Two Minutes to Midnight by David Leadbeater

Author:David Leadbeater [Leadbeater, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-03-08T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

The pilots said they would wait for one day only.

Drake and the rest of the team clambered quickly down from the body of the aircraft and looked around. They were slap bang in the middle of an airstrip, in the middle of a forest, somewhere in eastern Turkmenistan. According to Bryant’s information, they were a solid two-hour drive from General Kerimov’s mansion.

At this stage, they didn’t know how much of the area Kerimov controlled. Mitrovic had suggested a country. Drake very much doubted that.

‘We need a vehicle,’ Kenzie was saying. ‘I can see several along the edges of the airstrip.’

Drake saw them, too. Small, 4x4 off-road vehicles capable of cutting through the forests and dirt tracks without issue.

‘You got some dosh ready?’ he asked Hayden.

She dug into her backpack. ‘The supply is getting low, but let’s try it.’

‘We only want to borrow them,’ Dahl said.

‘That depends if you’re behind the wheel,’ Drake said. ‘Often people see you and just think “target practice.”’

Dahl didn’t react. Instead, he just said, ‘You’re not wrong,’ and followed Hayden towards the trucks.

The team spent half an hour negotiating a reasonable price for the borrowing of two trucks. They piled in, stashed their gear, and kept their weapons handy. Kinimaka drove the first in line, Kenzie the second. They checked Kerimov’s position on the sat nav and then started off weaving among the dirt roads that spider-webbed the area. Drake ducked as they passed under low-hanging boughs, the branches slapping at the roofs of the trucks. He made a face as they squeezed in between narrowly spaced trunks, sure they were going to scratch the vehicles and incur more costs. He held on tightly as they bounced from rut to rut, following whichever road ran in the right direction.

They drove flat out for an hour before slowing down. Drake felt battered and bruised from the rough travel, hanging on with one hand, feeling almost sea sick. Their journey took them along one track, between stands of trees, and then onto another via a series of monumental ruts. Twice, the lead vehicle got stuck, its front wheels caught between deep delves in the ground, and had to be nudged along by the second vehicle.

The second hour, they took it easier.

The GPS led them unerringly to the right area, but it was easy to spot the noisy trucks. As they came closer, they ditched them by the side of the road and would return for them later. Drake helped drive them off the road and then cover them in branches and other foliage to hide them from prying eyes. Twenty minutes later, you couldn’t tell the surrounding forest from the trucks.

The team started off through the forest on foot, a half-hour walk from General Kerimov’s residence, or at least where American intelligence pinpointed his abode. After studying the aerial photos, Drake had a better idea of what they were up against.

Kerimov’s mansion was sprawling, sitting in the middle of a thick stand of trees, and looked to have been built on frequently.

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