Deadlock by Mark Walden Read Free Book Online Page B

said, ‘but it’s going to start alarm bells ringing when a plane carrying a passenger like this diverges from its flight plan.’
    ‘We’ll be long gone by the time the authorities arrive,’ Raven replied. ‘Good work on the masks by the way.’
    Otto had spent the previous couple of days adapting the hoods from the ISIS suits and combining them with the new holographic projector he had designed in such a way that their optical camouflage hologram projectors would display a perfect copy of any face that they scanned in. It had been relatively straightforward from a technical point of view. The hard part had been obtaining the high-resolution scans of Ronson’s wife and son’s heads. He’d left that part of the plan to Raven.
    ‘It was just a small logical step from what the suit masks already did really,’ Otto said. ‘It was no big deal.’
    I have found a suitable landing site , H.I.V.E.mind said. It is an abandoned military airstrip that is only a few miles from our current flight path. It should serve our purposes.
    ‘OK,’ Otto said, ‘H.I.V.E.mind’s found us somewhere to put this thing on the ground.’
    ‘Good. I’ll go and take care of Ronson,’ Raven said, gesturing towards the forward compartment with her pistol.
    ‘No,’ Otto said. ‘I’ve got a better idea.’
    ‘Nero made it quite clear that he was to be taken out of play,’ Raven said. ‘We can’t take the chance that he’ll end up as President.’
    ‘I know,’ Otto replied, ‘trust me.’
    Fifteen minutes later the jet touched down on the crumbling tarmac of the disused military runway. As soon as the plane stopped moving, the hatch popped open and Raven dragged the unconscious bodies of the secret service agents and the two pilots out on to the dusty scrubland next to the runway.
    ‘Make it quick,’ Raven said to Otto as she headed through the exit hatch for the final time.
    Otto gave a quick nod and headed back into the forward compartment, where Ronson sat slumped, still shackled to his seat.
    ‘Please,’ Ronson begged, ‘I can help you. I have more information I can give you, just don’t let her kill me.’
    ‘Don’t worry she’s not going to kill you,’ Otto said. ‘I am.’
    Otto closed his eyes for a moment and reached out with his senses for the jet’s autopilot system.
    ‘The Disciples abducted and imprisoned some of my best friends and murdered dozens of my classmates,’ Otto said, fixing Ronson with an icy stare. ‘Did you really think there wasn’t going to be a price to pay for that?’
    The jet’s engines began to spin up as Otto turned his back on Ronson and headed out of the forward cabin. He climbed out of the hatch and down the stairs to the tarmac. As he walked away from the plane, he connected to the plane’s controls and the hatch whirred shut behind him. The plane began to turn in a tight circle, leaving it pointing back down the runway.
    ‘ Bon voyage ,’ Otto said, closing his eyes and mentally activating the autopilot. The plane’s twin engines throttled up and it accelerated away down the wide strip of tarmac, before lifting off and banking away into the bright blue sky.
    ‘It should run out of fuel somewhere over the Atlantic,’ Otto said, his voice calm. ‘Plenty of time for him to think about it.’
    ‘A bullet would have been quicker,’ Raven said, watching the departing jet as it grew smaller and smaller.
    ‘Too quick,’ Otto said. ‘Let’s get out of here.’

    Laura placed the metal tray on the tabletop and sat down on the bench. The sectioned compartments of the tray contained portions of brown and grey sludge and a couple of dry military-ration biscuits. It was the only meal that the Glasshouse trainees ever ate and while it might mean they didn’t starve it was a very long way from appetising. Another tray clanked down on to the table and she looked up to see Nigel Darkdoom taking a seat opposite her.
    ‘You OK?’ Nigel whispered. Chatter was frowned upon during