Red Station

by Adrian Magson

  He risked another try and stood up, letting off another double-tap before dropping to the ground. Too far right and off-target. But close enough when it was three against one.

  Then an engine burst into life, followed by the high-pitched whine of reverse gear and the furious scrape of tyres on loose shale.

  Latham moving out? They’d surprised him; scared him off.

  But for how long?

  Ditching caution in favour of speed, Harry scrambled towards the Toyota, stubbing knees and toes on rocks. They’d been given – had taken – one chance to get away from their pursuer, and he wasn’t going to waste it. Cuts and bruises were an acceptable trade-off compared with the alternatives.

  ‘Clare! Rik!’ he yelled. ‘Back to the car!’

  He got there just as the driver’s door opened and Clare reached up to smash the interior light with the butt of her pistol. Rik dived in from the other side, and once Harry was aboard, they took off again.

  The headlights revealed a continuation of the gully which took them back on to the road, past a ramshackle wooden pen which a local farmer must have used for housing the goats. Clare pushed the Toyota out on to the tarmac without waiting to see if the other car was coming up behind them.

  ‘You OK?’ Harry asked. Clare nodded, focussing on the road ahead. She looked determined in the glow of the instrument panel, with a gleam of excitement in her eyes and smudges of dirt showing on her face and shoulders where she had hit the ground after abandoning the car.

  He turned to look at Rik, who was watching the rear. ‘How about you?’

  Rik shook his head and held up his gun. He didn’t meet Harry’s eye. ‘I’m fine. I didn’t . . . I couldn’t do it.’ He cleared his throat and looked at the back of Clare’s head. ‘I tried, but . . . I fucked up the safety catch and it wouldn’t fire. My hands were greasy . . . I was nervous. Sorry.’

  ‘Forget it,’ said Harry. Rik was feeling ashamed at not having been able to use his gun. It took guts to admit that in front of a colleague. ‘Let me see.’

  He took the gun and checked it over. The safety was on, and a knob of dirt was stuck to the slide. He cleaned it off and ejected the clip, then worked the mechanism. There was nothing wrong with it. Rik had suffered a simple attack of nerves. It happened. He handed the gun back.

  ‘The safety was jammed with muck. Must have picked it up when you hit the ground.’ He added, ‘Strip out the magazine, make sure you haven’t got a round up the spout and put it back together again.’

  He knew the breech was empty, but it wouldn’t do Rik any harm to go through the process. It would give him confidence to know that he could do it when it mattered.

  Rik nodded and did as Harry had said. When he straightened up, he looked and sounded calmer. ‘It’s good.’

  ‘Right,’ said Harry, not looking at him. ‘Next time, you’ll be fine, too. Is the safety on?’

  There was a pause, a click, and Rik said, ‘Yes.’

  An hour later, they swung sharply left and bounced down a muddy track.

  Harry looked questioningly at Clare. She pointed towards a dark mass in the distance showing a single point of light. A farm. It was too remote to be anything else.

  ‘If you’ve got some of that chocolate handy,’ she added, ‘I could use it to bribe the farmer into letting us stay in his barn.’

  Harry nodded and checked the track behind them. There had been no sign of pursuit, and he doubted if even Latham was capable of driving through the dark without lights. They had been pushing hard and were all desperate to stop; it made sense to lay up while they could.

  He had debated the wisdom of arriving at the airport in the middle of the night, and dismissed it. The place was likely to be locked up tight until just before the first flight in the morning, which would leave them with nowhere but the terminal and surrounding shadows to hide when Latham arrived. And he was sure to turn up sooner or later.

  At least in the morning, with airport security and army patrols, the killer would find it difficult to go on the offensive.

  Rik passed Clare two chocolate bars from their supplies. She drew up a hundred yards short of the nearest building, a wooden cowshed with weatherworn slats and a sunken roof. Taking the chocolate, she got out and disappeared into the dark.

  The single light had gone out.

  Five minutes later, she was back, minus the chocolate. She pointed to the cowshed. ‘There’s a small barn behind that. He says we can stay there, but wants us gone before five. He’s already had two military patrols go through the place.’

