The Lethal Target

by Jim Eldridge

  ‘Luckily you only fired a warning shot,’ said Jake.

  ‘Professor Lemski left a message for you.’

  ‘For me?’ asked Jake.

  ‘For you and Helen Cooper. Although he called her Ms Graham.’

  Jake sighed.

  ‘I’ll explain later,’ he said. ‘What was the message?’

  ‘He said you were to take the book to them at the cottage, or Alec and Rona will die. By fire, he said.’

  Spontaneous human combustion, thought Jake. He’ll inject them and they’ll burst into flames.

  ‘Did he give a deadline for us delivering the book to him?’ asked Jake.

  ‘Eleven o’clock this morning,’ said Jeannie.

  Jake looked at his watch. It was 9.30 a.m.

  ‘An hour and a half!’ he said.

  Dmitri must have radioed Lemski and told him that Jake and Lauren had managed to escape from the island. Immediately, Lemski had hurried to the guest house and taken Alec and Rona hostage. That was why there had been no further chasing from Dmitri or from any of the other Russians.

  ‘Lemski said he wants both of you to deliver the book personally,’ added Jeannie. Suddenly the vehicle slowed. ‘Here we are,’ said Jeannie.

  As they pulled up outside Dr Patel’s house, Jake saw a police car parked there. Good, he thought. That saves us having to go and find them.

  Jake leapt out of the Land Rover and was about to run to the doctor’s house, when the door opened and Dr Patel hurried out, accompanied by Detective Sergeant Stewart and Constable Frierson.

  ‘What’s happened?’ demanded Stewart. ‘How did you get away?’

  ‘Later!’ said Jake. ‘Robbie’s in the back, and he’s been shot.’

  Carefully, they took Robbie from the back of the Land Rover and carried him into the doctor’s house, and to the consulting room. They laid him on the medical couch.

  Dr Patel examined the unconscious Robbie, then turned to them, his expression grim.

  ‘He needs to be treated in an A&E unit,’ he said. ‘The best I can do is stabilise him until we can get him to the mainland.’ He looked at Jeannie MacClain. ‘Will you act as my nurse, Mrs MacClain? I’m afraid Donna isn’t with me today, with all that’s going on.’

  ‘Of course,’ said Jeannie.

  ‘We’ll leave you to it,’ said Stewart. He looked pointedly at Jake and Lauren. ‘We need to talk,’ he said.

  Jake and Lauren followed Stewart and Constable Frierson out of the house.

  As they stood in front of the house, Jake reflected on how bizarre their situation was. Everything seemed so peaceful, so tranquil. The sounds of seagulls as they wheeled overhead, the quietness of the island, the vast expanse of blue sky above them, the varying shades of green of the heathlands stretching out from this small rural hamlet; and yet there was more man-made malevolent evil and danger here right at this moment than in some of the most dangerous inner cities.

  ‘Jeannie MacClain says there are no phones working,’ said Jake.

  ‘No, nor computer links. No internet, no email, either,’ growled Stewart. ‘I came here because Dr Patel has got a satellite phone and I thought that might work, but even that seems to be down.’

  ‘An EMP,’ said Lauren.

  Stewart looked at her quizzically.

  ‘An electromagnetic pulse,’ explained Lauren. ‘It disrupts electronic communications systems.’

  ‘The Russians?’ queried Stewart bitterly.

  ‘That’s my guess.’ Lauren nodded. ‘What’s happened? Mrs MacClain told us they’d taken Alec and Rona.’

  ‘About an hour ago,’ said Stewart. ‘Almost immediately after this pulse thing hit and everything went down. Professor Lemski and some of his henchmen turned up at the guest house, armed with guns, and took Rona and Alec.’

  ‘Jeannie said he wants us to deliver the book to him,’ Jake told Lauren. ‘He’s given a deadline of eleven o’clock. Jeannie told me about it on the way here.’ He looked at his watch again. ‘The clock’s ticking. It’s a quarter to ten. We’ve got seventy-five minutes.’ He turned to Lauren and added: ‘He said if we don’t deliver it, they’ll die by fire.’

  ‘Human combustion,’ said Lauren, her face going pale.

  ‘Exactly,’ said Jake.

  ‘What do you mean “human combustion”?’ demanded Stewart.

