Quantum Kill (Cobra Book 4) Read online

  Another grenade took the door out and immediately there was a return of automatic fire. That was silenced by two more grenades and I ran in. My belly was on fire, my adrenaline was high and my heart was pounding. I looked right, left. It was a hall, fifteen or twenty feet square. There was furniture piled up as a barricade across the floor. Stairs to the right, stairs to the left, a passage and an office behind the barricade. In the eerie green light a dark shadow moved on the floor. A groan of pain and grief. I double tapped and it stopped.

  I ran down the passage, kicking open doors as I went. Three were labs and two were offices. I ran back, jostling past Helen as I did so. Then it was up the stairs three at a time. In the green light I saw a black shadow move beyond the banisters, beside the corner of the wall. I let off two short bursts of fire. There was a short scream of pain and I moved on.

  A door opened at the end of the hall and four men burst out with rifles at their shoulders. I grabbed Helen by the scruff of the neck and dragged her to the floor. A hail of hot lead rained over our heads, smashing into the walls, ripping out plaster and concrete, singing and whining in the dark.

  One grenade popped, clanked among them. There was a scramble as they all collided with each other. I covered my ears; there was a deafening smack in the air and the dancing black and green forms fell to the ground.

  Logic dictated that the room they were guarding so fiercely held something valuable. So I charged, kicked open the door and pointed the rifle inside. It was some kind of common room. There was a large corkboard on the wall, four round coffee tables with institution chairs, a dresser with a kettle on a tray and a bunch of mugs, a carton of milk. All of this in luminous green against an inky blackness that shifted and changed as I moved.

  Most luminous green of all were the five men huddled on the floor. Some were half dressed, some were in their shorts and vests; they all looked terrified. They were all scientists and they were all on my hit list.

  My finger tightened on the trigger, and suddenly there was a hard, sharp wire biting into my throat, cutting off my windpipe, cutting off the blood to my brain and threatening to slice right through muscle, tissue and bone and decapitate me.

  I swung the butt of the HK416 back savagely. It connected with a body, but the body didn’t let go. I stamped back twice with my right boot, but didn’t find a foot. I began to hear a screaming, hysterical laughter in my ear and grabbed over my shoulder. There I found two naked wrists. They were strong and they were not letting go. I began to choke and feel dizzy. I swung my elbow back, but the rucksacks made it hard to reach my target. My tongue was swelling and I could feel my eyes beginning to bulge. I knew I had seconds before I lost consciousness and my lungs were screaming for air.

  I dropped to my knees and felt the heavy body come with me. My fingers found the handle of the Fairbairn & Sykes, it slipped into my hand and, as consciousness began to fail, I rammed up, with more instinct than intelligence. Into the place where his face had to be.

  The scream was horrific and brought me back to consciousness. I twisted savagely and forced myself to my feet. I turned and saw a tall, gangly man, screaming and stamping his feet, clutching at a horrible hole in his face where his eye should have been. I stepped forward, grabbed his hair with my left hand and rammed the fighting knife hard into the side of his neck and pulled it out as blood sprayed from his severed artery.

  I turned as he fell, and stared at the terrified men lined against the wall. Every human instinct in me told me to spare them. They were scientists, not killers. But every neuron in my brain told me that if these men lived to develop their dream, humanity would slide into the darkest nightmare since the Spanish Inquisition.

  I killed them all where they stood.

  I turned from their tangled, naked bodies and saw Helen standing, green and black in the doorway. I croaked into the microphone, “I think we are clear. We have maximum two minutes to set the charges.”

  It was a frenzied run. My throat was on fire with pain and my head was splitting. I found the labs and set the C4 in the places Helen told me would do the most damage to their research and their work, and their hardware. I was feeling faint and my hands and legs were trembling badly. I dumped all the weapons except the Sig and the knife and checked my watch. One and a half minutes. I said, “Let’s go. We’ll be hearing sirens before long.”

  And we ran, across the yard, up the drive and out of the gate. We ran like we had all the hounds of hell on our asses, through the woods, slipping and falling on the pine needles, over shrubs and though bushes, hell-bent for leather until we came, by a more direct route, to the place where the MI6 guy from Gibraltar had given me the Range Rover.

  My original Range Rover, the one I had given him, was parked there, in the shadows of the eucalyptus trees. I collapsed against the hood, wheezing and gasping for breath through a badly bruised throat. My head felt like somebody had planted a blunt axe in it.

  After a moment, as I started to catch my breath, I looked at Helen. She was standing very still, staring at me.

  I said, “We need to get out of here.”

  Her voice was quiet. “You killed those men, all of them. You didn’t even know their names.”

  She pulled off her goggles and I pulled off mine.

  “They knew what they were working on. And who they were working for. They knew the consequences.”

  “What about me?”

  “When you realized what was going on you did a bunk, and contacted the brigadier. You didn’t want to be a part of it, right? Don’t go to pieces on me now, Helen. We need to get out of here.”

  “Where is it?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “The programmer. Where is it?”

  “It’s in New York, I told you…”

  “Liar.”

  The owl hooted, like he was impressed.

