The Messiah Secret - James Becker [122]
For an instant Bronson thought he was going to shoot them both. Instead the soldier turned, and in a single fluid movement reversed the weapon in his hand and tossed the pistol over to Bronson. Then he swung back, snapped off the safety catch of his Kalashnikov and headed for the cave entrance.
Donovan was white with fear and anger. ‘What’s happening?’ he demanded.
‘Just get out of sight, JJ, and shut the hell up while I sort this,’ Masters snapped. Then he turned away. ‘Don’t go outside,’ he yelled.
But he’d picked his men well – they were all ex-military – and the last thing John Cross was going to do was run out of a dark cave into bright sunlight where enemy troops were probably waiting to cut him down.
Bronson didn’t question, didn’t hesitate. He caught the weapon in mid-air, grabbed Angela by the hand and pulled her as far away from the entrance as he could.
‘What’s going on?’ she demanded breathlessly, crouching beside him in the darkness at the far end of the short right-hand tunnel of the cave.
Bronson craned his neck as he tried to see outside. ‘That sounded to me like two different weapons. One was definitely like a heavy machine-gun, and that could mean—’ He broke off as a renewed burst of firing sounded from outside the cave, and then a familiar deep throbbing noise, overlaid by the roar of jet engines.
‘That’s a chopper.’ Bronson pulled back the slide on the pistol to chamber a round and clicked on the safety catch. ‘Maybe some Indian Army troops have pitched up.’
He looked around the cave. There was nowhere they could hide. He didn’t know how many men the American had at his disposal, although clearly he’d left at least one or two outside the cave, otherwise there would have been no firing. He also had no idea how many troops were in the attacking force, and no clue what the outcome of the fire-fight was likely to be.
But there was one thing he could do that might help their personal odds a little. And he needed to do it straight away.
63
Nick Masters stood in the entrance to the cave. Down the slope he could see the unmoving shape of one of the three men he’d left on sentry duty. Over to his right, in a left-hand turn, the evil light-grey painted shape of the Hind gunship was unmistakable.
‘Shit,’ he muttered.
‘What the hell’s that gunship doing out here?’ John Cross asked.
As he spoke, the Hind lined up for its next attack, and a short burst from its cannon chewed up the ground immediately in front of the cave entrance. Both men ducked back inside.
Masters tore his glance away from the Hind and looked around the cave. There was no other way out, that was for sure, and nowhere they could hide where the gunship’s weapons couldn’t find them.
Despite the odds, Masters knew they had to neutralize the Hind. But how? With three men dead – and a friend whom he now realised was way too greedy and ambitious for his own good – he was fresh out of options.
‘Wait here,’ Bronson hissed at Angela, and crept forward.
JJ Donovan was cowering behind a pile of rocks, trying to make himself as small as possible. He was staring fixedly at the cave entrance.
Bronson stepped up behind him, smashed the butt of the pistol into the side of his head, then grabbed him by the collar and dragged him to the back of the cave.
‘What on earth are you doing, Chris?’ Angela snapped, her indignation at Bronson’s attack on an unarmed man temporarily overcoming her fear.
‘I’m giving us an edge,’ Bronson said, resting the barrel of the semi-automatic pistol on Donovan’s shoulder so that the end of it rested against the side of his neck. ‘As I see it, there are two groups of armed men out there fighting each other. I don’t know who this guy is, but if his people come out on top, the fact that he’s my hostage might mean we can talk our way out of here.’
‘And if the other group wins?’
He sighed. ‘Then it won’t matter either way.’
When Masters had seen the Barrett on sale in the arms bazaar in Islamabad, he’d immediately decided to buy it. He didn’t imagine they’d need to use it, but it was a useful insurance