"If you set fire to those trucks inside the gate of the castle you might kill us all what if they blow up?" Sutton said.
"Two guys moving, out in the gra.s.s," Alex interrupted, then loosed off a couple of shots.
Brand went to the window, then ducked to one side as a storm of bullets pa.s.sed through and shattered the remaining shards of gla.s.s. "They"re outflanking us; that"s their buddies putting down covering fire."
Emma and Alex sniped from adjoining windows. "They"re moving too fast," Emma called.
"I"m going topside," Brand said.
Brand heard the chopper above and made for the staircase to the roof. He took two steps at time, but spun around when he got to the top, hearing footsteps and huffing behind him. "Professor." The older man looked up, still wearing his slightly ridiculous floppy hat and sungla.s.ses. "What are you doing up here?"
"I want to help, I have an idea."
Brand put a hand to his eyes to shield them from the glare of the lowering sun and looked for the chopper. He could hear it, but still couldn"t see it. He blinked and saw a speck. "b.a.s.t.a.r.d"s coming in out of the sun."
Brand sprinted for the crenellated wall furthest from him to try to get some cover from the shots he knew would be coming from the helicopter any second now. When he got there he turned to see Sutton standing in the middle of the flat roof, waving his arms, rifle in one hand.
"Get down!"
Sutton laughed. "You wanted a diversion."
Bullets started heading their way and Brand realised Sutton was clearly visible to the Russians on the ground, even though the chopper wasn"t in range or at an ideal angle for the sniper on board to get a sight picture.
Brand was half hidden by the masonry work and from this vantage point he could see a Russian break cover, standing behind a tree so that he was hidden from the people inside the castle, but exposed from above. Brand aimed, squeezed the trigger and the Russian fell back.
Sutton was laughing, but on his belly now, crawling to the fortifications. "Good show! Took your time, though, eh, Yank!"
Brand shook his head. The old man was crazy, but when he took his gla.s.ses off for a second to wipe away some grit or perhaps even laughter-induced tears, Brand saw a flicker of real joy there.
"Haven"t had this much fun in years."
"Chopper, get down!"
Brand nestled himself into the corner where the wall met the roof line, his AK up and ready in case he could get a shot off. Sutton, on the other hand, was moving his arms and legs like a kid making a snow or sand angel as the Bell pa.s.sed low overhead. Brand fired a burst of eight rounds at the helicopter, which peeled off. He could see the head of the gunman sticking out, although now he could see quite clearly that Sonja was right it was a woman. The chopper banked and turned before Brand could loose off another burst.
"So what"s your idea, Professor, other than trying to get yourself killed just then?"
Sutton, lying still now and catching his breath, put his gla.s.ses back on and looked to Brand. "I think we need another diversion. Sonja"s right to want to destroy the horn, but we can"t have ourselves trapped here in the castle with a couple of burning trucks blocking the gate."
"You"re crazy, right?" Brand asked.
"a.s.suredly. But I"m also right. And the other thing I know is that those Russians aren"t going to scale the walls and they"re moving too fast and too professionally for your fledglings downstairs to take them out. You need to lure them into a trap."
Brand put two and two together. "You want to move the trucks open the gates so the Russians can charge in, and then take them out when they enter the gate."
"Exactly."
"But who"s going to move the trucks?"
"Me. I"m old, Brand, expendable. I checked them earlier, during a lull. There"s a tow cable in Stirling"s Amarok. I"ll attach it to the Unimog, which is running, even if the radiator"s full of holes. I"ll at least be able to create a diversion by driving away. I checked the Amarok just now, it won"t start and the Hilux is completely finished. I"ll shunt the Hilux out of the way and tow the Amarok out into the open. You just make sure you and the others are lined up and ready to kill those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds when they rush the gate."
"What happens if the Russians kill you and simply tow the rhino horn down to the helicopter? You"ll have handed them what they want."
Sutton nodded. "I thought of that. As soon as I"m clear of the castle I"m going to torch the Amarok with the horn in it. Stirling"s wrong; it"s not worth saving. It"s better to get rid of the stuff. Worse case, if the Russians do kill me and get hold of the horns they might just leave you alone."
Brand thought the old man was crazy, but if he wanted to throw his life away that was his business. "OK. Good luck."