  Once the Toyota was safely out of sight, they went inside and found a place to settle down. The air was surprisingly warm, and smelled of hay and animals. Movement in a stall at the rear was followed by the snuffle of a horse and a bleat from a goat. Dried rabbit skins hung from the wall and a chicken poked its head out from a pile of sacking.

  ‘It’s Noah’s bloody ark,’ said Rik, and threw himself down on a pile of hay.

  Harry instinctively checked the barn for a rear exit. He found a single door in one corner. Then he did a tour of the outside and stood listening to the night. No sounds. No movement.

  He stood for a while, enjoying the solitude and allowing the kinks from the car ride and the rolling around in the dirt to ease themselves from his body. His thoughts turned to Jean, and he wondered what she was doing. He realized with surprise that he’d been doing that quite a bit lately.

  The idea of making her smile sounded promising.

  Now all he had to do was get back.

  He went back inside. The other two were in separate corners, fast asleep.

  FIFTY-EIGHT

  Five o’clock brought a thin dawn and a cold snap to the air. An easterly wind was curling round the barn and the temperature inside dropped sharply as the warmth of the previous night seeped out into the dark.

  Harry rolled himself out of the natural hammock he’d created in a pile of hay. He looked for Clare and found her already up and watching the track through a small gap in the wooden slats. She looked composed and resolute, in spite of the strands of hay sticking to her jacket.

  ‘A car went by fifteen minutes ago,’ she announced. ‘Four-wheel drive, one occupant. Couldn’t see any detail but it might have been Latham. Two military-style convoys, too. Couldn’t see if they were army or militia.’

  ‘Good thing none of them stopped,’ said Rik, pulling his gun out from under him. He winced. He’d been lying on it. His face was dirty and his spiky hair looked unkempt, but he sounded calm, as if he’d found some reserves of inner resilience.

  ‘We’ll eat first,’ said Harry. ‘If he’s ahead of us, there’s no point rushing off.’

  ‘He’ll be waiting, then.’ Clare looked at him. ‘We won’t know he’s there until he hits us.’

  Harry nodded and rubbed at the bristles on his chin. He needed a shave and a shower. ‘I know. But if it was him you saw, he’ll be there whether we eat or not. I’d rather make him wait.’ He checked his watch and calculated their probable travel time to the airport. Three quarters of an hour should do it, if he’d got his sums right and they were given a clear run.

  ‘So we just drive straight at him?’ Clare looked ready for a fight – although not just with Latham.

  ‘Not exactly. I’ve got a cunning plan.’

  ‘Have you used it before?’ said Rik anxiously.

  ‘Yes.’ Harry preferred not to think about it. It had been a long time ago, with different enemies. Then, he’d been lucky. Time to see if it still worked.

  His main worry was Latham would probably also have seen what he was planning to do.

  A phone buzzed in the silence.

  It was Rik’s mobile. He snatched it out of his pocket and checked the screen. ‘It’s Fitz!’ he said, then answered. ‘What’s up, man? We’re on the road. Oh, OK.’ He looked at Harry and handed him the mobile. ‘He wants to talk to you.’

  Harry took the phone. ‘You all right?’

  ‘Yeah, I’m
fine. You clear yet?’ Fitzgerald’s voice was tinny, and occasionally dogged by static. A child was crying in the background, and a woman’s voice murmured something. The sound of normality.

  ‘We’re working on it.’

  ‘Anyone with you apart from the lad?’

  ‘Yes.’ Fitzgerald was deliberately avoiding the use of names, he noticed. Probably because he knew more about the local intercept capabilities than he had let on. ‘The big club wouldn’t come.’

  ‘The big cl— Oh, right . . . got you. Is the girl with you?’

  ‘Yes. Problem?’

  ‘You could say that. The uh . . . club; he won’t be going anywhere. That’s why I rang.’

  An icy feeling settled in Harry’s stomach. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘He’s dead.’

  ‘How?’

  ‘Hit and run. Might be genuine, but I doubt it. I got a call from a friend at the hospital. You ask me, you’ve got trouble close to home, Harry.’

  ‘Thanks for telling me. Any ideas?’

  ‘Sorry. Can’t help you there. I’d watch the girl, though; I think she’s bad. This call’s over . . . I’m bricking the mobile and we’re moving to another location. And before you ask, I won’t be coming in.’