  “I’m not lying, Helen. The NPP is in New York. The brigadier had it collected from my apartment.”

  She screamed, “You’re lying!” She took a step toward me. “There is no way that you or that old fool would leave something as valuable as that so long, so far out of your control. Do you seriously think I’d be wasting my time here with you if I really believed the stone was in New York? You have it, Harry, just like you have always had it. Just like you were always supposed to have it.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “When I decided the NPP had to be for me, because it was my baby and I had created it, I already knew enough about private security agents and CIA officers to know that they were human. And if I could get a mercenary to escort me home to DC, I could manipulate him into taking care of a little business for me along the way. But I never imagined I would come up against an animal like you. Boy, you were superb. You just devastated every obstacle in my way. I didn’t even have to ask you, and once we arrived in Cadiz I knew I had to put the NPP in your hands because there was nowhere safer on the planet.

  “You were brilliant with Omar, your control was superb, and then with the brigadier. He really believed you. The package had gone to New York, to your house.” She laughed. “Like you would ever let it out of your sight.”

  She took another step closer. I could almost touch her. “But what started as manipulation became something else, Harry. A man like you, with a woman like me. There is nothing we couldn’t do. You are totally uncompromising. Your ruthlessness is electrifying. Do you realize how rich, how powerful we can be with that device? Once we have it between us, and I can finish the research, we will be the most powerful people in the world. The president of the USA will bow to us.”

  I gave my head a shake and croaked, “I thought you were going to hand it over in DC?”

  “To those thieving bastards? You know me better than that! I was going to ask for funding. And that is what we are going to do now. All my enemies are dead. You killed them all, you magnificent brute. We’ll fly to DC, we’ll stay at the Trump International, and the president himself will come to see
us, to beg us to allow him the privilege of funding our research. We will take his money, and then we will own him…”

  I laughed and it was an ugly, twisted, harsh noise. “So all that about medicine, healing pain and suffering, the freedom of humanity…”

  She took another step and placed her hands on my chest, laughing with me. “Appealing to your sentimental side, remember? But you saw right through that, you bastard. You and me, Harry. We are the same; we are alpha predators. You and me, we are at the top of the food chain. Not as a species, but as a man and woman. We were designed to be together. We were made for each other. Give me the NPP and let’s make love right now, right here.”

  I held her face in my hands. “You are an extraordinary woman, Helen. A one-off. You’re right, I never sent it anywhere. I figured the last place anybody would look would be in my jacket, next to my cell phone.”

  I let her reach in and pull it out. She gazed at it in rapture. I breathed in her ear. “What does it do?”

  Her eyes met mine and she grinned. She hunkered down on the ground and placed her thumb on the center. It lit up blue as it had done before. She played her fingers over the symbols that appeared and a slight, green mist rose at one end, and inch by inch half a foot of gray sludge appeared on the ground.

  I looked at her and laughed. “What is it?”

  “Sludge,” she said and shrugged, laughing. “Shit! But that’s not the point, Harry. The point is, it was made out of nothing! We took nothing, and we made shit. Give me five years and I will be making gold, dry martini, cash, oil, heroin, oxygen—you name it and I will make it out of…,” she paused and grinned, “out of the possibility of being.”

  “Jesus Christ,” I said. “You must be the most dangerous person on the planet.”

  She giggled and leaned against me. “After you!” she said, reached up and kissed me.

  I let the kiss linger a moment even after I had taken hold of her wrist. We looked into each other’s eyes for what seemed like a long time. She was, as she had been when I first saw her, completely expressionless. I gave her wrist a twist. She winced and the knife dropped from her hand. Her eyes half-closed and she whispered, “Harry, please don’t.”

  I drove the Fairbairn & Sykes down behind her left collarbone. It was so sharp she was barely aware of it, and the internal hemorrhaging was so catastrophic she died in seconds with little more than a small gasp.

  I pressed the detonator and the horizon lit up. A second later the report reached me and the air seemed to shake.

  I closed her eyes and left her in the shadow of the eucalyptus trees. I felt sick, unhappy, perhaps devastated. I couldn’t find a word for the black feeling I had inside that seemed to be consuming me. My body seemed to work automatically, without any real awareness. I knew I had half an hour to get to the extraction point, so I didn’t really have time to dwell on it. All I knew was that I felt empty.

  It took me half an hour to reach the private airfield. The Gulfstream was waiting on the runway. I ran and clambered up the steps into the leather and mahogany luxury. There was no one there but the pilot, who leaned in to greet me. I gave him a nod and we taxied out onto the runway. Then we were racing and roaring, hurtling along the black line of the tarmac. I closed my eyes and as we lifted into the black sky, and rose up among the stars, a fist clenched on the sharp pain in my gut.

  Half an hour later, when we were out over the Atlantic, my cell rang. I answered it and it was the colonel.

  “I’ve been waiting for your call,” she said. “I was… We were worried.”

  “Sorry. I fell asleep. It’s done.”

  “You fell asleep?” She sounded incredulous.

  “Sometimes it’s the only thing you can do, to get away from…”

  She waited, then asked, “Did you like her?”

