by Will Jordan
Stunned by the speed and ferocity of the attack, Jessica tried to lash out with a strike to the midsection. A good hard strike to the sternum would drop her like a brick. This woman might have been fast, but she was smaller and weaker than Jessica. She could take her.
But her opponent easily deflected the attempted blow and countered with another brutally efficient kick that sent Jessica sprawling backwards. Injured and disoriented, she was completely outmatched, and in no condition to go on the offensive again.
Coughing and gasping for air, Jessica opened her eyes to see something brightly illuminated on the ground close by. Her phone, the screen cracked but still functional. Showing an active line.
If they got their hands on the phone, they would trace the call and use it to locate Ryan. She couldn’t let that happen. Raising herself up with infinite effort, she began to crawl towards the device.
The mysterious female operative seemed to mistake this as a feeble bid to escape, and smiled in amusement.
‘That all you’ve got? Goddamn, at least make me work for it,’ she taunted, circling her like a shark waiting to strike. ‘Guess you’re not so different from your brother, after all.’
With a final desperate effort, Jessica lurched forward, snatched up the phone and tossed it into the river just as a boot came in against the side of her head, and an explosion of darkness enveloped her.
Chapter 8
Jessica awoke to jolting movement, the muted rumble of a vehicle engine and the steady patter of raindrops on a windshield.
She was hurt. The violent collision that had thrown her from the bike, combined with the brutal beating she’d taken, had left her with myriad cuts and bruises. She didn’t think she’d broken bones, but her jaw throbbed where she’d been struck, and even small movements tore at the congealed blood that had stuck her clothes to her skin.
Opening her eyes, she was able to discern the interior of a car, probably an SUV judging by the size and layout. Night had fallen. It was dark beyond the tinted windows, but she made out stands of densely packed fir trees lit by their headlight beams. A second vehicle led the way up front, visible as a vague blur through the rain-covered windshield. She had no idea where they were. She didn’t recognise the road or the terrain, but it was clearly a remote spot.
She inhaled, catching the distinctive aroma of tobacco smoke.
‘Hey, there she is,’ a jeering and by now familiar voice remarked. ‘Shit, I was starting to think I’d hit you a little too hard. Don’t die on me just yet.’
The woman who had beaten her unconscious was positioned opposite, in one of the rear-facing seats. Dressed in civilian clothes, with her body armour removed and a cigarette in hand, she was a picture of relaxed confidence. And she was still smiling that malicious, mocking smile.
Without hesitation, Jessica lunged for her enemy, only to find herself jerked painfully backwards. A pair of steel handcuffs bit into her wrists, secured to one of the car’s Isofix points and preventing her moving more than a few inches.
‘Wouldn’t try that, if I were you.’ Reaching into her jacket, the woman produced a small handheld taser unit and waved it under Jessica’s nose. ‘Our orders were to bring you in alive. That’s a pretty broad definition, though.’
Alive, Jessica’s mind echoed, temporarily forgetting her perilous situation.
‘Never got the chance to introduce myself,’ she went on, enjoying herself. ‘My name’s Riley. I’d shake your hand but, you know…’
‘What do you want with me?’ Jessica demanded.
‘Shit, you must be dumber than I thought.’ The young woman leaned closer. ‘We want your brother. We know he’s still alive, and you’re going to tell us where he is.’
‘How the hell should I know?’ she asked, feigning ignorance. ‘I haven’t heard from him in years.’
Riley took a long, thoughtful drag on her cigarette before exhaling into Jessica’s face. ‘Want to know what gave you away?’ she asked. ‘It was your grocery bill.’
Seeing the dawning realisation in Jessica’s eyes, she carried on. ‘See, we don’t need eyes on your house to keep tabs on you, Jessica. You’d be amazed what you can learn about someone just by following their electronic trail. We can read their emails, filter their search history…’ She gave a sly smile. ‘Even their porn habits. You wouldn’t believe the kinky shit your average congressman searches for.’
