Silent Night

FIFTY ONE

Kruger had done his research. The duster was coming in from the north-west. The wind reading was perfect, blowing south. If they took a hit, the virus would be airborne, drifting down onto the capital city and the surrounding area.

They were beginning to approach a military installation. It was Fort Myer, a military base aligned with the USMC Henderson Hall and the first joint base in the Department of Defense. Although it was the early hours of the morning, the main ops room was busy. A serviceman studying the screen in front of him frowned, peering closer. He pulled off his head-set, then turned.

‘Captain?’

A man looked over.

‘I’ve got a small propeller aircraft headed south towards the city,’ one of the men said.

‘That’s restricted airspace.’

‘Could be a private airplane off course?’

‘I don’t care,’ the Captain said, walking around the ops room towards the controls. ‘He comes anywhere near the city, he’s going down. Pass me the transmitter.’

The man did so. The Captain took it and pushed the buttons down on either side.

‘Unidentified aircraft, this is the United States Army. Identify yourself.’



Archer and Kruger were grappling furiously on the floor of the crop duster. Drexler had turned, sensing something was wrong, but she had to stay in the cockpit or the plane would dip. As the two men fought, Maddy had reversed the pump; the liquid was now being sucked back into the canister. Grabbing a bar to steady herself, she staggered across the cabin, avoiding the fighting men and wrenched open the side door.

The noise in the cockpit increased tenfold as wind roared in the cabin.

Her coat and hair flapping violently in the wind, she looked down and saw that they were flying over what she guessed was the Potomac, the water glinting far below in the moonlight.

She grabbed the canister nearest to her and using all her strength, heaved it out of the door.

Kruger was as strong as an ox. Archer was pinned on the floor of the aircraft, trying to attack the doctor’s neck. Kruger was trying to strike him, but was hampered by the fact that he needed all his strength to hold Archer down. As they fought, Kruger became aware of Maddy throwing the canisters out of the door.

‘Bitch!’

With a roar of anger, he lunged for her.

But he made a fatal mistake.

He turned his back on Archer.

Archer leapt on the big South African, hooked his legs around his lower torso and sunk in a rear choke, pinning him to the floor. As Kruger gagged and fought for air, Maddy continued to drag the canisters across the cabin floor and throw them out, each one plummeting down and dropping into the Potomac below. She reached over for the last. She pulled out the tubing, the seal instantly forming. She screwed on the secondary cap as tight as she could, then went to throw it out of the plane.

Suddenly, three bullet-holes appeared in the big tank by her head, and she dropped to the floor instinctively.

Archer saw Drexler moving out of the cockpit, her retrieved silenced Glock 21 in her hands. He released Kruger, just as Drexler raised the weapon again but her mag clicked dry. Screaming a curse, she threw the weapon away and moved into the cabin towards them.

Abandoning Kruger on the floor, Archer rose and waited for her.

He had a rule about not harming women, but this one had broken his nose and had just tried to kill Maddy. All rules were out the window.

‘C’mon, bitch,’ he shouted. ‘I’m ready this time.’

She screamed like a banshee and lunged forward but was met with a huge uppercut that took her off her feet, revenge for the shot she broke Archer’s nose with. She bit her tongue and lip, the punch sending her backwards and onto the floor in a daze. Watching her drop, Archer suddenly heard the radio up front in the cockpit. He ran forward to the cockpit and could just make out what it was saying over the howling gale.

‘Unidentified aircraft, this is the United States Army. You have just entered restricted airspace. This is a verbal warning. If you disregard this and do not turn around, we will shoot you down, I repeat, we will shoot you down.’

‘That’s the last one!’ Maddy shouted behind him, tossing out the final canister.

Drexler was trying to get to her feet, but she was dizzy from the blow, disorientated and weakly spitting blood from her mouth. Archer grabbed the radio receiver. The plane had started dipping and was gathering speed and he felt his stomach lurch.

‘This is NYPD Detective Sam Archer, I repeat, NYPD Detective Sam Archer!’

‘This is your final warning. If you do not turn around right now, you will be shot down. I repeat, you will be shot down!’

He swung round, frantically searching the cabin.

He saw a parachute hanging by Maddy’s head.

‘Put it on!’ he shouted, pointing at it.



Far below them, the Captain at Fort Myer looked at the screen in desperation.

‘What do I do, sir?’ the man in front of him asked.

‘They’ve been warned. We have no alternative. Fire!’



Just as Kruger and the woman re-gathered their senses, Archer looked through the window and saw lights up ahead and to the right.

The radio had gone quiet.

He turned and ran through the plane, past Drexler and Kruger, who were staggering to their feet. Maddy had just finished securing a parachute, clicking it in place with shaking hands, holding a hook inside the plane as she stood by the open door. Her eyes widened as Archer headed straight for her.

Without stopping, Archer tackled her, driving his shoulder through.

He took them both through the open doorway, and out of the plane into the night sky.



A split-second later, the rocket launched from Fort Myer below.



On their feet in the cabin, Kruger and Drexler looked out of the cockpit window and saw it streaking towards them.

Drexler screamed.

Kruger closed his eyes.



As the duster exploded above them, Archer and Maddy tumbled through the air, plummeting down through the darkness towards the Potomac. They had just the one parachute between them which was strapped to Maddy’s back. She screamed in terror as they hurtled towards the water through the dark night, the wind shrieking around them.

‘Archer!’

He didn’t answer. He used all his strength just to hang on. If he lost his grip, he’d fall hundreds of feet to his death. Hanging on to the straps above her shoulders, he manoeuvred his legs tight around her. He hooked his right arm into the straps, gripping the far one as hard as he could as they spun down towards the water.

He pulled the parachute release cord.

Nothing happened.

He tried again, the wind howling in their ears.

‘Shit!’

The water was approaching with terrifying speed.

If they hit it at this speed, they would both be killed instantly.

‘Archer!’

Archer pulled the cord as hard as he could for the third time.

‘C’MON!’

It worked.

The white parachute unravelled and billowed out with a flurry. The two of them whiplashed up as the parachute expanded, killing their speed.

And they hit the water.