The Curse of Medusa

He heard Scarlet sigh again, and then speak. “I have an idea!”

“Let’s hear it,” Hawke said.

“Why don’t we just get the USAF to shoot it down like the one in DC?”

A pregnant pause.

“Oh yes,” she continued. “That’s right — we can’t do that because there’s a numbnuts called Joe Hawke trapped inside it.”

“Thanks for your input, Cairo, but we’re running out of time. It’s obviously on a pre-programmed route. Is there any way you can hack it, Ryan, and bring it under our control before the timer releases the bacteria?”

“Yeah, I think so — how long have we got?”

“According to a readout here in the cockpit, we only have a minute left before the canister is programmed to disperse the agent. I tried to deactivate the autopilot as I just said but Kiefel must have had Jakob fix it so it couldn’t be switched off after he jumped out the drone.”

“Smashing,” Ryan said.

“So you can hack the thing, yeah?”

“I think so.”

“Me too,” Alex said. “It’s been done before, at least.”

“That’s right,” Ryan said. “The Iranians recently hacked a USAF drone flying over their border by hacking into its GPS system and uploading a maldrone.”

“A what?” Hawke shouted.

“Drone malware, basically. I can use it to hack the drone and connect it to my laptop. That would bring it under my control, theoretically, at least.”

“Theoretically, Ryan, I’m about to get covered in Medusa’s lethal bacteria and turned to stone, and if that’s not enough motivation there’s a strong southerly right now and when Kiefel’s little timer releases this shit it’s blowing all over one of the most densely populated places on earth… so can we just get a move on, please?”

“Already on it,” Alex said. “We already know the drone’s IP address because it’s one of ours, and I just hacked it and disconnected it from its internal GPS guidance system. Anything Kiefel programmed in there is now old news.”

Hawke breathed a sigh of relief. “What now?”

“Now I’m turning it around…”

“Woah!” Hawke yelled as the drone banked hard to the right and steered sharply away from midtown Manhattan.

“How long have we got on that timer, Joe?” Ryan asked.

“Sixty seconds.”

“The SWAT guys have got a sealed unit for us to land it in but it’s on a US Navy ship just off the coast,” Alex said, and then added grimly, “We don’t have time to lower the drone so you can get out, Joe.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Hawke said as he strapped Jakob’s backpack on. “Our German friend left me a get out of jail free card. Just fly the drone over to the yacht and then take her out to the ship!”

Hawke moved to the drone’s door and waited as Ryan flew the drone back to the Hudson then he leaped out and immediately pulled the cord on the BASE jump parachute. He glided safely to earth and landed with a gentle thump beside Cairo at the base of the Statue of Liberty. She was standing a few yards from the container holding Medusa.

“What the hell happened to Jakob, anyway?” Alex asked over the headset.

“He dropped out of city life,” Hawke said.

“You mean the Big Apple didn’t work its magic on him?”

“No — he didn’t see the point of it.”

Scarlet rolled her eyes and they watched the drone, guided by Ryan and Alex, as it landed inside the sealed unit on board the ship in the distance.

“Can you believe we don’t even get a pension for this work?” Scarlet said.

“You’re still talking about money, Cairo, and… wait — I don’t believe it!”

“What is it?”

Hawke pointed at a small Coast Guard tender as it moved toward them. “Look who’s on the bow.”

“Who am I looking at, Joe?”

“The smug bastard waving at us.”

“Who is it?”

Hawke couldn’t help but grin. “It’s Eddie Bloody Kosinski, and he’s coming to get Medusa.”

Hawke and Scarlet shared a glance, and then burst into laughter.

* * *

Moments later their humor was subdued by the sight of Agent Doyle pulling President Grant from the Hudson River. The Commander-in-Chief had the wound Scarlet had aimed for, and was fine, but still needed medical attention. As the team of doctors swarmed around him on his way to Marine One, he called Hawke and Scarlet over.

“Mr Hawke, I can only thank you from the bottom of my heart…”

“Don’t mention it,” Hawke said.

“You saved a nation tonight, Mr Hawke, and maybe the world. We all owe you a debt of gratitude.”

Hawke gave a nod but made no further reply, aware that he was suddenly the center of attention.

As they loaded his stretcher into the back of the giant helicopter, Grant turned to Scarlet.

“As for you — you saved the life of the Commander-in-Chief tonight, and more than that, a husband and a father. I’ll never forget what you did, even if it was slightly unorthodox.”

“No problem, Mr President,” Scarlet said.

“If you ever need anything…”

Now he was inside the chopper and the blades began to speed up. Slowly, the large machine lifted off the ground.

“I’ll bear that in mind!” Scarlet shouted, but her words were drowned out by the turbine and then the President was gone into the night.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE