‘Then follow me.’
Payne led the way to the other chopper where they were met by Ulster. As bubbly as ever, he greeted each of them with a hearty handshake.
‘What took you so long?’ Payne asked.
Ulster apologized. ‘Sorry about the delay. We ran into a small problem.’
Payne slammed the hatch shut, then collapsed into one of the leather seats where he planned on snoozing until they got to Austria. Compared to the belly of Kaiser’s chopper, they would be flying in style. ‘A problem? What kind of problem?’
Before he could answer, Heidi waved at Payne from the front seat. ‘Hey, Jon.’
Ulster smiled sheepishly. ‘A female problem.’
47
Even though Payne had enjoyed chatting with Heidi at the King’s House on Schachen, he was noticeably upset by her presence in the chopper.
He growled at Ulster. ‘What in the hell is she doing here?’
Ulster lowered his eyes in shame. ‘I’m sorry, Jonathon. I had no choice.’
‘Of course you had a choice! You could have left her on the mountain.’
Heidi spoke up. ‘Actually, no he couldn’t.’
Payne glared at her. ‘Am I talking to you?’
Heidi glared back. ‘Well, you are now, which is how it should have been all along. If you’re mad at me, yell at me. Don’t take it out on Petr.’
Ulster shrugged but said nothing.
Payne lowered his voice to a whisper. ‘Petr, what is she doing here?’
Heidi heard the question and yelled over Ulster’s shoulder. ‘You’re doing it again! Talk to me, Jon. Not Petr.’
Payne gently pushed Ulster back into his seat and focused his attention on Heidi. ‘Fine! I’ll talk to you directly since you’re not giving me any other choice. Why in the hell are you on this chopper?’
‘Why? Because I figured out what you’re doing.’
‘Really? And what the hell is that?’
She smirked. ‘You’re looking for the black swan treasure.’
Payne took a deep breath and leaned back in his seat. After staying silent for a few seconds, he turned towards Huber, who was sitting next to him. Both of them were covered in blood and grime after spending the last hour fighting for their lives. ‘Can you believe this shit? She’s yelling at me after everything we just went through. This is why I’m not married.’
Huber shook his head. ‘Typical woman.’
Heidi reacted instantly. The comment upset her so much she nearly jumped out of the front seat to get in Huber’s face. The only things that kept her in place were her shoulder harness and the reprimand from the pilot, who was trying to fly the chopper out of the valley.
Huber laughed at her behaviour. ‘The defence rests.’
She twisted in her seat and pointed at Huber. ‘I don’t like you.’
Huber shrugged and closed his eyes. ‘The feeling’s mutual.’
Then she pointed at Payne. ‘And I expected more from you.’
He pointed at himself. ‘You expected more from me? What the hell does that mean?’
‘You were so nice and sweet up at the house. Now you’re acting like a jerk.’
Payne took another deep breath, trying to calm the anger that was bubbling inside. Adrenaline from the battlefield was still flowing through his veins, making it difficult to control his emotions. It was one of the reasons the US military had instituted a cool-down period before missions were debriefed. ‘Listen, I don’t know what you said or did to con your way onto this chopper, but you don’t know jack shit about what we’re doing.’
‘Sure, I do!’ she snapped. ‘You’re looking for a treasure, just like the one you found in Greece. Trust me, Jon, I know all about you, David and Petr. I know everything.’
For Payne, that was the final straw. He simply couldn’t take any more of her chirping. So he leapt out of his seat, pushed his way past Ulster who was sitting in the middle row, and knelt in the aisle behind Heidi. From his position on the floor, he pointed at the blood on the front of his shirt. ‘You think you know everything, huh? Do you know about Collins? He was minding his own business, driving our ATV through the woods, when a gunman shot him in the side of the head. The bullet ploughed through his skull and brain, killing him instantly.’
She gulped at the description.
He pointed at a different stain. ‘Then there was Lange. Do you know about Lange? Ten seconds after Collins died, Lange was killed by automatic fire from an assault rifle. Hit him right in the throat. Good soldier, that Lange. He lost his life while trying to save ours.’
‘Hooah!’ Huber said from the back.
‘Then there was Schneider. Do you know what happened to Schneider? I’m going to guess you don’t because I don’t even know what happened to Schneider. One minute he was calling in a status report, the next he wasn’t. Just like that, his radio went silent. Of course, we’re assuming he’s dead because his weapon was the one that killed Lange!’
Her face turned ashen as horror filled her eyes. ‘Why are you telling me this?’
‘Why? Because you think this is a game. You think we’re looking for a treasure! We’re not looking for a fucking treasure. We’re trying to leave Germany before someone else gets killed. And guess what? Since you managed to talk your way onto the escape chopper, you’re coming with us – whether you want to or not.’
She nodded but said nothing.
Payne was about to return to his seat when he thought of one final thing to say. When he spoke, his voice was much calmer than a moment before. ‘So, you want to know why I’m angry and acting like a jerk? It’s not because I hate you. It’s because you talked your way into something that you know nothing about. Now your life is in danger like the rest of us. I wish that wasn’t the case – I truly do. But those are the cards we’ve been dealt, and we have no choice but to play them.’
She grimaced at the poker analogy. Somehow it seemed fitting.
He pointed towards the rear of the chopper. ‘Now, unless you have something else to say, I’m going back there to decompress. After the morning I’ve had, I’m pretty sure I’ve earned it.’
When Payne opened his eyes, the chopper was on the ground somewhere in Austria. He didn’t know where and didn’t really care as long as they were safe. Glancing out of the open hatch, he saw Jones standing in the middle of a spacious hangar. Crates filled a third of the place while the rest of it was empty. From the looks of things, they were in one of Kaiser’s storage facilities.
Payne stood, stretched and felt like a new man. Although the loss of life had taken an emotional toll, it was the two-mile sprint that had wiped him out.
Jones saw him and approached. ‘Look who’s back from the dead.’
‘How long was I out?’
‘Unfortunately, you missed Christmas.’