Touching the Sun: A Harry Beck Thriller (The Bahamas Series Book 1)

by Len Maynard

  We sat in Jerry’s car, the motor idling. ‘We’re here,’ Jerry said.

  ‘I guessed as much,’ I said, and opened the car door.

  A gate in the chain link fence stood ajar. We walked towards it – me in front, Jerry at my back, the automatic pressing painfully into my spine. We had to make this look convincing. As we walked I glanced around, looking for any sign of Reynolds and his men, but there was no trace of them. He’d said not to be concerned if we couldn’t see them, that they were very good at concealing themselves, but despite his assurances I was starting to feel very uneasy. I couldn’t see a single place they could be hiding.

  ‘I’m not sure about this,’ I said quietly.

  ‘Keep walking.’

  ‘Perhaps we should wait…’

  There was a soft click as Jerry flicked off the safety on the automatic and pressed it harder into my back. ‘I said, keep walking.’

  I kept walking, cursing myself now for giving Jerry a loaded gun, and worse, for showing him how to use the weapon properly. All I hoped now was that he wouldn’t do anything rash and get us both killed.

  ‘Just keep calm,’ I said. ‘Let me handle this.’

  We reached the door. ‘Open it,’ he said.

  I stretched out my arm, pushed, and the door swung inwards. Jerry urged me forward with the gun.

  It was dark inside the warehouse…so dark I could see nothing. I realized I was holding my breath, so I let it out slowly and took a few tentative steps forward. Jerry pressed the barrel of the Smith and Wesson harder into my spine. ‘Keep walking,’ he whispered into my ear. ‘Don’t stop.’

  I put one foot in front of the other, moving deeper into the warehouse. My eyes were slowly becoming accustomed to the darkness, but not enough to make out anything significant. We were about ten yards inside the building when a light was switched on; a single spotlight shining a thin beam of light down from the ceiling. It illuminated a solitary figure, bound and gagged and tied to a hard chair in the center of the concrete floor.

  We’d found Serena.

  I heard Jerry give a small gasp, and the gun twitched at my back.

  ‘Easy,’ I whispered to him.

  The Cubans had tortured her. There were livid bruises on her face and her lips were swollen and split. The Cuban woman had been busy with her cigarettes; both Serena’s arms were pockmarked with small round burns.

  When Jerry took in the damage that had been done to his sister, he gave a half-strangled cry and lurched forward. There was a small cough and a bullet kicked up concrete dust in front of his feet.

  ‘That’s far enough,’ said a voice from the darkness.

  For a moment I thought I was hearing things, and it took several seconds to digest what I’d just heard. I recognized the voice; and with that knowledge a wave of nausea threatened to sweep me away.

  ‘That’s better,’ the voice spoke again.

  A moment later Jack Dylan stepped into the spotlight.

  44

  Jack stood, lit from above, his huge frame casting a black puddle of shadow at his feet. In his hand was a silenced automatic, aimed at the gap between Jerry Carr and me; a twitch of an inch right or left and he could take out either of us.

  ‘Drop the gun, Jerry,’ he said.

  Jerry Carr’s eyes were focused on his sister, and hers on him. The gun was hanging loosely at his side. I could see the indecision on Jerry’s face. It was as if he was silently asking Serena what to do. Serena gave an almost imperceptible nod of her head, and Jerry uncurled his fingers and let the Smith and Wesson clatter to the concrete floor. In the chair Serena relaxed a little and turned her attention to me. The plea in her eyes was obvious. Help us.

  ‘Kick the gun over to me, Harry,’ Jack said.

  I did as I was told. The gun skidded across the concrete, coming to a halt at Jack’s feet.

  He stared down at it. ‘The Smith and Wesson,’ he said with a thoughtful smile. ‘That means you probably have the Beretta.’ He turned the smile on me. Jack had been on The Lady many times over the years of our friendship. He was always a welcome guest. We’d sit on deck, sometimes until the early hours of the morning, drinking rum and getting drunk together. He knew the boat almost as well as I did myself, and he knew about the secret compartment where I kept the guns. He had a good memory.

  ‘If you would, Harry,’ he said. ‘Finger and thumb only. I’d hate to shoot you, but you know I will if necessary.’

