Scorpion's Vengeance 'Finale part 2'

I saw the picture on Kindle's 'cover creator' and I just couldn't resist! It's almost as if they put the picture there knowing I'd be writing the story in the way I did.

What has Tower Bridge to do with the story, well you'll either have to go back and read back issues here or better yet buy the book and read it!

The feedback I've had so far from those who bought the book is that it's not one you can put down easily, and that's great news for any author.

By the way, I really want to thank all you folks who took the time to read the story here and to comment, I took notice of what was said and tried to incorporate your ideas into the story.

Right, now down to business. In the last episode Jacko, Mac and Smithy had caught up with the Irish and Russian thugs, it didn't go too well for the Irish and Russians, but Joey, Sandy and BJ are still chasing across London to try and stop Serkhov and the mole from getting away, are they going to get there in time?

There's only one way to answer that, so let's get to it.

Flicking a switch on the side, the lights came on along with a police siren sound, she looked over at the two who were little surprised. “You're meant to be bomb disposal remember!” She almost smiled, “they all have this kit!”

As soon as the vehicle took off both Sandy and Joey went to work checking their equipment, that meant weapons. Joey loaded both the normal magazine and the grenade launcher, he had a feeling they were going to need it, Sandy just began to pray he didn’t do too much damage.

“What's that?” Billie glanced curiously at Sandy, “doesn't look standard issue!”

“It's not” Sandy replied, “least not here, one of the perks of the government department we work for” she smiled back, “we get to choose our own weapons, mine's a Makarov, Russian made, pretty reliable, Buffalo Bill back there” she indicated Joey in the back seat, “He’s got the Colt commando with a forty millimetre grenade launcher, though what the hell he’s loading that for I have no idea” she turned to Joey, “so how are we going to play this?”

“Who exactly are you people?” Billie was driving fast, threading her way through the traffic, but that didn't stop the detective mind asking questions.

“You mean you haven't figured it out?” Joey acted surprised, he knew she knew, but was wanting confirmation.

“I figured the security services”

“Good enough, now let's get moving” Joey cut in. “just don't say anything more okay”

They were on the A13, the slip road to the left took them onto the East India dock road, the old docks that used to trade with the East, now long gone except for the names, names from an era long passed but not forgotten.

“Sandy sitrep?” Joey's request sounded like he was barking an order.

“Plane’s a Cessna” Sandy replied, “and I don't mean a poxy little trainer, it's a Citation, with a range of about two thousand miles, it can take two or three passengers, the pilot was told to expect two, no prizes for guessing the guest list!”

“There it is!” Joey screamed as they came into sight of the airport, they were running along the wire that separated the airport from the rest of London, the runway was to their left and about four hundred yards away over the grass. The plane was a twin-engined Cessna jet, four portholes down the side told them it was an executive jet, and it was Serkhov’s own personal one.

“We’re too late!” Billie shouted in frustration, the plane was taxiing out from the terminal, they’d already loaded passengers and were getting ready for takeoff, “They’ve already left the terminal” the anger was dripping from every word.

“LIke Hell” Joey shouted back, he pressed the button on the electric windows, “head for the fence, get us through there and head for the plane, leave the rest to me”

“What?” Billie spun round momentarily, just as Joey lined up the Commando he had in the back and fired the grenade launcher, the fence disintegrated, “Where the hell did that come from?” she was screaming.

‘That explains it’ Sandy thought “Just do as he says” She shouted at the woman, “even planes don’t get away when he’s doing this stuff, believe me, he’s taken ‘em out before” she also had her window down and was getting ready to use the Makarov, “Move it, bring us alongside the plane!”

Joey’s shot blew a ten-foot hole in the fence, but it was now past them so she yanked the handbrake and waited until she was lined up with the gap before releasing the brake and flooring the accelerator, the vehicle lurched forward tires throwing dirt and gravel everywhere as she picked up speed.

The plane was still taxiing to the position, every aircraft has to wait for permission from air traffic control before they can start their run for takeoff, the pilot hadn’t seen what was happening, but air traffic control had.

“Cessna 200 hold your position” the voice came into the pilot’s ear, “we have an obstacle on the runway, at your two o’clock, security is on the way”

“Roger that control, please advise the delay” the pilot replied before turning to inform the passengers, “Sorry folks, we’re going to be a little delayed, some idiot just got onto the runway, should be clear soon” he smiled as he turned back towards the controls.

“Get us airborne now” Serkhov shouted, he began climbing out of his seat.

“I have to wait for clearance” the pilot replied.

“You want a job after this?” Serkhov asked shouted back, “Or better yet you want to live?” the pilot looked back, Serkhov was holding a pistol of some kind, “Get us airborne NOW!”