  ‘You sure?’

  ‘Dead sure. Watch your back.’

  Twenty minutes later, they drove away from the farm, their mood further subdued by the news of Mace’s death. The light was still low but getting better with very passing minute. Leaving it any longer would improve visibility, but that would be the same for Latham. And they’d be cutting it too fine to make their flight if they ran into him.

  Before leaving, Harry placed some money inside a plastic food container by the horse stall where the farmer would be sure to find it. As long as the goat didn’t get to it first.

  They reached the end of the farm track and stopped. The road was empty in both directions, save for an ancient tractor towing a trailer loaded with wood. A curtain of dust hung in the air, legacy of the earlier truck convoys.

  Clare was driving again, while Harry and Rik concentrated on the terrain around them. He’d told them to keep an eye out for high ground with trees or large outcroppings of rock – anywhere a gunman might position himself. It would be where Latham was waiting.

  ‘You think it was him?’ said Rik. ‘Killed Mace, I mean.’

  ‘Yes.’ He’d never be able to prove it, but he was sure Latham was responsible. He considered Fitzgerald’s warning about Clare, but dismissed her as the killer. She wouldn’t have been able to accomplish it in the time frame available. Anyway, Fitz had said bad. Bad in his book would have meant untrustworthy.

  Latham, on the other hand, was something else.

  Mace would have made an easy target; predictable, slow-moving and unlikely to have been sober, he wouldn’t have seen the danger coming. Or maybe hadn’t cared. ‘He’s doing what he’s good at: clearing up the evidence.’

  And now he was out here, looking for the rest of them.

  ‘How do we reduce the odds?’ Clare asked. It was the first time she had spoken since leaving the barn. She seemed to have gotten rid of her earlier irritation, settling instead for a plan to survive.

  ‘We stop here and wait.’ Harry pointed to a section of clear ground coming up, just off the road. The ruts in the earth and a scattering of litter showed that it was in regular use as a pull-in for other vehicles. He took out a map and checked their position.

  Clare stopped the car. ‘What exactly are we waiting for?’

  ‘That lot.’ Harry jerked a thumb over his shoulder. A line of dots was approaching a mile away. Another military convoy, kicking up a swirl of dust behind them.

  He’d noticed them earlier. They were moving fast and hadn’t taken long to catch up. Wherever they were going must be important. He hoped it was the airport.

  ‘With a bit of luck,’ he said, ‘they’re going our way.’

  ‘We tag along behind?’ said Clare. She looked unsure.

  ‘Not behind. Wait until you see a gap, then get in among them.’

  ‘Hey, neat,’ said Rik. ‘If Latham can’t get a bead on us, he can’t shoot.’

  ‘Maybe.’ Harry looked at Clare. ‘Just make sure we’re nowhere near a fuel or ammo truck.’

  At that, Rik’s face fell.

  Harry didn’t mention what might happen if Latham decided to take them out regardless of the risk. They would have the cover of the trucks to keep them from a direct confrontation, but amid the noise and dust of the convoy, a rifle shot from five hundred yards away wouldn’t even register – apart from the person it hit.

  The thought made his forehead itch.

  The first truck drew level and pounded by, the driver and his mate leaning over to stare down at them. Five seconds later another one roared past. Both were full of troops in camouflage combats, automatic rifles held between their knees. The ones nearest the tailgate grinned and made faces when they saw Clare. Ten seconds later came another truck, this one heavily-laden and double-wheeled, the ground vibrating under its weight. Fifteen seconds and a fuel tanker, another ten and a box-shape communications truck with a fold-down antennae array. The noise was deafening and the smell of diesel fuel hung in the air like a cloak, seeping into the Toyota. The convoy was travelling fast and efficiently, plainly part of a battle group with full supplies.

  ‘It’s too tight,’ said Clare, her voice cracking above the din. She was blipping the throttle, handbrake off and ready to go. ‘If I mistime it, we’ll get crushed.’

  ‘You’ll do it.’ Harry kept his voice calm and checked his wing mirror. The biggest gaps were between the fuel and ammo trucks; nobody wanted to be close to them if they blew. The end of the convoy was in sight, with another half-dozen vehicles to go. If they missed their chance, they were on their own.

