The Karl Lehman Affair

by Jonathan R Hayes

  They left the Palace of Westminster building and quickly made their way towards Fielden House on foot without police escort. They were about to cross the road when a black Mercedes abruptly stopped in front of Allister. Parker thought it was a member of the security forces. A small man sitting in the rear of the car wearing gold rimmed circular spectacles pushed open the door and leaned out putting one foot down on the footpath. ‘Give me the vial now,’ demanded the man holding a gun pointed directly at Nicole.

  ‘It’s Zoran!’ Cried Nicole.

  100

  The feisty French woman stood on the footpath staring at Zoran. Emotions of deep hatred welled up inside her just like her first encounter with this moronic asshole aboard the ship. She had two choices; hold on to the vial or get shot.

  ‘Give him the vial NOW.’ shouted Parker, fearing for her life.

  Zoran leaned out and went to grab the small silver container out of Nicole’s hand. Instead he put a vice-like grip around her wrist and dragged her towards him into the car. In an instant, he slammed the car door closed before the Mercedes accelerated swiftly away to the sound of screeching tyres.

  Parker momentarily startled by Nicole’s second kidnapping, quickly sized up the situation.

  Starting to sprint down the street after the Mercedes, Parker shouted to Durand to contact Meyer and get immediate police back-up. When he was half way down the street, a media van came racing up behind him and sounded its horn.

  ‘I saw what happened back there, mate!’ shouted the driver. ‘Hop in.’

  Parker jumped in and the van took off at high speed turning left at the end of the street in hot pursuit of the black car.

  Within a few seconds Parker could see Zoran’s car far in the distance now held up in traffic. He grabbed his phone and called Hadley.

  ‘Simon! They grabbed Nicole at Parliament buildings. I need SIS back up immediately. I’m heading towards Victoria Street.’

  The van driver, a television cameraman, was fully onboard with the unfolding scenario, accelerated along the street and quickly approached the rear of the Mercedes. The black car broke out of the line of traffic when the driver saw the van approaching and sped off up Victoria Street on the wrong side of the road.

  ‘Follow them!’ shouted Parker.

  The cameraman switched on the vehicle’s hazard lights, pulled out of the line of traffic and raced after the Mercedes along the street at speeds of over seventy miles an hour.

  At the end of Victoria Street, the Mercedes cut in on traffic and veered left onto Vauxhall Bridge Road. The van was now only two cars behind the Mercedes.

  Zoran’s car raced across Vauxhall Bridge, passed Vauxhall station before the driver saw a police road block ahead at the next junction.

  He swung the car sharp right onto South Lambeth Rd and onto Parry Street closely followed by the van. Parker looked behind him and saw a police car pulling out from the road block to follow them.

  ‘Good old Raoul. He got police back-up,’ cried Parker.

  He took out his gun and inserted a fresh magazine.

  The cameraman looked anxiously across at the gun, his eyes widening with surprise.

  Parker quickly called his MI6 contact again. ‘Hadley! I’m still in hot pursuit of Zoran. We seem to be heading towards Battersea Power Station.

  The Mercedes was now travelling at over eighty miles an hour racing along Nine Elms Lane with the pursuing media van on its tail.

  Parker watched the Mercedes jamming on its brakes while approaching another road block. Heavy police jeeps were blocking the road ahead. The car slid side-ways on the road, bashing into the front of one of the police vehicles before accelerating away to the right and down Cringle Street. The media van slowed slightly and using a hand-brake turn swung right at the road block continuing the pursuit of the Mercedes unabated.

  ‘Good driving matey!’ shouted Parker over the noise of the van’s high revving engine while its driver, foot to the floor, drilled every ounce of power from it.

  ‘You’ll probably get a medal for this!’

  Soon the black Mercedes ran out of road and came to a sudden stop on waste ground in front of the vacant Power Station. Zoran had the rear door open in a flash, jumped out and with a gun to Nicole’s head, dragged her towards the dilapidated Station, the four familiar tall stacks looming up in front of them.

