Bullets ripped through the air, only they didn’t come from the guard but from behind him. An SED fighter had targeted the guard and sent a burst of ammo slashing into him. The bullets ripped through his ribcage, making him jerk spasmodically and then fall dead to the floor.

  Mason took a breath. Kobayashi was at the vehicle’s back door. Mason backed up this time, keeping his eyes peeled in all directions. The SED fighter was staring at them, probably wondering if he should make a move towards them, but became distracted by a flash of bullets in his own direction. He flung himself to the ground.

  ‘I think the SED have taken the gloves off,’ Roxy yelled.

  ‘They’re gonna be pissed when they find out we’ve beaten them to the main prize,’ Mason said.

  Kobayashi squeezed his bulk through the back door, pushing and struggling, filling half of the rear of the car.

  Mason slammed the door shut, felt it rebound off the guy’s massive shoulder and waited a few seconds more for him to shuffle along the leather.

  Moments later, he was in the front seat.

  Raising his weapon, he turned to Roxy. ‘Gun it.’

  Chapter 31

  Roxy slammed her foot to the floorboards.

  The big vehicle spurted forward, sped out of the garage and emerged into the sunshine. Mason took a moment to think. He didn’t believe they’d be shot at by Kobayashi’s guards, nor by the snipers on the roof. None of them could know exactly what was happening inside the car. Their only danger was the SED.

  The driveway lay in front of them, curving around the fountain, past a couple of statues and the SED’s two four-wheel-drive vehicles. Roxy didn’t let up; she kept her foot down and both hands firmly on the wheel. The tyres slewed across the crunching gravel, tiny stones flicking up in their wake.

  Now half the SED’s attention turned towards them.

  Mason ducked into the passenger footwell. Kobayashi screamed to see the weapons pointed at them. Roxy put her head down to wheel level, just able to see over its leather upper.

  There was an outburst of gunfire, but it didn’t come from the SED. It came from Kobayashi’s guards, and their bullets pinned the SED down for several crucial seconds. The vehicle raced towards them. Mason raised his head a little, saw several of them scrambling out of the way, one man even jumping into the fountain.

  It was then he realised how close Roxy was getting to the large concrete obstacle.

  Her head was below the steering wheel. She couldn’t see properly, couldn’t see the impediments before them.

  ‘Look out!’ he cried.

  Roxy twisted the wheel savagely, but not fast enough. The vehicle struck the fountain side-on, smashing the passenger-side headlights and buckling the metal, bringing it to an abrupt stop. Everyone inside was jerked forward, slamming their heads on the bulkheads. Roxy struck the steering wheel with some force, dazing her. Mason was momentarily stunned.

  The engine roared. Kobayashi was yelling. Mason put a hand to his head; his fingers came away slick with blood. No wonder the world was spinning. But he couldn’t let the shock overcome him now. He stretched his neck, rolled his shoulders, turned to Roxy and shook her.

  ‘You okay? Get us moving.’

  The car was wedged against the side of the fountain. Mason saw figures. It had to be the SED; they were closest. Did they know Kobayashi was in the car? It would explain why they weren’t firing at it. He pressed the electric window button, felt a little absurd as he waited for it to slide down, then poked his Uzi out and fired randomly.

  Instantly, the approaching figures backed off.

  Kobayashi was still yelling in the back seat. Mason paid no attention to him. The Japanese man tried pulling on the door handles but the car’s electronic locking mechanism had engaged when they set off and now wouldn’t let him out. Something you could change in the settings of the car. Mason was thankful for it.

  He turned quickly now. ‘Calm down,’ he said. ‘If you leave the car now, you’re running straight into the hands of your enemy. They came here to grab and kill you.’

  ‘Just look at it this way,’ Roxy’s slurred voice said. ‘Now, we’re your saviours.’

  ‘You got me into this mess,’ Kobayashi screamed at them.

  ‘No, they’d have come for you anyway, and they would have killed you after interrogation.’

  Kobayashi suddenly went quiet. ‘Interrogation?’