  Quickly, Jake and Lauren explained to Stewart what had happened the night before: how Jake had got into the Russians’ cottage and escaped with Lauren and Robbie, and how the Russian had burst into flames when the hypodermic injected the toxic mixture into him.

  ‘So this stuff is real?’ said Stewart.

  ‘Yes,’ said Lauren. ‘And Lemski will use it.’

  ‘Is there anyone else on this island who can give us some kind of back-up?’ asked Jake.

  ‘There’s the main station at Tobermory, in the north of the island,’ said Stewart. ‘But there’s only one officer there, and we can’t get hold of him by phone. If we drive to Tobermory, we won’t get back before this deadline of the professor’s. Which is why the first thing I did after Jeannie came to me this morning, was send a message by boat across to the mainland. But there’s no way of knowing how far this electromagnetic pulse will have an impact. For all we know, it could have knocked out communications in Oban.’

  ‘That depends on how big the disrupter is that’s generating it,’ said Lauren.

  ‘I’ve asked for trained marksmen, hostage negotiators, and for help from the Russian embassy,’ said Stewart. He looked at his watch. ‘But, again, I doubt if they’ll be able to get here before the deadline.’

  ‘They won’t,’ said Lauren. ‘An EMP will also knock out the guidance systems in a helicopter. They won’t be able to fly here.’

  ‘If that’s the case, how are Lemski and his people planning to get off the island?’ asked Jake.

  ‘Simple,’ said Lauren. ‘They’ll switch the disrupter off when they’re ready to leave. My guess is they’ve already arranged for a helicopter to come down just after eleven o’clock. By then they’ll either have the book, or they won’t. Whatever’s happened, they’ll make their getaway.’

  ‘Surely a helicopter won’t have enough fuel to take them all the way to Russia,’ pointed out Jake.

  ‘It’ll get them to the Finnish border,’ said Stewart. ‘Once they’re there, they’re safe.’ He let out a heartfelt sigh. ‘The trouble is, even if reinforcements do arrive, there’s the issue of diplomatic immunity. When all this started up I was warned to tread very carefully. Softly-softly. Frankly, I was told to keep hands off. The powers that be don’t want a difficult international incident.’

  ‘But they’ve killed people! Surely that overrides any kind of diplomatic immunity!’ protested Jake.

  ‘We think they’ve killed people,’ countered Stewart. ‘We can’t prove it.’

  ‘Yes we can,’ said Jake. ‘We heard Muir admit to killing Dougie MacClain.’

  ‘Ian Muir,’ grunted Stewart. ‘I had a hunch he was involved somewhere!’

  ‘And we’re your evidence against him!’ insisted Jake.

  ‘Muir is not a Russian,’ said Stewart.

  ‘He could be,’ suggested Jake. ‘Posing as an American.’

  ‘Whatever he is, he’s secure in that compound with the Russians, and we can’t touch them.’

  Jake looked enquiringly at Lauren.

  ‘Then I guess it’s up to us,’ he said quietly.

  ‘Yes,’ said Lauren.

  Stewart frowned.

  ‘What do you mean?’ he asked.

  ‘We deliver the book to the Russians,’ said Jake.

  Chapter 26

  ‘Oh no!’ Stewart told them firmly. ‘We’ve had enough deaths already on this island!’

  ‘And there’ll be two more unless we hand the book over,’ said Jake. ‘Rona and Alec.’

  ‘You don’t seriously believe they’ll let them go, do you?’ Stewart challenged them.

  ‘They may,’ said Laur
en. ‘It’s a chance we have to take. If we don’t, they’ll die for certain. And, who knows, Lemski might even keep his word and let us all go.’

  Stewart shook his head.

  ‘You’re being naive,’ he said. ‘You’ve just told me that you’re the evidence that they were behind the death of Dougie MacClain. Which means they also killed John Gordon. They have to kill you to shut you up.’

  ‘Possibly,’ admitted Jake. ‘But we can’t let Alec and Rona die. We have to do something. We’ve got just over an hour before the deadline. At the moment, with this EMP operating and this whole business about diplomatic immunity and international incidents stopping any kind of official intervention, we’re the only chance Alec and Rona have.’

  Stewart fell silent, thinking about it. Finally, reluctantly, he said, ‘I suppose so. But we’ll be your back-up. Me and Constable Frierson. I can handle a rifle. I’ve done the training course.’ He turned to Frierson. ‘How about you, Constable?’

  Frierson nodded.

