The Dastardly Mr Winkle Meets His Match

by Rufus Offor

  George and his wealth of research material was a little known jewel in Shoop’s crown. Very few people knew of him and those who did thought him little more than a tea boy. As far as most people knew, Shoop was the brains and the brawn behind the operation.

  Now he too was abroad and exposed, well, in a manner of speaking, which made Shoop’s uneasiness increase. All of his chess pieces were out in the open now; any one of them could be taken out of the game at the slightest mishap. The game was getting riskier with every move. Things were tightening up and Shoop’s senses sharpened to match the game’s intensity.

  He was heading to the meeting place to get the remaining independents out of Singapore, whether their investigations had been satisfactorily completed or not, which was another thing that Shoop wasn’t very happy about.

  Earlier he’d watched in horror as Carl’s transmitter flickered back into life and told Shoop where he was. He was in hospital. That could mean only one thing; somehow, he’d been caught after he’d destroyed the bar. Someone had managed to hospitalise one of the most dangerous men on the planet. All that Shoop could think was that the daft sod must’ve been mind buggerinlgy drunk by the time they’d found him.

  If he’d been caught, then it was a near certainty that Interpol would’ve been informed. That would mean that the Boss would probably know where Shoop and his cronies were. Time was getting tight, the Boss would almost certainly have despatched some of his men to find them and bring them down. He would find out that Justin Stain was in hospital before long, and Stain would be able to tell The Boss that Shoop had been at the house in China town. The trail wouldn’t be too hard to follow after that.

  As he approached the bar where he was to meet the independents he saw a woman leaving that he thought he recognised. Shoop ducked down a small alley and she didn’t see him, apparently lost in her own thoughts. He couldn’t place her but the suspicion of recognition was enough for him to avoid her eyes. He was fairly sure that he hadn’t recognised her from the Sphere, however, and pushed it to the back of his mind.

  Cat, the satellite and Tim – the team that’d been sent to hunt Shoop down – hadn’t taken long to find out that Justin Stain was in hospital. They could learn nothing, however, as he was drugged up to the eye-balls and incapable of speech, due to the injuries he’d sustained at Shoop’s hand, and Carl was in a coma. Their trail had gone dead. The only thing for them to do was to separate.

  The satellite went to the house in China town, if any manner of trail was to be found, he’d find it.

  Tim went to the bar that Carl had trashed to ask questions. He had false Interpol I.D. and was sure to dig up some small piece of information.

  Cat decided that she’d do a tour of as many bars as she could. She knew about Mr Winkle’s deep love of gin and guessed that, if the group were going to meet, it would be close to some alcohol. She also knew that Shoop tended to drink nothing but her Majesty’s own Gordon’s gin, so she managed to get a list from a Gordon’s distributor of all the bars in the city that served it. It was a long shot but there was little else that she could do.

  Jim was early for the meeting and took a seat at the bar to wait for the rest of them. The seeds of doubt were beginning to crawl into his mind, looking for a place to bury themselves and grow. The news that Carl had flown off the handle was daunting. It was a bad omen. Jim suspected that they probably had the Sphere Of Influence on their trail by now and Jim didn’t like that prospect one little bit. He was used to being on the right side of the Sphere, the only agency that he’d ever truly had the remotest fear of, and was feeling distinctly anxious at being at the barrel end of their gun. He knew, threw personal experience, that no one ever lasted very long once the Boss had decided that they were to be killed.

  It was, however, good to be working with Shoop again, especially since his sixth sense had come back. It’d been far too long since they’d had anything truly juicy to work on and part of him loved the re-born thrill of the chase, the feeling that they were heading toward something great.

  Jim was sensitive, underneath the ruthless killer part of him anyway, and he could feel Shoop’s sixth sense spilling out of him. He walked differently, sounded more menacing and determined. Jim always got the impression that grand things were afoot when the sixth sense was pouring over everything, but it was even more so this time. He was positively drenched in the stuff. The missions they were on had a more potent feeling than any other he could remember, and it was this feeling that kept the seeds of doubt from taking hold and growing their roots.

