The stretcher-bearers struggled with the weight of the gurney as the small mob grew around them, until the forensic team shouted over the cacophony and tried to calm the panicked survivors.
A thin smile crossed Dan’s lips, and he hit the key fob.
The doors to the SUV unlocked with a dull clunk, and the indicator lights flashed once.
Dan froze, watching the crowd.
He waited, letting the crowd move away from the stretcher, and stayed still until he was absolutely sure no-one had seen the car lights.
‘Okay, now,’ he said, and beckoned to Anna.
He swung open the back door enough to let her squeeze through.
‘Keep your head down,’ he commanded. ‘Get yourself down in the foot well and stay still. Don’t move, don’t talk, until I tell you it’s safe to do so.’
He waited until she’d settled and then closed the door before walking round to the driver’s side. As his hand covered the door handle, he heard his name called, and turned.
Galal was hurrying towards him.
‘Mr Taylor? Where are you going?’
Dan pulled out his mobile phone and held it up. ‘My office called. They want me to return to Laâyoune and provide updates from my hotel there.’ He frowned. ‘You’re sure you have absolutely no idea where Anna Collins is?’
The policeman shook his head. ‘My guards will continue to patrol the perimeter,’ he said, and gestured towards the desert beyond the mining camp. ‘But as you can imagine, it will be near impossible to search the wider area until first light.’
‘Can I call you for updates?’ asked Dan. ‘Obviously I’d like to be kept informed of developments. I’ll need to let our embassy know about Ms Collins’s disappearance too, if you haven’t already?’
‘Ah, no, in all the chaos here, we haven’t had a chance to contact the embassy yet,’ said Galal, his face contrite.
‘Perhaps I can do that in the first instance and let them know you’ll be in touch as soon as possible?’
Relief passed over the policeman’s face, and he pulled out a creased business card from his tunic pocket. ‘My office number is on there.’
Dan took it from him and opened the door to the SUV. ‘I’ve got a feeling I’m going to be in for a long night,’ he said, faking a yawn. ‘I’ll be in touch.’
The policeman nodded and raised his hand as Dan manoeuvred the vehicle away from the army trucks and turned onto the road.
His heartbeat didn’t slow until he hit the pockmarked tarmac of the main highway towards Laâyoune and pushed the accelerator to the floor.
CHAPTER 10
They’d travelled twenty minutes when Dan heard movement over his shoulder and Anna grabbed the back of his seat.
‘Dan? Pull over!’
He could guess what was going to happen next.
He gripped the wheel and swerved the car to the right of the road, braking swiftly and controlling the skid over the rugged terrain, the SUV slewing to an abrupt standstill.
Anna scrambled from the car, and before he could unclip his seatbelt, he heard the unmistakable sound of retching.
He switched off the headlights and gave her a few moments’ privacy before he grabbed one of the bottles of water he’d stashed in the middle console and stepped out into the night air.
A cool breeze tickled the back of his neck as his boots crunched over the small stones and gravel that peppered the roadside where Anna stood doubled over, her hands on her knees.
Dan crossed the space between them in three long paces and rested his hand on her back while she finished.
‘Here,’ he said when she was done. ‘Drink this. You know what to do. Small sips, that’s all.’
‘Thanks,’ she managed. She took the bottle of water from him and straightened before taking a mouthful, rinsing her mouth and spitting it out onto the dirt before taking a smaller sip. ‘Sorry.’
Dan shook his head, reached out, and grasped her shoulder. ‘Don’t apologise. I’m surprised you lasted as long as you did.’
‘Me too.’ Anna took another sip and pushed a stray strand of hair from her eyes.
Dan squeezed her shoulder.
In the light from the moon, he could see how pale her face was, and he vowed to keep a close eye on her until she boarded her plane back to the United States, back to her father.
In the meantime, he’d do everything in his power to protect her.
