by J J Cooper
Jay caught his breath and stood. Broken glass crunched under his boots as he moved to peer inside the office block. Cliffe lay three-quarters of the way through the window on his back, one leg hanging out of the building, the other at an angle and caught in the window-pane. A large piece of glass protruded from his torso and smaller pieces surrounded it. There wasn't much blood and Jay knew he was dead. He looked beyond Cliffe and noticed that he'd pushed him into the office reception area. A stunned secretary leaned over the counter. She saw Jay and started screaming. Jay was glad he couldn't hear all that well. A bald man in a business suit minus jacket came running from around the corner, his bright orange tie flapping over his shoulder. He stopped, his foot resting on the pistol. He looked from the pistol to Jay, tried to say something but couldn't.
'Call the police and tell them that the pistol belongs to the dead guy in your window, and don't let anyone touch it,' Jay said. It sounded like he was talking into a tin can and he hoped he hadn't whispered the instructions.
He got a slight nod in return. Good. He picked up his backpack, brushed off a few stray shards of glass and turned toward Pat.
The screaming secretary seemed to have started a vocal Mexican wave as passers-by, shoppers and workers alike joined in; the inner-city street was a cacophony of shrieks. Jay's hearing was returning. He hated screaming. Got enough of it from terrified young soldiers who thought they were about to be tortured.
Still sitting in the stationary government car, Pat stared at Jay. Jay glanced across at Shannon in the bank. She saw him, gave a nod and calmly walked away from the window, no doubt to ring an ambulance. She would have called the police by now.
Jay felt like the eyes of the world were on him as the screaming died down. He didn't care; he had a second target to go after. He transferred the backpack to his left hand and withdrew the pistol from behind his back. Two construction workers who were racing toward him, probably to help, stopped in their tracks. Both raised their hands and told Jay to calm down. They backed away as Jay strode past them toward Pat. He dropped his backpack, raised the weapon and held it in both hands, pointing at Pat, who was now getting out of the driver-side door. Age was against Pat as he slowly brought up his own pistol. Jay didn't hesitate; his target was in sight. It allowed him enough time to vary his aim. Too many members of the public stood in the background, watching on. Some were within danger range for a badly aimed shot. Too risky for a double tap, he released a single well-aimed shot before Pat could clear his arm of the door to take his own shot.
The bullet collected Pat high on his right shoulder and the pistol fell from his hand. The impact sent him back against the side of the car. Jay had disabled his target but he wouldn't finish him off – not yet. He grabbed his backpack, came around the side of the car, reached in and took the keys from the ignition. Pat was holding his shoulder and groaning.
'I can't believe you just shot me,' Pat breathed heavily and continued to groan.
'You better believe it. Not as if you weren't going to shoot me.' Jay picked up Pat's pistol and put it in his backpack. The sound of screeching tyres made him look up, beyond Pat. Taylor. Perfect timing, Jay thought.
Jay grabbed Pat by the collar and used him as a shield from Taylor, who was two car lengths away and propped behind his door. Predictably, Taylor positioned himself like a cop in the movies covering the entrance of a bank robbery in progress, just waiting for the bad guy to come out with the hostage. Jay didn't want to disappoint. Taylor had created his own problem; he had stopped the car right in the middle of the road. Nothing stood between him and Jay except Pat, his choice of cover poor. Jay manoeuvred Pat to the back of his vehicle, keeping him between himself and Taylor. He stopped when he drew parallel with Taylor's vehicle.
'Don't do this, Jay. We can work this out. We're family, boy. I need that tape.' Pat's voice betrayed his desperation and pain.
'Shut up!' Jay tightened his grip on Pat's collar, causing him to groan.
Taylor leaned over the roof of his vehicle, weapon trained on Jay and Pat. Jay knew he wouldn't shoot while Pat was between them. He pushed Pat forward so that his pistol rested at extended arm's length on Pat's shoulder.