  He was looking forward to seeing Shoop again. Being around the thick potent aura of high possibility would almost certainly cast all doubt from his mind.

  Cat had used to look a lot different. She even sounded different. She had recently gone through some major surgery. She’d screwed far too many people over with her old face and work was getting a little thin on the ground. The Boss had given her a new face, body and even a new voice, as the old one was a bit shrill and squeaky. A new paper based identity had been created for her as well. She’d been issued with new papers and a new name but she still went by the name of Cat when she was with others from the Sphere.

  She had once been tall, dark skinned with shallow brown eyes and almost fuzzy red/brown hair. Now she was three inches shorter, blonde and green eyed with fair skin. Her Greek hooked nose had been replaced with a cute little button and her thin cruel mouth was now luscious and full. Before, she’d barely had a chin, but now it was perfect, making her face wonderfully oval.

  She walked into the eleventh bar of the evening, male eyes flowing over every inch of her body. She scanned the bar nonchalantly and saw him. She couldn’t believe her luck. There, sitting at the bar was a face that she knew. A face that she’d almost destroyed in her youth. He was heavily disguised with a prosthetic nose and chin, but she knew how to see through such tricks. She waited for a while to see if his companions would turn up, but after a short time her mischievous and cruel nature took hold.

  She walked over to him, sat on the stool next to his and ordered a drink. She was wearing a red Chinese dress with a slit down the right leg, which revealed a muscular yet femininely shapely thigh as she crossed her legs, the man couldn’t help but notice her, she was stunning.

  “Hello.” She said in a smooth flawless Southern American accent.

  The man glanced at her and nodded, clearly not wanting to be disturbed but visually softening as his eyes locked with hers.

  “Wonderful,” she thought to herself, “he doesn’t know who I am, I’ve got him!”

  This was the first real chance she’d had to test out her new face and body. She was very pleased to see it all working wonders on one of the most dangerous men on the planet.

  “What’s your name?” She purred

  “Um, Jim…..it’s Jim!”

  Some time later she left, just as Shoop was reaching the front door. She’d managed to do some excellent work on Jim and her elation blinkered her, making her blind to Shoop’s presence. She was very pleased with herself indeed. She walked along the quayside where the bar sat to put a bit of distance between her and Jim. She didn’t want to call in her teammates within earshot of the street that could well be where Jim was meeting his comrades.

  At a safe distance she took out her phone and called Tim and The Satellite.

  Within five minutes of Shoop reaching the bar, all of the other independents, minus Carl of course, were gathered in a dark corner. Shoop explained everything that had happened. He told them about Carl showing up in the hospital and that the Sphere would almost certainly know where they were.

  ‘We need to get out as soon as possible.’

  ‘What about our research?’ Asked Jim, ‘I’ve been working bloody hard on this stuff, and what if we’ve missed something, we’ll have gone through all of this for nothing and the Sphere’ll still track us down and slaughter us all.’

  ‘Not without a fight they won’t!’ grunted Dr Komodo angrily, �
��and anyway, what’s got you so shaken up, I thought you had a set of balls on you, what’s with all the doom and gloom?’

  ‘I’m just not used to being on the wrong side on the Boss that’s all!’ Spat Jim.

  ‘You can walk away now if you want to,’ hissed Shoop, ‘or you could grow a fucking backbone and see this thing through. If you do leave now, the Sphere will be on your back before the night is over, you’ll be dead within the week, but not before they’ve had a lot of fun with you.’

  ‘You’re just saying that ‘cos you need us. I bet they don’t even know that me and the boys here are even involved.’ Said Jim, stepping on very shaky ground.

  Shoop glowered right through him. Jim felt Shoop’s eyes burn through his brain and out of the back of his skull. Jim was scared, very scared, but he did his best to hide it.

