were now rapidly approaching the island.

“Scarlet Sloane, if I’m not very much mistaken,” Lea said.

“Yeah — that explains why Sheng’s making a break for it as well. We have to get closer to the action.”