brass casings spiraled through the air as they emptied their clips of ammunition into the prone soldiers, who had closed within twelve feet of the suite door. One of the soldiers managed to fire a short burst, grazing one of the Asians, before several bullets transformed his face into a bloody pulp.
When the Asians’ weapons were empty, the corridor became eerily quiet. Parnell and the others felt a slight ringing in their ears from the loud bursts of sound that had accompanied the violent exchange.
‘Good work,’ Kang congratulated his men as they snapped fresh clips of ammunition into their weapons.
Kang turned from the carnage and noticed the counters on the elevators increasing toward their floor. ‘More soldiers are coming. Which way out?’
‘Upstairs,’ Parnell replied, stepping over bloodied bodies in the stairwell. ‘We’ll use the residents’ express elevator.’
‘Move!’ Kang barked, and his men complied.
The condominium level above Parnell’s office had six elevators instead of the five available on the office floors. The elevator must have been nearby, because the doors opened almost immediately after Parnell hit the button. The fugitives boarded the elevator car as Parnell punched in the access code for the marina level. The second team of SAS soldiers reached the twelfth floor just as Parnell’s elevator car sped past.
56
After listening to the first team’s disastrous encounter with Kang’s men over their headsets, the second team emerged from the elevator ready for a firefight. Team two’s leader expected the worst, but he found the elevator lobby empty. The soldiers fanned out from the lobby, moving from doorway to doorway down the corridor. They reached the stairwell, where the other team had been ambushed. The team leader left two men there while the rest searched Parnell’s office; it was empty.
‘Team two leader to Looking Glass. The office is secure. No sign of them. Three men are down. We’ll have to do a floor-by-floor search.’
Axton felt as if his luck had just run out. ‘Understood, team two leader. Keep us advised of your progress. Looking Glass out.’
‘Damn it!’ Mosley growled.
‘Looking Glass to all teams,’ Axton announced. ‘The subjects are on the move. Don’t take any chances with them.’
Kilkenny and Yakushev successfully evaded detection by the lone officer searching for them. They moved quietly along the docks, hiding behind and occasionally inside the boats berthed there. They’d doubled back on their pursuer and were now concealed by a sleek green offshore racing boat.
‘Do you see that dark blue vessel over there?’ Yakushev asked as they knelt out of view.
Kilkenny scanned the slips on the opposite side of the marina until he found a metallic blue racing boat. ‘The Cigarette named Merlin?’
‘That’s Parnell’s boat. If Anya is convincing, she will draw Kang Fa down to it for his escape.’
‘They’ll have to get past Stone and his men first. As long as Kang doesn’t kill your friend once they get here, she might make it.’ Kilkenny studied the path between Merlin ’s slip and the marina entrance, trying to picture how the action would unfold.
‘Yes, and we must be ready to assist her when the time comes.’
On the far side of the marina, Kilkenny could see the elevator lobby and the door to the stair tower. Roe and the others would be coming from that direction. The layout of the marina provided Kilkenny and Yakushev with good cover for when the shooting started.
In the marina lobby, he watched as Stone and another officer shifted position. Stone entered the stairwell, with the other officer covering his back.
‘Something’s happening, Andrei. They’ve moved off their points.’
Kilkenny had lost track of the third officer and was trying to locate him when the man stepped around the bow of the boat that they were hiding behind.
‘All right, gentlemen. The game’s over.’
Before the officer could say another word, a bell in the marina lobby signaled the arrival of an elevator car. As the car door slid open, Stone’s partner turned from the stair tower, drawn out by the sound. The elevator lobby was partially shielded from the stairwell opening, enough so that Kang and his men saw the SAS soldier first.
Kang fired immediately; his first burst hammered into Stone’s partner, ripping through the side of the man’s head. A second burst pounded into the man’s protective body armor, flinging him backward into Stone. The impact knocked Stone’s weapon from his hands and sent him staggering back behind the protective wall, unarmed.
The soldier on the docks turned and rushed to Stone’s aid, firing into the elevator to cover his partner’s retreat. Kang responded with a deadly salvo down the long, straight dock and killed the man.
‘Kill the other one,’ Kang ordered, dispatching one of his men to deal with Stone. ‘Parnell, where is your boat?’
‘Right over there,’ Parnell replied, leading the way.
Stealthily, Kilkenny retrieved the fallen officer’s pistol and took careful aim at Kang’s man. He clustered three shots in the man’s chest and dropped him at Stone’s feet.
The sound of Kilkenny’s shots echoed in the marina, instantly drawing fire from Kang and his lieutenant. Bullets riddled the dock and the boats around Kilkenny, pinning him down while Parnell readied his boat. Ignoring the ‘No wake’ rule, Parnell shot Merlin out of her slip like a racehorse.
Kang emptied his weapon in a vain attempt to kill Stone, whose sprint from the stairwell was screened by a row of boats. Parnell’s quick turns and the jarring bumps from the rebounding wake prevented Kang from getting a clean shot off.
Roe crouched on Merlin ’s stern, still clutching the line she’d cleared as the boat thundered toward the river opening. As Merlin reached the entrance of the enclosed marina, she jumped. Instead of cool water, she felt a sudden jolt as Kang’s watchful lieutenant tackled her in midair and slammed her down on the fiberglass hull. Her arms dangled in Merlin ’s frothy wake. Grinning at her contemptuously, he pulled her harshly into the boat.
‘We wouldn’t want you falling overboard,’ Kang said with a sneer as he held the barrel of his weapon under Roe’s chin. ‘At least not until I’ve had a chance to review your role in this betrayal.’ Kang turned to his man. ‘Lash her to the chair.’
Merlin cleared the marina with a deafening roar as Parnell opened up the boat’s engines. Kang’s lieutenant grabbed a length of the ship’s line and secured Roe to the captain’s chair beside Parnell. Kilkenny and Yakushev watched as the Cigarette boat sped out into the Thames with Roe still on board.
57
Stone reached the open slip, winded but uninjured. ‘I don’t know what the hell you’re doing down here, Kilkenny, but I’m very thankful just the same.’
Kilkenny accepted Stone’s hand, which trembled a little as they shook. ‘I’ve been there a few times myself, Pete.’
‘So, Nolan, who’s your friend?’
‘Andrei Yakushev,’ the retired spymaster replied, ‘at your service.’
Stone arched an eyebrow at Yakushev. ‘We’ve been looking for you all week.’
Kilkenny looked at Stone’s bullet-torn uniform. ‘You okay?’
Stone’s chest felt sore where several rounds had hammered against his Kevlar vest. ‘I guess I’m okay, thanks to you. I’d just like to take another crack at those bastards. They’ve taken out five of our men today.’
Kilkenny eyed the Heckler-Koch MP5-K Stone was cradling. ‘Would you really like another shot at them?’
‘Damn right I would!’ Stone replied. ‘What do you have in mind?’
Kilkenny thumped the side of the green offshore racer berthed beside them. ‘Simple. We go after ’em.’