  ‘Know this,’ Shoop’s voice was holding back it’s full force but a hint of it’s molten evil bubbled under the surface, he was a coiled spring with a bucket of hot magma sitting on top of it. Their was clearly more venom waiting behind his clenched teeth. It was like a tiger hiding in long grass waiting to pounce on some poor unsuspecting wilder beast, but he dared not act. He couldn’t afford a big scene. Luckily, the venom in his spitting rasping vocal chords did enough to convince Jim that he meant business, ‘I know things that even the Boss doesn’t know. I have secrets and powers that would shake your soul back down to hell. He wants me because if he doesn’t kill me, he knows I’ll kill him. He knows that I’m more than capable. So dealing with you would be as easy as falling off a log, while drunk, after having my legs cut off!’

  ‘You have crossed the Boss by joining me, so he will want to kill you too. He knows this because of Carl. He knew which men I preferred to work with and you will all have been noted as missing. It won’t have taken The Boss longer than a split second to work out that you have taken my side.’

  ‘We didn’t though, you just called us in, we had no idea of what we were getting into.’ Jim’s defeatism fought through the wall that was Shoop’s resolve. Shoop turned and shook his head, clenching his teeth, his lips curling back over them. Unseen to Jim he had reached into a hidden compartment in his trouser leg and withdrew a throwing knife. He was coiled like a spring; Jim wouldn’t even know what had hit him. He could clearly no longer be trusted and had to die.

  Before he let the knife fly, however, he felt Yan’s giant stone-like hand rest on his shoulder.

  ‘Give me a minute with him.’ The voice appeared in Shoop’s head like he’d thought it himself. Shoop gave Yan a small nod, his face still contorted with fury, like his face was being pulled in on itself.

  Yan stared at Jim, ‘No, you don’t,’ said Jim, ‘You’ll not get me that way.’

  ‘Coward!’ grunted Dr Komodo.

  ‘Look at him or die you snivelling piece of pig arse!’ Shoop’s voice was a battering ram. He looked at Yan.

  For a full two minutes the air filled with a silent battle, but it was a battle that Jim couldn’t win. Yan sat, stern, unmoving, unshakable, resolute and slowly broke down Jim’s doubts. He hammered at them, shaking him loose of fear that had encased him. Jim resisted, he didn’t know why, he just did it, maybe it was something that the hot girl at the bar had said. The doubt was so comfortable, it was easy to feel doubt, to bend down and shrink into the arms of the woman in the red dress, to let her convince him that it would all be fine if he just let go and gave himself up. He’d only spent the briefest time with her, but had the impression that life didn’t have to be like this. It could be calm. Life could change; he just had to want it to. ‘I don’t know what’s on your mind,’ she’d said, ‘but believe me, face the people that you’ve wronged and they WILL take you back.’ He believed her. He didn’t know why, she was clearly completely ignorant of his condition, but when her words trickled into the air like an intoxicating plume he couldn’t help but believe every word of it.

  His battle with Yan went on, he felt the woman's grip on him weaken. Yan’s rationality and force of will began to win him over. The shear power of the man’s will was something to be envied. Jim started wishing that he could be as sure as the marble man in front of him. Then he remembered that he was, he had been. His will was strong. He’d just strayed. He too could be strong and he resolved to be so. ‘No more doubt!’ he said to himself, ‘No more doubt!’ and Yan released him

  ‘He’ll be okay now.’ said Yan’s voice in Shoop’s head.

  ‘You back with us?’ asked Shoop.

  ‘Yeah, sorry about that, don’t know what got into me.’

  ‘Keep it in check! I will not hesitate next time. You will be dead before you know what’s happened.’ Shoop was still very angry.

  ‘Not a problem!’ Jim nodded his head assuredly, just as the woman in red flashed briefly through his mind, her smell, her thigh, her voice, all flicked into his brain for the briefest of moments. It was like a couple of film frames that’d been spliced into the movie of his mental vision. They weren’t there for long, but they had done their work. They had planted the seeds of doubt. She’d be back.

  Jim decided to fight on, his years of combat and training had given him the will to fight. He was not a coward. He would not lie down and die just yet.

  Shoop saw the change in him, his stature seemed to grow, his shoulders un-slumped themselves, he looked as if a weight was slowly being lifted from him. Shoop remained concerned though, it was far too early in the game to be getting jittery but he didn’t hover around the subject for too long, there were more pressing matters to be addressed.

