“Don’t you ever leave me again! I heard a gunshot. I thought you were dead,” she said and sobbed. After recent events, he welcomed the closeness of a hug. He held his cheek close to her neck and closed his eyes. Together, they felt safe. He noticed she was trembling, and it seemed to be getting worse.
“What’s wrong?” he asked. She didn’t reply. She just continued to shake. He stepped back to look at her. She looked away. Was she…smirking?
“What?” he asked, bewildered and annoyed. With that, she burst out laughing, shaking her head at the same time, trying to apologize.
“Sorry,” she said, trying to stop herself from laughing.
“What is it?” he asked again, perplexed.
“You,” she said and laughed. “Just look at yourself.” She took his hand and marched outside to find a restroom. She squeezed in and pulled Jason with her. Reluctantly he followed. He looked at the image in the mirror. He saw a boy with a black face. One ear was filthy. His body was covered in brown dirt, oil, blood, and grease, and his shorts were ripped at the side all the way to the elastic waist, revealing part of his buttock. His legs were dirty, scratched, and cut. One of his eyes was black where he had tried to wipe the grit out with dirty hands. Jason smiled at first and then he seemed annoyed; however, he soon burst out laughing too. They laughed and tried as much as they could to clean him up in the small sink.
Joanne helped wash Jason’s ear. The restroom on the train was not really big enough for two people. Joanne laughed at him as he complained that she was scrubbing his ear too hard with a tiny green bar of soap. She managed to wash most of the grease off him, but his torn clothing was ruined. They continued the journey in the safety of the sleeper compartment. The train stopped at Madrid briefly and set off again, eventually stopping at Zaragoza in northern Spain.
As they stepped off the train, Jason noticed several local police standing at the end of each platform. Two police officers close to Jason spoke on a radio and looked at the two young children. Jason’s filthy shirt and ripped shorts stood out. He took Joanne’s hand and briskly walked up the platform. The taller policeman let out a deep sigh, his lips fluttering, and started to walk cautiously toward Jason.
“Excuse me. May I have a word?” the police officer asked in Spanish.
Jason turned and smiled at the man. “Hola,” he said.
“Can you children give me your names?”
“I am Pepe. This is my girlfriend, Wen. We can’t stop. We have to meet our parents outside the station,” Jason said in his best Spanish, still walking and tugging on Joanne’s hand. The police officer signaled two other officers over.
“Maybe we can escort you outside,” he said, getting closer.
Jason kept moving and tried to ignore him.
“Wen, you seem a little worried. Is everything all right?” he asked Joanne.
“She does not speak Spanish. We are not supposed to talk to strangers,” Jason replied.
The officer was now next to Jason and bearing down on them. “Please stop. I need to talk to you,” he said, placing a hand on Joanne’s shoulder. Jason gripped Joanne’s hand tighter. “Come with us. We have been looking for you. It seems you have left a trail of dead bodies behind you. My superiors wish to question you.”
Jason stopped and looked around. On the next platform, a busy local commuter train was unloading. The platform was full of people rushing in all directions, including a large group of schoolchildren in uniform complete with hats.
“Do you trust me, Jo?” Jason asked in Chinese so the police could not understand.
She looked at him and nodded.
Jason spun around on his right foot and kicked out with his left, knocking the police officer over. He ran, pulling Joanne with him, and then jumped down onto the tracks. They ran across the tracks and climbed up the other side onto the busy platform. The policemen started shouting and blowing their whistles. He kept running into the crowd. They sprinted down the platform hand in hand, dodging the other passengers, their small size hidden by the adults. They soon reached the end of the platform. This led out onto the main train station. It was rush hour and packed with commuters. Without giving any warning, Jason pulled Joanne into the men’s bathroom.
“You nearly pulled my arm out of its socket,” Joanne panted.
“Oi!” a schoolboy protested at the sight of Joanne in the men’s toilets. Jason grabbed the boy by the face and pushed him back into a cubicle and then squeezed the boy’s cheeks with his thumb and fingers.
“Jo, come in and shut the door,” Jason ordered. The boy was terrified. He was a little bigger than Jason but could see the look in Jason’s eyes.
“Okay, we can do this easy or hard. I’m taking your clothes. Get undressed.” The boy shook his head. Jason grabbed his nose and twisted it. “I will not ask again. Get undressed.” The boy slowly undid his tie. Jason helped undress the boy.
“Not my pants,” the boy protested. “She is in here.” Again, Jason pulled the boy’s nose.
“I don’t want to hurt you, but if I have to, I will. Take everything off. You can keep your underwear.” The boy passed his clothes to his attacker. He also took his shoes and socks. “The shoes fit. We’re going outside now. You stay here for five minutes. If you come out any sooner, I’ll thump you. Here, put these on.” He passed the boy his own torn shorts. Jason took Joanne by the hand once more and went back outside onto the platform.
“Look, a girl your size. We need her clothes. Come on,” he said, pulling Joanne through the crowd. He smashed the glass on the fire alarm and pressed it. The alarms sounded like air raid sirens. People started screaming and running in all directions. It was chaos. When he got close to the girl, he put his arm around her.
