BioKill (19 page)

Somehow Kate cleared the dolly and maneuvered forward, centering the machine in between the open doors. It was now or never.

Bomani had also seen the figure at the door, and guessed it was the man he had been told about: Matt Lilburn. He had proved to be a worthy opponent, it was only right that the Americans had sent a man of such caliber. He wished he could see his face when they took off into the night sky.

Kate eased the machine forward, concentrating on the doorway. Ten, five yards, steady as she goes. Her hands felt wet and slippery on the controls, perspiration from intense concentration dripping down her back. Kate was now beyond the point of no return, the tips of the rotors pushed out the hangar doors with the widest point of the rotating blades about to align with the doors. Holding her breath she inched forward, not daring to move her head or even her eyes from an imaginary point ahead beyond the light beam.
I must be through by now.

Bomani pulled the knife away from the pilot’s neck as she neared the doorway. He sat back in his seat and tensed up, knowing this was make or break time. His life was in the hands of the woman next to him and a little prayer would not go amiss.

Bashir, sitting behind, shut his eyes. Both his hands had a vice-like grip on his seat.

“We’re out. Oh my God… we got through the doors. Oh my God.” Kate felt a rush of exhilaration.

“Now fly high and fast,” roared Bomani.

Kate was in no hurry to gain altitude. Her protest gained her a poke in the neck with the knife; this time it drew blood. Slowly the helicopter began to ascend.

The open doorway was no place to be. Lilburn retreated back to the corner of the building, away from what could become a tangle of iron and helicopter. Instinctively he crouched down as the machine nudged out into the open. Raising his weapon towards the cockpit, his finger was all but applying enough pressure to the trigger to fire. Lilburn hesitated, there was a civilian flying the craft, an innocent.
Shit, shit.
It was one of those poignant moments — less a decision, more a reaction. A moment where focus is so concentrated nothing else matters. Lilburn watched as the aircraft with the terrorist cell, a pilot and most likely the virus, was within feet of him. As if in slow motion, he watched it all drift away.

They were so close. Lilburn sprang into action. Throwing his carbine to the ground he sprinted for the departing helicopter. The past hour flashed before him, the blood, the lives of his two comrades lost to the bastards in that machine. It made him mad, it made him strong, it made him fast. Lilburn lunged upwards, his feet leaving the ground, his arms outstretched, his hands open and ready to grasp. He touched the nearest skid simultaneously with both hands, locking on with a Herculean grip. The weight of his body was brought to bear on his arms as gravity tried to pry him free and send him falling to the ground. It wasn’t going to happen. Lilburn gritted his teeth, pulled himself straight upwards then brought a leg up to wrap around the skid. The attempt failed and his leg swung back down sending his body in a pendulum swing. Breathing out hard through his mouth he tried again. This time his heel caught… and that was enough to give him sufficient purchase to gain a more secure hold on the skid.

Inside the helicopter, Kate immediately reacted to the unusual lurch to the side as she gained height. It was too dark to see the reason, but whatever it was required counter control measures. She looked over to the older man beside her. He was looking back and down towards the hangar then turned back to her.

“Keep flying, infidel bitch.”

“Listen, asshole — I don’t have registration to fly at night cos I’m not trained for night flying so why the fuck don’t you just jump out now ’cause, you know, there’s a good chance I might crash anyway.”

Bomani lashed out with the back of his hand, catching Kate on the side of her face. She didn’t expect that and the helicopter lurched around until she regained control.

“Akins!” Bashir leaned forward in his seat, realizing the danger of his companion’s actions. “What’s the plan now?”

“They will be watching us. The drone will have picked us up and it will only be a matter of time before they intercept us. The virus. Take the two remaining cans out and get them ready.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hang on, buddy.” The hairs on Kate’s neck rose when she heard mention of a virus. “What the hell’s going on here?”

Bomani lashed out with his fist onto the windscreen thumping it with such a heavy force it startled Bashir. Bomani pulled hard on Kate’s hair, placing the knife blade up against her throat.

But this time Kate was ready. “I wouldn’t do that again, mister, if I were you.”