  Parker leapt from the van and ran after them. He could see the Hungarian holding a mobile phone in one hand and an automatic pistol in the other.

  Turning abruptly, he fired half a dozen shots at Parker who was about fifty meters behind him. The bullets whistled over his head as he quickly ducked down onto the ground, making himself a smaller target.

  Dragging Nicole further along, they entered a 7-storey building adjoining the main Turbine Hall. The fiend was looking for a part of the site that still had a roof. Holding a gun to her throat, the psychopath waited behind a pillar for Parker to arrive. He took out his mobile phone again with his free hand and keyed in a number before barking instructions to the person on the other end in a foreign language.

  Parker stopped outside the door where the two had entered. With his gun drawn, he carefully stepped inside. Crouching down behind a half-demolished wall, he waited to see if he could hear the diminutive Hungarian moving about inside. Sirens could be heard in the distance as police approached the building.

  Zoran, fearing he would be cut-off from his escape route to the roof, broke cover and started firing repeatedly in the direction of Parker. Using Nicole as a human shield, the pair moved towards a steel door and entered a stairwell.

  Parker, with gun in hand, stood up and ran towards the door. He could hear the couple inside ascending a steel staircase. At the same time a Police car screeched to a halt outside as the courageous Doctor pulled open the steel door and rushed inside.

  ‘Give yourself up, Bartoch. Police have the building surrounded,’ shouted Parker.

  The aggressor, shielded by his victim, now four flights of stairs above his pursuer, responded with a volley of automatic fire. Parker crouched low while the bullets pinged off the steel structures around him. He had to be careful. He was not wearing a flak jacket. A ricocheting bullet could be fatal.

  Zoran started to move again up the open thread stairs, the intrepid Doctor closely following him from below.

  Stopping again, he fired another burst of rounds down at Parker keeping Nicole close to his side.

  When the firing subsided, Parker leaned out over the railing and looking up, could just about see where the two were crouched. He heard the sound below him of a steel door opening. It was the police attempting to come inside.

  ‘Watch out,’ shouted Parker.

  Zoran fired a continuous burst of bullets down at the door. The unarmed policemen quickly retreated outside and decided to await the arrival of the Armed Support Unit.

  The Python affiliate was again on his mobile phone issuing instructions to somebody. He then put his phone away and checked in his pocket for the vial.

  ‘Give up Zoran. It’s all over. Let her go,’ goaded Parker. ‘We uncovered your fiendish plan on board the Asclepius to release synthetic viruses and bacteria into large population centers. For what? To boost sales of your vaccines?’

  ‘You can’t stop me now Parker. I’m holding all the cards,’ shouted Bartoch.

  ‘I have Lehman and I have the only surviving sample of iDrug. The vial is irreplaceable,’ laughed Zoran.

  ‘The two men who invented it are dead. All records have been destroyed. The Swiss Government will pay me a hefty ransom, worth millions, when I threaten to destroy it, depriving the world of the greatest medical breakthrough in history.’

  Grabbing Nicole tightly around her forearm, he broke cover and rushed up the stairs dragging the French woman behind him, all the while using her for cover. Parker never taking his eye off his target sprinted up the stairs after them.

  When Zoran got to the top of the stairs, he kicked opened a heavy steel door
and pulled the woman outside onto the roof.

  Parker soon arrived at the top of the stairs and cautiously looked out through the opening and saw a commercial helicopter hovering over Nicole and her abductor. Conditions on the roof were blustery and the aircraft was having difficulty maintaining a level pitch.

  Parker in combat stance with his arms outstretched in front of him, pointed his gun at his prey all the time walking slowly towards him. Zoran suddenly pulled the woman in front of himself, lifted his gun and attempted to fire his pistol. Only a clicking sound was heard.

  ‘Fuck,’ shouted the diminutive Hungarian standing behind his captive holding on tightly to her. He needed to insert a new magazine quickly. Too late for that! Parker was already racing towards his prey with growing confidence.

  Zoran frantically beckoned to the pilot to land. But in that instant of time, as Parker sprinted across the asphalt, the chopper could not manoeuver quickly enough in the blustery conditions.