  ‘George has broken the second layer of code on the map.’ Said Shoop, ‘He’s making progress, worst case scenario; we go into hiding and wait for him to find this vessel thing, but right now, I believe its about time we were somewhere else. I managed to hire us a sea-plane and a pilot, it’s waiting just out of town in a small bay. We’ll head to Pankor and go through all of the research when we get there. So get your damn drinks down you and let’s piss the Boss off a bit by vanishing again.’

  They all threw their drinks down and headed out of the bar. They didn’t separate, there was no time to hatch any plans for meeting up later. It was a straightforward dash out of town. There was a car park nearby; they could steal a car there and head out of town. They headed for the car park, urgency foremost on their minds, scanning the faces along the quayside for threats.

  Then Shoop felt it, a churning in his stomach like falling.

  They’d been found.

  His gut told him to shift to the side and as he did an almost imperceptible projectile whizzed past and hit a waiter in a restaurant ahead of him. The waiter dropped to the ground as if all his bones had suddenly vanished. He spun round top see the threat, but knew it before he’d looked, ‘Tim!’ he said under his breath.

  ‘MOVE IT!’ yelled Shoop.

  All three of them were instantly on the move, quick as leopards. Jim saw someone he recognised just before he ran and in the blink of an eye, had reached into his coat, retrieved a throwing star, hurled it and slashed the man’s neck open. He’d caught the side of his neck. It wasn’t a fatal slice, but it would stop him in his tracks.

  The Satellite saw the throwing star just in time to shift a little to the side, it still hit him but didn’t imbed itself in his windpipe, which was clearly where it had been aimed. He dropped to his knees; bleeding and gurgling as he went down, scanning to make sure that no other projectiles were coming his way. He went to order Tim to crush the bastards, but Tim was already thundering out a pursuit.

  Screams exploded all over the promenade as people saw the blood spill on the ground. Cat shot out of nowhere and spirited the Satellite away as Tim chased the men toward the car park.

  Tim hurled poison darts at his foes, one hit Jim in the arm. Yan caught him as he flew forward, unconscious. He flung the dead weight of Jim over his shoulder and sped on.

  Shoop knew that the three of them could take Tim down, but one of them would probably be killed befor
e they stopped him. They’d already lost Carl and Shoop wasn’t going to risk loosing anyone else. His gut told him that there would be worse violence to come and he needed all the people he had.

  Tim was huge, but quick, and with Yan burdened with the weight of Jim he started to gain ground on them. All he needed was one of them, then he would be able to find out what they were doing, what their plans were and it looked like he’d get the man he needed. All he needed to do was to keep firing the darts at Yan. He was a split second away from imbedding a dart in Yan’s neck when there was a deafening crack and everything went black. He woke up in the water. He’d been thrown across the wide walkway and into the river. It took him a moment to gather his bearings and to check for injuries. He wasn’t hurt, just stunned. Shoop had dropped a mini grenade and sent Tim flying. There had been too many people around for him to use a full sized explosive device.

  Tim slapped the surface of the water angrily and clambered up the high wall back to the pavement, his massive hands biting chunks out of it as he went. There was no sign of his quarry.

  He stood there, wet, angry and dejected. He looked back to see if The Satellite was alive. He was. His neck had been speedily patched up by but he’d been weakened slightly from the blood loss. He’d had worse though and Tim knew that the chase wasn’t over yet.

  ‘We’re not beaten!’ gurgled The Satellite, blood visible between his teeth as he sneered, ‘I’ve got their scent, follow me!’

  They sped off in pursuit as fast as they could, wondering if they hadn’t underestimated their prey.

  ‘Is he alive?’ asked Shoop as Yan bundled Jim into the back of a Mercedes.

  Yan felt his pulse and nodded.

  ‘Just as I thought,’ said Shoop, ‘they want us alive to find out what we’re up to. That means they didn’t get any information out of Carl in the hospital.’ He slunk into the drivers seat, disabled the alarm, hot-wired it, and they were away.