'Put it down, Taylor and walk away. You're not going to win this battle. Cliffe is dead and your boss here is in no position to help you. The best thing you can do is run. The police know all about your involvement in kidnapping my father.'
Taylor didn't waver and Jay knew he wasn't getting through. He must have really held a grudge from the ice bath.
Jay gave it one last try. He whispered to Pat. 'Tell him to put the gun down or I will shoot him.'
'What do I care? He's a liability anyway – you did me a favour with Cliffe.'
Pat's statement put the final nail in the coffin. Jay now knew that his assumptions about his Uncle Pat were correct. The façade over, he addressed Taylor again. 'Now I'm certain the Director here won't help you. Drop the weapon and run. Now!'
Taylor closed one eye, dropped his head and looked over his pistol. He was shot before he could pull the trigger. Jay had lowered his aim and shot through the passenger-side window. Pat instinctively ducked down and Jay followed suit as a bullet whistled over their heads.
The pistol slipped from Taylor's hand and slid down the windscreen. He moved his hands over his abdominal wound and looked down at the blood oozing from it. He staggered back and fell to his knees.
Jay bounced up, holding his pistol in one hand. He used his free hand to push Pat face-down onto the ground. 'Starfish position and don't fucking move,' he said to Pat.
He put both hands on the pistol and moved toward Taylor.
'What the fuck have you done to me?' Taylor asked as Jay closed in on him.
'I told you to run. I gave you plenty of chances. Shit, I even let you escape my father's house so you could leave. Never learn, you blokes, do you? Always thinking that you are as good as the SAS boys. Fucking wannabes.' Jay shook his head as Taylor bent over and started crying.
Jay looked around. The screaming and noise of the city had ceased. Like a minute's silence for the fallen, except Taylor and Cliffe weren't national heroes. He retrieved Taylor's pistol, unloaded it and threw the magazine across the road. He left the pistol on the bonnet and made his way back to Pat.
'Get up!'
Pat took his time getting to his feet and Jay grabbed him under the damaged shoulder. It made the process quicker. He pushed Pat forward toward his car and told him to get into the passenger seat. He got into the driver's side before Pat opened his door. Reaching across the seats, he retrieved his pistol and checked the magazine. As expected, the rounds had been removed. Jay cocked the weapon and noted that it had been cleared. Pat opened the door and witnessed Jay checking the pistol. 'Couldn't leave it loaded,' he said.
'Just get in the car.'
Pat got in and, with difficulty, started to pull the seatbelt across.
'Nope. Leave it off.'
'What?'
'You heard. Makes it easier to send you through the windscreen if I have to.'
Pat let go of the belt and sat back. He placed a hand over his damaged shoulder. Blood had started to soak through to his jacket. 'I need to get to a hospital.'
'And I need my father back.'
Jay kicked the motor over and drove down the street as the sirens converged on the city block. He looked across to the bank and caught Shannon's smile. She gave him a wave and he nodded back.
'OK, Uncle Pat. Better find something to stop that bleeding. We're going for a drive.'
FORTY-FOUR
Jay navigated through the city and onto the highway. Pat removed his tie and used it to bind the gunshot wound in his shoulder. Jay had no sympathy for him, nor for Cliffe and Taylor. They'd made their choices and Jay had made his. His thoughts were of Sarah.
'Why did you get Sarah involved?'
Pat looked down at his wound and then to Jay. 'You interrogated her and made her look like an idiot. She almost left the Agency. I figur
ed she stayed to learn and to one day be better than you. I wanted it to be revenge against you. Wished it had been. Actually convinced myself that's why she stayed in the program. But I underestimated you both.'
'A lot of that happening.'
'Sure, I knew what you were capable of in combat but I assumed I could manipulate her to help me out without you cluing in to it. She was feeding me some good information until she disappeared.'
'What is this really about? I gave the right people the right information years ago.'