  Nicole took her opportunity and grabbed her captor’s empty gun while Parker dived headlong at his target. Despite Zoran’s adroitness, Parker’s right shoulder connected full-square with the Hungarian’s right rib cage, knocking him backwards and down onto the floor. The two men wrestled on the roof deck for some time, rolling around, each trying to get the upper hand. Despite his small stature, the little man was incredibly strong. He finally broke free of Parker’s strangle hold and stood up. When Parker leaned forward to get up, Zoran kicked him in the face. He turned, grabbed Nicole around the neck and started to strangle her.

  Parker stunned by the blow to the head, slowly stumbled to his feet. When he looked up his vision was blurred. He saw Nicole in deep distress while the psychopath’s hands were slowly tightened around her neck. Out of bullets, Zoran was now attempting to strangle the French woman with his bare hands before he boarded the helicopter.

  Nicole, in her moment of desperation, looked into Parker’s eyes and saw blind rage. When the MI6 agent came hurdling towards his target for a second time, she lifted her right foot and using all her weight, stamped her sharp steel stiletto heel down hard with all her strength, stabbing straight through the Hungarian’s foot, pinning it to the roof.

  Zoran let out an almighty scream and immediately relaxed his grip around her neck. With his foot still pinned by the stiletto, he was knocked backwards onto the ground by the force of Parker’s body impact. His ankle snapped in two like a twig as his foot twisted completely around to point behind him. Nicole instantly stood to one side, releasing her predator’s foot in the process. The Hungarian sat on the ground in agony while Parker stood over his prey, ripping the jacket off his back and retrieving the silver container from an inside pocket. Suddenly, the helicopter made a sudden swoop downwards. As quick as lightning, Bartoch rolled over and stood up on his good leg before hopping up and grabbing onto one of the chopper’s landing skids. The pilot fully anticipating Zoran’s move, quickly jolted the chopper into a steep climb while the fiend dangled below, his right foot twisted at a crazy angle. The aircraft flew straight out over the river Thames and immediately started descending towards the water.

  Suddenly a loud single rifle shot rang out and echoed around the power station. Zoran was hit between the shoulder blades. He desperately clung on for a few seconds longer, then slowly let go his grasp and plummeted two hundred feet into the river below. Parker looked down from the edge of the roof and saw a man in black combat gear standing at ground level beside a jeep, surrounded by other police vehicles and pointing a sniper’s rifle into the air. The man slowly turned towards Parker revealing himself as Alpha-1. He stood there with a broad smile on his face. Parker returned the smile and with his right hand raised to his forehead, saluted this magnificent Herculean warrior.

  Parker, standing close to Nicole on the roof, watched while the helicopter descended to about thirty feet above the Thames. It started circling around the point where the body hit the water.

  A short time later, seeing an armada of small craft approaching the scene, the chopper hastily ended its search and split from the area. If Bartoch survived the bullet, the fall most certainly finished him.

  101

  At the Studios of Live News Corporation in London

  ‘Following the extraordinary scenes we have witnessed near Westminster Bridge earlier this morning, gunmen running out from St. Gregory’s Cathedral firing off automatic weapons before engaging police in a running gun battle up the A302 towards Westminster Bridge, reports are coming in this incident is related to the Professor Karl Lehman murder hunt. And now more breaking news; Nicole Lehman, the Professor’s wife, has been cleared of all involvement with her husband’s murder. We are now going across live to Westminster to Fielden House for a hastily convened news conference, which we believe is about to get underway shortly. Our reporter on the spot is Julian Wells……’