  ‘These are a secret group of special forces soldiers,’ Mason said. ‘In the country secretly and plotting to murder anyone who’s had a hand in uncovering their casino. They don’t give a shit about you.’

  Kobayashi clammed up. Mason turned to Roxy. ‘You okay?’

  A figure appeared next to his window, body clad in black. The man reached in and tried to grab Mason’s Uzi. Mason jerked his weapon away with two hands, which left him vulnerable to attack. He took an elbow to the face and then one to the forehead. The attacker reached in through the window.

  Mason let go of the Uzi, saw it clatter into the footwell, took hold of his opponent around the neck and dragged him in through the window. The man struggled, arms trapped. Mason found he could barely manoeuvre despite the vehicle’s generous cabin space. He had the man in a headlock and forced him down.

  It was Roxy who leaned forward, her gun reversed, and smashed it into the man’s head. Once, twice, three vicious strikes. Finally, the SED guy went limp. Mason heaved him back through the window and watched his body slump outside.

  ‘You okay?’ he asked Roxy.

  ‘I’ll live, I think.’

  ‘Good enough for me. Now, do you think you could get us moving before these SED bastards decide to swarm us?’

  Roxy smacked the car into reverse and put her foot down. The engine screamed. In the rear-view, she saw a dark figure lurking behind her and yelled. Mason looked back. The vehicle slammed into the figure, sending it flying to the right. Mason jerked forward as he felt the impact.

  There were figures in the side mirrors, someone trying to wrench open both back doors. A gun was reversed and struck one of the back windows, shattering it. Kobayashi scooted away from the falling glass, screaming. Roxy engaged Drive and put her foot down.

  The car leapt forward, tyres slewing across the gravel, spitting stones into the faces of their pursuers. This time they scraped by the fountain, the concrete scarring the vehicle’s entire right side. Mason flinched.

  ‘Bloody hell,’ he said.

  ‘Sue me, bitch,’ Roxy murmured.

  They picked up speed, hurtling beyond the fountain now and angling for the gates. They threaded a gap between the SED’s two vehicles, only snapping off a wing mirror, which Mason reckoned was quite a feat for Roxy under the circumstances. He swivelled in his seat to look behind, saw several SED figures racing after them on foot, then heard the gunfire resume.

  ‘Your men are bright,’ he told Kobayashi. ‘They knew you were in the car. They stopped shooting. Now they’re trying to pick off the SED again.’

  The gunfire was unnerving. They sped closer to the gates. Gravel flew from under their tyres. A howling wind swept in through the broken window. Mason reached over to check Roxy’s forehead as she drove.

  ‘You’re bleeding.’

  ‘I know. So are you.’

  It was running into her right eye. Mason used his sleeve to staunch it, wiped it clear. Roxy nodded as she drove.

  ‘Better.’

  They were nearing the gates. Mason turned again to look through the back window. Ideally, they should let Kobayashi go now. He’d told them all he could. But if they let him go now, they were condemning him to certain death. The SED would nab him and do what they did best. Of course, Kobayashi was a criminal, and a nasty one at that. Should Mason worry about his ultimate plight?

  He wouldn’t send Kobayashi out to his death. He turned forward, saw the gates looming ahead. Roxy was aiming for the gap that the SED had made on entry.

  A barrage of bullets smashed into the Range Rover. This was no idle machine-gun sweep; this was a concerted attack. Mason swore, hunkering down. The SED clearly didn’t want them to leave the compound. The rear window smashed in. The windscreen too. Glass flew everywhere. At least two bullets smashed into the centre console, shattering instrument panels and switches. In the back, Kobayashi was on his knees, hands to his ears, head down.

  Roxy lost control of the vehicle as she neared the gates. The front end slewed around, ended up facing the way they’d come. Now they were looking at the SED team bearing down on them. They were facing a hail of bullets.

  Which abruptly stopped. Mason knew they still wanted Kobayashi alive…if possible. The purpose of their gunfire was to stop the car, not kill the criminal, and they had succeeded. He raised his Uzi now and sprayed through the broken front window.

