Two men were framed in the doorway. On the left, a darker-skinned man of Middle Eastern blood, clutching an AK-47 with the stock folded and his finger on the trigger. On the right, a greying fat man in a rumpled suit and a crooked tie, who looked as if he was having the worst day of his life. It was like a shoot/no shoot target on a firing range. Take out the hostage, you lose the game. Take out the bad guy, you win. A no-brainer, but all the same a supreme test of lightning-fast decision-making and reflexes, when split seconds mattered. Ben lined up his pistol sights on the guy with the AK and fired. One shot, one kill, centre of the forehead. The guy went down like a tree. The fat man stayed standing, blood spattered across one side of his face, eyes blinking in shock. Suddenly Ben could see four more men and a woman inside the doorway behind him. The woman didn’t appear as though she wanted to be there.

And the person holding her by the arm was Nazim al-Kassar.

The exchange of fire that followed was fast and furious. A full-auto burst rattled from inside the doorway but just strafed the entrance. Jeff fired off a string from his MP9. One more down. Then Ben fired again with his pistol. One more down, before he could get off a shot. Then a wild man with a shaven skull and a long black beard and a knife in his fist came flying at them, screaming like a demented maniac. Ben and Jeff’s bullets found him at the same time, a ragged quick-fire series of blasts that hammered into his chest and shredded his heart and lungs. The wild man staggered but somehow stayed on his feet and kept coming. Ben and Jeff shot him again, and he crunched down on his face at their feet.

Four down.

One gone.

Nazim was suddenly nowhere to be seen. He’d escaped back inside the building. Taking the female hostage with him.

In the next moment, they heard more gunfire coming from the reservoirs at the far side of the plant. Tuesday and Roth had encountered the rest of the terrorists. Ben’s instant response was to go to their aid. But Jeff shook his head, shoved Ben’s arm and pointed inside the doorway, yelling, ‘Go! Get him!’

Ben hesitated. Torn between going after Nazim and helping his friends. Jeff yelled again, ‘Go! Move it! Don’t let him get away. We can deal with the rest.’

Then, slamming in a fresh magazine, Jeff was off at a sprint in the direction of the battle.

Ben hesitated just a moment longer. Thought, Fuck it. Pushed past the bewildered fat guy in the suit still standing there, and ran into the building after Nazim.

Chapter 64