There were a number of staff, ranging in age from what looked like late teens to their seventies. Miller helped Hayes take them to the rear of the building, where the general manager complained that they were in the middle of an audit, that the hotel was being inspected. He asked if they could come back another time?
Miller scoffed. “Are you kidding? We’ve got men outside with machine guns about to come in.”
“Carry on through the garden. Just keep going, and don’t come back until someone with police ID comes to get you, okay?”
By the time they had the hotel to themselves, Miller joined Luke, Sarge and Vodicka in the front bar, looking out of the window. Outside, there were ten mercenaries clad in black, carrying automatic machine guns, waiting. “Why aren’t they trying to come in?” she asked everyone.
One of the mercenaries slid beneath the Fiesta and yanked out the remaining battery. He carried it back to the mercenary with the speaker. “You have a choice to make. You can do this the easy way, or the hard way. We have the first battery in the Fiesta; now we just need the prototype Fisher’s sister’s carrying. Throw it out to us and we leave quietly, no fuss. No one needs to die here today. But if you push us, we will put a bullet in your foreheads, am I making myself clear? Don’t go being heroes, all we want is the battery, nothing more. Don’t be stupid here, people.”
70
Hayes didn’t say a word; she listened to her surroundings. No one in the bar area of the hotel said anything. “Is that a helicopter?” It was faint, but undeniably a chopper. With Charlotte by her side, Miller in front of her, Hayes had the two most important people to her in the same room, where she could keep an eye on them. “Is it one of ours?”
“Not unless we’ve started using unmarked helicopters, no.” Miller pointed at the sky through the net curtains. “Look!”
Her partner gave her space to observe through the window. Coming in towards them slowly was a dark chopper. It didn’t say “Police” on its side, which meant it wasn’t theirs. Which could mean only one thing. She turned to Marlowe. “One of yours?”
With a nod, he answered her. “In a minute, they’ll breach this place, and go room to room executing everyone here, do you understand?”
Sarge turned suddenly. “Wait! What do you mean it’s one of yours? Hayes? What the hell are you talking about? Is he a part of this?”
She didn’t like the way Sarge was pointing his MP5 at Marlowe. Hayes stood back, getting in between her captive and the carbine. “Listen to me, Sarge, he’s in my custody, as you can see. He’s cuffed. But in answer to your question, yes, he’s one of them.”
“And he has information we can use to bring this whole thing down.” Miller stepped back, ready to pounce on him if needed.
“You have one minute to bring the battery out, or we breach the building,” the tannoy announced. “If you make us go in, none of you are coming out of there alive. Please don’t be short-sighted; it’s just a stupid battery. We don’t want to hurt you.”
That was what he was counting on. “We’re all agreed this is worth it, right? This car battery will literally change the world as we know it. Companies whose income is based on petrol and oil will collapse, as will oil based economies of countries. What we do here tonight will affect the outcome of our children’s futures.”
“What’s so special about it?” Vodicka asked.
“This battery doesn’t need topping up, ever. It doesn’t require petrol, or oil. It recharges itself using a dual cell, so while one’s in use, the other’s charging. Do you understand how big this is?” Hayes checked Vodicka’s expression.
“You mean I’d never have to pay for petrol again?” the armed officer asked, her glare replaced with raised eyebrows.
“If you fitted this battery to your car now, it would keep on going, like the Battery Bunny. Just think: no petrol stations or trying to find an electric meter. All of that could be a thing of the past. No more CO2 emissions; it’s zero carbon. No more pollution, no more CFCs. Think of the good this battery will do for the environment.”
“It’s our job to protect you, but now you’ve made it a crusade, let’s get set up,” Sarge said, taking charge of the situation.
“The chopper’s right over us,” Vodicka said, trying to watch it.
“That means we have three units on us now. There’s ten out there and another God knows how many about to abseil onto the roof. Listen, if you’re going to give them the battery, now’s the time to do it.” Marlowe waited for an answer.
Hayes glared at him. “It’s not happening. You’ll have to pry it from my cold, dead hands first, Marlowe, you little maggot. You’re in as much trouble as we are. If they get their hands on you, they’ll put a bullet in your head before they even think about shooting us.”
Marlowe put his cuffed hands up, palms splayed. “Hey, just saying. We can all live through this if she gives them her bag, don’t you see?”
“How about we send you out there with the bag?” Miller glared at Marlowe. “We can kill two birds with one stone.”
Hayes smiled at Miller, who winked back. “How do you want to play this, Sarge? We have an unknown number out there, and only three of us with guns in here.” She looked from person to person, from Charlotte, to Miller, Luke, Vodicka, Sarge, and finally Marlowe.
“That’s not strictly true.” Luke took his Glock out of his holster. “Sarge, we can give our pistols to Hayes and Rachel, can’t we? They’re trained to use them.”
“And we need all the help we can get.” Sarge handed his to Hayes, while Luke gave
