None of them were interested in him though. They were fully occupied with the unfolding disaster at the Cloud Tower.
Swooping down towards the roof of the stricken building, he pulled back on the throttle, slowing the tiny engine and coming in to hover for a few seconds a dozen metres above the top of the tower. Then, carefully, he lowered the one-man flying machine and touched down on the roof between two massive air-conditioning vents.
Unbuckling, he jumped out onto the roof, catching a whiff of burning. ‘Oh, the sweet smell of destruction . . . better than napalm in the morning,’ he thought to himself.
Removing a bag from the tiny aircraft, he pulled an automatic rifle to his shoulder, tugged on a belt of grenades and slung a belt of ammo across his chest. Lastly, he pocketed his hand gun and radio. From the rear of the cockpit he yanked out a small holdall.
Reaching in, he pulled out a roll of grey plastic. He unravelled it to reveal a sheet about 4 metres square. It was what the popular science magazines dubbed an ‘invisibility cloak’. The scientists who had developed it at the weapons research establishment on Trista da Cunha called it a ‘shroud’. It had the ability to scatter light falling on it so that it merged into the background, making it the perfect camouflage.
He dragged it to the microlight and pulled it over the top of the machine. Taking care to cover every inch of the flying machine, he tucked in the lower flaps. In one corner of the sheet, he found a flat electronic pad. He tapped it and the microlight seemed to disappear.
29
Somewhere above Dubai, 10.54 am
‘Entering visual range,’ Pete said from the lead Silverback, John . He banked around from the southeast, over Dubai, descending rapidly from his cruising altitude of 31,000 metres. Sixty seconds later, he arrived over the Cloud Tower, precisely 4 minutes ahead of schedule. The other three Silverbacks were flying close behind. The four aircraft swooped down in a square formation over the tower, descended to 25 metres above the roof helipad and hung there.
‘Well, there it is,’ Pete said mournfully. ‘A pretty mess if ever I saw one.’
Blown by the strong winds coming in from the desert, black smoke billowed from a gaping chasm in the northeast side of the tower. The Scourge missile had slammed into the south-facing wall of the triangular building and sliced a hole straight through it, emerging from the northeast face, close to the north corner. It had ripped away at least half a dozen floors and smashed up a dozen more. A huge black smudge extended dozens of storeys above and below the impact site and fires burned as far as 10 storeys away.
Pete opened a comms link with Mark aboard the Big Mac. ‘I can count seven UAE Air Force helicopters hovering around the Cloud Tower. They’re spraying water at the sides of the building to douse the flames but it doesn’t look like they’re making much difference. I can also see scores of rescue vehicles around the base of the tower.’
‘Copy that,’ Mark said. ‘I’m told local rescue services have been fully deployed. A couple of thousand people have already left the tower through ground level exits. The area has been sealed off. There’s a Royal Navy frigate, HMS Valiant , steaming for Dubai port at top speed. The Valiant has some specialist equipment and 200 well-trained men. Can you see anything else on the ground?’
‘A lot of fire trucks and water hoses,’ Steph replied as she flew Ringo over the tower. ‘I can see on my screen people swarming around. A few TV stations are there too. There’s a media chopper hovering level with the top of the Cloud Tower a few hundred metres to the north. What about us? Do we have clearance to land?’
‘Just got it. Direct from the Federal President and the Council of Rulers. They’ve given us complete autonomy and offered every resource they have.’
‘That’s good –’
‘Hang on. I’m just getting some new stats
Swooping down towards the roof of the stricken building, he pulled back on the throttle, slowing the tiny engine and coming in to hover for a few seconds a dozen metres above the top of the tower. Then, carefully, he lowered the one-man flying machine and touched down on the roof between two massive air-conditioning vents.
Unbuckling, he jumped out onto the roof, catching a whiff of burning. ‘Oh, the sweet smell of destruction . . . better than napalm in the morning,’ he thought to himself.
Removing a bag from the tiny aircraft, he pulled an automatic rifle to his shoulder, tugged on a belt of grenades and slung a belt of ammo across his chest. Lastly, he pocketed his hand gun and radio. From the rear of the cockpit he yanked out a small holdall.
Reaching in, he pulled out a roll of grey plastic. He unravelled it to reveal a sheet about 4 metres square. It was what the popular science magazines dubbed an ‘invisibility cloak’. The scientists who had developed it at the weapons research establishment on Trista da Cunha called it a ‘shroud’. It had the ability to scatter light falling on it so that it merged into the background, making it the perfect camouflage.
He dragged it to the microlight and pulled it over the top of the machine. Taking care to cover every inch of the flying machine, he tucked in the lower flaps. In one corner of the sheet, he found a flat electronic pad. He tapped it and the microlight seemed to disappear.
29
Somewhere above Dubai, 10.54 am
‘Entering visual range,’ Pete said from the lead Silverback, John . He banked around from the southeast, over Dubai, descending rapidly from his cruising altitude of 31,000 metres. Sixty seconds later, he arrived over the Cloud Tower, precisely 4 minutes ahead of schedule. The other three Silverbacks were flying close behind. The four aircraft swooped down in a square formation over the tower, descended to 25 metres above the roof helipad and hung there.
‘Well, there it is,’ Pete said mournfully. ‘A pretty mess if ever I saw one.’
Blown by the strong winds coming in from the desert, black smoke billowed from a gaping chasm in the northeast side of the tower. The Scourge missile had slammed into the south-facing wall of the triangular building and sliced a hole straight through it, emerging from the northeast face, close to the north corner. It had ripped away at least half a dozen floors and smashed up a dozen more. A huge black smudge extended dozens of storeys above and below the impact site and fires burned as far as 10 storeys away.
Pete opened a comms link with Mark aboard the Big Mac. ‘I can count seven UAE Air Force helicopters hovering around the Cloud Tower. They’re spraying water at the sides of the building to douse the flames but it doesn’t look like they’re making much difference. I can also see scores of rescue vehicles around the base of the tower.’
‘Copy that,’ Mark said. ‘I’m told local rescue services have been fully deployed. A couple of thousand people have already left the tower through ground level exits. The area has been sealed off. There’s a Royal Navy frigate, HMS Valiant , steaming for Dubai port at top speed. The Valiant has some specialist equipment and 200 well-trained men. Can you see anything else on the ground?’
‘A lot of fire trucks and water hoses,’ Steph replied as she flew Ringo over the tower. ‘I can see on my screen people swarming around. A few TV stations are there too. There’s a media chopper hovering level with the top of the Cloud Tower a few hundred metres to the north. What about us? Do we have clearance to land?’
‘Just got it. Direct from the Federal President and the Council of Rulers. They’ve given us complete autonomy and offered every resource they have.’
‘That’s good –’
‘Hang on. I’m just getting some new stats
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