Jessica looked away, refusing to meet her gaze.
‘You know what the clincher was in your case?’ She paused, and Jessica heard the faint hiss and crackle of smouldering tobacco as she took another drag. ‘The whisky.’
Jessica’s heart sank in that moment. She knew exactly the mistake she’d made. Looking back on it now, she couldn’t believe how foolish she’d been.
‘Talisker – Ryan’s favourite brand. In the past three years, you’ve never purchased a single bottle of the stuff.’
Jessica glared at her. ‘I want a lawyer.’
The young woman stared back at her for a few seconds in tense, stony silence. Then abruptly she broke out into a fit of laughter, accompanied by chuckles from the two male operatives up front.
‘Oh, sweetheart,’ Riley finally said, wiping a tear from her eye. ‘You really don’t understand the kind of shit you’re in, do you? There’s no due process for terrorist suspects.’
‘You can’t just abduct people. My government will—’
‘We own your government,’ Riley interrupted. ‘And even if we didn’t, you really think we don’t know how to make people disappear? Trust me, the only thing in your future is a black site in some country that most people couldn’t find on a map, where you’re gonna spend the remainder of your short-ass life. They’ll torture and interrogate you until you’ll wish you had more to give them. And when they’re finally done, they’ll take what’s left of you out to some forest in the middle of nowhere and put a bullet through that pretty head of yours.’
Despite her anger, her hatred, her impotent frustration at being restrained, Jessica felt a tight knot of fear coil itself around her stomach. She didn’t doubt for one second that this woman was speaking the truth.
‘Of course, you could avoid all that by telling me what I want to know,’ Riley said, addressing her almost conspiratorially. ‘We both know you’re going to give it up in the end, so why not make it easy on yourself, Jessica? Hell, play your cards right, you might even get to walk away from this.’
Jessica looked down in silence, as if torn about how to respond. Riley, sensing her wavering resolve, leaned forward expectantly. She’d interrogated enough people to know when one was about to break.
Then something happened that neither of them expected.
A sudden crash of rending metal jerked her attention to the road ahead, where a big, bulky flatbed truck had roared out of a fork in the road and slammed into the forward section of the lead SUV. But instead of slamming on his brakes, the driver of the truck kept his foot on the gas, propelling the crumpled vehicle towards the edge of the roadway, and the steep drop on the other side.
‘Oh, shit!’ their driver called out, stamping on the brakes.
Jessica saw the passenger door fly open as one of the SUV’s occupants made a desperate attempt to bail out, before the rear end tipped over and the entire mass of buckled metal and human passengers disappeared over the edge. In a matter of seconds, half of their convoy had been wiped out.
‘Get us out of here!’ Riley commanded, her arrogant confidence vanishing now as it became obvious they’d been caught in an ambush.
The truck was blocking the way ahead, and the road was too narrow to make a turn. Throwing the SUV into reverse, their driver stomped on the gas, sending them fishtailing backwards in a spray of mud and loose gravel. But just as they were picking up speed, a resounding boom from somewhere in the woods behind seemed to rumble up through the chassis.
Twisting awkwardly in her seat, Jessica watched as one of the tall pine trees leaning in close to the road toppl
ed over, smoke billowing from the shattered base, before crashing down across the road. She saw this, and so did the driver, but he was too late to stop them from reversing straight into this sudden, impassable barrier.
Jessica grunted as the SUV’s tailgate crumpled under the impact, accompanied by the tinkle of shattering glass and buckling plastic. The sudden collision knocked Riley off balance, pitching her out of her seat and onto the floor.
She was just picking herself up when a figure leapt down from the truck’s cabin up ahead; a masked man in dark clothing. Jessica watched him calmly advance to the driver’s window, raise a weapon to his shoulder and take aim.
‘Shit! Get down!’ one of the operatives up front yelled.
