Matthew Reilly - Temple

As he said it, he glanced left and get Renee’s eye. She must have seen the apprehension on his fate and nodded reassuringly

“You’ll be all right,’ she said softly over his earpiece. ‘Thanks.’ he said.

Then he looked forward and saw that their treelined Sanctuary ended about a hundred yards ahead of them at a stand of half-submerged trees.

Beyond the stand of trees, he could see grey daylight and the river proper and in the river, would be the Nazis,

‘All right everybody,’ Van Lewen said ‘Speed up and stay sharp; You know what you have to do.’

Race felt his blood rush He couldn’t begin to imagine what lay beyond those trees;

But he didn’t have long to dwell on it because a second later, the six of them hit the edge of the tree at full throttle and burst out into daylight.

The Nazis were waiting for them

No sooner had Race and the others blasted out of the treeline than a wave of supermachine-gun fire erupted all around them, Look out!’ Doogie yelled, ducking, but Molke was too slow. A thunderous barrage of bullets whizzed over Doogie’s head and slammed into the young German soldier’s body, ripping his chest open, causing Molke to convulse violently before he was thrown off the back of the speeding river bike.

Race’s eyes went wide as saucers as he saw Molke get shot to bits right alongside him. They went wider still when he beheld the sight before him. Two of the three Mosquito choppers that had previously been resting on the helipad barges now hovered in the air above the water right in front of him and his team, while the rest of the Nazi fleet powered up the river behind them. Damn it! A spray of deadly 20mm machinegun fire spewed out from the helicopters’ sidemounted cannons, raking the tree trunks behind Race, strafing the water all around him. ‘Split up! Split up!’ Van Lewen yelled.

The four American German Jet Raiders split up instantly, two going left, two going right, and suddenly Race found himself speeding across the water alongside Doogie Kennedy, who was now sitting alone on his river bike, his wounded left shoulder caked in blood.

Van Lewen and Renee and Schroeder shot off in the other direction, whipping out of sight behind the flotilla of river boats.

Race and Doogie sliced in between the Nazi boats, ducking and weaving. One of the Mosquitos wheeled around in the air above them, came roaring in toward them with its cannons blazing.

In the face of the onslaught, Race banked away to the left and sped in between two of the helipad barges. The line of gunfire behind him pummelled the side of the nearer barge, kicking up sparks along its length.

Race shot along the alleyway of water between the two barges, then abruptly he burst out into open space in front of them and cut right, taking air as he leapt across the bow-wave of the right-hand barge.

He was met with the sight of Doogie’s Jet Raider racing alongside him at exactly the same speed—but underneath the hovering Mosquito helicopter and alongside one of the speeding Nazi Pibbers.

‘Professor! Quickly!’ Doogie yelled as he drew his SIGSauer pistol with his bloodsmeared left hand. “Give me cover! I’m going to board that Pibber!”

‘What about the command boat!’ Race yelled into his throat mike.

‘What about the plan!’

“The plan went to hell as soon as we came outta the trees! Come on!”

‘All right!’

With that, Race quickly drew his own SIG and opened fire on the two Nazi crew members standing on the stem platform of the Pibber.

As he fired, they ducked for cover, and as they did so Doogie quickly pulled his Jet Raider alongside the speeding Pib and leapt up onto its elevated foredeck.

Race watched in amazement as Doogie found his footing on the Pibber’s roofed forward section and took two bounding steps aft, dancing up onto the roof of the gunboat’s wheelhouse and then leaping down onto its open stem plat form and blasting the two Nazi crew members to kingdom come with his SIG.

‘Professor! Get over here! I need you to man this gun!’ Doogie jabbed a finger at the Pibber’s turret-mounted 20 cannon.

Race skimmed across the river’s surface, heading for the Pibber.

On board the Pibber, Doogie scooped up a G-11 from one of the fallen Nazis and took the wheel, firing up at the Mosquito helicopter above him while still maintaining his furious speed.

Race came alongside the speeding Pibber.

He brought his Jet Raider in close to the fast-moving patrol boat, trying desperately to keep control as the riverbike bounced wildly on the Pib’s side wash.

Race rode grimly, trying to keep up with the Pibber, his eyes locked onto the speeding gunboat’s side handrail, three feet away.

That was all he wanted. To get his hands on that rail.

Just then a wave of bullet holes cut across the Pib’s side-right in front of him.

He spun instantly.

And saw another Pibber skipping across the water toward him, with five more Nazis on its deck!

It was coming right for him.

And it wasn’t slowing down.

It was going to ram Doogie’s Pibber, whether Race was in the way or not!

Race turned to look at Doogie’s boat again, his eyes zeroing in on the handrail once again.

Do it! his mind screamed.

Race leapt off the Jet Raider, grabbed hold of the handrail, his legs dragging through the water behind him; He quickly swung his legs up and over the rail just as— crunch!—the second gunboat slammed into the p0rt-side rail of Doogie’s Pibber.

Race rolled across the deck as the entire boat under him jolted wildly.

‘Professor! Over here!’ Doogie yelled.

Race was still lying flat on his belly on the deck. He looked up quickly, saw Doogie standing in the wheelhouse looked up quickly, saw Doogie standing in the wheelhouse waving him over when suddenly a pair of combat boots thudded down into his field of vision, cutting off his view of Doogie.

At exactly the same moment as the boots landed on the deck—

—a gun went off and the owner of the boots dropped instantly, his bug-eyed face landing on the deck tight in front of Race a single bullet hole gouged in the middle of his forehead, In the background behind the dead Nazi Race saw Doogie standing with his G-11 extended in his good right arm,

Christ, Race thought, as he saw the second Pibber bar= telling along just beyond the handrail of his own boat-saw the four Nazis arrayed along its deck, readying themselves to board him, He snapped to look out in the other direction and saw one of the large helipad barges closing in from the other side, Cutting off their escape, boxing them in.

This is not good, he said to himself.

Doogie was obviously thinking the same thing

He swung their Pibber left, ramming it into the Nazi boat had, causing all of the commandos on its stem deck to i0se their balance for an instant, buying himself the precious few seconds he needed to raise his G-1i and fire,

But he didn’t fire at the deck of the Nazi Pibber, principally because he didn’t have enough time to bring his gun that fat around, Rather, he trained it at the bow of the Nazi boat—where no Nazis were standing.

‘What the hell are you doing!’ Race yelled.

Doogie’s gun roared to life.

An extended burst, maybe two dozen shots.

Sparks flew up instantly all around the steel anchor at the bow of the Nazi Pibberrrrrrr,

And then suddenly—smack!—the small metal latch securing the Pibber’s anchor to its housing was hit by Doogie’s fire and the anchor was dislodged from the deck and went plunging off the side of the Pibber’s bow and into the rushing water below, its nylon rope shooting rapidly over the side as it did so.

The four Nazis on the Pibber saw their anchor drop, turned back to face Doogie and Race with their G11’s up.