by Ian Jones
‘Man, I heard about Kyle. What the fuck?’
‘Yeah,’ John looked back steadily, noticing Keane’s eyes constantly flicking all around as he wandered slowly toward him, clearly looking for something. Or someone. Most likely two men.
When he stopped walking Keane wouldn’t meet his eye.
‘I was calling you John, couldn’t raise you.’
‘I know, I left my mobile here.’
Keane frowned and looked up at the hotel. Behind him Reed and Louisa were approaching fast.
‘Where’s Judy and Tom Reed?’ he asked.
‘Judy’s still in Vegas. Tom’s …. behind you!’
Reed grabbed hold of Keane and wrenched his right arm high up behind his back and pulled him around. Keane starting protesting and was staring wildly around; looking for help that was not there. John pulled his gun from the holster on his belt then Louisa rolled up next to them in the car and Keane was bundled onto the back seat. John climbed in next to him and Reed got in the front and they pulled out of the car park.
‘What the fuck is going on?!’ Keane demanded angrily rubbing his arm.
‘We know Ron, we know,’ John told him, passing the gun to Reed.
‘Know what? What the hell do you mean?’
‘What we know Ron, is that it’s you.’
‘What’s me?’
‘What’s you? You’re the leak. It’s been you tipping them off all along.’
‘What?’
The car slowed at traffic lights and Keane immediately pulled on the door handle, to no avail.
Reed twisted around to look at him.
‘Child locks. I’m real surprised you tried that, you being a cop and all. This is an MP car, we’re used to carrying people like you,’ he said.
‘Undesirables,’ Louisa added.
‘Yeah, good word. Undesirable.’
The car pulled away again; Louisa put her foot down and Keane leaned forward, frustrated.
‘So, Ron, what was it? Money? They promise you everything you ever wanted?’ Reed asked.
Keane sat back and looked at John, an expression of total innocence on his face.
‘Listen, I don’t know what this is, but you are wrong.’
John shook his head.
‘No Ron, we’re not. Me and Tom knew there had to be somebody talking for sure when two guys tried to jump us on the way to Vegas. I already suspected there was a leak. But those two were stupid, bad planning. You should have given them better advice, or maybe found a couple of guys who knew what they were doing. But what we didn’t know was who. After that we were very careful, but Kyle still got killed. Only one way that could happen.’
‘I was as shocked about that as anyone. I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘Yeah, you do. And the SIG? That was clever, that looked good, the whole escapade in the bar. We were trying to work out who it was, and I never even considered you.’
‘This is bullshit. Let me out. I’m a police officer.’
‘In name only. And you’re going nowhere, you’ve got questions to answer. Give me your mobile.’
‘Fuck you. I ain’t done nothing wrong.’
‘Mobile.’
‘Like I said, fuck you.’
John sighed deeply, then suddenly launched a powerful punch right into the side of Keane’s face, making his head bounce hard off the window. In shock he raised his arms and John grabbed his hand and began twisting it, making Keane shriek out. Still holding the hand John reached into his jacket and pulled out the phone and threw it into Reed’s lap, then pushed Keane backward and let go.
‘Jesus Christ John! You damn near broke my fucking arm. And my fucking jaw,’ Keane whimpered.
‘You deserve worse. Kyle dead and Judy next. But who are you working for?’
‘I’m a cop! You know that! What do I got to tell you?’
‘Is it 1-Too? Or is it the Russian? Both?’
Keane stared at him, and John saw something, a flash of indecision in the man’s eyes. He knew one hundred percent they were right about Keane.
The traffic thinned as they moved out of the city, Louisa sped up.
‘Where the hell are you taking me?’ Keane asked.
‘Somewhere you’ll be out the way. No chance of tipping anyone off.’ John replied, knowing exactly where they were going but not at all sure how Reed had arranged it.
‘You’re wrong. I’m telling you, this is crazy. I done nothing!’
‘Save it,’ John told him, and looked out of the window.
Keane continued to protest his innocence, which fell on deaf ears and he eventually became silent, breathing heavily, an angry bruise forming on his face.
They drove on for more than half an hour, and then a huge army base came into view on their right. Louisa slowed, and turned off the main road and headed toward it. The entrance was up ahead and she stopped at the barrier under a massive ‘United States Army – Fort Indigo’ sign, holding up her pass, and Reed had his out too. The MP looked closely, then at the two men in the back, turned and walked into the hut which was positioned in the centre. John could see several soldiers inside.
Reed got out the car and walked around to stand by the front wing. A sergeant appeared and the two men shook hands, Reed gestured at the car and the sergeant nodded, passed over a sheet of paper and raised the barrier. Reed got back in the car and Louisa drove through.