  I pulled the Beretta from my waistband and dropped it onto the floor. Jack mimed a kicking action with his foot. I kicked the gun across to him.

  ‘That’s better,’ Jack said. ‘I hate surprises.’

  Well, he’d be in for the biggest surprise of his life once Reynolds and his men arrived, I thought, but kept my face neutral. I was worried they were taking so long, but I imagined they were listening to what was going on in here and picking their moment. I glanced around to see if there was anyone else here, but my vision still couldn’t penetrate the gloom in the corners of the warehouse. For all I knew there could be a dozen of Jack’s men standing in the shadows, all training their guns on us.

  ‘So, Harry, I suppose you’re wondering what’s going on.’

  ‘It had crossed my mind,’ I said.

  ‘Well, you’re here because I need you to do something for me.’

  ‘And why the hell should I do anything for you?’

  ‘Friendship?’ he said, then laughed. ‘No, I suppose I’ve blown that now. Though to be fair, Harry, I did tell you not to get involved. I warned you to stay out of it, but you always were a stubborn bastard.’

  ‘So you’re the one behind all this,’ I said.

  ‘You flatter me,’ he said. ‘No, I’m merely a player in this particular game…a very highly paid one, but a player nonetheless. The people who are running the game are much more important and much more powerful than me, and to them you’ve become a royal pain in the ass. You’re asking way too many questions, Harry, and drawing too much attention. You’re stirring up the mud, and the wrong people are starting to notice. My employers want me to stop you. In fact, they want me to take you out, to dispose of you permanently.’

  ‘Then why don’t you? You’re the one holding the gun.’

  Jack frowned. ‘Harry, I like you, always have. I won’t kill you unless I absolutely have to. Besides, you can still be useful to me and the organization.’

  ‘In what way?’

  ‘We really need to speak to Alan, and you’re the one man who can bring him to us. He trusts you, Harry. He’ll do as you ask.’

  ‘There are two problems with that,’ I said. ‘One, I don’t know where he is, and secondly, after today, I wouldn’t piss on your boots if your feet were on fire.’

  He laughed. ‘Perhaps this will change your mind.’ The gun rose up and fired twice. The first shot hit Jerry Carr in the chest; the second bullet punched a hole in his forehead and blew out the back of his skull, spattering me with blood, bone, and brain. He gave a small groan, and then Jerry Carr’s legs crumpled. As he sank to the floor and toppled forward, his face hit the concrete with a sickening thud.

  Serena gave a muffled cry and rocked in her chair, pulling against her bonds. Tears were coursing down her ruined cheeks.

  With a casualness that was almost inhuman, Jack swung the gun around, put it against the side of Serena’s head, and pulled the trigger.

  45

  I stood there paralyzed, watching as Serena slumped forward, dead in the chair. Jack then turned the gun on me. ‘You don’t want to be next, do you, Harry?’

  I looked from Jerry’s body to Serena’s, scarcely believing what I had just witnessed. ‘Why?’ I said, my voice choked with emotion.

  ‘Loose ends, Harry. I hate loose ends.’

  Reynolds, I thought. Where the hell is Reynolds?

  Jack was talking again. I watched his lips move, heard the words on the air, but my brain wouldn’t process them. I kept getting flashbacks to the Scarlet Parrot…Serena le
aning on the piano while her brother played. I’d brought them into this. I was responsible for their deaths.

  At that moment I wanted Jack to pull the trigger. I would have welcomed the bullet; but then something Jack was saying penetrated the grey fog that was clouding my brain. He’d mentioned a name…Kim Weaver.

  ‘What?’ I said.

  He frowned. ‘Stay with me, Harry. Try to keep up.’

  ‘What’s this got to do with Kim?’

  The frown deepened. ‘Nothing at all,’ he said. ‘But you involved her when you took your friends over to Watt’s Cay. It’s up to you now whether she lives or dies, and the same goes for the rest of your friends. You have their lives in your hands.’

  ‘How did you know about Watt’s Cay?’ I said, my head spinning.

  ‘I know a lot of things, Harry. You’d be surprised.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘By now our Cuban friends will have paid Kim a visit. I’ve told them not to hurt her, but I can’t guarantee some of what I said didn’t get lost in translation. My Spanish is appalling, and their English is almost as bad. Anyway, I’ll trust that my message got through and your friends are all right. But whether they stay that way is up to you.’

