Chimera Code (Jake Dillon Adventure Thriller Series) (24 page)

The sun beat down. Dillon wiped sweat from his brow. His
mouth was dry - too dry. His body ached from the beatings he’d
recently received at the hands of the Assassins. Worst of all was the
pain in his lower back, the pain annoyed him and partially impaired
his movement.
There was a distant
boom
of heavy-calibre.
The missile hit the villa with devastating effect. The entire west
wing and immediate out-buildings had been disintegrated, flattened to
the ground with brick, plaster, and timber blown everywhere. Fire was
already ripping through the rest of the villa. Dillon shook his head,
slung his Heckler over his shoulder and grabbed Tatiana’s hand.
“This is madness - we have to leave.”
“Where’s Ezra?”
“It’s too late for him. They’re using ship to shore stinger missiles
from a boat out there,” Dillon gestured towards the ocean in the
distance. “Come
on
!”
“Dillon, I don’t want to die like this” said Tatiana.
“I don’t want to die at all,” said Dillon.
They sprinted up the path and around the corner of the villa.
Dillon ducked as a number of bullets smacked into the render just
above his head. There was a scream to his left as Spiros was knocked
off his feet, the side of his head wiped away with a large calibre
sniper’s rifle. Death had been instantaneous. Tatiana screamed, and
Dillon leaped up and emptied a full magazine in the general direction
of the Assassin who had fired the lethally accurate shot.
Dillon spun round - was too late, a black clad figure was upon
him... Tatiana’s gun rattled in her hands and the sound of gunfire was
all around him... He was slammed down hard against the dirt, and
for a second thought he was actually dead. Dillon kicked out, rolled
over and the dead body slithered off of him, he sprang up on to
his haunches and started to move back towards the tunnel entrance,
keeping Tats close to him every inch of the way.
Dillon motioned her to stay low, and as they rounded a corner,
he pulled free, raised the Glock in his left hand and shot the Assassin
standing in their path through the back of the head, watching blood
and gore spray and the figure collapse in a tangle of limbs. Dillon
grabbed Tatiana’s hand, and as they stepped over the dead body, he
said in a raised voice, “Where the hell is Ezra?” Tatiana said nothing.
Dillon glanced round at her to make sure she was okay, “You
okay?” A figure ran at them head-on - Tatiana whimpered - the mini
Uzi machine pistol in the figures hand lifted a fraction and Dillon
could see the finger on the trigger, sensed the applied pressure,
pushed Tatiana away and squeezed the Heckler’s trigger as the same
time as he dived. Bullets lightly kissed Dillon’s cheek, so close that he
momentarily felt the heat of their passing; a line of bullets caught the
figure and slammed it into the air, arms flaying around wildly, then it
landed twisted and dead.
“Let’s go.” Dillon snatched Tatiana’s hand and dragged her after
him. To one side he could see some of Ezra’s men fighting hand to
hand with a small group of Assassins, in what looked like a bloody
exchange of knives.
Dillon sprinted towards the entrance of the tunnel and stopped
a short distance away. He checked behind him.
He wasn’t sure how many Assassins were left, or how many
of Ezra’s security force were still standing - as he glanced down at
Tatiana, who had been dragged along behind him in his mad flight for
safety away from the furious gun battle. There were spots of blood
on her face, and Dillon could feel her hands shaking. He looked into
her eyes and said slowly, “Don’t panic, Tats. I promise you, we are
not
going to die - and I
will
protect you. But I need you fully focused.
Come on, we have to keep moving, and Ezra’s escape route is at the
end of that tunnel”
“But how...”
“Don’t worry about it. I will look after you.” Then he leaned
forward and kissed her gently.
Dillon found himself remarkably calm, an insane sort of
calmness which he had only rarely experienced in extremely dangerous
situations.
He was thinking in black and white. Everything was suddenly
very clear - logical.
He felt no panic, no fear.
It was what had set him apart from all of the other field officers
during his time at Ferran & Cardini.
“Follow me.”
Dillon led the way swiftly, Tatiana close behind him. They entered
the mouth of the tunnel, bullet-chewed walls, and the rattle of gunfire
left behind them as they moved into the underground facility. The
noises of violence growing evermore distant, as they moved deeper
towards their only hope of escape.