There were two of them in the cockpit, the co-pilot had listened to everything, she didn’t even argue, she just pushed the throttles to their take-off speed, the increase in engine power told the pilot to get on with the job. “Docklands air traffic negative we cannot wait, My passenger has advised me they need to leave now, the obstacle won’t affect us” he clicked the radio off, turning to the passengers he simply said, “Stand by” as the engines came up to speed, then he threw the brakes off and she was away like the fast jet she was.

Joey was half out of the window, one hand holding on for dear life, the other trying to steady the weapon, Sandy was also half out of the other side of the car, she knew that at this distance she had no chance with the Makarov, “Joey we need them alive remember!” she shouted into the mike, they were still on their local network. He switched from the grenade launcher to the rifle and selected automatic fire.

“You two are bloody bonkers” Billie shouted at both of them, she had her foot to the floor and was accelerating as fast as the car would go, but the jet was closing the distance much faster and would get to the take-off point or V1 as it was known long before the car would be there to stop it.

“Head towards the sodding thing” Joey screamed, “We have to stop them reaching takeoff velocity”

“They’re almost there” Billie shouted back, “How the hell are you going to do that?”

“Don’t worry” Sandy sounded almost as if she was trying to assure someone, Billie wasn’t sure if it was her she was trying to assure, or herself, “Joey’s King when it comes to hair-brained schemes, and he hasn’t had one for a whole week, JUST GO WITH THE FLOW”

“You asked for it” Billie realised that right at this point, if they didn’t pull this off her career wasn’t just ‘in the toilet’ it had been flushed down the drain and disappeared out of sight, she yanked the wheel hard left and straightened up, the car was doing nearly ninety miles an hour, the plane doing closer to two hundred and they had less than a quarter of a mile to cover.

“Sandy inside, NOW” Joey screamed as they sped towards each other.

Sandy had a sense of what Joey was going to try, and she didn’t want to be anywhere near what was about to happen, she climbed back inside, then reached across and back, grabbing Joey’s chest she pulled as hard as she could, he would need the extra stability.

The car was less than a hundred yards from the plane when he pulled the trigger, he wasn’t aiming for the aircraft itself, he was aiming for a point in front and letting the bullets ‘drift’ onto the target. They were closing at nearly three hundred miles an hour, the Commando can fire at a rate of 800 rounds a minute pn automatic, that meant they were closing at around one hundred and forty-six feet per second, in one second the machine gun would discharge maybe fifteen rounds, the chances of hitting anything were so small he just couldn’t think of it, he daren’t think of it, Joey held on and began blasting away, firing just in front of where he expected the tyres to roll.

Four seconds later he was out of ammo, unclipping the mag he swivelled it around, he’d taped another to it, clipped back in and began blasting, even though the plane was already past them.

Security was closing in from both sides, sirens wailing lights flashing.

The plane was hurtling down the runway when the pilot felt a massive pull to the right, warnings started going off in the cockpit as the plane slewed engine warning lights came on, something wasn’t right.

“What the hell just happened?” Serkhov demanded, he could feel the plane was almost in a skid, he’d managed to get his harness back on and was strapped in for takeoff, two other men with them were strapping in, faces ashen.

“I think the undercarriage just blew out” the pilot yelled above the noise, he was doing his best to control the skid.

“Can we still get airborne?”

“Not a chance” the pilot replied, “I’ll be lucky to stop her bursting into flames, brace yourselves”

“Turn us around and give chase” Joey shouted down to Billie, the other security vehicles were closing fast, but there was still room for the maneuver. “Bring us up behind, but make sure they don’t see us”

“This better be worth it!” she shouted as she swung the wheel and the car careered round, not quite on two wheels, but not far off, gunning the engine they were off again, just in time to see the right wheel blow out, the whole side of the plane dipped dangerously towards the runway and the struts began to gouge a trench in the tarmac.

“Too bloody late for that” Sandy shouted back over the noise of the engine as Billie raced forward, “we either pull this off or all our careers are finished, not that he’s worried about that, bloody adrenaline junkie, he’s having a great time” she nodded in Joey’s direction.

The plane was slowing dramatically as the pilot fought to control the skid, they were coming up fast, but the airport police were also closing fast, and they weren’t heading for the plane, a new set of sirens began along with lights and the full paraphernalia, the fire brigade was heading for what it saw as a potential air disaster, Bille had to do something, and fast.

“We are the Police” Billie was speaking urgently into the radio in the car, she’d been patched through to airport security, “this is a joint operation with the Metropolitan Police and MI6 DO NOT INTERFERE” she hoped that worked as they came level with the slowing plane, Joey was inside the car and swapping magazines, Sandy was doing the same, they both had their seatbelts undone and doors half open.

“Come up behind the plane” Joey spoke instead of shouting, “I don’t want them to see us”

Security surrounded both the car and the plane, not sure who to arrest, if anyone that was, BJ was on the radio giving them the information that she had, someone told them to hold off, but they had no idea who.

