Dasyueshan Mountain Forest, Taiwan
HANNAH WAS IN AGONY. Luke saw that at once.
‘I’ve strapped up her foot as best I can,’ Jenny said. Even through the makeshift handkerchief bandage on Hannah’s exposed ankle, he could see the bruising, the flesh turning a livid purple. The older woman rocked to and fro, clutching her leg, digging her fingertips into her thigh again and again to distract herself from the pain. She was biting her lip, trying not to cry out. As Jenny knelt beside her, Luke cursed silently as he ran through their options.
Got to get off this track. We’re too exposed here. It’s two minutes, tops, before Bo’s thugs reach this point, less if they can shift that tree trunk. We’ve two choices: head up the slope or down. Never take the obvious path. They’ll be expecting you to go down the hill. That means …
He looked at Hannah Slade. ‘OK, Hannah, we’re running out of time. I’m sorry, but we’ve got to move so—’
‘No, you can’t! You’re not leaving me, are you?’ Her voice shook. Pale, exhausted, racked with pain, she stared up at him. ‘Please! You can’t leave me with those psychopaths!’
‘God, no. But I do have to carry you. And we have to go right now. Jen? Can you take this?’ He flipped the safety on the Heckler & Koch and handed it to his colleague. A beat as Jen held his gaze. Was that rebuke in her eyes? For Kreutzer? They would have to settle this later. If they got to live that long. Then he squatted in front of Hannah, his back to her. ‘Put your arms around my neck, link your hands tight and hold on.’ He reached behind him, taking the weight off her legs and stood, muscles screaming. Hannah groaned but didn’t cry out. A couple of seconds to adjust his balance and they were off down the track at speed, Luke half running, Hannah on his back, as Jenny kept pace beside them.
A short, frantic scramble up a bank, through the bushes and into the pine forest. Got to put the distance in. It was like a voice in his head, over and over, like a mantra. A hundred metres, two hundred, three. Then he stopped and set Hannah down, as gently as he could. ‘You doing OK?’ he asked her. He sensed Jenny turn to look at him.
Hannah glanced up at him, nodded, clenching her jaw. He could see she was fighting through the pain. Then he had to ask the question, had to hear it for himself, even though Jenny had told him. ‘So, Hannah, the file, the flash drive … You’ve got it?’
And for the first time since the moment Bo’s people had lifted her out of that box up at the temple, Hannah’s face broke into a broad smile, in spite of her ankle. It was a smile of triumph. ‘I certainly have,’ she said, and pointed towards her mouth. ‘It’s still in there.’
Luke took a deep breath and grinned at her. ‘God, fantastic job. I can’t think what you’ve had to go through to keep it safe.’ He reached down and gave her hand a squeeze. ‘Look, um …’ What he was going to say next was difficult. He wished he’d spoken to Jenny, asked her to do it because she’d have handled it better, but she was preoccupied, scanning the track for their pursuers and this couldn’t wait.
‘Look, Hannah, I have to ask this,’ he went on, ‘but would you mind if I took the flash drive now? It’s better if I get caught with it than you.’ That wasn’t his reason for asking and she probably knew it.
‘Why? I’ve kept it safe all this time.’
‘Yeah, I know. And you deserve a bloody medal for that, seriously. But it’s Chief’s orders. The Service was very specific about this, that we should take possession of it as soon as we found you.’ It was a lie, of course. Hannah regarded him coolly for several seconds.
‘All right,’ she said at last, with a sigh. ‘But you’d better take good care of it.’ And she inserted her thumb and forefinger into her mouth. Moments later she held out the grey wad of chewing gum, long solidified around the miniature flash drive.
Luke paused as he took it, wondering how something so small could be so valuable before tucking it deep into the breast pocket of his shirt and buttoning it up. ‘We will. I promise.’
‘Luke!’ Jenny hissed. Voices were coming from the trail, not far below them. They sank to the ground, pressing their bodies to the cool, damp earth of the forest floor, as the sounds drew closer. There was birdsong too, in the treetops high above them. Luke listened – he was on the alert for something else: dogs. If they bring tracker dogs we’re stuffed. Keeping his movement to the minimum, he reached over to Jenny and took the MP7, silently flipping off the safety. Twenty-six rounds left. Not enough if Bo’s people found them. He didn’t want to think what would happen to them if they did.
He raised his head a few centimetres above the ground, enough to catch a glimpse of their pursuers. Squat, broad-chested men: some carried guns, others long bamboo staves. One had a net. Suddenly they stopped. One pointed up the hill towards where the three of them lay. Oh God. Don’t come up here. Please don’t come up here. A crackle of walkie-talkies and then he heard them. Dogs.