They had the advantage. There were a dozen ladders they could climb and platforms high above from where they could pick off the invaders one by one. He and Ben would be safer inside. The door was ahead of them, leading into the circular room. Ben reached it and crouched down. “Stay back!” he commanded.
Alex saw him count to three.
He slammed the door open and went in firing. Despite what he had been told and even though he wasn’t carrying a weapon himself, Alex followed. And that was how he saw what happened in the next few seconds, even though it would be a lot longer before he took it all in.
There had been two men in the control room, surrounded by computer screens, a radio transmitter, and
S N A K E H E A D
the equipment that Alex had seen on the
One of them was Major Winston Yu. He was holding the pistol that he had just used to gun down Ben Daniels.
Ben was lying on the floor in a spreading pool of his own blood. The Walther PPK had dropped out of his hand and lay pointing toward Alex. There was another man lying facedown a short distance away, and Alex realized that Ben must have shot him as he came in. Major Yu himself was unhurt. He was staring at Alex in astonishment and disbelief.
Somehow he managed to recover. “Well, this is a surprise,” he said.
Alex didn’t move. He was less than three yards away from Yu. He had nowhere to go. Yu could shoot him down at any time.
“Come in and close the door,” Yu said.
Alex did as he was told. Outside, the battle was still going on—but it was happening on the other platform.
Too far away. The heavy door clicked shut.
“I knew you hadn’t drowned in the river,” Yu said.
“Something told me. And when we couldn’t find your body . . .” He shook his head. “I have to say, Alex, you’re very hard to kill.”
Alex didn’t reply. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Ben’s pistol lying on the floor, and part of him wondered if he could dive down and grab it. But he would never be able to bring it around and fire it in time. He was too easy a target.
365
“You’re finished, Major Yu,” Alex said. “And you’ve failed. ASIS knows what you’re trying to do. Reef Island has been evacuated. There’s no point in setting off a tsunami. Everyone will know it was you.” Yu considered Alex’s words carefully. Part of what he had said had been a lie—the Reef Island conference was still taking place—but there was no way Yu could know that. Alex was here. He had brought the SAS with him.
The facts spoke for themselves.
Eventually, Yu sighed. “You’re probably right,” he said.
“But I think we’ll go ahead anyway. After all, it’s been months of planning, and I’d like to make my mark on the world.”
“But you’ll kill thousands of people—for no reason.”
“What reason can you give me to spare them?” Yu shook his head. “World chaos does have its uses, Alex.
This was never just about Reef Island. The reconstruction of the Australian coast will cost billions of dollars, and I have commercial interests all over Southeast Asia. The Chada Trading Agency has shares in many building companies that will be first in line for the new contracts.
Unwin Toys will offer gifts to the many hundreds of new orphans—paid for, of course, by the Australian government. There are all sorts of other interests too. A snakehead thrives on misfortune and unhappiness. For us it just means new business.”
He glanced at one of the television screens. Alex saw a white line running straight from the top to the bottom.
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S N A K E H E A D
There was a blinking red square attached to it, moving slowly downward.
“Royal Blue,” Yu said. “In six or seven minutes it will reach the seabed and enter the shaft that I told you about.
The shaft continues a further half mile down. At midnight exactly the bomb will detonate, and my work will be done.
By then, I will be a long way away and you will be no more than a fading memory.”
He raised the gun. The single black eye searched for him.
“Good-bye, Alex.”
And that was when Alex heard a groan. It came from the floor. The man who had been shot by Ben Daniels was struggling to drag himself into a sitting position. Major Yu was delighted. “How very fortunate!” he exclaimed, lowering the weapon. “Before you die, I can introduce you to one of my most trusted and effective colleagues. Although on second thought, I believe you’ve already met.” The man looked up.
It was Ash.
He had been shot twice in the chest and the life was seeping out of him. Alex could see it in the dark eyes,