  ‘I’m not officially qualified, but I shot rabbits for the table when I was younger.’

  ‘Good enough,’ said Stewart. ‘We’ll both be there, ready to fire if things go wrong.’

  ‘From a distance,’ said Jake. ‘If Lemski spots you, he might kill Alec and Rona straight away.’

  ‘Of course from a distance,’ snapped Stewart.

  ‘How good are you with a rifle, Sergeant?’ Jake asked.

  ‘I don’t like to boast, but I did well on the police range. Top score.’

  ‘Could you disable a helicopter? Shoot out the rear rotor or something?’

  Stewart frowned thoughtfully.

  ‘Possibly,’ he said.

  ‘OK,’ said Jake. ‘Here’s the plan. We go and carry out the exchange and get Alec and Rona free. If Lauren’s right, a helicopter will be landing immediately after, once they’ve switched off the EMP machine.’

  ‘Who’s Lauren?’ asked Stewart sharply.

  ‘I am,’ said Lauren.

  ‘So . . .’ began Stewart, growling.

  ‘Can we talk about that later?’ pressed Jake. ‘My guess is they plan to take us with them on the chopper.’

  ‘Not necessarily,’ said Lauren. ‘They might plan to use us as guinea pigs again. Inject that stuff into us.’

  And she shuddered at the memory of the hypodermic syringe, and seeing the Russian burst into flames.

  ‘I doubt it,’ said Jake. ‘I reckon they’ll keep that for later. Right now the main priority for Lemski is to get off this island.’

  ‘They might just kill you,’ said Stewart.

  Jake shook his head.

  ‘My hope is they’ll take us as hostages,’ he said. ‘To make sure their helicopter is given free passage and not shot down mid-flight.’

  ‘So you end up spending the rest of your lives in captivity in Russia?’ asked Stewart.

  ‘Or they kill us during the flight and throw us out somewhere over the North Sea, weighted down so our bodies don’t come back to the surface,’ said Lauren. ‘All evidence neatly vanished.’

  ‘Whichever, it’s important that helicopter doesn’t leave the ground,’ said Jake. ‘It’ll give time for your reinforcements to arrive. And we can get the book back.’

  ‘I’ve already told you, we’ve got a diplomatic situation here,’ Stewart reminded them. ‘We can’t charge in and arrest them.’

  ‘No, but you can free us,’ said Lauren.

  ‘And if they start firing, surely you’re allowed to fire back,’ added Jake.

  Stewart fell silent.

  ‘OK,’ he said. ‘It’s a plan.’ He looked at his watch. ‘It’s just gone ten. We’ve got less than an hour. We need to get you kitted up.’

  ‘Kitted up?’ echoed Jake, puzzled.

  ‘Just in case they change their mind and shoot you while you’re standing here, waiting for the exchange to happen,’ explained Stewart. ‘Have we got any Kevlar body armour?’ he asked Frierson.

  ‘Just two jackets,’ said Frierson.

  ‘OK, then that’s what you two will be wearing,’ Stewart told Jake and Lauren. ‘Wear them under your own clothes. It won’t stop a head shot, or if they shoot you in the arms or legs, but it’ll protect you if they go for the heart or chest. And most of these snipers do. It’s a bigger target, easier to make sure of hitting. After all, they missed when they tried shooting you in the head.’

  ‘I suppose that’s a comfort,’ admitted Lauren. ‘But not much of one.’

  ‘I’ve got another way to stop them shooting at us!’ said Jake, as an idea struck him.

  The others looked at him, quizzically.

  ‘How?’ asked Stewart.

  ‘It’s a long shot, but I thought we’d try fighting fire with fire,’ said Jake. He forced what he hoped was a confident smile. ‘Can you get your hands on a metal bucket and an asbestos glove?’

  Chapter 27

  Jake and Lauren rounded the small hillock and stopped. Directly in front of them, about a hundred metres away, was the cottage which Lemski and his Russians had now turned into a fortress. Jake could see the barrels of rifles poking out of the upstairs windows. The windows, however, hadn’t been boarded up. Lemski wasn’t expecting a long siege. Jake looked at his watch. Five minutes to eleven.

  Jake looked down at the metal bucket he held in his asbestos-gloved right hand. Two pieces of coal at the bottom of it glowed red, sending smoke spiralling up. Not enough hot coal to make the bucket too hot to handle, but enough to produce smoke that could be seen from the cottage. In his left hand, Jake clutched the ancient book, the cause of all this death and mayhem. The Kevlar body armour felt bulky, as if he was wearing a life jacket beneath his coat.