‘Okay, listen,’ he said. ‘This is what’s going to happen. When we get back in the car, I’m driving straight to Laâyoune airport. There are flights out of the country every half hour. It doesn’t matter whether you fly to the Canary Islands, mainland Spain – wherever.’
Anna blinked, then ran her tongue over her lips. ‘What about you?’
‘I’ll be there with you, one hundred per cent of the way. Right until you land back in the US and your Dad is there to meet you.’
Her eyes fell. ‘Dan? I don’t have my passport. It was in my other bag.’
He shrugged. ‘Doesn’t matter. Either your Dad or my lot will sort out a diplomatic passport. You’re going home.’
Anna managed a faint smile between the tears that rolled down her cheeks. ‘Thank you,’ she murmured.
Dan held his hands up. ‘All part of the service, ma’am.’ He gestured to the half-empty water bottle. ‘Finish that. Slowly, mind.’
Anna uncapped the bottle and raised it to her lips.
Whilst she drank, Dan used the light from his mobile phone to inspect the car and ensure the hurried exit off the road hadn’t punctured the tyres.
Although all-wheel drive, the vehicle wasn’t designed to be driven over rough terrain; it was more a fashion statement.
Dan ran his hand over the hood as he returned to where Anna stood finishing the last of the water, and stopped dead.
Anna’s chin jerked up. ‘What?’
Dan’s eyes narrowed. ‘We’re going to have company,’ he said, and pointed.
In the distance, far back where the track leading to the mine development lay, a pair of headlights hastened towards the main road.
‘What on earth did you do?’ Dan murmured.
Anna sniffed and clutched the plastic bottle between her hands. ‘It started off as just another money laundering investigation,’ she said. ‘One of the mine’s suppliers didn’t get paid – the mine developer sent the money, all five point four million of it – but it never arrived in the supplier’s bank account.’
‘Do you know who took it?’
Anna nodded, and Dan exhaled, her gesture confirming the hunch he’d had about the attack on the mine camp.
‘Get in the car,’ he said. ‘Now.’
Anna did as she was told, hurrying to the vehicle and then scrambling into the passenger seat while Dan ripped open the driver’s door and launched himself behind the wheel.
The engine roared to life as soon as he twisted the key in the ignition.
He turned the headlights onto a low beam, enough to see the road by, and pressed the accelerator.
The SUV shot forwards, gravel and stones spitting out from under the tyres as he shifted gear and steered the vehicle onto the asphalt.
As soon as he felt the road surface under the wheels, he increased his speed.
‘Do you think it’s the people who killed Benji?’ said Anna, her right hand wrapped around the strap that hung above her door.
‘Maybe,’ said Dan. ‘Or it’s Galal and his army pal. Maybe they’ve found out I don’t work for the insurance company. Either way, I don’t think it’s a good idea to hang around and find out, do you?’
Anna remained silent, her eyes fixed on the road ahead as the desert passed by in a blur.
Dan’s eyes flickered to the rear view mirror. The other vehicle’s headlights were mere pinpricks in the distance, but it was maintaining its speed as it barrelled towards them as the driver tried to narrow the gap.
Anna twisted in her seat and peered out the back window.
‘
They’re still a couple of miles away,’ she said. ‘What are we going to do?’
Dan steered the SUV through the wide curve in the road that bore them northwards, the conveyor belt still rumbling to their left as it worked through the night delivering ore to the port.
He flexed his fingers on the wheel. ‘In the foot well, under my seat. Lean down and run your fingers across the carpet until you find a cut.’
Anna grabbed her seatbelt and unclipped it before leaning over and reaching under Dan’s legs.
He checked his mirrors again.
The vehicle behind them had gained slightly, and he cursed the pathetic attempts of the SUV’s small engine to increase its speed.
Anna’s head knocked against his thigh.
‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘Can’t find it.’
‘Further back,’ he said, and tried to ignore the blonde hair splashed across his leg. Instead, he kept his eyes on the road, hoping that one of the errant goats that populated the arid region didn’t suddenly decide to walk out in front of the vehicle.