“Quick! There’s a fire, but I know a way out.” Jason said in Spanish. The shocked girl had no time to protest. She was whisked away and taken into the ladies’ bathroom. Jason marched the stunned girl into a cubicle with Joanne and said, “She needs your uniform. Take it off.”
“No, let me go,” she protested.
Jason looked at Joanne. “Do something,” he said, holding the girl.
“I can’t hit her,” Joanne argued.
“Neither can I. I can’t hit a girl.” The Spanish schoolgirl started to fight back and dug her fingernails into Jason’s arm. He grabbed the side of her neck with his right hand, dug his fingers into her main artery, which carried the blood to the brain, and squeezed. She fought back and bit his forearm, but soon, she fainted. He caught her and sat her on the toilet. “Get her clothes on.”
“If you promise not to watch.” She soon undressed the girl and slipped the uniform on herself.
They emerged from the bathroom in school uniform. They mixed into the crowd of passengers and a large group of noisy schoolchildren all trying to exit the station in panic. Nobody gave them a second glance.
Jason looked at the train they should have caught to Santander, but it was crowded with police. He noticed a train that was headed to Bordeaux in France and chose that. Using money he found in the schoolboy’s pocket, he bought two tickets and boarded the train.
“You look smart in uniform. Do you have to wear a uniform at the school you go to?” Joanne asked.
“Yeah.”
“How many different languages do you speak?”
“Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, French, and I’m learning German. Have you any idea where we’re heading?”
“Not a clue. Everything was in Spanish.”
“We’re going to France. Probably have a problem at the border. No passports.”
“Why did you run from the police? Surely they can contact my dad or your SYUI unit.”
“I don’t trust anyone. I trust SYUI but no one else. The Triads seem to know where we are all the time. They are everywhere. The only way to stay alive is to keep moving.�
�� Jason sat back in the seat. His stomach was screaming for food and he was tired.
“I feel bad about what I did to that boy. I hate bullies and that’s what I just did.”
“But he was bigger than you.”
“I know. His pants are too big and keep falling down.” Jason laughed and pulled out some chewing gum from a pocket. “That was nice of him. He left us some gum. Want some, Wen?”
• • •
A few hours later, the chief commander of SYUI got a call from the prime minister, who had spoken to the Spanish secretary of state. It was not a pleasant call.
Commander Caldwell was informed that Jason and Joanne had been sighted at Zaragoza train station but had again managed to escape. Caldwell was a tall, gray-haired man in his late fifties. He had never personally taken a liking to George and his manner, but he had been impressed with the job Young was doing at SYUI—until now.
Caldwell marched into SYUI and headed straight for Young’s office. “I will be brief, George. First, I am very sorry to hear about your son. I do hope he makes a full recovery. However, we now have an international mess that is of your creation! The prime minister has just told me in no uncertain terms to finish this now and stop Steed’s path of bloody destruction!”
“What? The bloody Triads are doing the bleeding killing,” George protested.
“Hardly, George. The Spanish police have just found more bodies alongside a rail track. Plus, at Zaragoza main train station, your inside man assaulted a police officer and two children!
“The prime minister is outraged that we are behind it. What can you tell me about the Spanish farmer and his family? Did Jason kill them too? The local people want answers—and to be quite frank, so do I.”
“Jason did not kill the farmer and his family. We found the body of Kotang, a Triad-hired killer. Plus, the bodies of more Triads just outside the farm. My wife says they were being followed. It’s a miracle that Jason has managed to keep Joanne safe. He saved my family’s life!”
“Then why did he attack the Spanish police officer?”
“He doesn’t trust anyone, let alone the local police. Let’s face it—last time they had him and Joanne ‘safe,’ they were attacked. I thought for sure he had been captured, but it seems even I have underestimated the boy.”
“We need to rein him in before any more people are killed. Can you make contact?”
“No, he has our code number and will call when it’s safe to do so.”
Caldwell shook his head in disgust. “George, sorry, but I’m taking you off the operation. It’s got out of hand and now my job is on the line. I’m going to send Steed’s picture and passport information to all the Spanish border stations and pray for both our sakes he’s apprehended. I want you to go to a safe house. You’re in no condition to run things here—and that’s an order.”
Chapter 24
It was late afternoon when the train stopped at the French and Spanish border where all passengers had to disembark and walk through customs. Jason and Joanne searched for a telephone.
“I don’t have any money to call,” Jason said glumly when he noticed a pay phone to Joanne. She pulled her hand out of her jacket pocket and handed Jason a handful of coins.
“Look what I found. Don’t use them all. I need a drink.”
“Then we should have taken the uniform from a richer girl.” Jason laughed as he marched toward the phone. He dialed the international code and SYUI office.
“I need to speak to George Young. This is Jason Steed.”
After a long pause, a voice answered. “Jason?”
“George…I’m sorry. I did everything I could. The Triads are everywhere. Kotang had a gun. I was with Joanne when they shot Martin.” He was interrupted.
“Jason, I know you did everything you could, son. Is Joanne okay?”