“I will kill you, woman. I will slit your infidel throat like a bleating sheep if you say another word.”

“Oh yeah? Just remember you’re a thousand feet up in the air. You fly helicopters? No? I didn’t think so, you ugly little bastard.”

Bomani couldn’t stand a woman talking to him like that. He could feel himself losing control and it was a woman who had done it… an infidel woman! She would die. He pulled the knife away, changing his grip on the handle and raised it above her. He would stab through her body, he would do it again and again, stab and stab…

“AKINS NO! NO!” Bashir reached through between the seats as best he could groping for the knife with one straining outstretched hand. “You will kill us. No, Akins.”

Bomani barely registered his cry of anguish through the mist of seething rage. Barely, but enough. The knife hovered over Kate’s body, held back like a spring under pressure. The pressure gradually subsided and the tension reduced. He brought his arm down and sank back into his seat.

Kate couldn’t speak.

“We would have been killed, Akins, we would have plunged to our deaths and our mission would have failed.” The young man gingerly placed a hand on the older man’s shoulder. Bomani returned the gesture, placing a hand over Bashir’s.

“You are right… my brother, once again you are right.”

*

Lilburn was freezing. The wind chill and the cool night air cut through his clothes, numbing his body. He had managed to lie astride the skid, one foot resting on the skid the other leg hanging down loose, like crossing a suspended rope. A strut provided the support to stop him swinging upside down. Closing his eyes he concentrated, hanging on and wondering how on earth he got himself into this predicament in the first place. It looked so easy in the movies. They lied.

Chapter Twenty-nine

“Sir, Syracuse on
the phone.”

“This is Director Hall… Yes… Thanks.” Hall hardly even blinked before bellowing: “Nicco!”

The ex-hacker looked up from his screen. “Yeah? Who wants me?” A couple of intelligence analysts sitting nearby knew full well and slunk into their chairs.

Nicco looked around the room, stretching his neck over the computer screen. He took off his headphones and laid them on his table just before eyeballing Director Hall across the other side of the room. “Oh hi… I mean… How can I help you, sir?”

“You got that feed from Syracuse on your screen?”

“Just hold that thought.” Nicco tapped the keyboard and up came the screen. Nicco gave the director a thumbs-up. Allan Hall grinned, despite himself.

“Right, listen up, people!” The director held the attention of everyone in the room. “Confirmation the cell’s on the move. I want all commanders informed ASAP, including state police. I want a status on our assets in the area. Make sure all our choppers, crews and support staff are on standby. Tell the teams en-route to Lilburn we’ll have new coordinates shortly. Go to it!”

Hall tapped a staffer on the shoulder and leaned down. This time his voice was quieter. “Tell the air-ambulance to take care of the boys then await further orders.” The woman nodded.

This time round Nicco was more aware of his surroundings as Director Hall approached. He’d already anticipated the questions. “The Reaper’s on owl vision sir, a bird’s-eye view of a whirly-bird heading in an approximate northerly direction. Bit of a hoot really.”

“It’s getting late and I’m tired and hungry. Less wisecracks and more concentration.”

“Okey-dokey, let’s see what we have here… OK. This is the live thermal image feed from the Reaper. It’s tracking the target helicopter. Now we’re just getting a new angle and… Oh oh.”

“What the hang did I do with those blasted glasses?” Hall felt in his pockets, found his glasses and placed them on his head.

Nicco reached for a phone and waved it in front of the Director. “Sir, phone the drone operator and have him zoom in on the right-hand skid.”

“Why?”

“’Cause I think the chopper has a passenger… Don’t worry, the guy’s seen the same thing and is zooming in.”

Hall hunched over towards the screen. “Holy mother of… Tell me I’m seeing things.”

“You’re not seeing things, sir.”

“Can you tell who it is?”

“No, sir. Too far away.”

Director Hall stood upright. “I’ll bet you twenty bucks I know who it is.”

Chapter Thirty

Flying straight ahead
at a thousand feet, Kate knew that for a while at least the helicopter was safe above any immediate hills. The fact that Nathan had still been breathing after being knocked unconscious was of some comfort. Before she was dragged away she had seen signs of life. Kate turned the dimmer switch down on the panel causing the panel lights to soften, anything so she didn’t have to see them. The action didn’t go unnoticed.

