Burning Angels

Once over the coast of East Africa, the Airlander would remain in continuous orbit for the duration of the mission. She didn’t need to be directly over Little Mafia Island to keep watch; she could perform her duties from as much as seventy kilometres away.

She also had great cover in case she came to Kammler’s attention. Beneath the waters of this part of the Indian Ocean there lay some of the world’s richest gas reserves. The Chinese — in the form of China National Offshore Oil Corporation — were surveying several concessions in the area. Officially, the Airlander was there at the behest of CNOOC, carrying out an aerial survey function.

The Airlander had arrived over Little Mafia Island some thirty-six hours previously. Since then she’d beamed back scores of surveillance photos. The jungle appeared almost unbroken — apart from the one dirt airstrip, which was only long enough to accommodate a Buffalo or similar aircraft.

Wherever Kammler had sited his monkey houses, labs and accommodation facilities, they appeared to be craftily hidden — either positioned under thick jungle canopy, or underground. That promised to make the team’s mission doubly challenging, and that in turn made the Airlander’s extra capabilities all the more welcome.

The Airlander 50 dispatched to East Africa was actually a top-secret developmental version of the aircraft. Aft of the flight pod slung below the massive bulbous hull was a cargo bay, one normally reserved for whatever heavy loads the airship might be carrying. But this Airlander was a little different. She was an airborne aircraft carrier and gun platform, with a seriously lethal capability. Two British Taranis drones — an ultra-high-tech stealth warplane — were parked within the cargo bay, which doubled as a well-equipped flight deck.

With a wingspan of ten metres, and just a fraction longer in length, the Taranis — named after the Celtic god of thunder — was a third the size of the American Reaper drone. And with a speed of Mach 1 — some 767 m.p.h. — it was twice as swift in the air. With two internal missile bays, the Taranis packed a serious punch, plus the sleek stealth technology made the drone all but invisible to any enemy.

The inspiration behind converting the Airlander to such a carrier function was a pre-Second World War airship, the USS Macon

, the world’s first — and until now only — flying aircraft carrier. Using technology that was now many decades old, the Macon had a series of trapezes slung beneath her cigar-shaped hull. Sparrowhawk biplanes had been able to fly under the airship and hook themselves up to these trapezes, after which the airship had been able to winch them in.

Inspired by the Macon, the Airlander 50 also carried an AW-159 Wildcat helicopter — a fast and highly manoeuvrable British chopper capable of carrying eight troops. The rationale behind bringing the Wildcat was that she would be able to pull Jaeger and his team out of Little Mafia Island once their mission was complete.

And at that stage Jaeger fervently hoped they would be eight in total — Ruth and Luke having joined them.

He was certain that his wife and son were being held on the island. In fact he had proof that that was the case, although he’d not mentioned it to any of the others. It was something he wasn’t prepared to share. There was too much at stake, and he didn’t want to risk anyone deterring him from his primary mission.

The photograph that Kammler had emailed him had shown Ruth and Luke kneeling in a cage. Across one side of that cage had been stamped a faded name: Katavi Reserve Primates.

Jaeger — the Hunter — was closing in.

75

Leaping out of the dark slash of the 747’s jump hatch was like plummeting into a coffin — but there was no other way.

Jaeger threw himself forward into the churning, empty blackness, and instantly he hit the 747’s hurricane-force slipstream. The pilot had reduced the 747's airspeed, but still he felt the punishing blast spinning him around, as the massive jet engines roared and snorted like a dragon just above him.

Moments later he was through the worst and rocketing to earth like a human-shaped missile.

Directly below he could just make out the ghostly silhouette of Lewis Alonzo, the man who’d jumped immediately ahead of him, as a darker spot against the dark night sky. Jaeger stabilised his position, then accelerated into a head-first dive in an effort to catch Alonzo.

His body moulded into a delta shape — arms tight by his sides, legs dead straight behind him — he was like a giant arrowhead plummeting towards the ocean. He remained like that until he got to within fifty feet of Alonzo, at which point he eased his limbs back into a star shape. The drag served to slow him down and stabilise his position.