  I gave a small laugh. “She wasn’t really a person you could like. But…” I shrugged even though she couldn’t see me. “I guess I didn’t want to…” I hesitated, unable to say it. “I didn’t want to do what I had to do.”

  She sighed. “I’m sorry, Harry, we didn’t want to do it either, but it had to be done. I have to ask…”

  “Yeah, I killed everyone at the lab and at the house, and I blew the labs to kingdom come. And then I killed Helen. To the best of my knowledge nobody remains alive who knows anything about her research.”

  “And what about the device itself? It still hasn’t turned up at your house.” I smiled, rose and went into the john. She was saying, “Harry? Are you there?”

  “Yeah, I’m here. I never sent it to New York. I had it in my pocket.”

  “You what?”

  I pulled the sleek, black device from my pocket and dropped it in the can. Then I pressed the button so that it was sucked out into the night and started its long, spiraling descent toward the cold black depths of the north Atlantic.

  “But don’t worry,” I said, “it’s with the fishes, nobody will ever find it now.”

  We were quiet for a moment as I made my way back to my seat, reluctant somehow to hang up. Finally as I sat I said, “Where are you now?”

  “In bed.”

  “Oh… I meant geographically.”

  “Still in Sao Miguel.”

  “Oh,” I said again. “So I guess I’ll see you in a couple of hours, then.”

  “Not unless you come and get into bed with me.”

  “Well, I might just do that.”

  There was a smile in her voice when she answered.

  “It’s against company rules. I’ll see you at breakfast, Harry.”

  I sighed so she could hear me. “OK, sleep well, Jane.”

  Let Me Help

  As I mentioned before, I love writing. Because of this, I end up writing new books at a much faster rate than most other authors—typically one a month (sometimes more).

  Some call me crazy, and though I definitely agree, it's not because of my ability to write quickly. To that, I credit hard freaking work.

  However, this rapid release schedule has one major drawback, and that's with staying up to date. I can't tell you how many times I get emails that go something like this.

  Hey, I didn't know (insert new book title here) was out already?! What the heck!

  I know, a travesty. But, thankfully for you I've come up with a solution (and it's quite revolutionary). It's thing magical new thing called a “mailing list.” Through it I am able to send you emails whenever I have a new book available for reading. You don't even have to do anything! I just send you the links. I know, what a guy, right? ;)

  Well, not really. Because I lied. You do have to do something, and that is sign up. I know, I know, I can hear the whining and complaining from here. But, unfortunately the radioactive spiders haven't been working, and my superhuman abilities have yet to kick in. Therefore I need your help to know where to send the emails with the new book links. I can't read your mind (yet).

  If that's something you'd be interested in, then simply click here and I promise you'll always be the first know whenever I have a new book available.

  Also, spam drives me nuts, so I make it my priority that you will never get any. Guaranteed. Just new books. Nothing else. If you don't like it, you can always unsubscribe. It's like 1 or 2 clicks, and I promise to only get a little bit offended.

  Here's the link one more time.

  Thanks!

  What'd You Think?

  Nothing is more annoying than someone asking for a review, but unfortunately they “matter” or something. I don't know why, but the vast majority of readers won't buy something unless they see that other's already have, and had a good experience.

  Therefore, if you happened to have a good experience at any point during this read, then I would be exceptionally grateful if you would consider taking a moment to leave behind a quick review. Honestly, it can be super short (or super long...if that's your thing), but even a couple words and a good star rating can go miles for a self-published author like myself.

  Wi
thout you all, I wouldn't be able to do this. I'd have to go out and work in the real world...and that's simply not as fun. I much prefer killing people, err—I mean writing about killing people... (yikes!)

  Anyways, if leaving a review is something you'd be willing to do, that'd be incredible. But even if you don't, I want you to know just how thankful I am that you even gave my work a chance and made it this far. Seriously, you are da bomb.

  To make things easier, here are links that'll take you directly to the review pages.

  Feel free to use them (or skip them) at your leisure.

  US Review Link

  UK Review Link

  CA Review Link

  AU Review Link

  Excerpt of Next Book

  If you enjoyed this novel, then there is a high likelihood that you will also enjoy the next book in the series. But don't take my word for it, get a taste for yourself. Simply continue reading for a sneak peak. Or if you'd rather, you can go ahead purchase your own full copy of the book now by clicking here.

  Flip the page to begin except...

  NOTE: Cobra 5 is currently being edited, this section will be updated once it is finished. You can go ahead and reserve your copy of it now though by pre-ordering it by clicking here.

  Also by Blake Banner

  Up to date books can be found on my website: www.blakebanner.com

  COBRA THRILLER SERIES

  Dead of Night (Book 1)

  Dying Breath (Book 2)

  The Einstaat Brief (Book 3)

  Quantum Kill (Book 4)

  Immortal Hate (Book 5)

  DEAD COLD MYSTERY SERIES

  An Ace and a Pair (Book 1)

  Two Bare Arms (Book 2)

  Garden of the Damned (Book 3)

  Let Us Prey (Book 4)

  The Sins of the Father (Book 5)

  Strange and Sinister Path (Book 6)

  The Heart to Kill (Book 7)

  Unnatural Murder (Book 8)