‘Put the gun down,’ a voice said, and Pearce looked across the room to see a mountain of a man targeting him with an AR-15.
Pearce kept his pistol aimed at Reznor’s face. ‘No can do.’
The brief exchange was cut short when the security door flew open and the two gate guards were pushed inside by Rasul and his men, who burst into the room waving their guns and shouting wildly.
‘Execute him,’ Rasul shouted at Pearce when he caught sight of Reznor at the end of Pearce’s gun. ‘One of the others will tell us where our product is.’
‘This is turning ugly,’ Leila said into Pearce’s ear. ‘You want me to call the cops?’
‘No,’ Pearce said. He registered Rasul’s disappointment at being refused. ‘We can do this without anyone getting hurt.’
Pearce heard a faint buzzing. It rapidly grew louder and he saw a flight of drones race along the corridor.
‘Shut the door!’ he yelled, but it was too late.
The lead drone swept into the room and the others quickly followed. Rasul, Reznor and their men were puzzled, but Pearce knew exactly what the devices were; mechanical angels of death. He recognized the metal canisters that clung to their undercarriages, replicas of the one used in Ziad’s escape from Al Aqarab. Pearce looked around, searching for the man, but he was nowhere to be seen.
‘Run,’ Pearce yelled, grabbing Rasul and pushing him forward.
Rasul hesitated and looked up in amazement as the canisters detonated.
‘Hold your breath,’ Pearce said, as white powder fell from on high.
Most of the men didn’t hear him over the hubbub of panic and the sound of the drones, but Rasul and Reznor were close enough to heed the advice and took deep breaths before the dust settled on them.
‘Get out of there, Scott,’ Leila urged.
Pearce bundled Rasul and Reznor forwards as men fell all around them, choking as the white powder did its foul work. Pearce tried to shut out the awful sounds of death as he ran along the corridor, trailed by the two gangster princes. He glanced over his shoulder at the gruesome sight of men falling, clawing at their throats, unable to breathe. Rasul and Reznor also registered the horror and their eyes bulged with fear. Pearce was worried about their clothes, which were covered in the lethal powder. He didn’t know how much was a fatal dose, and there was no way he could be sure he wouldn’t inhale some when his burning lungs finally forced him to take a breath.
He sprinted through the warehouse, which was full of dead kitchen workers. Rasul and his men had executed them all. Pearce’s lungs were on fire, and his muscles were getting heavy and tight, but he couldn’t take a breath. He mustn’t. He made it through the lobby, where there were more bodies, and burst out of the building. He was about to start across the car park when he had an idea, but he was distracted by a terrible sound to his rear. He looked round to see Reznor had taken a breath and was now rooted to the spot, clutching his neck, gasping for air. Rasul was gripped by fear and his eyes were almost popping from their sockets with the desperate need to breathe.
Pearce grabbed him and pulled him towards the edge of the car park. They ran to the high fence that separated them from the waterway. Pearce started climbing and Rasul followed. Every inch of Pearce’s body burned with the urge to take what should have been a life-giving breath, but he had to resist. He trembled and his vision shrank to a tunnel. He mustn’t pass out. He’d fall and his breathing would resume automatically, killing him before he ever regained consciousness. He was almost at the top of the fence, and Rasul was a couple of feet behind.
Pearce reached for the metal bar that capped the wire, but he didn’t have the strength to pull himself over, and fumbled weakly.
‘Come on, Scott!’ Leila yelled in his ear. ‘You get over there! Yala! Ya hayawan. Move it, soldier!’
Pearce wanted to laugh at Leila’s impression of a drill instructor, but he could only do that if he survived. With an almighty effort, he grabbed the top bar and hauled himself up and over the fence. He fell down the other side and hit the concrete bank on his way into the river. He swallowed the pain of impact, resisted the instinctive urge to cry out, bounced off the hard stone and plunged into the cold dark water below.