  Five bullets were expelled, then the gun clicked on empty. Mason cursed. Roxy still had her weapon. Ahead, four dark-clad figures were closing in on the car.

  What’s our next move? he thought.

  For now, they couldn’t stay in the car. They were sitting ducks. He motioned to Roxy, then grabbed the door handle.

  ‘Kobayashi,’ he yelled. ‘Out.’

  He clicked the lock release button as he flung his door open and leapt down from the car, boots crunching in the gravel. He had an idea. Roxy jumped out the other side. Kobayashi followed Mason.

  The sound of gunfire increased. Bullets strafed from in front of the house, across the grounds, and flew among the SED mercenaries. Several of them went down, not killed, just hit in their bulletproof vests, groaning. One man took a bullet to the arm. Mason was in the thick of it, keeping Kobayashi low, wincing as bullets whined past him.

  ‘Your men are getting desperate,’ he said.

  ‘They are idiots.’

  ‘No, they are fighting for you.’

  Mason stayed low, scooting over to one of the fallen sentry guards. As he’d hoped, the dead man had been carrying an Uzi. Mason now scooped it up and checked the mag.

  Full.

  He glanced over to Roxy, saw that she’d dashed over to the other sentry guard and grabbed his weapon too. Mason ducked behind the sentry box as two more bullets skimmed past.

  ‘It’s fucking crazy,’ Kobayashi said.

  Mason had to agree. Gunfire swept the grounds, smashing through the air, peppering the fountain, the Range Rover, the gates and the sentry boxes. It was a deadly hail. The SED had hit the ground and were covering up; those behind the fountain were taking cover. Mason saw one man caught behind a statue, the concrete figure barely wide enough to cover him. The SED’s only recourse was to fire back, to take the attackers out of play. They lay low and opened fire, making Kobayashi’s men duck and cover.

  Mason was desperate to move. They weren’t done with the vehicle yet. It was their only way out of here. Every time a bullet struck it, he winced. But, as the SED’s attention was caught by Kobayashi’s men, and they started returning fire, the bullets flying past him decreased.

  He peered out from behind the sentry box.

  Ahead, three SED fighters were prone on the ground, about two hundred yards distant. To left and right, others were lying flat or concealed behind statues and the fountain. Their attention was fully focused on Kobayashi’s men, who were firing from the house, from windows, from the garage and from behind two large plant pots.

  It was now or never. He signalled to Roxy.

  They broke cover, raced back for the Range Rover. Two hundred yards in front of them, the SED fought in the face of a barrage of bullets. Mason reached the car and dived inside, remembered Kobayashi’s earlier struggles, turned, and helped shove the man in through the back doors. Kobayashi’s panic helped, but he still groaned in pain as he forced himself through the gap.

  Roxy leapt in through the other door, again behind the wheel. ‘Engine’s still running,’ she said. ‘You ready?’

  ‘Hit it.’

  Roxy put the car into reverse, backed up, then flung it into Drive and twisted the wheel to the right. The car flew over the gravel, turning towards the broken gates. Mason aimed his weapon and, when the SED turned their attention to the fleeing vehicle, let off a couple of bursts. The bullets kept the situation contained.

  Roxy aimed the car at the gap in the gates and put her foot down. The vehicle spurted forward, scraping the broken metal as it went through, then bounced down a kerb onto the road outside. Roxy sawed at the wheel. The car veered to the right, Kobayashi rolling around the back and smacking into various bulkheads and the back seat.

  Mason didn’t look back as Roxy put her foot down.

  Chapter 32

  Captain Miura stamped out his cigarette and lit another, furious. His men were incompetent, unable even to take down a bunch of low-brow criminal scum. They had completely botched the mansion attack, letting themselves get pinned down under fire, and allowed that damn car to escape from the compound. Of course, that damned car had the criminal Kobayashi inside it. The fat man, as Miura thought of him.

  Miura sat in a large SUV, the interior filled with smoke from his cigarettes. Some of his men were there too, wreathed in smoke, and he didn’t care. He puffed on his second and was already contemplating a third. He was trying to calm himself, trying, although surrounded by smoke, to see a clearer picture.

