Read Online Enemy Invasion by A. G. Taylor - Free Book Online Page B

space across four lanes of traffic. The street was ablaze with the
neon light of a thousand adverts. Every direction was an assault on the eyes, but Hack knew exactly where he was going. The Tin Hau temple was directly opposite. The pedestrian crossing went green
and they ran across the street and down the narrow alley that led to the main entrance of the temple.
    When it was built in the nineteenth century, the temple had overlooked the bay. Now two kilometres of reclaimed land separated it from the water. It stood amid the noise and chaos of one of Hong
Kong’s busiest districts. High-rise buildings overlooked it on all sides. Nevertheless, it retained a strange kind of quietness. The Buddhist temple stood at the far end of a square
surrounded by trees and a wall that ran the perimeter. The place was typically deserted this late in the evening, which is why it had been chosen as the extraction point, Hack guessed.
    As they entered through the south gate, it appeared they were alone – then Hack noticed something completely out of place and almost hidden in the shadows of one of the trees…
    In the centre of the square sat a small, black helicopter – albeit one with no visible rotor blades. A hovercopter. It looked like a fat-bodied beetle sitting in the darkness. A pilot in a
jumpsuit stepped from behind the machine as they approached. He had a gun in his hand.
    “It’s okay,” Robert told Hack. “He’s with us.” He held up a hand and waved at the pilot. “Our communicator got fried!”
    The man ran to meet them, shouting something… Hack looked up and saw the lights of another vehicle floating above the trees… A second hovercopter...
    A whooshing sound filled the air as a rocket tore through the trees and hit the vehicle on the ground. The machine exploded in a brilliant ball of flame that threw out lumps of red-hot shrapnel.
The blast knocked the pilot forward onto his face. Hack and Robert were hurled backwards as the force of the explosion hit them.
    Momentarily stunned, Hack lay on his back looking up at the branches above. A rocket streaked through the air and there was a second explosion – one which lit up the night sky. The second
hovercopter was hit.
    Robert grabbed Hack’s arm. “It’s coming down!”
    Sure enough, the vehicle that had been hovering almost silently above them had become a fiery lump of metal hurtling to earth. The two boys scrambled for their lives, running blindly in the
direction of the temple at the far end of the park. As they reached the steps leading up to the building, Hack looked over his shoulder – and saw the second hovercopter fall through the tree,
setting its branches ablaze. It hit the ground with a mighty crash, showering more shrapnel about. Hack thought of the pilot with the gun and wondered if he’d managed to avoid the impact
– it was impossible to tell in the inferno.
    “In here!” Robert exclaimed, kicking open the temple door.
    They both ran in and crouched in the shadows on either side of the entrance. The interior of the temple was almost pitch-black. The smell of incense hung thick in the air. Hack pressed his face
against the gap where the door met the wall and scanned the fiery mess outside.
    “What just happened?” he said, breathing heavily. “I thought HIDRA was supposed to be like a private army or something. Why are people shooting at you?”
    “We’ve got powerful enemies,” Robert replied.
    “Great. You could have told me that before—”
    Gunfire cut him short. Both boys hit the floor as bullets ripped into the brickwork and through the wooden door. A second later, the firing stopped. Hack and Robert exchanged a glance and then
looked back through the door. The fire was still blazing, but Hack counted at least four figures crouched by the temple steps.
    “Robert Williams!” a man’s voice yelled. The accent was British. “All Major Bright wants is the kid. Send him out and we’ll leave you alone. Make us come in