The Curse of Medusa

“Hardly… after James Matheson made his little phone call when she and Hawke were on the run in Cairo that’s the last place she’d be. As far as the Government of the Russian Federation is concerned Maria Kurikova is persona non grata.”

“So she’s with you on Elysium?”

“Sure is,” Scarlet said, raising her eyebrows. “Now we get borscht on Tuesdays. Yummy.” She pretended to vomit.

Ryan nodded, ignoring the former SAS woman. “She sure is, and we’re getting along just fine. She has excellent offensive techniques in the Sambo and Systema schools of Russian martial arts.”

“And you would know that how?”

He looked at her and winked.

“Oh… that’s gross, Ryan,” she said, but half-returning his smile. “Keep your disgusting little bedroom habits to yourself in future.”

“Sorry… it’s just a joke.”

“Which is exactly what Maria said when she saw inside Ryan’s underpants for the first time.”

“Hey!”

Alex suppressed a laugh. “So why isn’t she here keeping an eye on you?”

“Eden only wanted to send a couple of us up here, so…” Ryan glanced at Scarlet who had now grown tired of the conversation and crossed the room to harass Trent. “So you got the short straw…”

She smiled, and was happy that he had found someone to help him get over the terrible loss of Sophie Durand. She wondered if she would ever find someone who would make her happy. She knew who that man was, but she knew he was in love with someone else. She kept the thought to herself and decided to change the subject. “Okay, Mr Bale… let’s get to work. That crazy son-of-a-bitch is somehow using the severed head of an ancient monster to turn people to stone, and we’re going to find out just how the hell to stop it!”

“I bet you never thought you’d say that sentence in your whole life.”

“Never!” She held out her hand to shake. “Deal?”

Ryan smiled and shook her hand firmly. “Deal!”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Hawke floored the accelerator down hard and they shot off in pursuit of the English arms dealer currently racing a Dodge Viper down New York Avenue and toward the center of Washington DC. He hadn’t even had time to tell Vincent and the others what he was doing.

“Where the hell is he going?” Kim said.

“Search me, but we’re going there too.”

She pulled her cell-phone from her jacket and made a call to her boss at the CIA requesting back-up. Then she called Vincent and told him what had happened over on their side of the warehouse complex.

Now, in the distance they saw a puff of smoke as Collins hit the brakes to take a corner. They heard the tires squeal from a block behind his speeding Viper.

“We can’t lose him now!” Kim said. “We only have New Orleans as a destination — it’s just not enough.”

“Yeah, I worked that out all by myself… hold on!”

Hawke braked for the same corner but it was still too fast. Kim gripped hold of the door handle and screamed as the Suburban tipped over onto two wheels. Hawke struggled to control the heavy car at such a speed, but swung the wheel around and brought it crashing back to the ground. With all four wheels on the asphalt, he slammed the throttle down and the Chevy leaped forward once more in pursuit of the fleeing Englishman.

Hawke checked his mirror instinctively for cops, but the curfew had thinned their numbers and the coast was clear.

“Where the hell is the little bastard going?” he asked.

Kim frowned. “Looks like he’s heading to Georgetown for some reason.”

“Can you think why? There must be something… why would a man on the run go there? I’m betting it isn’t the coffee shops.”

“Well, he sure ain’t going to the university either… wait a minute!”

Hawke shot her a glance. “What is it, Kim?”

“It’s a long shot but there is something. There’s a helipad at the Georgetown University Hospital.”

“That’s got to be it!” Hawke said. “Remember what Novak said about how Collins had tested the drones because he was a helicopter pilot?”

They took another corner, then Hawke slammed the throttle down to power out of the bend and close the gap with Collins’s Viper.

“Well this is Georgetown all right,” Kim said. “And sure enough — he’s going to the hospital.”

“Look!” Hawke said, pointing out the windshield. “There’s a chopper on the roof, rotors already whirring.”

“Let’s shut this little bastard’s escape route down!” Kim said, pulling out her gun as Hawke skidded to a halt behind the Dodge.

They ran up an external fire escape and hit the roof just in time to see Collins climbing into the chopper beside the pilot. Hawke wasted no time and fired, shattering the side window glass and striking the pilot in the neck. He slumped forward, but Collins took to the controls.

Hawke sprinted to the chopper and swung open the door before Collins had raised enough power to get airborne.

Collins cursed as he raised the collective, but the lack of sufficient power meant there was no response.

As Kim stood back covering Hawke with her pistol, the English SBS man opened the door of the chopper, punched Nick Collins in the face and unclipped his seatbelt.