Free Edge of Danger by Jack Higgins Page A

close now, two of them. ‘He won’t wait around for this lot,’ Blake said. ‘He’s either on his back or on his way. I’m going out.’
    He stepped out of the reeds before the President could order otherwise and stood on the path and waved with both arms as the two Hawk helicopters swung down. They made their landings, each one disgorging six Secret Servicemen in navy-blue assault gear, each one carrying the new Parker-Hale machine pistol. They crowded
    round, and the President emerged, helping Clancy Smith, who had lost a considerable amount of blood.
    ‘The President’s fine,’ Blake said.
    ‘Only because Clancy took a bullet meant for me,’ Cazalet said. ‘Two of you get him into one of the choppers.’
    ‘And you, Mr President, you know the rules. We take you straight out of harm’s way till everything is sorted out,’ Blake said.
    ‘All right, damn you.’ Cazalet whistled to Murchison and followed them as they took Clancy Smith.
    One of the Hawks lifted off and Blake turned to the others. ‘There was one man wearing a black diving suit. He tried to shoot me with an AK. I shot him for sure and he sort of dived into the reeds on that side down there. Don’t come back without him.’
    About the same time, Aidan Bell, back in his diving gear, was sliding the Dolphin into the water. He switched on, climbed on board and took her down to twenty feet as a precaution. Within ten minutes, he was moving out to sea.
    ‘Always the great survivor, Aidan,’ he told himself. ‘Always the great survivor.’
    They found Liam Casey and at first thought he was dead. One of them went for Blake, but by the time he’d arrived the situation had changed, and they were carrying him out of the reeds toward the second Hawk.
    Campbell, the agent in charge, said, ‘He’s got a real bad stomach wound - your shot, I’d say, but you did say you only fired once.’
    ‘Absolutely.’
    ‘Then there’s been someone else around. Someone tried a heart shot, probably to finish him off, but he had a Browning inside his jacket and it turned the bullet. I think he’s on the way out, mind you.’
    ‘Well, let’s get him into surgery as soon as possible.’ There was a military hospital on a small air force base twenty miles away on the main coast.
    ‘I just heard the President’s there already with Clancy,’ Campbell told him.
    ‘Then let’s get moving.’
    On the Hawk, they put Liam Casey on a stretcher, battle packs taped to his wounds. His eyes opened
    and he stared around him, and there was a kind of recognition when he saw Blake.
    ‘I know you,’ he whispered.
    Blake leaned close. ‘How do you know me?’
    ‘The Basement. You’re Dillon’s friend. The Basement man.’
    Blake had never been so astonished. ‘How in the hell do you know that?’ But there was no reply, for Liam Casey had passed out.
    At the hospital, he was taken away and Blake found the President having coffee in a private lounge.
    ‘How’s Clancy, Mr President?’ Blake asked.
    ‘He’ll be fine. He should get a medal. Hell, he shoved me aside and took that bullet, Blake. I’ve been informed you’ve found the assassin. How is he?’
    ‘Being rushed into surgery. He spoke once.’ Blake told him what the Irishman had said.
    ‘The Basement man? Dillon’s friend? Blake, what have we got here?’
    ‘God knows, sir. We’ll have to wait.’
    ‘Well, one thing is certain. I don’t want any publicity. Keep this totally under wraps. It never
    happened. You, me and the Secret Service - that’s all who know. But what I want to know is: who is behind this, and why?’
    ‘Should I call Ferguson, Mr President? The man did mention Dillon. I should check.’
    ‘That makes sense. Okay, talk to Charles and Dillon, too. No one else.’
    ‘Not Murchison, he already knows.’
    Murchison, lying by the electric fire, got up and the President of the United States kissed him on the nose. ‘He went straight for that bastard. Saved my life.’
    ‘He’s