telling the man to stay down. Mark smiled at her, and she smiled back.
'We've got to get out of here,' he called over to Tate. 'Before the castle's riddled with them. Jack said he would follow. Reverend? Reverend, we need you!'
Tate still looked like he was going to disagree, then at last relented, and the trio made their way towards the path that seemed to have the least amount of troops flooding it.
CHAPTER TWENTY
His place was with the men.
But his mind was also on the women in danger: Mary (who wasn't dead, no matter what Sophie and Mark had seen), Gwen and Adele.
Her especially.
Since she'd come to the castle, Jack had felt a certain connection with Adele. They'd talked and spent time together. She'd reminded him what it was like to be in the company of an attractive woman. Reminded him there were more things in this world than fighting the bad guys. Just as Mark was protecting Sophie, and Gwen was in Tate's thoughts, Adele was all he could think about. Where she was, if she was all right, how he could get her out of here. She'd said that she'd at last found a home after all that travelling, and now it was being torn down around her. Jesus, she must be terrified.
Jack paused to dispatch a couple of Russians, dropping and rolling along the floor so that he knocked the feet out from under them; one of his favourite wrestling moves back when he'd been on the circuit. This was usually the place where he'd say, 'You've just been Jack-Hammered, pal!' but it wasn't the time for glib remarks. His newfound family was being attacked, being threatened. Being destroyed. All that did was make Jack angry. Really angry.
Suddenly, there she was. Adele. Down on the Middle Bailey, soldiers crowding in on her. It looked like she was trying to surrender, but they kept on coming. Jack made to get down there as quickly as possible, but in the end he didn't need to. Somehow, from somewhere, Adele had acquired a rifle of her own. She swung this around, shooting the Russians dead.
As Jack watched, he saw two of his men come to her aid — he recognised them as Wilkes and Ferguson — and she spun fast, about to blow them away as well. 'Adele, no!' he shouted. 'Friendlies!'
She turned to see who was calling, saw it was Jack, then saw the men were there to help. As he hurried to join her, however, his attention shifted to an armoured vehicle that had crested the incline and was now on the Bailey itself.
As Jack stood there, he saw the hatch on top open, and a very familiar figure clamber out. If his size hadn't given him away, then his olive skin certainly did. They'd met once before, over a year ago now. Back then the man had been shot by Bill after Jack had taken a beating from him. He'd often wondered what would have happened in a rematch, and it looked like he was about to find out. Tanek was staring straight at him, and for a second or two it seemed like he'd only ventured out
Grinding his teeth, Jack made it the rest of the way to the Bailey, hollering as he went: 'Come on down, you big ape. We got unfinished business!'
Tanek grinned, aiming the crossbow at Jack. Then he placed it on top of the AFV before reaching inside the vehicle. He pulled out what looked like a large metal spear, about the same size as Jack's staff.
The olive-skinned man hopped down, and swatted away another one of the castle's fighters with the pike. Jack spun his own staff. There was no way this sadistic sonofabitch was going to get his hands on Adele or the others — he'd personally see to that.
'Come on then, let's see what you got.'
'You. Talk. Too. Much,' was Tanek's staggered reply, and he rushed Jack, hefting the metal lance high.
Jack blocked the move, his arms juddering with the vibrations of the blow. Christ, the man was strong; his 'death' had done little to change that. He was also as quick as ever, in spite of the limp — given to him, Jack knew, by Mark.
Nevertheless, Jack pushed him backwards, getting in a strike to the stomach with the end of his heavy staff. He might as well have been hitting concrete, because Tanek hardly even flinched.
He cut to the left and, at the same time, brought the staff up to strike the back of Tanek's neck: the same spot he'd punched Jack the last time they met — signalling the end of the fight. Tanek's pike was up in a flash, not only preventing Jack's blow from landing, but retaliating with one of his own — which caused Jack to roll forward. He came up poised to fight, narrowly avoiding the sharpen end of the spear.
Tanek tried again to impale Jack. As he shifted sideways, Jack noticed more people emerging from the armoured vehicle. First up were two oriental women in skin-tight black leather outfits, carrying lethal-looking swords. They climbed down like spiders navigating a wall. A couple of Jack's men had a go at them with their own swords and soon found out how outclassed they were, the women spinning and twisting as they slashed open necks, arms and thighs. One move from the girl on the right practically sliced some poor fighter's head — a young Ranger called Mundy — clean off.
The women stood ready to protect the next person getting out of the AFV. A figure who, straight away, put on his peaked cap before dropping down. In his long coat and maroon military outfit, it could only be The Tsar himself. Here to oversee the fall of the castle: and The Hooded Man's empire.
If Jack could take him out then -
But he had more pressing issues to deal will. Literally, as Tanek and he clashed weapons, each pushing against the other, neither willing to give ground. Jack's feet slipped a little on the slushy grass, but he dug his heels in, unwilling to let Tanek take an inch.
Although his identical bodyguards were there to protect him, The Tsar was not averse to getting his hands dirty, it seemed. Because Jack saw him take out his own sword: long and curved, Jack had seen its like in movies, but had never seen one being used for real.
The Tsar ran one of the wounded soldiers through, pulling out the blade and admiring the blood dripping from it.
Then The Tsar's attention was drawn to Adele and the men flanking her: Jack's men. With the oriental sisters — twins? — in tow, The Tsar glided forward across the Bailey towards them.
Jack had to finish this right now. Had to get across to Adele before she ended up like Mundy.
That was easier said than done, because Tanek wasn't in the mood for quitting. The olive-skinned man flashed his teeth and gave one last shove, but Jack realised what he was doing and decided to give him that inch he wanted. In fact, he could take the whole Middle Bailey if he liked. Without warning, Jack took the pressure off his staff and stepped aside, causing Tanek to lunge forward, struggling to keep upright. As he passed by, Jack gave him a whack across the shoulder blades to help him on his way. Pitching him almost into the side of the steps.
He wasn't completely out of the game, but it would have to do for now.
Jack sprinted across the field, holding the staff horizontally to take out two more Russian soldiers, each end smacking into a face. He was going to be too late to reach Adele, because the twins were already closing in. And although she had a rifle, he knew that they'd still make mincemeat of her. Wilkes and Ferguson lunged forward, their intention to stop the women, but in reality all they could really do was try not to get
To begin with they did pretty well, holding their own against the two bodyguards, as fast as they were. And Jack was almost there when the first of them bought it: Wilkes receiving a savage slash to the side that bit into him to a depth of about four or five inches. He looked over at Jack, his eyes pleading as blood poured out of the wound.
'You bitches are gonna to pay for that,' Jack promised, holding his staff by the end and swinging it so that it caught one of the bodyguards across the forearm. The shock of this bought him enough time to kick her over onto