Sutton got up and made for the stairs. One of the Russians obviously saw movement on the roof, for he fired off a couple of rounds. He looked at Brand, who stared back at him and gave him a small salute.
"Hudson!" Emma called from the courtyard.
"What is it?" Sutton disappeared down the stairs and Hudson leaned over the internal parapet to see Emma.
"They"re around us now. We lost sight of them."
"They"re going to be coming through the main gates soon. Get everyone to take up position in a doorway, in the bar, in the hotel rooms. Stay out of sight, and when they storm the entryway, let "em have it."
"That"s the plan?" She sounded as incredulous as the plan deserved.
""Fraid so. Tell your mom."
"Will do."
Brand jogged down the stairs. It was eerily quiet now. The Russians were working their way around the castle to get into position for the final a.s.sault. The helicopter was standing off, also waiting for the last push, its engines just a mosquito-like drone in the distance. All of the castle"s defenders were taking up positions around the internal courtyard. Emma had even moved Natangwe to the doorway of the bar. He sat in a chair, his gun hand propped up on the padded leather armrest. He gave a weak smile. Gutsy kid.
Brand moved to the trucks and found Sutton between the Unimog and the Amarok. Sutton was securing a wire tow cable from the tow ball at the back of the bigger truck to the double cab"s recovery shackle below the b.u.mper bar.
Alex was watching on. "Have you called for the aeromedical evacuation chopper now that the power"s back on?" Brand asked Alex.
"Done," Alex said.
"Good work." He turned to the professor. "Ready to go?"
Sutton stood straight. "Ready as I"ll ever be."
"That Unimog"s shot up pretty bad. You won"t get far, Professor."
Sutton blinked at him. "I don"t need to go far. I just need to get far enough away to open your trap and to stop the Amarok from setting fire to the castle and harming someone when I torch the f.u.c.kers."
Brand had to laugh at the obscenity. "Right." He looked at the old wooden cases piled in the rear cargo area of Stirling"s truck. There was a fortune in there.
Sutton got into the Unimog and started the engine as a hail of gunfire erupted from the other side of the car park.
Chapter 34.
Sonja leaned around the trunk of the stout palm tree in the castle"s courtyard and fired two three-round bursts in quick succession in the direction of where the gunfire had come, covering Hudson as he ran back through the now open entryway.
The Russians had opened fire as Dorset rammed the disabled Hilux out through the entryway and pulled away from the hotel, the Unimog towing the Amarok.
"Where"s Emma?" Brand asked her as he made it to the tree and flattened himself behind it.
"In the bar, with Natangwe."
Brand nodded. "Good."
Sonja removed the magazine from her AK-47, checked the remaining rounds, and refitted it. "Ready?"
"Ready as I"ll ever be," Brand said, imitating the professor.
Sonja braced herself against the tree. Brand broke cover and took the stairs to the main tower two at a time. At the top she saw him peek over the fortifications and look around. Then he looked back down at her, touched his eyes with the first two fingers of his left hand and pointed in the direction of the open gateway.
Sonja knew he was asking her silently if she could see any movement from ground level. She shook her head. It was eerily quiet now; no one else was shooting. The noise of the Unimog"s engine was fading away, so at least Dorset hadn"t been killed. At any moment she expected the whoosh and roar of Sutton setting fire to Stirling"s vehicle. Even the helicopter was keeping its distance, its engines just a distant hum.
Brand"s rifle barked twice.
"What is it?" she called up to him.
"Son of a b.i.t.c.h."
"What?"
He jogged to the edge of the tower and looked down at her. "I can see them, the Russians, they"re running down the road back to the filling station. They could be regrouping, or maybe they"ve had enough." He trotted down the stairs.
Sonja joined him at the bottom of the staircase. "Where"s Sutton?"
"He"s about halfway down the road to the garage. The Russkies ran right past him. He"s waving a white flag a pillowcase or something out of the window. d.a.m.n it. What the h.e.l.l"s he up to? He was supposed to burn the horn."
Sonja tried to process the dramatic change in events, and their fortunes. The Russians were brave, but also foolish trying to attack such a fortified position. Perhaps they"d seen the opening of the entryway to the castle for what it was, a chance for the defenders to slaughter the remaining attackers, and lost their nerve. She looked around. Alex and Stirling emerged from their positions around the courtyard.