  They had been lucky to stumble across Kobayashi’s name. It had come in the middle of an interrogation, some despicable man named Endo, who had handled the coins in question. The guy had spilled the beans pretty quickly, giving them Kobayashi’s name and then begging them not to tell him who gave them the information. Miura had taken his knife out, handed it to one of his men and watched in pleasure as the idiot’s throat was slit. Miura had then made a few enquiries through his secretive organisation back home and, three hours later, had been rewarded with Kobayashi’s address.

  And now, this rival team was really getting on his nerves.

  Again, they were there first. Again, they had thwarted his plans. These barbaric, brutal adversaries had got the drop on him and sped off with the criminal in question. This put Miura in a difficult position with his bosses.

  Admitting failure to them wasn’t possible. Such a stupid move would spell his doom. At the same time, he needed to move forward.

  What next?

  They were a secret group with orders to harm if they had to, to kill if they needed to, to conspire to safeguard the Shadow Kings’ agenda at all costs. Miura was determined that he wouldn’t fail in the attempt. His team was a little bedraggled, but they were still thirteen strong. Despite everything, he hadn’t lost a man yet. Yes, one man had been shot in the arm, others were banged up, but they were all still in working order. That was a plus.

  But how to best the stupid enemy?

  All they really needed was the location of the casino. That was it. If they had that, then the enemy would eventually come to them. Did he really need to run around like an entitled fool, mad for materialistic gain, chasing across a country that was becoming lost in its own greed? Or was there a better way?

  Miura was sure he had time. He finished the second cigarette, ground it beneath his boot and lit up a third. Someone coughed in the back seat. Miura turned to stare at the man, giving him hard eyes.

  ‘Kobayashi,’ he said, ‘is the key.’

  And then he struck the back of the leather seat again and again. ‘Where is he?’ he screamed, punctuating the strikes. ‘Where is he?’

  He drew down hard on the third cigarette.

  A brave man spoke up, the driver. ‘We will get him,’ he said confidently. ‘Don’t forget, normal soldiers are indolent, unfocused. Not like us. We are relentless with laser-guided focus. We are better because we work for the Shadow Kings. Normal soldiers think they have a democracy, believe they are masters of their own destiny. But they are slaves, slaves to a government that cares little for them as long as it can line its own pockets. They simply do not learn. The world and its governments do not deserve this casino. We are working for a greater good.’

  Miura agreed with the man, but backhanded him across the face anyway, just to let out a little more anger.

  ‘They are all undisciplined,’ he said. ‘We know that. Even so, they stumble through, they get things done. Perhaps they are well trained. But we are a better team. Though the Shadow Kings are young as a world presence, we are strong. We grow, we fortify, we consolidate our power.’ He went silent, thinking. There had to be a way to get to Kobayashi.

  And there was.

  Miura believed he was doing a good job. They should praise him, promote him maybe. He was fighting in a flawed country, against men and women who embraced all the world’s vices, fighting for his country, his home. The boss knew that; the boss would see the good in him.

  Even so, failure would not be tolerated.

  Miura hadn’t failed yet. Yes, they had lost the fat criminal, lost the other team, made a mess inside the compound. They had killed men more or less openly.

  But all this wasn’t the reason for Miura’s chain-smoking and general mood. Right now, Miura had to call his boss.

  He stepped out of the car, crushed out the cigarette and dialled a number. The call was answered on the third ring.

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘We are moving closer to our goal.’

  ‘Then you have nothing new?’

  Miura ground his teeth. ‘The operation is ongoing.’

  ‘I hate speaking in these general terms, but understand it is necessary. Tell me, captain, what is new?’

  ‘We have tracked down the ultimate source.’

  ‘Are you sure it is the ultimate source?’

  Miura hesitated. Was Kobayashi the ultimate source? Had he taken the coins from the ancient casino? Did he know its location? Miura realised all he had were a few tentative leads.

  ‘It’s not positive, but it is promising.’

 

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