The road they were on ran straight for a few hundred metres, pristine grass on either side and white painted kerbstones. They went straight over at a crossroads, approaching a large building with a rose garden set in an island in front. Louisa turned left, and now they could see dozens of similar looking buildings, single and multiple storeys, all in neat rows laid out in front of them down a shallow hill. There were military vehicles and soldiers moving around everywhere. Louisa turned right, and rolled to a gentle stop among more of the same olive-green sedans and a couple of Humvees.
The building they were in front of was a plain red brick building, three storeys high. The entrance was a glass door up some steps, but there were no signs anywhere to say where they were. Louisa and Reed got out the car and she opened the door for John. Reed pulled Keane out and keeping a vice-like grip on his arm, pushed him up the steps and through the door.
Inside it was a spotlessly clean lobby, with stairs rising up from the centre. There was a female MP sitting at a window set into the wall at the side looking curiously at them. She said something into the room behind her and a second face appeared, this time a fresh-faced young corporal.
‘Hello sir,’ he called out and disappeared, then emerged from a door just down from the window.
‘What the hell am I doing here,’ growled Keane nervously.
‘You’ll see,’ Reed replied easily.
‘This him?’ asked the corporal.
‘Yep. We ain’t searched him.’
‘No problem. This way.’
With Reed holding one of Keane’s arms and the corporal the other John followed them across the lobby toward a heavy door standing open marked ‘Detention’ and down a set of stone steps he hadn’t noticed when they came in. At the bottom was a steel gate which Louisa unlocked, and they went into a square room with nothing than a desk, a blackboard on the wall with a list of numbers and a pair of locked gates set in the opposite side from where they entered.
‘Right,’ said the corporal. ‘Jacket and shoes off please.’
Reluctantly Keane did as he was asked. Louisa checked both shoes carefully and went through the jacket, producing Keane’s wallet and badge along with a notebook, cigarettes, spare clip for his gun and a pager.
‘Empty your pockets on the desk please, and your watch,’ the corporal asked.
‘Wait …’ Keane began, but Reed pushed him across.
The corporal stood looking at him.
‘If you don’t do what he says, I’ll just hold you upside down and shake all the crap you’re carrying out,’ Reed said mildly.
Keane sighed, and slowly took everything out of his pockets. Loose change, keys, a lighter, then removed his watch. The corporal placed everything into a plastic bag and folded the jacket neatly, placing the shoes and the bag on top. Then he expertly patted Keane down.
‘Clear,’ he said, stepping back.
Reed looked over at the blackboard, which was empty other than one to six written down on the left.
‘Good job we didn’t get rid of this down here,’ he commented.
‘Yeah,’ replied the corporal, who walked over and wrote ‘*Keane R* – Captain Reed’ next to the number five.
There was a buzz and a beep as the pager went off, a red light now flashing. John looked at it through the plastic bag and Reed made a note of the number that was displayed.
‘It’ll be a burner, but I’ll ask Judy to check it anyway,’ John said.
Louisa opened the left side gate and the corporal pushed Keane through into a short, wide corridor with cells on either side. Simple design, just thick bars running from floor to ceiling. All identical. A gate on the left. Bunk with two beds against the back wall, toilet with a low partition at the side in the corner.
‘No fucking way. I been real patient here. But this bullshit, it ends now. Gimme my phone I’ve had enough of this shit, I got work to do,’ Keane countered, standing stock still in the centre, looking around at everyone.
‘Corporal,’ Reed said in reply, and the corporal opened the gate set in cell number five, which was the last one down on the right. He stood patiently, holding it open. Reed pushed Keane hard, and he staggered forward and John shoved him into the cell. The corporal slammed the gate closed and locked it. Immediately Keane started banging on the bars and shouting to be let out.
‘Let’s go,’ Reed said, and they filed out, through the outer room and up the stairs, Louisa locking all the gates as they passed through.
Once back in the lobby Reed produced the sheet of paper he had been given by the gate sergeant and asked John to complete a couple of details and sign at the bottom. It was an application for a temporary pass. John did so and Reed disappeared into the office.
Louisa directed John to some seats at the side, then Reed emerged with a laminated pass on a lanyard and placed it reverentially over John’s head.
‘Ok. Let’s leave him to blow off steam, he ain’t bothering nobody down there anyhow, and he can shout as loud as he wants but nobody gonna hear him. We don’t never use those cells much, normally only the ones on this floor that are a lot newer. Come on, let’s go get some lunch,’ Reed said and the three of them left the building.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Incredibly Yann Voorhees had made it all the way up the stairs to the top floor. To the sheer amazement of everyone who was there he was now standing on the narrow footbridge that spanned the yard, forlornly scanning the area with binoculars. Sal, Rico, Rolf and Greg were watching him with interest to one side.