  It dawned on me then that Reynolds wasn’t coming. There would be no cavalry riding to the rescue; and for Serena and Jerry Carr it was already too late.

  ‘What do you want?’ I said thickly.

  ‘I’ve already told you what I want. Do try to keep up. Repeating myself just wastes time, and, as far as you’re concerned, time is in short supply. In fact, you have twenty-four hours to bring Alan to me. If you don’t, then I’ll instruct the Cubans to kill your friends…and I’ll tell them to make it slow and painful.’

  ‘What happened to you, Jack?’ I said. ‘How did you end up like this?’

  His eyes narrowed. ‘Not sure I’m following you, Harry.’

  ‘The Jack Dylan I know would not kill in cold blood, nor would he hold one of his oldest friends for ransom. This isn’t you, Jack.’

  ‘You know, Harry, Alan always said you had a rose-tinted picture of the world. He said that often you couldn’t see what was sitting there right in front of you. I guess he was right.’

  ‘But children, Jack. Innocent children!’

  ‘Are nothing more than another commodity. Do you think they’d be better off if we left them in the slums of Cuba or Haiti? There’s every chance they’d end up on the streets selling their bodies anyway.’

  ‘You’re not trying to justify what you do, are you? Because if you are you can save your breath. It won’t wash, not with me.’

  ‘Harry,’ he said. ‘I don’t give a flying fuck whether you approve or disapprove of what I’m doing. It makes me money. That’s all I care about. That’s all Alan cared about...at first. Before his conscience kicked in. Bloody fool!’

  ‘I’ll bring you down, Jack. I have evidence.’

  ‘You have a few names on a list and a photo album. Hardly what I’d call concrete.’

  How does he know all this?

  ‘Then why did Alan leave me the flash drive if the evidence was….’ A light flashed on in my mind. ‘It was you, wasn’t it? The message at the bungalow, the flash drive. You planned this.’

  ‘If I wasn’t holding you at gunpoint, Harry, I’d applaud. It’s taken you long enough, but you got there in the end. Yes, I left you the note. I’ve been able to copy Alan’s handwriting for years. It came in handy when he wasn’t around to sign documents. And yes, I planted the flash drive. A bit John le Carré I know – remember those games we played as kids? – but it piqued your interest. No, Alan has all the hard evidence. The bastard raided my computer and copied everything. There’s another flash drive floating around out there. At first I thought he may have given it to you for safe-keeping; sorry about your bungalow by the way, but I had to be sure. Now I’m convinced he still has it. He was doing a deal with the FBI. He was going to turn everything over to them in return for immunity from prosecution. He’d set up a meeting with one of their agents, and I had to stop that happening. Unfortunately, Anna chose that morning to leave him and take the car. I wasn’t to know it would pan out that way, and I genuinely regret Sally.’

  ‘Add her to the list of children you’ve destroyed,’ I said bitterly.

  ‘Oh, spare me the righteous indignation, Harry. We all follow our own paths. You’re not exactly pure as the driven snow yourself. Or doesn’t liquor smuggling count as a crime these days? Listen, all you have to worry about now is finding Alan and turning him over to me.’

  ‘And you’ll kill him.’

  ‘Of course.’

  I shook my head. ‘I can’t do that.’

  Jack shrugged his huge shoulders. ‘It’s your choice, Harry boy…Alan or your friends. What’s it to be?’

  ‘How do I know you won’t kill them anyway?’ I said.

  ‘You’ll just have to trust me on that one,’ he said, without irony. ‘Remember what that teacher predicted for us at school? You as the worker…and you’ve been happy fulfilling that role, haven’t you? But I was never content to act as the middle manager for high and mighty Alan Lancaster. He owned all his stuff and let me have a few scraps. I’m taking some ownership for me.’

  ‘When this is over, Jack, I’m coming after you,’ I said.

  ‘When this is over, Harry, I’ll be long gone. I’ve made my money, and the Bahamas has lost its appeal.’

  ‘Then why don’t you leave now?’ I said. ‘Let this go and get out before anyone else is killed.’

