by John Gubert
Jacqui looked at me in astonishment. She got up and ran towards me. I saw there was a camera in the room. “Come quickly,” I said and pulled her out of the room. I slammed the door behind me. We moved to the porch. I had the machine gun at the ready.
Someone came out of another door. A burst of machine gun fire hit him before he had time to fire the gun in his hand. I raked the door from which he had come with another blast. That would buy us enough time to get out of the building.
The noise of gunfire had put everyone on alert and there were shouts from the main house. I took out one of the grenades that Aldo had given me, pulled out the pin and rolled it across the room. With a bit of luck it would catch some of them. At worst it would create a diversion.
We came out of the barn and hung back in the porch. We were spotted immediately. One of the men unloading the truck yelled a warning before I cut him down with a burst of fire. The side of the truck opened. Aldo and his two companions burst out.
The hand held rocket launcher was put into action immediately. As Jacques turned the truck, the rockets screamed into the house. Explosion followed explosion as I pulled Jacqui across the grass to the truck. She fell and I grabbed her with my spare hand. I pulled her upright and swung her into the truck. As I did, the grenade in the house exploded, blowing out windows and doors.
I lifted Jacqui into the cab and climbed in behind her. Aldo and his companions moved towards us.
Three men appeared, guns blazing, from the side of the house. One of our men fell swearing, blood pouring from his thigh. He threw himself at the cab and hauled himself in. I leant over Jacques who was easing the truck round, and fired at the three. That gave enough cover to Aldo and his companion who joined us.
The doors of the crowded cab were now slammed shut and we drove away from the house. Aldo kept a stream of fire from his window. I did the same from my side as I stretched behind Jacques.
“Get rid of the trailer,” I shouted. He pressed a lever and we heard it grinding on the path as it fell away. “That will slow then down,” I shouted.
I had noticed some men jump into a four-wheel drive and head after us. “Put your foot down,” I yelled at Jacques.
We hit one hump after another. We were jolted backwards and forwards. The weight of Jacques’ body winded me time and again. Aldo was covering the far window. On the floor of the cab the wounded man was groaning quietly to himself. Jacqui sat next to the driver, her face pale but her eyes alive again. The second man held her steady as she risked hitting the reinforced windscreen at every bump.
As we came up the gates, we saw another four-wheel drive was parked. Behind it were men waiting with guns. We swerved off the road into the shelter of the trees. I called to Aldo. “Hit them with the rocket launcher.”
He grabbed the rocket launcher while the other man helped load it. They were obviously unclear what we were doing and happy to wait for their reinforcements. They understood what was happening too late. As the four-wheel drive that I had seen at the house sped down the drive, I opened fire with my machine gun. I blazed it low, hoping to hit the tyres. Another stream of bullets was coming from the open door at the far side of the cab. Aldo’s wounded companion had pulled himself across the cab and was firing too.
The rocket seared across the lawn at waist height and ploughed into the parked vehicle. The explosion tore it apart and blew it into the gates. A second rocket was loaded and blasted into the gates, blowing them open. Aldo dropped the launcher. “That’s it,” he called. “No more rockets.”
The car following us swerved off the road as we jumped back into the cab. “Go,” I yelled and Jacques put his foot down and headed to the gates. He somehow manoeuvred a path between the mangled car and the gates. We were on the main road, leaving a trail of destruction in our wake..
“To the house,” called Aldo. Jacques retraced our steps and turned off at the side road to our safe house. A truck pulled behind us. I started.
“Don’t worry, it’s our back up,” said Aldo.
We waited a few moments before we heard the hum of the helicopters. Two landed in the field in front of us. The wounded man was carried out. I gently pulled Jacqui to me and carried her from the cab to the other helicopter. Aldo joined us.
As we rose above the house, the cab of our truck was being driven away. The other truck was following. “They’ll both go to a yard where they are going to be crushed. It’s best to eliminate the evidence,” said Aldo. “And in a few minutes the trailer we left will go up in the air. It was full of explosives with a timing device.”
I was hardly listening to his talk as I gently stroked Jacqui’s hair. Her head was on my shoulder. She did not say a word. I knew her of old. She was purging the last days from her mind. Once she had done that, her recovery would be swift.
We landed at a small airstrip just on the French side of the border. Di Maglio’s jet was waiting for us there. The other helicopter landed. The different passengers were unloaded. There was a small house at the end of the strip. “Let’s go there,” said Aldo. “We need to tidy up for the crossing. We can’t go like this through police and customs.”
“Take Jacqui to the bathroom and sort her out,” he said. “Some of her clothes are there. We need to leave in half an hour.”
He headed to another room with the men. I led Jacqui to the bathroom. There was an old metal bath there. I put in the plug and turned on the water. Hot water gushed out. I turned on the cold tap and, when I was happy that the mixture was right, turned to Jacqui.
“Undress and soak in the bath. We haven’t much time.”
She did as I said. I went over to the basin and washed away the black cream we had used to camouflage our faces. I stripped off my clothes and put on some slacks and a sweater that I had arrived in. The organisation of Di Maglio was incredible to the last detail. The clothes had already been moved ahead of us from the safe house to the airstrip.