Dillon gripped the Glock tightly with his left hand and inched
forward down the narrow corridor towards the security door that led
to the control room. He wasn’t even sure if they would be able to gain
access, he patted his jacket breast pocket, and it was still there.
His hands were slippery with sweat. Dillon paused. His senses
on high-alert, his sub-consciousness screamed at him, that there was
imminent danger.
Two Assassins appeared from one of the smaller side servicetunnels in a flurry of movement that shattered the otherwise stillness.
Their hooded heads lowered, as they saw Dillon and Tatiana standing
in front of the access door. Dillon turned, to see them both lift their
Uzi’s, Dillon’s Glock snapped up and he squeezed the trigger - bullets
ripped across the short space.
Dillon sprang forward as the figures came at them. One was
knocked off it’s feet, as the hollow-point bullets, that Dillon favoured,
smashed into its head. The other Assassin leaped at him as…
…the Glock clicked on empty.
The dead man’s click - usually meant the kiss of death...
A fist was thrown forward, only just missing Dillon’s nose as
he swayed backwards, and then spun; his left elbow coming around
with incredible speed against the back of the Assassin’s head, which
was hammered forward and down by the blow. Down onto Dillon’s
knee that was already travelling up, and which connected with boneshattering force.
But the figure still managed to slam a fist into Dillon’s kidneys.
He was knocked sideways, searing pain, through his torso, spittle
spraying from his lips. He seemed to momentarily halt in mid air, then
fell suddenly and hit the ground hard with a dull
thud
, groaning with
the incredible pain. The Assassin stepped over him, moving towards
Tatiana.
Dillon rolled over, temporarily unable to move.
Tatiana cowered in front of the masked figure, which was
poised, ready to strike. The Assassin stopped, effortlessly bent down
to retrieve its Uzi and then pointed the black emotionless muzzle at
Tatiana’s face.
Dillon, in his state of immobility, fumbled a fresh mag into his
gun; then he brought the Glock up and rolling over fired the pistol
one round at a time; all time had slowed and Tatiana was about to be
executed in front of him. It would be his fault, and he had promised
to keep her safe. Promised to protect her. Promised to keep her alive!
The first three hollow-point bullets hissed past the Assassin’s
head.
The black-clad figure spun round - but Dillon wasn’t fazed, he
kept on firing and bullet number seven found its mark. The figure was
suddenly jerked and kicked back, holed and smashed and bleeding
profusely, to twist and land in a heap in the dirt next to Tatiana. She
recoiled away from the body, her face contorted with the absolute
horror of the scene, and then she started to weep with the trauma
of what had just taken place. And just how close she had come to
being executed. Dillon felt the Glock click - the magazine empty, and
he reloaded with a fresh mag and pushed himself up onto his knees.
“
Behind
...” came a voice from deep within his sub-conscious.
Dillon rolled, faster than any middle-aged man had a right to
move. A line of bullets peppered the rough-hewn walls to his side in
a shower of rocks and thick dust. Dillon’s eyes fixed on the swaying
figure of the Assassin, the side of its head partially torn open, a sticky
thick trail of blood and gore covering the hood and soaking the black
outfit. The Assassin’s cheek hung as a loose flap of skin.
Dillon sprang to his feet on a surge of adrenalin, and leapt.
The Uzi spat once - and was silenced.
Dillon took the bullet; a lucky shot, that had sliced across his
side just below his ribs and the body-armour he was wearing. Searing
heat erupted as the bullet carved a neat line of fresh blood to soak
into Dillon’s clothing. The force of the blow spun him around and
sent him crashing to the ground.
There was no pain.
That’s really bad, he thought.
No pain is really bad.
He rolled over, his blood covered hand in front of his face, and
the sticky red liquid looked dangerous. It looked bad, the colour of
something that shouldn’t see the light of day.
Fuck, mused his subconscious, suddenly calm.
The Assassin should have been dead, but Dillon had seen this
drug induced trance once before and, to his mind, this was the only
explanation for the Assassin to still be standing. Dillon watched as
it swayed around, in slow motion, in its own pain, as it fitted a fresh
magazine to the Uzi. Dillon could do nothing. The Assassin stepped
lightly forward, intense stare boring down into him and he recognised
that gaze, those insanely blue eyes, from back in Scotland, from back
at his home when it had been violated.
“Nice to see you again,” he croaked.
“Mr Dillon. It has been a pleasure.”
The soft female voice held no pain, no emotion? Thought Dillon.