“Who gave you permission to turn those lights down?” Bomani demanded.

Arrogant fool.
“I’m not rated to fly by instruments, asshole. The lights are hindering me seeing outside and I need to see what the hell’s going on so we don’t crash into a goddamn mountain. Is that all right with you?”

“Where I come from, women do as they are told, speak only when they are spoken to and respect their menfolk.”

“Well, more fool them. Let me get one thing straight, mister. Like I said before, who amongst us here actually knows how to fly this machine? Oh, that’s right… only me. Go screw yourself.”

The feel of the helicopter was wrong, the balance was out of whack. It was time to put her theory to the test. “Hey, you in the back seat, shuffle over to the other side and see if you can feel for a switch under that seat. I need you to turn it on.”

Bashir looked at her. “Why?”

“It switches the fuel tanks over so we don’t run out of gas. Kind of important when you’re this high up…”

It was complete nonsense — there was no switch there, but Kate hoped it would get the man across to the same side as her front passenger, and keep him there for a while.

Bashir rested the shotgun up against the seat to his left then shifted himself across. Kate had to compensate for the shift of balance much more than she thought would have been necessary. It confirmed her thoughts — there was extra weight on the chopper.

“I can’t find any switch.”

That’s because there isn’t one, you moron.
“OK, don’t worry about it. Anyway, we can’t fly about here all night. I never got the chance to refuel, so we need to land.”

Bomani had a further decision to make. The longer he kept flying, the greater the chance of being seen. Right now, having only been in the air a few minutes, he had an advantage, his enemy would have to make new decisions, issue new orders. It meant he had more time without conflict if he landed soon.

“Land now. Somewhere there are cattle or pigs.”

Kate screwed up her face in bewilderment. “You what? You want me to land where there are cows and hogs! Un-fuckin’-believable. I hardly even know where we are, let alone take you to a ranch.”

“You can still fly if my knife sticks out of your thigh. Take us down or suffer pain.”

Kate laughed. “Yeah, but my concentration would be a little off.” But Kate dropped altitude, wanting to land as much as her passengers; if that extra weight on the far side of the machine was what she thought it was…

The landscape below was mostly a mix of arable and livestock farming on gentle rolling open country. Despite what she had told the men, Kate exactly where they were. The mention of a virus concerned her. Kate was well aware of the risk of a terrorist attack, but that was something that would happen in the likes of the big cities, with lots of people around. Here, lights were scattered over a wide area. It wasn’t exactly New York City.

Bomani directed Kate to the nearest light. “There, fly around that house, go as low as you can.”

Kate took the helicopter down to two hundred feet.

“Shouldn’t we fly on to somewhere like the sale yards, where we were before?” inquired Bashir.

“It’s too late for that. Make sure you have the bag with the spray cans.” Bomani turned his attention back to Kate. “Land by the house and turn off the helicopter.”

He spoke again. “Once we’re down make sure the infidel bitch cannot fly off again.”

Matt Lilburn was frozen to the bone and hung on for grim death. His bare hands grasping the skid and support were like ice-blocks, his face numb with the cold and wind. Perhaps he’d gone a step too far by grabbing onto the skid, a step that would send him falling to his death. Perhaps it would be better if the men above opened a door and placed a bullet in his brain. Perhaps the cold would numb his senses so much he wouldn’t realize he was falling through the sky. He opened his eyes. The cold hit his eyeballs like a bucket of ice-cubes. Squinting, he saw far below the lights of what could only be a house. Lilburn closed his eyes. What he would give for a warm bath. Looking again, the light was closer. The helicopter was losing altitude. His hopes raised, he waited for the the next move… and the sooner the better.

Kate brought the helicopter down carefully, reading the altimeter and watching for any sign at all outside of impending danger to her machine. She then gently hovered only a few feet above the ground purposely, not letting the skids make ground contact, to give whoever was underneath as much time as she dared. Finally she made contact with the ground and let the machine’s revolutions subside.