“I won’t let anything happen to her. I promise. They will have to kill me first. I will bring her home safe. George, I’m sorry. I really tried to protect Martin. Is he okay?” Jason voice started to break. He was tired and was still feeling guilty. He fought with his emotions.
“It’s okay, Jason. Martin is off the critical list now. He is expected to make a full recovery. I want you to hand yourself in to the local police. We have to trust them.”
There was a long silence.
“It’s over?”
“No, Boudica got away. We think she’s in France, but we can’t go hunting for her in another country. If I had my way, we would storm straight up to Mont Blanc and fish her out of her lair. The Triads are gathering in there to plan their next move now that we’ve shut down the Coco-Bites factory.
“I’m sorry I got you into this, Jason. The Spanish police can keep you safe. Just don’t talk to anyone else. Whatever you do, keep the girl safe. If not, this will all have been for nothing. But hand yourself in. Don’t run from the Spanish police anymore.”
“If you say so,” he said and sighed.
“I do say so. Your father will be pleased you are safe.”
“He’s away at sea.”
“No, Jason, he came home. He gave me a hard time for using you.”
“Damn it. I’m going to be in so much trouble!” With that remark, George started to laugh. “What’s so funny?”
“Jason, you’ve killed a dozen Triads and assaulted a police officer and two kids. You have half the bleeding villains around the world trying to kill you. Plus, you are on the Spanish police’s ‘Most Wanted’ list, and all you are worried about is being in trouble with your dad!”
“I guess when you say it like that, it does sound trivial.” The phone started beeping. “We have no more money. I’ll do as you say.” The phone cut off.
Joanne was sitting on the floor cross-legged with her arms folded. Her eyes were almost closed. Jason bent down and took her arm, gently pulling her up.
“Come on,” he said. “Let’s get something to eat and drink.”
“You still have some money left?”
“We won’t need any. The good Spanish people will buy it for us.” Jason noticed a policeman near the checkpoint. Jason introduced himself. The stunned policeman called on his radio. Within five minutes, the station was full of police sirens and flashing blue lights.
The police tried to separate them, but Joanne screamed and held Jason’s hand so tightly she almost cut off his circulation. They allowed them to travel to the police station together, but once at the station, they were separated and given food and drink. Jason was led into a small interview room. It had no windows, a table, and three chairs. Jason sat on a chair and waited for nearly two hours. Eventually he fell asleep with his head on his forearms on the table. He was woken by a loud, deliberate cough.
“Hola,” a man in a suit said. Jason just nodded. He looked the man up and down. He was thin with dark Mediterranean skin, slick, greasy black hair, and dark brown eyes. The broad shadow of the Spanish police detective loomed over Jason, who still had his head down and eyes half-closed.
He leaned in from behind—his breath going down the neck of the boy’s shirt and his mouth close to Jason’s ear. “You say you are Jason Steed, but you tell others you are called Pepe. To me, you say only the truth. You look so small for a mass murderer.”
Jason could smell alcohol on his breath.
“Can we speak in English? I thought you called me a mass murderer,” Jason said and laughed.
“Your Spanish is very good, Jason. That is what I called you,” he said, now in broken English.
“You’re joking, right? I haven’t murdered anyone. I defended myself.”
“Maybe that is true. Maybe it’s not. But if it is, why did you run from the police and steal clothing?”
“Duh! Maybe it’s because people shooting are trying to kill us. I didn’t know who to trust. Besides, the last policemen w
ho were looking after us got killed. I’m not saying any more until SYUI gets here.”
“SYUI?” he said and laughed. “They aren’t coming. George Young has been relieved of duty for the mess he caused. You are on your own now. I suggest you cooperate with us, and we can close this.”
A knock at the door came, and a uniformed policeman entered.
“Sir, the girl. She will not speak to us. She is crying and screaming at everyone. She demands to see the boy,” he said in Spanish. Jason got up from his seat.
“Let me see her,” he ordered.
“Señor Steed, we need to interview you separately to make sure your stories are the same.”
“Unless I see her now, I will not say another word to you. I’m a minor. My father should be here and his lawyer. Let me see her and we will tell you everything you want to know,” Jason pleaded. After a brief pause, Jason was taken down the corridor. He could hear Joanne screaming his name and crying from a room farther down. He ran into the room and found her on the floor with her arms around her knees. Her face was red and covered in tears.
• • •
George left Scotland Yard offices in the back of an unmarked police car. He was being driven to a safe house in East London. He looked at his watch and wondered how long it had been since he had last eaten.
Two single gunshots rang out. The car swerved and hit the back of a double-decker bus. George was thrown to the floor.
“You okay, mate?” George asked as he lifted himself off the floor. Blood trickled down the driver’s face from a black hole in his forehead. George was now certain someone on the inside was giving information to the Triads. He was in an unmarked vehicle, and only a few people at SYUI knew where he was heading.
The back door was opened, and a gun was stuck into George’s round stomach. He raised his hands and slowly climbed out. Three masked gunmen gestured for him to follow. He was thrown onto the floor of a waiting van. The doors slammed shut. He felt a sharp pain in his leg from a syringe and then nothing.
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