'Yes, you did, and we acted accordingly. That document wasn't a problem for us. We knew you wouldn't give it up, or rather couldn't access it to give it up. Nobody knew the password. It really wasn't a problem until Catherine recruited the right people with the right access. There's a very good reason why Mossad are the best intelligence collectors in the world.'
Pat's tone betrayed that he'd known about the document from the start. Yet Jay was sure he wouldn't have been briefed on it. Maybe he was wrong. Either way, it was just another lie he'd told. 'Yeah, I know all about Mossad,' Jay said. 'They don't stop until the mission is complete – no matter what. Thing is, how the hell did they know about the interrogation of the Iraqi general in the first place?'
'The two agents who took him away from you were Mossad, not CIA.'
Jay whistled. 'Not a chance. That's some serious infiltration. We had special forces elements from all over the world there and serious hardware protecting us.'
Pat gave a slight chuckle until he realised how much it hurt. 'One big game of double-cross from the start. Welcome to the espionage business. Anyway, you know most of the rest except that I convinced Primrose his wife was not Catherine Zinner when I dug up some old photos, sent them to him and told him to compare them to his wife. He wasn't too happy. I brought him in on my side and sent him to pick you both up at the hotel. Unfortunately, you killed him before I could get the document from him.'
Something still wasn't right. 'Wait a minute. Are you still trying to say that everything you've done has come with the PM's blessing?'
'Doesn't work like that, Jay. Plausible deniability. I got told this was my last assignment and to do what it would take to prevent that document from getting out.'
'So you're not being a rogue agent, in it for some type of profit?'
'No, I'm not. Honest.'
Jay wasn't convinced. He hated it when someone claimed to be honest, trying to qualify a statement. In his experience, it generally meant that they weren't being entirely truthful. He kept the thought to himself. For now. 'I guess things have escalated now that you know about the disc.'
'I haven't passed that on yet. If anyone else knew, you would disappear fairly quickly.'
Jay didn't doubt it. 'Why did you have to drag Dad into it, and Bowen?'
'There's no way you'd have done it otherwise.'
'Bullshit.'
'I assume you're talking about me getting your dad involved with Lazarau and not his disappearance.' He didn't wait for a response. 'Think about it. Your dad told me about the nightmares. I can't imagine the burden you've been carrying for all these years. You would have eventually brought it out in the open if I hadn't done it this way.'
'Because the PM was worried that I could bring down the government?'
'A domino effect, Jay. Not just our government, but our allies as well. The Middle East would turn to chaos. Our world economies couldn't handle it. Shit, look at the oil prices as it is.'
'Always about oil,' Jay said. 'What about Bowen?'
'He knew exactly what he was getting into. He desperately wanted to join the Agency and I needed him to do this job.'
'You promised him when it was over that he would be welcomed into the Agency?'
'I know what you're thinking. I told you before that this is bigger than we are as individuals.'
'And Keith?'
'A mistake. I told him what was going on and he didn't want Sarah involved. You see, he and Sarah were very close at one stage.'
Another statement that felt like a whack to the head. 'But he came after us. He had his gun out.'
'No, he didn't. He came to see me. I told him that I had spoken to both of you and that I'd offered Sarah a one-way ticket out of the country. When I said she had refused, he set out to find the two of you – to convince Sarah to leave. His gun was still holstered when I got to him.'
'Don't say you told Sarah that?'
'I did. I owe it to Keith. I offered her that one-way ticket again. I told her all of this when you were at the service station. Practically ordered her off the case. But her loyalty by then was with you.'
'I can't imagine how she must have felt. She swore Keith had his pistol out.'
'She was justifying it to herself.'
Jay started to wonder again if he had done the right thing in posting the disc to the person he had. He wanted it to end. He felt like walking away, his dad was probably safe. But he couldn't leave Sarah. He now knew Catherine's capabilities. He didn't owe Pat anything, especially after what he'd put him through. He had to save Sarah and Catherine had to be stopped. Still, after all Pat's lies, he needed to know he wasn't being set up again.