Lilburn used the opportunity to let himself fall to the ground. Instead of a graceful dismount, the cold and physical exertion had drained his strength and seized his muscles. He fell like a sack of potatoes, barely able to roll clear and lie between the skids. The fuselage with its red rotating beacon light stopped its descent a foot or so from his face. He breathed a sigh of relief and placed a hand above his head to shield his eyes from the glare of the strobe light.

Moments later, the helicopter wound down. A set of legs emerged followed closely by the unmistakable barrel of a rifle. Someone yelled out. Lilburn reached for his side arm, not taking his sight off the person with the rifle. A movement from the opposite side managed to attract his attention. Another pair of legs, then something large landed heavily. A woman’s voice yelled out in anger and pain.

“You fucking asshole! Aargh. Christ, I could have gotten out without your help. Prick!”

Lilburn brought his weapon around, two hands on the grip. The light showed the back of a woman with long blonde hair inches away. Her arm flailed out as she sought to sit upright and smacked into him. Realizing someone was lying beside her, the woman barely hesitated before yelling out that she had to get up and turn the damn lights off. She kept up a string of abuse while pushing herself off the ground. Lilburn knew this was one gutsy lady, and she was playing the game like a pro.

“Yeah, good on you, buddy. You don’t need to point that shotgun at me. I can see you have a gun. Creep.”

Kate switched the navigation lights off. Thanks to her commentary, Lilburn knew there was one man to his left, with a shotgun, so the other one, with the rifle, must be on his right. Moving back towards the rear of the fuselage, where the tail boom joined, Lilburn positioned himself awkwardly into a crouch. He could still hear the woman shouting, giving him a running commentary.

“Hey you, the other side of the chopper. Who’re you going off to shoot now, tough guy? Leave your little mate over here with me — you think he’s up to handling a real woman?”

Bashir grabbed Kate by the hair and pulled her towards him. “Shut up, bitch!”

Kate tried to grab his hand and relieve some of the pressure of her hair being pulled but Bashir threw her to the ground, where she sprawled on her chest and thighs. Raising her upper body up with her arms she turned to look at her attacker aiming the shotgun right at her. “Come on then, you piece of shit, go on, kill me. Yeah, I’m giving you permission. You ever killed a girl before?” Kate snatched the quickest of looks towards Lilburn. She could make him out crouching down and it looked as if he had a weapon in his hands. Kate needed to keep Bashir’s attention. “Yeah, go on, take a good look. You must be real proud, taking on a woman.”

Bomani moved around the front of the helicopter.

“Oh, even better,” Kate remarked. “Now I have the two of you around here. What now, a gangbang?”

Bomani spat on the ground. “Bashir, do you have the virus?”

“It’s still on the seat in the bag.”

“Go and bring it here.”

Kate watched as the older man approached her.

“Turn around and I will make your death quick and painless.” Bomani’s voice was cold and precise. Kate froze, not even moving a muscle as the killer placed his rifle on the ground and then produced something in his hand. The starlight was just enough to make out the shape of a knife.

Bashir turned away to retrieve the remaining two cans of virus… and saw Matt. His heart thumped in his chest as he brought the shotgun around. It was a gunfight he could not hope to win. He knew it in the seconds he had to live. Those few seconds dragged out in slow motion. It was as if he could see the bullets leave the other man’s gun and travel towards him. Life had been short, too short.
Where did I go wrong? What should I…

Bashir Zuabi fell face forward, his knees hardly even bending. The shotgun plowed barrel first into the ground, before toppling over and coming to a rest beside his quivering body. Kate sat motionless, staring at her first dead man.

The shots came as a surprise to Bomani. A surprise it may have been, a shock it wasn’t. He let the knife fall from his hand as he wheeled back around and dove towards the ground where his rifle lay. The movement was instinctive… once the weapon was in his hands he would already know what his next actions were going to be.

Bomani hit the ground hard and fast with the front of his body. Stretching himself out, his hands scrambled for then wrestled with the rifle. Rolling over and over, head up, arms stretched above his head, he pointed the barrel in the direction from where he assessed the attack would come. He had heard two shots in quick succession, a semi-auto weapon — able to fire as fast as you could pull the trigger. He only had a bolt-action rifle, it took longer to reload. By the time he finished rolling, Bomani had already decided not to stand his ground, but to fire one round then retreat to cover.

