Defender(91)
"So, where can we..." But the son didn't get to finish the sentence.
No sooner had Lundt climbed aboard than he produced the Walther P99 and without a word fired a single round into the head of each man, killing them instantly. Manhandling their bodies to the side, he dropped them both into the water. He left Arena on the bench and turned straight for the cockpit.
As Morgan ran along the wharf, the howling winds and torrential downpour were raging as mercilessly as his own indefatigable battle to stop Lundt.
Suddenly, powerful exterior lights came on across the length of the pier. Morgan could make out a large figure running towards the boats. It was an unusually large outline, top-heavy and moving at a low shuffle. Lundt! He had Arena across his back. He saw Lundt reach one of the boats, where willing hands took what Morgan knew to be Arena, his Arena, from Lundt's shoulders. Lundt climbed aboard awkwardly after them as powerful winds tossed the Sea Ray against the jetty. Then Morgan saw the unmistakable flashes of a weapon being fired and a split-second later he heard the shots - two shots in quick succession. A single shot to the head of each man. Good Samaritans? Gunned down by Lundt. Was Arena dead, too? No, Lundt wouldn't heave a dead body around. There was no point to that.
Morgan, still sprinting, turned hard onto the pier and saw only the rear decks of the Sea Ray dead ahead at the jetty's end. He could make out an ominous black silhouette against the vessel's pristine white background; Lundt dropping the dark bundles of his dead Samaritans over the side.
Sickened, Morgan was driven by the unthinkable scenario of Arena being the next to look down the barrel of Lundt's gun. He was closing fast and reached the corner of the finger-shaped pier, just metres from the Sea Ray. Morgan, lungs bursting and blood streaming from his shoulder, saw Lundt at the controls and heard the big twin engines power to life with a deep rumble. Morgan was almost there, closer and closer, the last few metres vanishing underfoot. His legs were on fire, he prepared to leap, weighing up the distance, the seconds, his chances.
Lundt turned his head back to the pier just in time to see Morgan. The fucking lunatic was going to jump aboard! Lundt raised the Walther again in his left hand and fired indiscriminately as he punched his right hand down hard upon the throttle. Orange and white sparks peppered the pier about Morgan's feet. He sprinted on, inexorably, faster and faster. He reached the end of the jetty and, in a move reminiscent of an Olympic highlight, launched into the long jump. His right foot bit into the edge of the pier at full speed, catapulting him powerfully forward. He was outstretched, airborne over the churning water, reaching for the boat. Then, the sleek bow of the sports cruiser lifted out of the water as the twin Mercury engines dug in, propelling the vessel into the seething waters of Sydney Harbour. Morgan hit the churning white water hard, missing the boat and knocking the air from deep within him. He was lucky not to have landed amidst the screws.
"Damn it!" he bellowed, spitting water and swimming back to clamber onto the jetty. He watched in abysmal frustration from the waves as the Sea Ray disappeared into the distance with Lund t at the controls, no sign of Arena.
CHAPTER 61
"There he is!" yelled Sutherland. "He's at the end of the pier! Can you see him?"
"I see him," replied the POLAIR pilot, cautiously. "This isn't going to be easy. You better hang on. This weather's a bitch."
The Kawasaki BK-117 was pounded from side to side, buffeted by intense winds bombarding the exposed banks of the harbour. The pilot, Paul 'Chuck' Bowler, was a temple of concentration, flawlessly manipulating the controls, bringing the chopper up from the street where he'd just picked up Sutherland, and back in low, heading straight for Morgan at the tip of Finger Wharf. Bowler's intense focus was softened only by the glow of the instrument panel.
"What the hell has he got with him?" said Sutherland from the cargo hold. "Are they bodies?"
With the NITESUN search light illuminated beneath the chopper, Chuck brought them onto the pier alongside Morgan. The helicopter bounced dramatically before Chuck was able to steady it, but Morgan simply dived in through the open cargo hold door, and they were airborne again in seconds.
"He's on that boat. That flash cruiser," Morgan cried, gesticulating wildly as Sutherland dragged him inside. "He's heading west, inland."
The POLAIR's Observer, Terri, gave the details to Chuck through her radio headset. The boat had vanished into the driving rain.
Sutherland slammed the cargo hold door shut. "Who were they?" he yelled over the weather and rotors, indicating the two bodies Morgan had pulled out of the water and left on the jetty.