A moment later, the side window disintegrated in a spray of broken glass, the staccato flash of the weapon’s muzzle flare illuminating the gloom as their attacker triggered a long sustained burst on full automatic. The effect on the two operatives up front was devastating, both men jerking and writhing as rounds tore through their bodies, their blood splattering the inside of the windshield.
Restrained by the cuffs, Jessica could do nothing more than flatten herself on the rear seat, praying that a stray round didn’t hit her.
Beside her, she saw the side door fly open as Riley bailed out, staying low to avoid the hail of incoming fire as she drew her sidearm and turned the weapon at their masked attacker.
Jessica’s reaction was instinctive. Lashing out with both feet, she caught the woman squarely in the shoulder. The pistol barked once, the round ricocheting wildly off the car’s metalwork as Riley lost her balance.
But rather than try to recover and open fire on her attacker, the young woman rolled backwards and leapt over the edge of the roadway, plunging into the dense undergrowth below just as another burst of gunfire chewed up the ground where she’d been standing.
Staring in amazement, Jessica watched as the lone ambusher ejected the spent magazine from his still-smoking weapon, slapped a fresh one home and strode over to the edge of the road, staring down the sights into the dense woodland below. Seeing no sign of his elusive target, he lowered the gun and turned towards the vehicle.
Jessica’s heart swelled as he approached, realising Ryan had somehow caught up with them and come to her rescue, knowing he would pull the mask off and she’d see his familiar, comforting face.
‘Are you all right?’
Jessica blinked in surprise. It wasn’t the deep voice and English accent of her brother that addressed her then. This voice was female, and foreign.
‘Are you injured?’ she repeated.
‘Who the fuck are you?’ Jessica asked.
‘Doesn’t matter,’ she replied, producing a standard-issue cop key and unlocking the cuffs. The moment she was free, Jessica spotted the portable taser that Riley had threatened her with earlier and snatched it up.
‘Like hell it doesn’t,’ she hit back, brandishing the weapon. ‘I’ve been shot at, kidnapped and interrogated already today. Why should I trust you?’
The woman stood still and silent, watching her as rain pattered down around her. Her face was obscured by the mask, leaving only her eyes exposed. They were locked on Jessica now.
‘If I wanted to hurt you, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.’
Jessica had to admit, she had a point there.
With this sobering warning delivered, the woman pointed in the direction Riley had disappeared. ‘She’ll call in reinforcements. If you want to stay alive, I suggest you follow me.’
‘Where are you going?’
‘Anywhere but here.’
The woman backed away, allowing Jessica to clamber out of the ruined vehicle. Her gaze was inevitably drawn to the dead operatives in front, and the gory mess painting the windshield.
‘It was them or you. Don’t feel bad for them.’
‘I don’t,’ she said quietly.
‘Good. Now help me with this.’ She had moved around to the driver’s side window, reaching in and hauling the steering wheel over so that the car was angled towards the road edge. ‘Push now!’
Jessica guessed what she had in mind and took up position on the other side, straining to push with all the strength she could summon. The road beneath them was muddy, but the car was on flat ground, and once it began to creep forward under their combined efforts, it quickly gathered pace. Jessica’s mysterious saviour kept her grip on the wheel until she was almost at the edge, letting go just as the car toppled and rolled down the steep embankment.
‘Let’s go!’ the woman called out, not even bothering to watch the wreck tumble to the bottom of the gorge a hundred feet below.
Jessica followed as she returned to the flatbed truck, which was still parked across the road with its engine idling, and clambered up into the cab. One look around the interior, cluttered with Cardiff City football stickers and empty takeaway wrappers, was enough to confirm that this vehicle didn’t belong to her saviour.
‘You should buckle up,’ the enigmatic new arrival warned, throwing the big truck into reverse.
‘Now you’re worried about safety?’ Jessica said as the vehicle lurched backwards, turned and accelerated away from the scene.
Chapter 9
Gasping for breath, Riley reached up and managed to hook her arm around the low-lying branch that had partially toppled into the river. Fighting hard against the fast-flowing current, the young woman pulled and kicked, working her way along until at last her boots found purchase on the rocky riverbed and she was able to haul herself up onto dry land.
