Ark Angel - Anthony Horowitz [87]
He braced himself, waiting for the chatter of the guns and the searing agony that would follow.
There was another explosion. A blast of smoke and burning petrol. Alex toppled sideways, deafened. He wondered for the briefest of moments if he had been hit. Then he plunged into the water as fragments of broken, blackened fibreglass ricocheted all around him like a swarm of bees. His hands no longer had the strength to hang onto the control bar. He was sucked beneath the surface, twisting round and round, broken, finished.
He surfaced.
The Princess was on fire. There was no sign of the driver, no sign of the three armed men. The boat swerved, trailing black smoke, and began to slow down.
Alex was choking. He coughed up water and twisted round. Another boat had appeared, some sort of naval vessel. There was a man standing in the bow, holding a bazooka. Alex recognized the blond hair and chiselled features of Ed Shulsky, the CIA agent he had met in New York.
“Alex!” Shulsky called out. “You want a ride?”
Alex was too weak to respond. His shoulders and face had been burnt by the sun but he was shivering. The boat drew up alongside him and he was pulled on board. There were a dozen men on the deck, all young and tough-looking. Someone produced a large towel and wrapped it around him.
“We were watching the island,” Shulsky told him. “We saw you coming, although we didn’t know it was you at first. To be honest, we couldn’t believe what we were seeing. I still don’t believe it! So we came over to help…”
It was all the explanation Alex needed. “Drevin has Tamara Knight,” he said. “She’s a prisoner. And there’s something you need to know—”
Just then, it happened.
A blinding light so bright that it seemed to blot out the sun, sucking the blue out of the sea and the sky, turning the whole world white. A noise like an explosion, only ten times louder and more sustained. A shock wave that shivered across the water, sending new waves punching into the side of the boat. The very air seemed to vibrate and Alex felt a bolt of pain in both ears.
He turned in time to see a silver pencil blasting into the sky, flame scorching out of its base, rising as if on a cushion of smoke. It was ten miles away, tiny, but even so Alex could sense its awesome power and majesty. He watched as it disappeared, effortlessly penetrating the upper atmosphere.
He was too late. Gabriel 7 had been launched.
The bomb that was going to bring Ark Angel crashing down onto Washington was on its way.
THE RED BUTTON
It sometimes seemed to Alex that the whole universe was against him. Getting away from Flamingo Bay had almost killed him. It had been an exhausting struggle against time, the elements and Drevin’s firepower.
And now he was going back.
It was the CIA agent, Ed Shulsky, who had made it happen.
“Alex, you know the place. I need you to tell me where they’re holding Tamara. You can give me the layout of the island. Anyway, we don’t have much time. You saw for yourself. The rocket is on its way, and if what you’ve told me is true…”
“It is.” Alex felt a spurt of annoyance. Why should the American doubt, even for a moment, what he had said? Was it perhaps because he was only fourteen?
Shulsky noticed his reaction. “I’m sorry. That was out of line. But this plan of his, Ark Angel … Washington…” He shook his head. “It’s beyond anything we could have imagined. And that’s why we have to take him out. Right now. We don’t have time to drop you off.”
“But you’re too late,” Alex argued. “Gabriel 7 has gone. What are you going to do? Shoot it down?”
Shulsky smiled. “There’s no need for that. All we have to do is find the red button.” Alex looked puzzled. “The self-destruct! If something went wrong with the launch, Drevin would have had to have a fallback. We’ll be able to blow it up before it gets anywhere near Ark Angel.”
Alex was standing at the bow of the armour-plated Mark V Special Operations Craft, the sleek, streamlined vessel used primarily to carry SEAL combat swimmers into operations. It was equipped with 7.62mm Gatling