Jacqui was lying in the hot water. Her face was less pale. She got up. She slowly washed herself. It was like a ritual. It was part of the cleansing that she was going through. I was there in a support role. I couldn’t intrude.
She sat down in the water and watched the soap float to the surface of the water as she gradually immersed herself in the water. Suddenly she got up and shook herself dry. “Can you put on the shower?” she said.
I did as asked and she stood underneath it. Her hair was wet. Her body was starting to look refreshed. She stood taller and firmer now. She sat on the edge of the bath and passed a shampoo bottle. “That’s the stuff I usually use. They planned this well,” she said, echoing my earlier thoughts.
I washed her hair. She sat quietly on the edge of the bath with her back to me as I gently massaged in the shampoo. Once I had finished, she stood up and allowed the water from the shower to clean it away. She then stepped from the bath and asked me to dry her. I took a large fluffy towel from a rail and patted her dry. She took the clothes and carefully stepped into one item after another. When dressed, she ran her hands through her wet hair.
“Can I dry it anywhere?” she said.
We went outside. The one thing they’d forgotten was a hairdryer. I felt at least that it showed they were human. We towel dried it and she put her hair up. She put some lipstick on. Aldo passed her a coffee and put a friendly arm around he shoulder. She smiled at him.
“Thanks Uncle Aldo,” she said. “I needed you.”
She then turned to me. Her eyes were brimming with tears. “You, too, Charles. I couldn’t have survived without you. The day you came in and I knew you were still alive, I knew I would be safe.”
I gasped. I had forgotten. She must have seen me come off the bike. She wouldn’t have been told what had happened. She had feared I’d been killed.
She lent against me and I held her protectively.
“Look kids,” said Aldo. “Stay with the family. Jacqui let your father see you both. He’ll forgive you. You can’t change his way of life. But you can influence how
he deals with it.”
We all headed to the plane and Geneva. Customs and police were as cursory as ever. And the car whisked us back to the compound. Di Maglio was obviously still concerned for we had a car trailing us. There was also a motorbike leading the way with a pillion passenger obviously carrying a gun at the ready.
We drove up to the house. Di Maglio waited at the door. As Jacqui got out he kissed her on the forehead and hugged her. He mouthed something. She lent forward and kissed him.
I followed Aldo who got a hug from his brother. He looked at me sternly. “You are now family. That brings no obligation that you would refuse. We look after each other. You can live your own life. But we need to protect each other.”
I shook his hand. He smiled and for the first time the smile was genuine. He clapped me on the back. “Take Jacqui to your room. Look after her. And decide when you two will marry.”
And with that he wheeled round and disappeared inside the house.
RETURN TO FREEDOM
Jacqui and I went to the room I had occupied before. It was large and airy with a view of the green fields and mountains that surrounded the house. It had a large double bed with a typically fluffy Swiss duvet.
Jacqui sank on the bed and looked at me seriously. “Did you hear what he said about getting married?”
“Is it his choice?” I asked sadly.
“No, it’s ours. But it is important that he said that he’d let me make my choice rather than automatically agree to his.”
She looked at me and frowned, “You do love me? You do want to marry me?”
“Yes,” I said, “And one day I’ll find the right time to propose to you. But it’s not here and not now. Once you feel better. Once you are my equal again.”
She smiled and said, “It was so sad about the baby.”
“When did you get pregnant?”
“Darling,” she said, “we were making love all the time in Hong Kong. It’s hard to say exactly when. But it could have been that night we went to the clubs and I danced in the one in Wan Chai.”
“But weren’t you taking any precautions?” I asked.
“Of course,” she said, “but I must have forgotten or been careless. It wasn’t intentional. We’ll plan it next time if we can.”
I smiled and took her in my arms. I was just going to kiss her when the phone rang. She picked it up and passed it to me, “It’s my father.”
“Yes,” I answered.
“We are to have a council in ten minutes. You are to come. We have only done part of the job. We have to complete and we will do so soon.”
“OK Mr Di Maglio. I’ll be there. Should Jacqui come as well?”
“No. I have asked a doctor to take a look at her. She’ll be with you in a couple of minutes. Leave Jacqui with her.”
I had to agree with the decision but I felt a bit annoyed at the way that he took arbitrary decisions without consulting us. I told Jacqui what was happening and she nodded.
“I suppose that’s sensible,” was her only comment.
Seconds later the doctor was there. I moved downstairs, telling Jacqui I would be back as soon as I could.
Downstairs five men were grouped around the table. Beside Di Maglio were Aldo and Giovanni. The two others were unknown to me.
Aldo introduced them. “This is Ray and this is Ken. They are both ex Marines and they work for us.”
Ray and Ken nodded at me. Di Maglio turned round and immediately took command.
He turned to Giovanni. “Brief us on where you are on the other locations,” he said.
“The Russians have three main bases. One is in New Jersey and the other is in Leningrad. The main base is, though, in the South of France. They use Marseilles as their main port. They also have close ties with the Middle East for their arms trade.
We’ve been monitoring their radio signals and believe that several of their key people on our side of their business will be in the South of France. I guess they’re planning an all out war against us.”