‘Got it.’
‘Good,’ he said with relief. ‘Run your fingers under the cut. You’ll find a—’
‘Glock 19,’ said Anna, and straightened, a faint smile on her lips. ‘You came prepared, I see.’
‘You never know.’
‘I thought a Sig was your weapon of choice?’
‘I’d prefer not to have to worry about a weapon at all,’ said Dan, and then shrugged. ‘But, you know. Bad people.’
‘Where’s the Sig?’
‘I couldn’t cross the border with it,’ explained Dan. ‘David arranged for that to be in the car when I picked it up from the airport.’
‘How did he...?’
Dan shook his head. ‘I don’t know. I don’t ask.’
He swore under his breath. He hadn’t had a chance to check the weapon; he’d have to take his chances if it came to using it to make sure Anna got out of the country safely. He hoped to hell David had used a reputable contact to source the gun – there was no way of knowing until he fired it.
A faint click from the passenger seat caught his attention, and his eyes darted from the road to see what Anna was doing.
She’d begun to inspect the Glock, dropping the magazine out and pulling back the slide to check inside the open chamber. Once satisfied, she pushed the magazine back into place with the palm of her hand, and pulled back the slide to chamber the first round.
She noticed him watching and held out the weapon to him.
His mouth twitched. ‘Tell you what. Why don’t you hold onto that for now, and I’ll tell you if you need to use it?’
‘Okay.’ Anna peered over her shoulder. ‘They’re getting closer.’
‘I know.’
‘What do we do?’
‘Keep going. Get to the airport. I’m working on the assumption they won’t try anything in a crowded place.’
Anna bit her lip and shuffled in her seat to face him, balancing her hand on the dashboard as Dan steered around a large pothole in the asphalt.
‘In case I don’t get the chance to tell you later, thank you for coming to find me.’
‘Hey, it might not be that bad – it could just be one of the emergency vehicles trying to get back to the city as well.’
‘But you don’t believe that.’
Dan exhaled. There would be no convincing the woman sitting next to him, so he figured honesty was the best policy. ‘No. No, I don’t. I think whatever you uncovered at the mining project has some very powerful people very worried.’
‘Yeah. Me too.’
Dan rolled his shoulders, and then his heart lurched.
Up ahead, about a mile away, he could see the flashing blue and red lights of emergency vehicles.
The highway had straightened out as it drew closer to the city, and he noticed the tell-tale sign of brake lights flaring in the distance as a vehicle slowed ahead of them.
Dan slowed, his heartbeat racing as he checked the rear view mirror.
Their pursuer was still behind them, doggedly keeping pace.
A trickle of sweat began at his forehead, and his fingers gripped the steering wheel harder. ‘Looks like trouble.’
Anna frowned. ‘Road accident?’
‘No,’ said Dan, his jaw clenched. ‘Road block.’
CHAPTER 11
The sight of the emergency lights up ahead broke Anna’s resolve, and she began to sob quietly.
‘We’re never going to get out of here alive,’ she whispered.
Dan ignored her; he was trying to recall what he’d seen on either side of the road when he’d driven to the mine camp earlier.
A flat landscape stretched for miles, broken up by scrubby bushes, rocks, and the occasional boulder.
Dan hoped the boulders were extremely occasional – the SUV simply wasn’t designed for roughing it, and he couldn’t risk ripping the suspension from the chassis if his plan was going to work.
A stone structure loomed in the distance, and he remembered a series of small dwellings that had been set back from the road, the tiny houses built from stone with chickens and goats milling about.
It would have to do.
He switched off the lights, waited a few seconds, and then swerved the vehicle over to the right, bumping over the verge and into the scrub. He pushed his foot to the floor, ignoring Anna’s cry as the SUV lurched over the terrain, jostling them in their seats.
‘Hold on.’ He gritted his teeth, powered the vehicle past the first building, and then slew it to a halt behind the next.