  He smiled. ‘A nice idea, but it doesn’t fly. This is my mess – I trusted Alan and brought him in – and now the people I work for want me to clean it up. Believe me, Harry, if I don’t…well, let’s just say they have a long reach. I won’t be safe wherever I go, and I don’t want to spend the rest of my life looking over my shoulder. It’s better this way.’ He reached into his pocket and produced a mobile phone. ‘Here, catch.’ He tossed it over to me. I caught it. ‘You can reach me on that. Just hit 1 on speed dial and you’ll get through. Twenty-four hours, Harry.’

  ‘Why go to the trouble of encrypting the files on the flash drive if you wanted me to read them?’

  He laughed. ‘I’ve never underestimated you. Harry. You’re bright. If I’d made it too easy you would never have fallen for it. It added a bit of spice, a bit of a challenge. And you came through. I guessed you would.’

  He was still laughing as he backed away into the shadows. There was a small click and the spotlight was extinguished, plunging the warehouse into total darkness. I stood there a few seconds more, trying to stop my head from reeling, and then I retraced my steps to the entrance.

  Along the way I retrieved the Smith and Wesson and the Beretta. It was a little arrogant of Jack to leave them, but that was a trait he’d developed very early in life. He thought he had me under control.

  I intended to use his arrogance against him.

  46

  It was raining heavily when I left the warehouse, and the wind was starting to whip it into squalls. I pulled up the collar of my shirt and ran back to the car, started the engine, and pulled away, tires squealing, heading back to town. I had no plan of action, but I needed to put some miles between myself and that slaughterhouse.

  When I climbed back on board The Lady my heart rate began to slow, and I started to think clearly again. By the time I was out at sea a few thoughts had crystallized in my head. I switched on the autopilot and rang Henderson at home on the mobile phone Jack had given me.

  He answered on the third ring. ‘Harry, where are you?’

  ‘That doesn’t matter, Jim,’ I said. ‘I want you to listen very carefully.’

  For the next five minutes I told him about Serena and Jerry, the warehouse, and Jack Dylan’s involvement in their deaths. I was telling him where to find the bodies, no more, no less. I didn’t mention the pedophile ring and Alan’s involvement, nor did I tell him about Reynolds and how badly he’d let me down. It wasn’t safe for him to know
any of that. Jim was a friend, and I didn’t want his blood on my hands as well.

  ‘You realize you’re in big trouble,’ he said. ‘I can’t sit on this information, Harry, and I can’t keep your name out of it. I’ll have to pass it up the line.’

  ‘To Reynolds?’

  ‘No. This has to be reported directly to Assistant Commissioner Brooks. Reynolds is out of the loop on your case. He’s taken a leave of absence. Brooks is handling everything now.’

  I’d miscalculated badly. I’d thought Reynolds was one of the few people I could trust, which was why I had asked for his help. Now he was off the case and Brooks had taken over the investigation. I wondered if he was investigating whether Hector Reynolds had a part in all this as well.

  ‘You’ve got to come in, Harry, before Brooks issues a warrant for your arrest,’ Jim said.

  ‘I can’t do that, Jim. I have things to do.’

  ‘We’ve been friends a long time, Harry, but I can’t shield you on this one.’

  ‘And I don’t expect you to. Just try to persuade Brooks to hold off issuing the warrant for twenty-four hours.’

  ‘You really think he’s going to listen to me? I’m only a sergeant.’

  ‘He’ll listen to you if you tell him I’ve given you my word that in twenty-four hours’ time I will hand myself over to you personally.’

  ‘And is that what you’re doing, Harry? Giving me your word?’

  One way or another I had a day to resolve this. After that time, my friends would be dead. I had to come through for them, or I’d die trying.

  ‘Yes, Jim. I give you my word.’

  ‘I’ll do what I can, Harry.’

  Once Grand Bahama disappeared over the horizon I switched off the engines and dropped anchor. We were heading for a storm. The wind was strengthening, pushing the sea into choppy, white-capped waves that buffeted the steel hull of The Lady, making it difficult for me to keep my feet, and as I walked out onto the deck, the wind drove stinging rain into my face. I lifted the hatch, climbed down into the engine compartment, and started my search there.