  ‘Stay here,’ Jake whispered to Lauren.

  ‘Lemski said he wanted us both.’

  ‘It’ll buy us some time if you don’t come out at once,’ said Jake. ‘It’s the book he’s really after.’

  Secretly, he was planning on leaving Lauren out of this; out of the final exchange. Leave her here, behind the protection of the small grassy hillock with DS Stewart and PC Frierson. He looked back at the two police officers, crouched down in the ditch-like area behind the long earth mound.

  ‘If they start shooting, drop to the ground and lie flat,’ Stewart instructed. ‘I’ll fire back and I don’t want to shoot you.’

  Jake nodded.

  He looked towards the cottage. His mouth felt dry.

  ‘I’m coming with you,’ said Lauren.

  ‘Please, Lauren, wait here at first,’ pleaded Jake. Without turning round, he appealed to Stewart: ‘Tell her.’

  ‘He’s right,’ came Stewart’s voice from the police officer’s hiding place. ‘Let’s see if we can get away with just one of you going in. If we can mount a rescue, it’ll make that rescue easier.’

  Lauren hesitated, then nodded.

  ‘I’m not going to let them kill you,’ she whispered to Jake fiercely. ‘Or take you to Russia.’

  ‘I hope they don’t,’ said Jake, forcing a grin and doing his best to put on an air of bravado. ‘We’ve still got a lot of catching up to do.’

  Jake took a deep breath, then moved forward along the track towards the wall that fronted the cottage. As he did so, he saw the rifle barrels at the upper windows move; and he stopped.

  ‘Professor Lemski!’ he called. ‘I have the book!’ And Jake brandished the book in the air. Then he moved the book so that it was directly above the metal bucket. ‘If you look carefully, you will see smoke coming from this bucket I’m holding. That’s because there are red hot coals in it! If you shoot me, the book will drop from my hand into the bucket and burn! It’ll be turned to ashes before you can reach it! Release the MacClains first, and I’ll hand it over to you.’

  For a moment there was silence from the cottage, and then the distorted amplified voice of Lemski was heard calling back. He’s using an old-fashioned megaphone, realised Jake.

  ‘Very clever, Mr Wells! But we have no intention
of shooting you! As I said in the message I left, all we want is the book back, and we will release the MacClains!’

  ‘That’s what you said, but do you really think I would trust you after all that’s happened? You asked me to bring the book. Here it is. Now release the MacClains!’

  There was another pause, then Lemski’s distorted mechanised voice called out, ‘How do we know you’ll keep your part of the bargain?’

  ‘Because if I don’t, I know you’ll shoot me dead.’

  There was a further pause, then Lemski called out: ‘You will remain standing where you are, where we can see you!’

  And where your sniper has got a clear shot at me, thought Jake.

  ‘We will release the MacClains. They will be coming out accompanied by some of my people. They will be armed. You will remain standing where you are until the MacClains have gone past you. If you attempt to move from that spot, we will shoot you and the MacClains. My men are expert shots. They will not miss.’

  ‘Don’t worry, I’ll stay here!’ Jake shouted back.

  ‘And we want to see Ms Graham standing next to you!’ called Lemski.

  ‘No!’ called back Jake.

  ‘Yes,’ said Lauren’s voice. Jake swung round and saw that Lauren had joined him.

  ‘Go away!’ he hissed.

  ‘No,’ she said. ‘We’re in this together. I’m not leaving without you.’

  ‘They’re going to kill me!’ Jake told her angrily.

  Lauren forced a smile.

  ‘Then they might as well kill both of us,’ she said.

  The sound of the front door of the cottage opening made them both turn their attention in that direction. Alec and Rona stepped forward, slowly, their hands on top of their heads. Behind them came three men holding automatic rifles. As Alec and Rona moved slowly forward, the three men made sure they kept behind the pair, using the MacClains as human shields. The party of five, with the MacClains at the front, came nearer and nearer. The men held their guns trained directly on Jake and Lauren the whole time. Finally, when they were about twenty metres away from Jake and Lauren, the three men stopped and let Alec and Rona walk on, still with their hands clasped on the tops of their heads.

  ‘Reckon we can make a run for it?’ asked Lauren.