Free Nano by Sam Fisher Page B

second, then Steph, Mai, Pete and Chloe engaged vertical ascent at maximum thrust. The four planes shot upward at 930 kilometres per hour, reaching 7000 metres in 17.2 seconds. Beneath them, the roof of Hangar B slid open and they could see the Big Mac begin to climb up above the building. It hovered before Dimitri engaged its own vertical thrusters and the plane climbed with staggering speed through the darkness.
    Twenty seconds later, the Big Mac had drawn parallel with the Silverbacks.
    ‘Okay, guys. Bon voyages,’ Mark said and the five aircraft shot away into the night, heading northwest in a direct flight-path to Dubai . . . and the unknown.

19
    72 metres beneath the English Channel, 7.50 am local time
    He was in position precisely on time. Everything had been calculated to the second. It had been rehearsed and practised.
    The bomb did not have to be powerful. It needed to be just potent enough to do its job. He glanced down at the device. A simple contraption – a timer, a trigger and a small knot of explosive.
    He flicked on the trigger mechanism and watched the lights come alive and flash green . . . one, two, three, then an orange bulb lit up and started to pulsate in the dark.
    Next he turned to the timer – an iPhone on the alarm clock function. He checked his wristwatch and nudged the controls on the phone, setting the timer to precisely 9 minutes 30 seconds. Taking a deep breath, he pushed the alarm ‘on’ and flicked another switch on the trigger. The orange light turned green.
    He pulled himself upright and swung around his torch, sending a patch of white across the walls of the tunnel. Taking a step back, he crossed a set of rails and strode about 20 metres back along the tracks towards the hatch in the side wall.

20
    She had never felt so excited in her life. This was better than any sex, any drug. In her hand lay a tiny phial containing an innocuous-looking colourless liquid. She lowered herself onto her haunches and held the torch over the box of tricks at her feet. It was a relatively plain looking metal case.
    She lifted the lid. Inside, she could see the row of switches and the red light blinking. Next to the light was a circular plastic cover. She prised it up and placed the phial into the hole and closed the cover. It clicked as the plastic slotted into place.
    She turned to the timer. Checking her wristwatch, she set it to 10 minutes 30 seconds and flicked up the row of switches in quick succession. As the last switch slid into place, it completed a circuit inside the metal box. The red light turned green. The timer started to count down.
    She straightened, looked around the tunnel, the wall lit up by her torch, and walked quickly away towards the hatch in the side wall.

21
    He watched her tumble into the opening and quickly pull herself to her feet. She checked the door was closed and then smeared petroleum gel around the seam where it sank into the wall. There was no lock on the door but she hardly imagined they would need one.
    ‘Done?’ she asked.
    ‘Done. You?’
    She merely smiled, turned and led the way along the narrow corridor that ran parallel to the tunnel.
    The room had been located and prepared in advance. Two chairs, some food, gas masks, antitoxin (just in case), a map and weapons. It was all a precaution. If everything went according to plan they should be out in a few hours.
    Everything was ready.

22
    22 kilometres south of Dubai, 9.10 am
    ‘Good morning,’ Azrael said over an encrypted video link.
    There was a delay on the line, he looked around him for a second. Sand as far as the eye could see, not a single discordant feature, no sign of civilisation – just how he liked it. The bodies of the eight dead soldiers who had had the nerve to pursue him lay in the bloodied sand 8 kilometres back.
    ‘No amusing hats and scarves today, Azrael?’ War said, then exploded with a high-pitched laugh that went on and on.
    Azrael said nothing, his face