Tom grimaced and aimed again.
Another silent puff.
Nothing.
Sam struggled to fire off another shot, and then glanced at his gun. Tom swore. Was it possible his friend was out of ammo?
Tom fired again and the man bucked and buckled and was swept off into oblivion.
Sam glanced at the copter and almost lost his balance.
“Oh, you ass, keep your feet!” Tom shouted out the window. “Not gonna save your life just so you can fall off the god damn train!”
He pulled the trigger.
The third figure splattered and slid off the roof, leaving a smear of red Tom could see even from here.
“Go!” Tom shouted. “Gen, get low, go down!”
Genevieve followed his orders and brought the helicopter to hover directly above the first carriage.
Tom leaned out of the window but he was at the wrong side of the helicopter. There was no way Sam could see him from here.
The tiny figure of Sam spotted the copter — how could he not? — and covered his head with his hands.
Tom groaned and yelled to Genevieve, “Get on the other side! Open the door and get on the other side so he can see!”
The helicopter dipped and slid and by the time Tom could see again all he saw was the top of Sam’s head disappearing back down into the carriage.
Tom slapped the window. “Shit.”
Genevieve shrugged. “You have to admit — he didn’t know we were coming. It does look a little… ominous, considering what he just fought off.” She broke off when she saw what Tom was doing. “What are you doing?”
Tom slung his weapon over his neck and around his chest and pushed up his sleeves, making his way to the door at the side of the copter. He grabbed the exit loop and crouched down.
“Get me as low as you can, Gen. I’m going down after him.”
She arched an eyebrow. “I’ll do my best.” She looked at him, directly in his eyes. “Try not to get killed, okay?”
Tom grinned. “Don’t worry about me.”
Then he gripped the ring and vaulted into space.
Chapter Fifty-Five
Sam flattened himself behind the interchanger, buffeted by the wind from the door.
He clutched his empty pistol, trying to catch his breath. Whoever these bastards who were after him were, they had more firepower than he thought. They’d sent helicopters after him. When the bullets had whizzed by, he’d thanked god the rock and pitch of the train had foiled their aim.
They’d taken out their own men, though? He wondered about that in the deafening roar between the cars. Or was this a second enemy?
Sam glared. A second enemy. Christ. Who the hell were these people?
A clank echoed in the between cars and he grabbed the empty pistol harder. If worse came to worst, he could use it as a club. If he could get the jump on them, that was. He had to keep them close. Closer quarters and surprise. That was the key.
The clanks increased and the door rattled. Sam glanced at it.
It opened.
A massive man entered carrying a sub machine gun and that was all Sam saw before he jumped, smashing the empty pistol into the other man’s skull.
“OW!” he shouted. Clutching his temple, the man staggered back. Sam knocked the gun into his jaw and the other man flinched. He glared, and then launched himself at Sam with a roar.
“You bastard!” he shouted. “I’m on your side!”
What?
A trick. Sam could get the truth of that when the gun was out of his hand and his boot was on this bastard’s neck.
He rammed his knee into the big man’s chest. The wind went out of him with a grunt. His grip on the gun loosened, and Sam knocked it away. In the tiny confines of the car interchange, it didn’t go very far.
The big man glared, wheezing. “Right,” he said, wiping his face. He nodded at Sam’s pistol. “You’re out of ammo or you would have shot me by now. You asked for it.”
He barreled forward into Sam and Sam hit the shuddering wall of the train with a grunt. He struggled to get his breath back in his lungs as he swung out wildly at the big man’s head. The man shouted again. “You idiot! Stop this! We’re —”
He dodged another swing. “SAM!” he shouted. “You have to stop this! I’m Tom! It’s Tom! You —”
Sam lashed out, hitting Tom in the nose.
He staggered away and Sam rammed into him, knocking him to the decking. He lurched forward, going for the MP5.
He’d almost gotten a grip on it when Tom heaved up from the decking and brought his leg right up in between Sam’s.
Sam collapsed, gasping.
“Bitch!” he panted.
Tom grunted as the two men wrestled, weaponless but for fists. Tom got the gun behind him, under him, and refused to budge. Sam tried to shove him off, lure him off, but this bastard was a canny fighter, and strong. Military background, Sam thought distantly. It had to be.
The man got him in a headlock and Sam couldn’t shake it.
“You ready to listen to me, you daft bastard?”
Sam struggled to breathe as stars winked around the edges of his vision. He punched as hard as he could at the solid wall that was his attacker.
The world turned black and flickered as Tom withdrew his Glock 17 handgun from his belt.
He pressed it into Sam’s temple. “How about that? If I was your enemy I’d shoot you dead right here!” His voice shook and Sam was surprised to hear tears in his voice. “But I’m not.” He shook his head. “I’m not your enemy, Sam. I’m your best friend.” He kept the gun to Sam’s temple as Sam wheezed air back into his lungs, gasping. “We go all the way back to our school days. High school. Remember?” He laughed, suddenly. “We’ve always fought. And I’ve always beaten you. Even when we competed at track and field.”
Sam grunted.
The pressure around his throat released as Tom pressed the gun harder into his temple. “Do you believe me now?”
Sam gasped, watching the man warily. “It looks like I don’t have much of a choice.”
Tom stared at him, and then the gun retreated from the side of Sam’s skull. “Good,” he said, waving it at the small space between the cars. “Then if it’s all the same to you, let’s get out of here before any more of your friends arrive.”
“Get out of here?” Sam wiped his mouth, spitting blood onto the dirty steel. “We’re on a moving train. Where exactly do you suggest we go?”
He stalled in surprise at the hand extended to him. After a tense moment he gripped the hand and pulled himself to his feet. Tom grinned and cocked a grin toward the sky.
“Genevieve has the Eurocopter waiting for us.”
Chapter Fifty-Six
The Eurocopter banked and Sam was rewarded with his first view of the Tahila as she motored along the Baltic Sea in all her glory, like some sort of medieval predator.
Sam smiled. “She’s beautiful.”
Tom caught his view. “Yeah, you would say that.”
Sam bit his lower lip. “What does that mean?”
Tom laughed. “It means, you designed her.”
Genevieve landed and Sam re-met the rest of the crew.
He would have liked to spend some more time getting to know, and maybe even trust his old crew again, but he was on a tight schedule. He still needed to reach The Hague and that meant working out what he was supposed to be doing there. So, for now, he would just have to accept that his crew were there for him and could be trusted.
In the mission room, Sam played the recording that he’d taken from the Betamax in front of Elise, Tom, Genevieve, Veyron, and Matthew — in the hope that one of them would see something that he hadn’t found.
When it was finished, Sam said, “See… it’s pretty weird. So much for leaving any secrets to be revealed.”