The Revelation Code (Wilde/Chase 11) Read Online Free

to pinpoint the source of the noise. Rosemont took his best guess and stared down the sights, the mask’s eyepiece smearing his vision. ‘Wait for it,’ he told his companion. ‘Wait . . .’
    Staccato bursts of flame as the Mil’s cannon fired—
    ‘ Now! ’
    Rosemont squeezed the trigger bar. The rocket shot from the launcher with a loud bang, the back-blast smacking up a rooster tail of dust behind him.
    But Cross hadn’t moved. ‘Fire, now !’ Rosemont shouted, watching the orange spot of the rocket’s motor race towards the gunship—
    The Hind suddenly banked hard. The pilot had seen the incoming missile and was taking evasive action. Rosemont cursed as he realised his shot was going to miss . . .
    Cross finally fired – and Rosemont realised why he had hesitated for a crucial moment. The Hind had swerved away from the first missile . . . but would fly right into the path of the second.
    The cannon fire ceased, the Hind disappearing against the black sky. The first rocket continued pointlessly along its course, but the second was still angling to meet the aircraft. The engine note changed, the pilot applying full power as he tried to climb away from the incoming missile—
    A flash – and for a split-second the Hind was fully illuminated as the LAW struck home.
    It exploded against the helicopter’s tail boom. The Mil’s heaviest armour was concentrated around the cockpit and engines, but even if it had covered the entire fuselage it would not have been enough to stop a dedicated anti-tank round. The warhead ripped a jagged hole through the chopper’s flank, severing the mechanical linkage to the tail rotor.
    The result was instantaneous.
    Without the smaller rotor to counteract the enormous torque of the main blades, the Hind was hurled into an uncontrollable spin. Engines screaming, the helicopter cartwheeled overhead, Cross and Rosemont both ducking as it hurtled past. It smashed into the ground barely fifty metres beyond them, the mangled remains tumbling through the sand in a searing ball of flaming aviation fuel.
    Rosemont lifted his head, heart pounding at the close call – only to freeze in fear as the yellow cloud rolled over the two men.
    Everything went dark. He didn’t dare move, or even breathe, terrified that doing so would open up a gap in his hastily donned protective gear and let in the poisonous fog . . .
    Seconds passed. No pain. He risked a breath. The mysterious chemical agent had not found a way to his lungs. ‘Cross!’ he gasped. ‘Are you okay?’
    No reply. Worry rose at the thought of being trapped far behind enemy lines, alone – then he heard a voice. ‘Yeah. I’m fine.’
    Another gasp, this time of relief. ‘That was a hell of a shot.’
    ‘I was a championship hunter before I joined the Marines. I hit what I aim at.’
    ‘Good to know. Your suit’s holding?’
    ‘So far.’
    ‘Whatever this stuff is, MOPP-1 can resist it.’ He carefully moved in the direction of the other man’s voice until his fingertips made contact with Cross’s suit. ‘I guess we’ve got our smoking gun. Saddam has got chemical weapons, and is willing to use them. We have to call this in.’ He reached for his radio before remembering that it had been attached to his discarded webbing.
    ‘I don’t think this was anything to do with Saddam,’ said Cross thoughtfully.
    ‘What do you mean? You saw it – one of that ’copter’s rockets blew up and released it.’
    ‘No, it blew up, but the gas came from something else.’ Cross suddenly gripped his wrist. ‘It came from the angel! We’ve got to find it.’
    ‘If it got hit by a rocket, there won’t be anything left bigger than your pinky,’ Rosemont pointed out. He made out the other man’s shape as visibility started to return. ‘Help me find the radio.’
    ‘This is more important. Don’t you see? Revelation chapter nine, verse two – “And there arose a smoke out of the pit—”’
    ‘I don’t give a damn what the