"Alex, while it"s quiet take that fuel can you took from Stirling"s bakkie and get the generator started." Alex nodded and left.
Sonja went into the bar to check on Emma and Natangwe. She allowed a couple of seconds for her eyes to adjust to the gloom of the bar, which was cooler than outside. Natangwe was propped in his chair, just inside the doorway. Sonja looked around. "Where"s Emma?"
Natangwe looked up at her, his eyes red. "She . . . she didn"t tell you?"
"Tell me what?" Sonja felt her heart start to quicken.
"She went out. She said Professor Sutton wouldn"t be able to tow the bakkie away with no one behind the wheel."
The noise of the generator roaring to life filtered through from the courtyard and lights flicked on inside, illuminating Natangwe"s pained face. Sonja turned on her heel and strode back across the courtyard towards the entrance.
"Where are you going?" Brand called down from the roof. Alex appeared in the doorway.
"Emma"s with that idiot, Sutton."
Stirling was closest to the entryway. He ran outside, turned right at the car park and headed down the dirt road, rifle in his hands, his long legs pumping. Alex also ran to the gate, but Sonja pushed past him and followed Stirling.
"Stirling, wait, be careful," she called after him.
Her heart was pounding now; she could feel the vein in her neck throbbing, hard enough to hurt her. She didn"t know what was going on, but Sutton was halfway between the castle and the filling station. Sonja heard the thud of the helicopter"s blades. She looked up as she ran; the chopper had turned and was coming straight towards them, using the dirt road as its axis.
"Stirling, take cover!"
In the open side door of the helicopter Sonja could see Irina Aleksandrova. She was holding a long-barrelled sniper"s rifle, a Dragunov. Irina was tracking Stirling, who was still ahead. Sonja raised her AK-47 to her shoulder, took aim and squeezed the trigger.
Click.
Sonja swore. There was the noise of gunfire and as she yanked back the c.o.c.king handle and pulled off the magazine to clear her rifle she glanced up and saw Irina shifting her aim. Sonja shook the jammed round clear of the breech and was about to take aim again when she was knocked off her feet. "b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l."
Hudson Brand rolled onto his back, half on top of Sonja, and loosed off fifteen rounds at the helicopter as its shadow pa.s.sed over them.
"Get off me, for f.u.c.k"s sake," she yelled at him.
"Thank you would do," Brand said.
Sonja pushed him off her, replaced her magazine and c.o.c.ked her rifle. "Get up, Brand, get moving."
"Yes, ma"am."
"Moving!" Sonja called. She stood and began running through the gra.s.s on the edge of the road, towards the filling station. Through a cloud of dust generated by the two vehicles she could see Sutton in the Unimog, towing the Amarok. They were driving into a whirlwind stirred up by the helicopter, which looked like it was about to land on the road in front of them.
Brand gave three rounds of covering fire in the general direction of the Russians, whom Sonja glimpsed making for the helicopter. She thought Stirling had found cover on the other side of the road but to her left she saw a booted foot sticking out of the gra.s.s. "No!"
Sonja darted across the road and hit the ground next to Stirling. She rolled him over. The tactical situation was going from bad to nightmarish and Emma was being driven to the enemy by her professor, who seemed like he was foolishly going to try to negotiate with Irina.
"Moving," Brand yelled.
Sonja knew she should cover Hudson, but she was searching for a pulse. Nonetheless, she heard gunfire, from her side of the road, not Brand"s. Sonja raised her head and looked for the source.
"I"ve got you covered, Hudson!" It was Emma. Sonja exhaled with relief that her daughter had obviously got out of the Amarok, but some return fire from the Russians made Emma drop to the ground.
"Stay down, Emma!"
"Coming to you," Brand called.
"Get Emma," Sonja replied.
She went back to Stirling. His breathing was shallow and ragged. She slapped his face. "Stirling? Stirling, can you hear me?"
Brand and Emma ran to her and dropped to their knees. Emma took up a firing position behind a palm tree and kept watch on the activity by the filling station. Sonja felt a mix of pride and annoyance. "Emma, where did you go without telling me?" As she spoke she used her Leatherman to cut open Stirling"s shirt. He"d taken two bullets in the belly and one in the chest and dark blood was welling. Hudson helped her, taking field dressings out of his pocket and pressing the pads against the wounds.