  Exposed.

  Suddenly Clare floored the pedal. The Toyota’s engine howled as she spun the wheel and pulled on to the road right on the tail of a water tanker spraying a fine mist in the air from a bad seal. Seconds later their rear-view mirror was filled with the radiator of the truck behind, bouncing wildly over the surface of the road as it bore down on them with its lights full on. In spite of the proximity, the driver leaned on his horn at the uninvited intrusion and kept coming.

  ‘Bastard! Back off!’ muttered Clare, fighting to control the wheel. She flicked on the wipers to counter the water spraying across the windscreen. With no view to speak of around the tanker’s fat, swaying rear end, and not enough room to go round it, she was having to drive blind and trust the convoy didn’t stop without warning.

  ‘Ease back gradually,’ advised Harry. ‘He won’t argue.’

  She did so, gradually fighting to regain some space between them and the tanker. It was a risky undertaking but Harry was gambling on the driver behind not wanting to cause a pile-up. The manoeuvre worked; the driver suddenly gave up and dropped back, giving them room.

  Clare dropped her window and gave a friendly wave. The other driver didn’t respond at first, then he grinned and waved back.

  Ten minutes later the convoy came to a fork in the road. The trucks in front were all bearing right, heading towards high ground.

  The hills.

  ‘Which way?’ said Clare. ‘Left? It must be left.’

  Harry checked the map. Damn. She was right. If they stayed with the cover of the convoy, they would end up in the hills, miles from the airport and with no obvious way back other than down this same road. If there were other routes, this map didn’t include them.

  The road to the left looked very empty.

  ‘Left or right – come on!’

  ‘Left,’ he confirmed, and held on as she swung the wheel and shot out from the line of trucks. She let the Toyota run on for a hundred yards to make sure they were clear, then halted at the side of the road. The rest of the convoy roared on by, horns tooting and men weaving at this minor break in their day, leaving behind a heavy cloud of dust settling on the damp wi
ndscreen.

  At Harry’s insistence, they checked their weapons and took a drink. He estimated from the map that they had just over ten miles to go before they reached the main airport road. From that point, the perimeter fence would be in sight, as would the army patrolling its length.

  But that ten miles consisted mostly of deserted countryside through low hills and wooded areas. Ripe terrain for an ambush.

  ‘Let’s go,’ he said, and wound down the window, signalling for the others to do the same. Closed windows gave a false sense of invulnerability and flying splinters from a gunshot would only add to their problems.

  The first three miles took them along a looping, dusty switchback, mostly single-track with poor verges and a scattering of straggly bushes on either side. Nowhere looked good for an ambush. An occasional farm showed far back in the fields, but they saw nobody, passed no other vehicles. It was like being on the moon.

  ‘Shit!’ They were rounding a gradual curve with a dip in the road when Clare swore and stamped hard on the brakes, the rear of the car fishtailing wildly.

  A white horse was lying in the road, the broken arms of a hay cart half under its body. Nearby lay the crumpled form of an elderly man, eyes turned sightlessly at the sky.

  ‘Keep going!’ Harry shouted, hand braced against the dashboard. There was a widening pool of blood beneath the man’s head and the horse had a bright a smear of red down its muzzle.

  ‘But he might be alive!’ Clare protested. She lifted her foot off the pedal and the car began to slow.

  As it did so, the first bullet struck.

  FIFTY-NINE

  The shot tore through the windscreen, leaving a ragged hole, and blew out Clare’s head-rest in an explosion of foam and fabric. She cried shrilly with shock but retained her grip on the wheel.

  Latham.

  ‘Go, go!’ Harry tried to see where the shot had come from. There were two clumps of trees in front of them, and an outcropping of rocks. Both had been hidden by the bend in the road. Latham was clever; any of them would have been good firing points, invisible until it was too late to turn back. Shooting the horse and farmer merely helped finalize the set-up. But Latham would have gone for the best cover available; cover to allow him to blend in so he could wait patiently until he took his shot; surroundings that would also allow a safe evacuation afterwards. Rocks were good, but too consistent in shape and colour. They didn’t provide a camouflaged background the way trees did.