Her retreat downhill from the ambush site had been little more than an uncontrolled, headlong plunge down the steep muddy slope, through stands of sharp thorny bushes that tore at skin and clothes, avoiding rocks and tree trunks just waiting to break bones.
Riley was as nimble and agile as a professional gymnast, allowing her to avoid the worst of these potentially fatal obstacles, only to plunge into the freezing river that ran along the valley floor. The physical discomfort didn’t concern her, but the sting of failure was far more telling.
Crouched low beside the gurgling watercourse, she forced her shivering muscles to stop, held her breath and listened, head cocked slightly as she strained to detect any sign of pursuit. Finding none, she rose to her feet, reached into her jacket pocket and fished out her cell phone. The screen was cracked, likely damaged during the fall, but the unit was waterproof and still operable. Forcing her chilled hands to work, she clumsily dialled a number and waited while the call connected.
‘What’s your sitrep?’ Hawkins asked right away.
‘The op’s blown. Drake was ready for us.’
Silence greeted her for a second or so. ‘What happened?’
‘We were ambushed while exfilling,’ Riley explained. ‘The team’s dead.’
‘You’re not,’ Hawkins pointed out, his undertone of accusation clear.
Riley was wise enough not to rise to that one.
‘What’s their last known position?’
She had no idea. The rural Welsh landscape wasn’t exactly home turf for her. In fact, she was rapidly coming to hate this cold, wet, bleak little country.
‘Trace this signal. They hit us just west of here, can’t have been more than a few minutes ago. They must still be in the area.’
‘Fine. We’ll vector in air assets and ground units.’
‘We’ll need a clean-up crew too,’ Riley added. She knew the deaths of her team would mean little to Hawkins, but the loss of resources and the potential for exposure was a danger that had to be contained.
‘Get yourself to extraction point Bravo.’
‘I can help,’ she protested. Right now, she wanted nothing more than to grab a weapon and hunt Drake and his sister down like animals.
‘You can help by getting to the evac point,’ Hawkins cut in sharply. ‘We’ve had enough fuck-ups already tonight. I don’t need more.’
Riley gritted her teeth. ‘Copy that.’
The li
ne went dead. Lowering the phone, the young woman let out a slow breath, then drew back her arm and hurled it against a nearby rock. The device shattered with the tinkle of broken glass, though it did little to alleviate her burning anger.
This wasn’t over, she told herself. It would end only when Drake died by her hand.
* * *
Jessica leaned back in her seat, relishing the hot air blasting from the truck’s heating system. The initial surge of fear and adrenaline that her body had produced during the ambush was thinning, and she felt dreadfully weary all of a sudden. She fancied she might have been able to nod off if it weren’t for her companion’s haphazard driving.
She pushed the big clumsy utility vehicle hard, manoeuvring it like a sports car. The engine roared as they tore down the remote road, tyres skidding and clawing at the ground as she fought with the heavy steering, sometimes coming perilously close to the unfenced road edge.
‘Don’t you think we should slow down a little?’ Jessica suggested, tensing as a low-hanging branch slammed against the side window.
‘Not if you want to get out of this,’ the woman replied. ‘They’ll vector in air assets with thermal imaging to track us. Our only chance is to get beyond the perimeter before they start their sweep.’
Jessica craned her neck to look up, imagining aircraft sweeping in to take them out. ‘All that just for me?’
‘Not you,’ her companion stated. ‘It’s your brother they want. You’re just leverage.’
‘You really know how to make a girl feel special.’
‘I’m here to keep you alive, not to stroke your ego.’
Jessica bit her tongue, opting not to take the bait. ‘I need a phone.’
‘Not yet.’
‘I have to warn Ryan. If he goes there—’
‘He won’t,’ she stated simply, as if it were an incontrovertible fact. ‘Ryan’s at least a hundred miles from here.’