He reached out, turned off the engine, then opened his door and stepped onto the running board, leaning on the roof of the vehicle as his eyes swept the road.
The pursuit vehicle shot past before slowing as it reached the short queue at the roadblock. Its brake lights flared, and then the driver began a three-point turn in the middle of the road until the vehicle faced back the way it had come.
It remained at a standstill.
Dan’s eyes followed the line of traffic past the road block.
Three police cars had formed a cordon blocking the lane into the city, whereas the sparse traffic leaving the area was free to move. One of the police cars was parked on the side of the road, evidently as backup to the officers who were manning the blockade. All were armed.
Dan bent down and peered into the SUV, Anna’s eyes wide as she leaned across.
‘What’s going on?’
‘We’re not out of trouble yet,’ he said. He pointed at the glove compartment in front of her. ‘In there. Binoculars. Pass them up.’
He raised his gaze back to the blockade, his mind working. He heard the clatter of the lid to the glove compartment opening, and then Anna called up to him.
‘Here.’
‘Thanks.’
He raised the binoculars and tweaked the focus until he had a clear view of the blockade.
There were six armed police in total, plus he presumed two more men in the vehicle that had followed them away from the mining camp. He wondered if Galal was in attendance but couldn’t make out the occupants of the vehicle in the poor light.
He tipped the binoculars back towards the men managing the roadblock and frowned.
All wore the uniform of the Moroccan police, yet the weapons they carried were wrong.
They brandished what looked like Russian 9mm pistols and rifles, not the American- and German-built and supplied weaponry normally carried by Moroccan forces.
‘Something stinks about this,’ he muttered.
He swept the binoculars across the landscape, following the line of traffic beyond the roadblock and then starting again, this time from his own side of the roadblock.
As his eyes scanned the moonlit terrain, something caught his eye.
He tracked back along his line of vision and then refocused the binoculars and swore loudly.
A fourth police car sat abandoned some way from where the road passed through the barricade. Except that it
s sides were riddled with bullet holes.
Dan lowered the binoculars and cursed.
He lowered himself back into the vehicle and passed the binoculars to Anna.
‘What is it?’ she asked. ‘What’s wrong?’
Dan didn’t answer straight away. Instead, he rubbed at the stubble on his chin and stared through the windscreen, trying to put together what he’d learned so far. Eventually, he leaned back in his seat and turned to Anna.
‘Who was stealing the money from the project?’
Her brow furrowed. ‘We traced the initial theft to a company in Lithuania,’ she said. ‘But it didn’t end there. We were starting to follow the money as it got split up and passed on.’
‘Where did it end up?’
‘A Russian-owned conglomerate in Moscow. Privately owned. Why?’
Dan ran his hand over his face, the pieces of the jigsaw falling into place.
‘The men patrolling the roadblock are armed with Russian weapons,’ he said. ‘The Moroccan police are supplied by the United States. There are three police cars manning the blockade. A fourth is parked out in the scrub, full of bullet holes.’
Anna’s eyes opened wide. ‘They’re not real police?’
Dan shrugged. ‘I think the real police are dead. If those guys are police, they’re freelancing tonight.’
Anna visibly shrank in her seat. ‘There’s something else you should know.’
‘What?’
‘The money held by the Russian conglomerate only stayed in its account for a few days. After that, it started to get re-distributed – back to Morocco in some cases, but in smaller amounts – maybe six figures at a time – to Swiss numbered accounts. One in particular got our attention.’
‘Why?’
‘It’s been linked to a black market arms trafficker.’
Dan swallowed. ‘This gets better by the minute,’ he muttered.
Anna shrugged. ‘Look, it’s just a hunch.’
Dan coughed out a laugh. ‘Would that be the same hunch that got your colleague killed, and currently means your life is in danger?’
Anna looked down at her hands. ‘Yeah. I suppose so.’
Behind the Wire (A Dan Taylor thriller) Page 6