Ratcatcher - By Tim Stevens Page 0,99
good news, then. They were both alive, Elle and Kendrick, and they had access to tracking technology, which meant the chopper would be easier to locate.
He typed back: Fallon apparently also trying to stop Kuznetsov. One missile that I could see, five to six feet long, wings, no markings. I suspect of Israeli origin, non-line-of-sight. He hesitated, added: Any sign of Teague? before deciding this was irrelevant for the moment. He deleted it and wrote instead, Have you alerted the security forces?
An age passed, during which he heard nothing more than the steady drone of the Black Hawk’s twin engines. He checked his watch. Seven thirty-eight. At the very least they might be able to evacuate the area around the War Memorial in time.
The screen lit up, silently this time. Kendrick says probably right about the missile, if so it’ll have a tank- or bunker-busting warhead, v. messy. Got a fix on you with the tracker.
He waited for a follow-up message. When one didn’t come, he thumbed in: Have you told the security forces?
In a moment: No. We’re coming to get you ourselves.
Purkiss closed his eyes, hard, until the stars began to flare redly behind the lids. He sent a reply.
There’s no time. This chopper has to be shot down.
And immediately back: No.
God damn them, both of them. He resisted the urge to crush the handset in his fist.
*
The signal on his phone was struggling to stay alive. It didn’t matter any more, because the Jacobin saw it, distant enough that it seemed to be hovering but actually moving away from him, several knots away to the northeast.
He kept up the speed, but eased the wheel to the left so that he was heading due north in parallel with the course of the helicopter, the sharp stern of the boat slicing a thin furrow through the water’s flesh. Far on the horizon to the west was a large ship, a freighter of some sort, making its early morning way towards Helsinki. Otherwise there was no traffic, the sea brooding alone under the brightening sky. In another six weeks the sea would go to sleep for the winter, frozen over until as late as next April.
It was time to make his decision. If Purkiss was hidden on board the Black Hawk, the Jacobin had to alert Kuznetsov in some way, and the only way to do so would be to approach and try to attract his attention and hope he was recognised from up in the air. If on the other hand Kuznetsov had Purkiss captive, then all the Jacobin could do was to wait for the hit to proceed, then try to persuade Kuznetsov not to use Purkiss’s and Fallon’s bodies as means to scapegoat SIS. Or perhaps retrieve the bodies from the wreckage himself.
The Jacobin was fairly certain Kuznetsov wouldn’t try to kill him. The man knew the Jacobin had insurance, in the form of a document to be opened by lawyers in the event of his death or disappearance, spilling the beans on the whole operation, which would negate any use of Purkiss and Fallon as scapegoats.
The Black Hawk was tilting slightly to the right, eastwards, drifting inwards at the beginning of the circling movement that would wheel it to face the shore at the beginning of the final phase. Its crew would be looking out for the backup boat – and, yes, there it was, a bigger and noisier craft than the Jacobin’s, steaming from the southeast some distance behind the Jacobin.
The backup crew. They would be able to provide access to Kuznetsov. The Jacobin began his own turn, to bring his boat across the path of the larger vessel.
*
Dobrynin tapped Venedikt’s arm and nodded at the window. Venedikt turned and craned, saw the boat approaching far below, its occupants unidentifiable at this distance. Venedikt knew them to be Raskov and two of the other men. There would be additional room on board for the four of them: himself, Dobrynin, Lyuba and Leok, assuming they all made it out alive.
It was going to be impossible to land the helicopter on the water. They had agreed that Leok and Lyuba would bring them as close to the surface as they dared, and then Venedikt and Dobrynin would leave the craft, with pilot and copilot following. The Black Hawk would rapidly spin out of control and would hit the surface. It was then that they would be in the most danger from the rotor blades and the wild bulk