“What do we do now?” Margaret was feeling trapped, she’d only ever been in it for the money, and there had been lots of it, but field experience? She had none, consequently, she had no idea what to do, but she was armed, they all were.

Joey and Sandy had managed to get out of the plane without being seen, they were by the tail of the plane where all the action was taking place up the front, they needed it to stay that way.

The rear of the plane was open Serkhov was getting ready to jump and make a run for it, Margaret was right there with him, both carrying weapons, both concentrating on the vehicles in front, the fence was less than fifty yards away, neither of them had seen Joey or Sandy.

Sandy looked over at Joey, it was almost like she could read his thoughts, they were telling her to wait, “let Serkhov make his move” she heard his voice, but saw his lips weren't even moving, they were communicating directly yet without talking, he did look her way, but the look said, “get my drift?” She knew exactly what was coming.

Serkhov opened the rear hatch and peered out, he couldn’t see anyone there, leaning back in the plane he looked directly at Margaret and asked, “Want to find out what a British jail is like? or want to be free?” then turned, jumped onto the tarmac and began to run, the turncoat spy was right behind him.

Joey’d holstered his weapon and was waiting, Serkhov came first, he glanced at Sandy and gave her a ‘wait’ signal, then the turncoat came out, Sandy leapt and flattened Margaret as her feet touched the floor, and Joey was off like a greyhound chasing the ‘rabbit’ on the racetrack.

Serkhov was fit, he was old, but he was fit and very fast. The distance to the fence was about a hundred and fifty yards, for an Olympic sprinter that would take about fifteen seconds, but fit as he was Serkhov was no Olympic sprinter, for him it would take more like thirty-five to forty seconds, he did, however, have a twenty-yard start on Joey.

Joey was closing the distance when the first shots pinged around his feet, ‘no prizes for guessing where that came from!’ he thought to himself but otherwise ignored what was going on, he didn’t have time to zigzag, he just hoped for bad aim, then he heard a familiar sound, the bark of a weapon he was familiar with hearing, all shots stopped after that.

Serkhov was less than thirty feet from the fence when Joey launched himself in a flying tackle, he hit the man around the waist and took him down.

Serkhov had seen the dive and tried to sidestep, but Joey’s outstretched arms wrapped around him and they tumbled sideways, he knew he was going down, but that wasn’t without a fight. As he twisted he reached out and grabbed the arm that had wrapped around his waist and accelerated the twist wrenching the arm at an unnatural angle, he wanted to break it.

Joey went with it, flowing with every move, he followed the twist and launched a classic scissor kick at the same time, looking like a ballerina performing a ballet move, except instead of ballet shoes making contact, they were Army combat boots, and it was full body contact that was aimed for. The first foot landed and broke Serkhov’s hold on Joey’s wrist, the second one, literally two-tenths of a second later should have knocked him senseless, he went down on all fours but came up brandishing a knife.

Joey’d landed on his knees, almost in a squat position facing his opponent, as soon as he saw the knife he curled up into a ball and launched himself hitting the man right in the chest before he’d had time to use the knife, he still had hold of it and was trying to raise the weapon but Joey lashed out with a leg and kicked the hand so hard the knife went flying, at the same time he punched the man in the face, he heard the nose splinter, but still Serkhov was fighting.

“That’s enough” he heard an English voice shout, not one he knew but the click of a weapon being cocked made him stop, Right there next to him were two airport police, weapons drawn and ready, BJ also stood alongside them, her weapon in her hand, they were all pointing at Serkhov.

“What’s the meaning of this?” Serkhov was trying a bluff, “do you have any idea who I am? I’ll have your jobs for this, and after that, I’ll”

“Save it” BJ stopped him, “Alexei Serkhov I’m arresting you on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder, espionage, drug trafficking and money laundering, you don’t have to say anything, but should you later rely on evidence that you withheld from the police you will be charged with perverting the course of justice, am I making myself clear?” she was already securing the handcuffs on the man, as soon as they were on the two officers frogmarched him away.

Sandy had Margaret secure, the handcuffs on and two other cops were leading her away, she slowly walked over and joined the other two, as soon as she was there she simply reached up and kissed Joey, he responded by hugging her tight while Billie looked on slightly embarrassed, then, after a good minute they relaxed and both of them reached out to give her a hug.

We'll break off there, there is a little more to the story, but it's more of a 'tidying up' with things. It should make one more hub before we move on to other things.

I have to admit, it's going to be a bit sad saying 'Goodbye' to the team, or even a 'See ya later' but it's time to move on, and I'm sure you'll like some of the new projects that I've got in mind.

Joey and Sandy will be back I'm sure, but I think you'd agree they need some leave as we say in the military!

Don't forget to leave a comment, let me know what you thought.

Lawrence