Andy McDermott - The Midas Legacy

‘She won’t be alone. She—’

‘She won’t have us ! Eddie, she’s going to have her parents taken from her — she’s going to go through the same thing as I did! Why did we… Why? ’

Her husband was silent for a long moment as she sobbed. Finally he spoke. ‘If we hadn’t come here, they’d still be shipping out the missiles and they’d be knocking out even more plutonium from the Crucible. At least we stopped them making any more nukes, and we’ve still got a chance of keeping those down there from leaving the country.’

‘I’m sure that’ll make Macy feel so much better,’ she said bitterly.

‘Yeah, I know. But even if Mikkelsson thinks that if everyone has nukes nobody’ll dare use ’em, he’s full of shit. It only takes one psycho megalomaniac and it’ll all kick off, and it’s not like there’s any shortage of them in the world.’ He made a course adjustment, then looked at Nina again. ‘I don’t want Macy to have to face that. So if we’re going to die either way, then at least we can do like Ock and make it count for something.’

‘Fight to the end, as you like to say?’

‘I say it because I believe it. We can still make a difference. I’d prefer to do that without fucking dying , but, well…’

She wiped her eyes, then squeezed his shoulder lovingly. ‘You know something, Edward J. Chase? Probably nobody else but me would think so, but you are actually kind of noble. In your own special, sweary way.’

‘I try my best. All I can do, really.’ He leaned over to regard the vehicles below. ‘Okay. Let’s do this.’

The convoy had just emerged from a zigzagging series of hairpins on to a relatively straight section of road. The SUV carrying Kang and the Mikkelssons was in the lead, the truck bearing Captain Sek and his team — and the warheads — following. Behind that was a jeep, then the three TELs and their deadly loads, the missiles lying flat in their hydraulic cradles. Bringing up the rear was a second jeep.

Eddie fumbled the dynamite and matchbook from his pocket and passed them to Nina. ‘Get ready to light it when I say.’ The convoy was picking up speed, going faster than seemed safe considering the state of the road and the sheer size of the trucks. Kang was presumably in a rush to reach the airbase. The Yorkshireman looked ahead. ‘Bollocks.’

‘What?’ asked Nina.

‘Power lines in the way.’ He peered into the moonlit darkness. ‘I’ll have to come in from the valley to avoid the wires.’ He changed course, swinging out over the steep-sided gorge below. ‘You ready with the dynamite?’

‘Yeah — if I can light a match in this wind.’

He looked over at the road, now to their right. The leading vehicles were still picking up speed, though the driver of the first TEL was apparently having second thoughts, allowing a gap to open up. That was good — a slower target would be easier to hit. Eddie judged the speeds and distances again. ‘Okay — light it!’

The rearguard jeep had three soldiers aboard. They were in the dark about what was happening: all they knew was that Facility 17 had been attacked, and their job was to protect the missile transporters at all costs. The brutal discipline of North Korea’s military had been drummed into them, hard; taking actions or even asking questions about anything beyond the scope of their orders was an invitation for punishment.

So when the man in the rear seat heard a buzzing noise in the dark sky, he did not immediately open fire upon it. Since their instructions had been to stop anyone pursuing them by road , he merely tapped the shoulder of the driver, his immediate superior. ‘Sir! There’s something up there — I think it’s one of our little planes!’

The driver, his rank the Korean equivalent of a lowly private, first class, was no more ready to take risks than his subordinate — especially when said risk would involve shooting at a secret aircraft of the People’s Army. ‘Get on the radio to Colonel Kang,’ he ordered the other passenger. ‘Tell him about the plane, and ask what we should do.’

The soldier made the call, twitching in fear when Kang’s voice roared back at him. ‘What do you think you should do, you idiot? Shoot it down — kill them !’

The two privates hurriedly raised their rifles. A small flickering light appeared on the aircraft, giving them a target…

It took Nina three attempts to light a match, and another two before the fuse caught. ‘Okay, it’s fizzling!’

The microlight was now level with the second TEL, passing over the line of pylons. Eddie got ready to turn for his bombing run. ‘Give it to me!’

She reached out to put it into his upraised hand—

Gunfire sounded from behind. Bullets whipped past, a couple punching holes through the fabric wing and another striking the engine block just behind Nina. She shrieked, flinching just as Eddie threw the aircraft into a hard bank away from the road, snapping his hand back to grab the dashboard. The dynamite tumbled into the forest.

‘Shit!’ he yelled as a loud detonation came from below. ‘So much for stealth!’

The firing stopped. Nina looked back through the propeller at the retreating lights. ‘Great, now what do we do? That was the last stick!’

Her husband curved the plane around, gaining altitude. ‘We either give up and see how far this thing can take us before we run out of fuel… or we do something crazy.’

‘Crazy, or stupid?’

‘Usually the same thing with us, isn’t it?’ The convoy came back into view. ‘If I can get on to one of the transporters, I can take out the crew, then go full Mad Max and use it to ram the others off the road.’

‘You’re right,’ Nina exclaimed. ‘That’s crazy and stupid. And what would I be doing while all this was going on?’

‘You’d be flying the plane, obviously.’

‘Well obviously!’ she hooted.

‘It’s pretty easy. Like playing a video game.’

‘I hate video games!’

‘Except for when you were obsessed with Candy Crush! You’ll get the hang of it long before you hit the ground.’

‘I’m not reassured. And how am I supposed to take the controls when you’re in the front seat?’

‘You’ll have to wait till I’ve jumped out!’ He twisted to give her a small smile. ‘You can do it, trust me.’

‘It’s you I’m worried about,’ she replied unhappily. ‘Once you jump… that’s it. We’ll never see each other again.’

The smile disappeared. ‘Yeah, when you put it like that, it really does seem like a shit idea.’ He sighed. ‘But I’m not just going to give up and run until they shoot me.’ He altered course to cross behind the convoy and take the plane over the trees above the road. ‘And I’ve got this,’ he added, nodding at the rifle on his shoulder. ‘So at least I’ve got a fighting chance.’

‘But I don’t. Eddie, what am I supposed to do without you?’ It was a question that went beyond the immediate future.

A long pause. ‘What you always do,’ he said. ‘You survive. Somehow.’

‘Not this time.’ Her voice quavered. ‘Not without you.’

‘Hey, you never know — maybe we’ll both survive. I dunno how , but…’ His smile returned, warm even through sadness. ‘But I’ll only get one shot at this, so I’ve got to take it. I love you.’

‘I love you,’ she replied, wrapping both arms around his chest. ‘I love you so much.’

‘Enough not to think I’m insane for doing what I’m about to do?’

‘I wouldn’t go that far.’ She wiped away tears. ‘Go on then, you damn fool. Go and save the world. Again.’