Lilburn didn’t have enough time to pull the barrel of his pistol down fast enough to take aim at the man flying through the air. Instead he fired intuitively. Pulling the trigger twice, he also rolled away from his firing position. Both men missed.

Bomani kept up a fluid motion, coming out of his roll onto a knee, then sprinted past the front of the helicopter and into the starlit night.

Lilburn rose to a crouch, looking for the opportunity of a shot but his target skillfully used the helicopter to block his view. He ran to the front of the machine but the man had disappeared. He approached the pilot, who was still on the ground. “You OK?”

“I’ve been better. What the hell is this all about?”

“Later.” Lilburn had something more pressing to do. The doors of the helicopter remained open, he jumped up into the front, searching the seats and on the floor. Nothing. Looking through to the rear there looked as if there was an object on one of the seats. He extended an arm. The object felt like a nylon bag with something solid inside.

Outside on the grass, Lilburn unzipped the bag. Inside were two spray cans. He gave a sigh of relief. The virus was now in his hands, one of his questions answered. Instantly he was on the defensive — there was an armed and dangerous terrorist somewhere out there in the dark, who knew exactly where he, the pilot and the virus were.
Not good… definitely not good.

“Follow me.” Lilburn pulled the pilot to her feet, none too gently. “We have to get away from here.”

“Where are we going?”

Lilburn, with the bag slung over one shoulder, the Sig Sauer in his hand, ignored her, watching the darkness.

“Whoa, hold your horses. Hey, mister…” Kate slipped; it was only Lilburn’s hold on her arm that stopped her from falling. “Jesus. You know, I can fly us out of here.”

Lilburn carried on. Kate had no choice but to follow, her upper arm gripped by an iron fist.

Finally he spoke. “That man hasn’t gone far and he’s coming after us. We hop in the chopper and he’ll shoot us clean out of the sky.”

“And what makes you think he’s not hightailing it out of here?”

“I’ve got something he wants real bad.”

“And let me think… It’s not me.”

“You’re so right, sweetheart. It’s not you. Now stop talking — I want to listen.”

The countryside was still. In the distance an owl hooted. Kate, free of Lilburn’s grip, placed a hand over her heart. “My heart is just about jumping out of my chest!”

“Sshh.”

The roar of a rifle being discharged close by confirmed Lilburn’s thoughts: he was now the hunted. A second loud discharge followed and a bullet winged its way past. There was no need to coax Kate to move; she started running after the first shot. Lilburn caught up then matched her speed. The ground was flat and running was easy, even at night. Hiding was a bit more difficult. Lilburn told Kate to slow down. “Looks like a fence line up ahead.”

Sure enough a post and wire fence appeared. As Kate was given a guiding hand to scale the fence, a bullet plowed into the post. Kate let out a short sharp squeal then took a leap of faith and hurled herself off the top of the fence and fell sprawling on the other side. Lilburn vaulted the fence with ease, dragged Kate from the ground and both of them scurried off.

Another fifty yards were eaten up without incident. Kate started to tire. “OK, wait, wait,’ she blurted out. “I need a breather… I fly everywhere… I don’t run.”

It was an old army saying. You can only go as fast as your slowest man. He let his charge take a break, tugging on her sleeve to make her sink lower to the ground. In a whisper he let her know this break was to be counted in seconds, not minutes. Lilburn picked up something familiar in the distance. It grew louder and turned into the unmistakable sound of at least one helicopter heading their way. Reinforcements had arrived. Plans changed. Lilburn directed Kate to lie prone on the ground. Doing the same he faced the way he thought his threat came from, his weapon ready. Less than a minute later a helicopter was overhead; the downdraft beat down on their backs. A burst of machine-gun fire emitted from the chopper as the occupants locked onto the hostile. Return gunfire was heard, but not directed at the hovering helicopter. The night sky burst into light in conjunction with an almighty explosion of aviation gas. Kate’s helicopter was now an insurance job and Bomani had successfully provided a diversion.