He pulled the government vehicle off to the side of the road. 'Get out of the car and head over to the trees as if you're having a leak.'
'Why?'
'You want my help, then you'll do what I say.'
Pat gingerly exited and moved into the bushes by the highway. Jay took out his mobile and called Bill.
'Hello.'
'It's me, have you spoken to Dad yet?'
'Yes, and I assume you have a new mobile number that you haven't given me. Kinda makes it hard to call back.'
'Yeah, sorry. Have you spoken to Dad?'
'Keep your knickers on, I was getting to that. He's fine. A little dehydrated and some bruising. The doctors have drugged him up and he's sleeping now but wanted to pass on that he loves you.'
'Did he mention anything about what happened?'
'Only to say not to trust your uncle. But that your uncle is doing what he is doing for a good reason. He said just to be careful and to keep your wits about you. He also added that in the end he knows you'll do the right thing. And whatever that is, he is one hundred per cent behind you.'
Jay knew what his father meant. He'd grown up surrounded by spies; he knew how to decipher cryptic messages. 'Where is he?'
'Nambour hospital.'
'Are you sure you got it right? Uncle Pat is doing what he is doing for a good reason? He said that, even though Pat kidnapped him?'
'That's what he said. I asked for clarification, but he was drugged up. It seems though that he's sympathetic to whatever your uncle is up to. Seems like he was kidnapped for a reason. That's all I got out of him, Jay.'
'OK. Thanks, Bill. When he wakes up, tell him I'll see him soon, and look after him for me.'
'Will do. I too have every faith in you. Is there any other way I can help you, boy?'
'There is.'
'Shoot.'
'Bad pun at the moment.'
'What?'
'Doesn't matter. Can you get to the hospital and when Dad wakes ask him to find out if the Deputy Director had his pistol holstered when he was shot.'
'Sure thing, Jay. I'm going to be a rebel and drive the Monaro up there.'
'Take it easy, then, and as soon as Dad gets the information ring me on this number.'
'What is it?'
Jay gave Bill the phone number and hung up. Something still wasn't right with aspects of the information Pat had fed him. As Jay always instructed agents he'd interrogated during their training, including Sarah: keep your cover story as close to the truth as possible, only changing the vital details, and memorise the vital details.
A message registered on his phone. He opened it: Got bored so I thought I would send you a reminder to stay focused and not fuck me around. He hit the horn and signalled for Pat to join him. Pat stumbled back into the car while Jay fired it up again.
'Let's go. Sarah's life is on the line and we've got very little time to do something about it.'
Pat didn't say anything. Just got in the car and didn't bother with the seatbelt.
Another message came through on Jay's phone. Another photo. This time a picture of a hand with two missing fingers.
FORTY-FIVE
Jay hit the accelerator, spinning the wheels onto the bitumen. A van swerved from the inside lane to avoid hitting them. His phone fell from his lap and onto the passenger-side floor. Too busy trying to overtake vehicles and watching the road, he didn't see Pat pick it up.
'My God! What the hell has she done?'
Jay looked over at Pat, who stared at the picture on the phone. He reached over and grabbed it. 'What the fuck do you care? You got her involved in this mess.'
Pat buried his head in one hand and started sobbing. Jay had never seen him like that, and certainly hadn't expected the reaction. Up until then Pat had been unemotional about Sarah, barely mentioning her involvement, only with Jay's prompting. Perhaps the whole operation had taken its toll on him. Maybe he was beginning to realise the consequences of the lives sacrificed to retrieve the document and disc. Perhaps Pat had underestimated Mossad, and now realised that Catherine would do whatever it took to win. Still, he didn't expect this outburst from the director of the nation's spy agency. Not with his experience. No doubt, he would've lost agents before. It was strange indeed.
'She's a psychopath, there's no doubting it. We have to save Sarah at all costs. And we have to hurry,' Jay said.