  ‘Yes Mark, major developments here this morning on the streets of London. A senior police officer arrived at St Gregory’s Cathedral earlier this morning to meet Nicole Lehman and her associate, Dr. Harry Parker, the British Government advisor on Health. Apparently, they went into St Gregory’s Cathedral to collect an item that had been hidden there for some time and were immediately confronted by an armed gang who held them at gun point inside the cathedral. It’s still not clear what exactly they went to collect or what happened after they were confronted by the gunmen. One eye witness said that there was a stand-off between members of the Metropolitan police force and the gun men close to a small chapel inside the cathedral and one officer was shot in the chest. This officer has now been identified as Inspector Dieter Meyer of the Swiss police force who is heading up the investigation into the murder of Karl Lehman. Reports from an eye witness said that the Swiss policeman was wearing a bullet proof vest and received only minor injuries. In any event we can now see Inspector Meyer seated in the conference room here, looking fit and well. Following the exchange of fire inside the Cathedral, Nicole Lehman, Harry Parker and a third man ran from the scene out onto the A302, hotly pursued by four or five gunmen. Only for the strong presence of armed police outside the cathedral, this could have turned into a blood bath involving multiple casualties. This was a serious incident Mark, involving heavily armed men, one that is of serious concern to security chiefs because it took place so close to Parliament buildings here in Westminster.’

  ‘Any update Julian on the news conference we believe is to be held there this afternoon?’

  ‘Yes Mark, as you can see the conference is about to get under way very shortly. They are awaiting the arrival of Dr. Parker and Nicole Lehman before the press conference can commence. They were last seen entering the House of Commons. The room is full of an international Press corps. There is a tremendous buzz of excitement around the room and it is strongly rumored by journalists and TV reporters something really big is going to be announced here this lunchtime. ….. Now there appears to be some commotion outside the room here and we believe …. Yes! Here they are. Nicole Lehman and Dr. Parker have arrived and are making their way across the room to take their seats beside the Swiss Policeman.’

  Meyer looked at Parker wondering what had delayed them, promptly switched on the microphone in front of him and started to speak.

  ‘I am Inspector Dieter Meyer of the Swiss Metropolitan Police force. I would request members of the media to keep all questions until after Dr. Parker has finished speaking. The incident at St. Gregory’s Cathedral this morning was what we would describe as the end game played out by a ruthless criminal gang who were part of an international criminal organization, engaged in a conspiracy to prevent the commercialization of iDrug. For operational reasons I cannot say any more at this point other than to confirm that arrests of members of this criminal organization are being conducted in six countries this morning as we speak. It has been an extremely traumatic time for Professor Lehman’s wife, Nicole since the death of her husband and the planting of evidence at her home to falsely implicate her in her husband’s murder
. I’m delighted to report here this lunchtime Nicole Lehman has been cleared of all charges and the real culprits are being apprehended presently at several locations abroad. I would now like to hand you over to Dr. Harry Parker who has been assisting Ms. Lehman in finalizing her late husband’s research work and getting it into the public domain as quickly as possible. Ladies and Gentlemen, Dr. Parker.’

  Parker stood up from the table and walked the short distance to a podium at the top of the room.

  ‘Thank you, Inspector Meyer. Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to start by saying it is with profound honor, much excitement, and tremendous relief I stand here at this news conference today to address you all from Fielden House press room to announce to the world a profoundly important development in medical science. This unprecedented address in this house, covered live by the television networks from around the world, will I believe mark a momentous day in the history of mankind when the third biggest killer of human kind, bacterial infectious diseases, leading to fatal respiratory failure, has finally been defeated. I speak here today not of my own personal endeavors but those of Professor Karl Lehman who worked tirelessly and selflessly over the past fifteen years to bring about this colossal break-through. He paid the ultimate price when he was callously struck down by evil forces determined to prevent the people of the world benefitting from iDrug and sharing in the victory over Pathogenic diseases that account for more lives lost than both world wars put together and more than all the automobile accidents around the world. This development is equally important as any great achievement our generation has had the privilege to witness over the last fifty years.

  Holding up one of Lehman’s CDs in his right-hand Parker declared, ‘Images recorded in vivo by Professor Karl Lehman of the inside of living tissue clearly show iDrug at work, singling out pathogenic bacteria inside the human body before delivering small but targeted doses of electric current, killing the pathogens while leaving surrounding healthy tissue unharmed. This CD contains MRI images of iDrug at the initial point of entry into the femoral artery before it goes to work, powered and controlled by an external magnetic field.