Aldo interrupted, “Are we all prepared for an attack on our compounds, here and in the US?”
Di Maglio brushed the question aside, “Of course we are. Security everywhere is on top alert.”
Giovanni continued, “We have provided the police with incriminating evidence on their New Jersey operations. They have a major depot there and we are going to allow them to capture a hundred million dollars of cocaine tonight. The stuff is shit and not saleable through normal channels. It’s stuff we either stole or seized. That should be in New Jersey.”
“How many people will that put away?” I asked.
“It will neutralise them all. They and their fingerprints will be on every computer around the world. They become persona non grata although they can change their identities easily of course.”
He continued, “We have also planted human remains over on their property. We picked up a couple of stiffs in New York and buried them on the outskirts of their property. It won’t do much but it will put on the pressure. And we’ve organised a lot more dirty tricks.”
“What about Leningrad?” asked Di Maglio.
“There’s little we can do there,” he said. “It’s too risky. But Leningrad is arms and contraband rather than drugs. So we can live with them.”
He continued. “France is key. We need to storm it and the attack must not be traced. France has Rastinov there and the bulk of his key people will also be present. I can guarantee our intelligence.”
Di Maglio asked, “What about the police?”
“They will not respond for an hour. The compound is isolated and we will arrange enough diversions to keep them away. They know who the Russians are and are not going to lose sleep about a bit of gang warfare.”
Di Maglio asked, “Do we have the identities of the people we must kill?”
“Yes I have their photos here,” said Giovanni. “There is Rastinov. He has two lieutenants that we fear. They are called Krakow and Pastinksy. There is also a killer called Andrei, we don’t know his other name. We wanted to kill Krakow’s wife, but, from the description, it appears Charles did that for us earlier. She’s an evil bitch and bright. Alone without Krakow, she would become lethal. Amazingly he was the one who calmed her down. She was in the room with Jacqui when we did the snatch.”
Di Maglio beamed at me. “We knew you could handle a gun. We didn’t know that you were also good with a knife. That’s tough killing a woman with a knife. There are not many men I would trust with such an assignment. Women can kill men. But men find it difficult to kill women.”
I felt uneasy. He was building me up as a prospective son-in-law. He felt I was capable of evil; and he relished in the fact. Yet I did not want to be part of his world. I wanted to be independent. I needed to ensure that we did not get too involved.
“All right Giovanni,” said Di Maglio. “When is your deadline?”
“We think the meeting in France will be at the compound. Security has been stepped up and the damage we caused earlier has already been repaired. There has also been no report to the police. We think the last attendees will arrive tonight. The New York raid will take place around ten in the morning our time tomorrow.”
“The best time then is tomorrow morning,” said Di Maglio. “Nobody will expect us to be back so soon. And the New York raid won’t have happened. That would put them on added alert.”
He turned to Aldo. “What’s our strength on the ground?”
“We are in place in the safe house at Avignon. We have a ten man assault team there. And we have seven of the other team in place at Ales in the safe house there. That’s three short and they are only flying in tomorrow. So they would arrive too late. All equipment is ready near Nimes. We have a series of reinforced four wheel drives and plenty of armour.”
“What about the Special Forces?” he was asked.
“We have our special command group holed up in Marseilles. They can be on site in four hours. They would need to pick up their assault gear.
That’s semi-portable rocket launchers and similar gear. They were instructed to be ready for night attack and will have been sleeping through the day. They can be in place in time.”
I was the next target for questions. “Are you fit enough to take a special group inside the compound. Have you ever been parachuted into an area?”
“I am fit enough. I’ve only parachuted once and that was for charity.”
“OK we can sort that out then. Let’s take a break and get some sleep. Charles, you sleep in one of the spare rooms. There will be a wake up call at two am. You will have a briefing in the plane on the way out. Everyone get five hours sleep now. We need to be ready for tomorrow. It’s going to be tough.”
I went up to my room. Jacqui was fast asleep in the bed. As I went out again, a trim woman in a fawn suit approached me. She was the doctor.
“Jacqui will be all right,” she said. “I’ve given her a sedative. I think she’ll be out for at least twelve hours. Sleep will help her.”
“What about the miscarriage?” I asked.
“She was just a month or so pregnant. Physically that’s no problem. Mentally it could be otherwise but I suspect not. She is used to knocks. She should overcome this. But she’ll need looking after.” She smiled at me. “And it’s better if she’s looked after by you rather than someone else. So play it safe tonight.”
I grinned. “I’ll take my lucky rabbit’s foot.”
“A bullet proof vest would serve you better,” she said as she walked down the corridor ahead of me.
I crashed out soon after. Aldo, who brought in some clothes for me to wear, woke me. Once again, I was clad in black. This time I also had a flak jacket. The doctor must have known more about the way they operated than I did.
We ate a light breakfast and then headed out to the airport. In the plane Aldo briefed us.
“The plan is simple. We will have three waves of attack. We are going to parachute you, Charles, and five others into the grounds. You are in charge, Charles. Your role is to cause a diversion. You need to confuse the Russians. Kill them if you can, but you are a diversion.