And there was that voice again, were these Assassins all female, or was
his mind playing tricks on him?
Dillon could see the finger start to gently squeeze the Uzi’s
trigger. And the Assassin’s hooded face exploded.
Dillon watched, dumbstruck, as a rain of blood, brains and
fragments of skull showered him. The black-clad figure crumpled
slowly to the ground and was then completely still.
Dillon’s focus switched: from the corpse in the foreground to
behind
the corpse where Tatiana stood, Uzi in her hands, a faint almost
hysterical smile on her lips.
“You owe me a big one, Dillon,” she whispered weakly.
Dillon coughed, and said. “I need something to cover this
wound,” his voice was soft, he pushed himself into a sitting position.
Warmth had spread across his torso and down to his crotch.
Tatiana knelt by his side, inspecting the long bullet wound
running down Dillon’s side. Her gaze met his. She swiftly tore the
arms off of her shirt and made a thick pad, which she applied, and
Dillon’s world of pain exploded to a new height of searing heat, that
made him gasp and expel a string of expletives...
And the headache inside his head started to burn.
Returned to burn deep inside his brain.
“Tats, this is turning out to be a shit day,” he croaked.
Dillon struggled to his feet, the pad of cloth pressed firmly to his
side by his trouser belt. Tatiana bent, retrieved his Glock and helped
him reload the blood spattered weapon with a fresh mag. They both
took the Uzi’s off of the dead Assassins’ bodies, slinging the weapons
over their shoulders and then they took a deep breath.
“What now?” Tatiana’s voice was barely a whisper.
“We get the hell out of here, that’s what.” Dillon patted his
jacket pocket, the small digital device wasn’t there, panic immediately
gripped him and a bitter bile rose up into his throat. It must have
fallen out during the fight. He started frantically looking around the
tunnel for the device, and moments later, Tatiana picked it up from
out of the dirt; covered in congealing blood and grime.
“What do I do with this, Dillon?” Asked Tatiana softly, her
shaking hands holding the device up for Dillon to see.
“It’s a digital lock reader. Hold it over the DigiPad on the door
and push the button in the left-hand corner. The numbers will all
change from red to blue when it has the combination sequence.”
Dillon said, holding a hand to his head that felt like it was going to
split open at any second.
Tatiana followed Dillon’s instructions, one by one, each of the
red lights turned to blue, and a moment later the access door to the
control chamber slid silently open.
“Come on,” she said, finding a new level of strength, feeling the
adrenalin surge through her battered body once more. She entered the
chamber with the Uzi held tightly, her finger on the trigger. Looking
around the empty room, everything was as she had seen it earlier, but
now it was only the monitor screens that emitted any form of life.
“Dillon, you’d better take a look at this.”
Dillon stood by her side, the screens were linked to cameras and
what he was watching made a shiver run up his spine, and then all the
way down again. Outside of the tunnel entrance a close combat fight
was taking place between at least a dozen of Ezra’s security guards
and Assassins, who out-numbered them by two to one. “Shit. We have
to get out of here - fast...” Tatiana and Dillon both heard Ezra’s voice
in their earpiece and the message was simple - it was time to leave the
party.
They had exactly sixty seconds, before the Electro Magnetic
Impulse went off.
All of the computers started to shut down and the stark white
lighting turned to red. Dillon led the way to the escape panel, and into
the escape chute.
They stopped just behind the doorway, Dillon listening intently
for any sounds outside in the main tunnel. And then the devil himself
started banging on the metal door. They were using a large calibre
Gatlin gun in the tunnel outside, to smash through the door. He
pushed the button that Ezra had shown him to initiate a full lockdown, then jumped into the brake seat of the sled, and motioned
Tatiana to also get in. “No time to lose, Tats - they’re knocking at the
door.”
I hope this thing works,” she muttered, getting into the forward
seat of the sled.
Dillon released the brake and the sled started to ease forward. A
moment later; and they were hurtling down through the tiny tunnel
towards the exit at the base of the cliffs.
The sled ran noisily on its mono-rail track, all the time picking
up speed as it descended the one thousand two hundred feet to sea
level. Dillon fought with the brake around the bends, and let the bullet
shaped toboggan run free on the straights, moments later they shot
out of the tunnel in a shower of sparks; Dillon applied full brakes,
slowing to a halt into a cavernous area where two other escape sleds
had already been abandoned.