Below them they could see Pinsky stalking around the expanse, looking in the warehouses and talking animatedly on his mobile phone.
Voorhees stood up straight and put down the binoculars on the railing.
‘I do not like this. I do not like this at all,’ he said ominously.
‘What’s up Yann?’ asked Sal.
Voorhees produced his mobile from somewhere within the folds of his gown and looked closely at it.
‘It’s too quiet. This phone was always ringing. Always I was being told to this, or that, or asked questions. But ever since he got here,’ he nodded down at Pinsky, ‘now I don’t hear nothing at all. Nobody is calling, nobody.’
‘What does that mean? And what were you looking at with the binoculars?’ Rico asked.
Voorhees fixed him with an icy stare.
‘I’m checking the perimeter, what do you think? I’m waiting instructions but not one person has rung me. Nothing at all. Yesterday I was told everything would soon be in place, but not a word today. And I got a feeling something is not right, and I’m wondering why. Since he got here it is all him. Something must be happening.’
He looked down at Pinsky again.
‘Coincidence? I don’t think so.’
He looked at Rolf and Greg.
‘You arrived here with him. He say anything to you?’
The two men shook their heads
‘No. I got a call when we were on the way, telling us we had to meet him. So we did, he was waiting for us. But we don’t know him, and he never said nothing, just that we had to get over here,’ Greg replied.
Voorhees nodded.
‘Yeah, basically I got the same call. I’m not happy.’
He looked at them, frowning.
‘Hey you guys don’t have any other cellphones, do you?’
Again, the two men shook their heads. They had switched them off and given them to Yann as soon as they first arrived, it was expected as far as they knew.
‘Good, that’s good, we had some problems with that before,’ Voorhees told them.
‘So, what are we doing Yann?’ Sal asked.
‘Waiting, I guess. But I do not fucking like this at all. Anything could be said, we don’t know.’
Pinsky was still talking on his mobile, which clearly angered Voorhees.
‘I don’t get it. Why’s he getting all these calls? I ain’t heard a fucking thing,’ he spoke bitterly.
‘Is … does this mean Leo is in charge now Yann?’ Sal asked quietly, saying what they were all thinking and expecting an explosion.
But Voorhees continued staring down at Pinsky below and shrugged.
‘I got no idea Sal, but this shit is fucked up, and nobody is talking to me.’
‘You want me to try and find out? Like, I could kinda casually mention it, you know.’
Voorhees looked pityingly at Sal.
‘What you gonna say Sal? ‘Say, sorry Leo, but we was wondering. You want a coffee? By the way, you the boss now?’
Sal shrugged.
‘No Yann, not like that. I’d ask him straight out what’s the story? How long we gonna be here? I’d tell him, Yann ain’t hearing a fucking thing so’s I’m asking him. I’ll tell him we got no idea what the fuck is going on. He can take it how he wants I guess.’
Voorhees pursed his lips and continued watching Pinsky.
Finally, he spoke without shifting his gaze.
‘Maybe. Yeah, what the hell, yeah you do that Sal. Why don’t you all go. Give it a try.’
***
John and Louisa sat in the officer’s club as Reed’s guests. Reed had changed into his uniform and seemed even bigger somehow. The place was busy, there were over five thousand soldiers at Fort Indigo.
John was enjoying the cheeseburger, which Reed and Louisa were also eating when suddenly they both stood up.
John wondered what was going on and looked around, realising that another officer was standing behind him. He turned and looked, another big man.
‘Sir, this is John Smith, he’s the man we briefed you on,’ Reed said quickly.
John stood up and the two men shook hands.
‘Nice to meet you John, I’m Major Alex Turner,’ the man spoke quietly with a distinct southern twang.
‘Major Turner is MP XO for Indigo,’ Reed explained.
‘Good to meet you too Major, and many thanks for all your help,’ John said.
‘No problem, mind if I sit?’ Turner asked.
‘Not at all,’ John slid the chair out next to him and the big major dropped into it.
He laid his cap down on the table and looked appreciatively at the food.
‘Cheeseburgers are great here ain’t they?’
‘They really are,’ John smiled.
‘So, I got to ask; what’s the plan here?’
‘Yeah, listen I know you’re breaking a lot of rules here. A civilian being locked up and everything, you have gone the extra mile that’s for sure,’ John said earnestly.
The major held up his hand.
‘You don’t need to t
hink about that at all. I told Tom exactly what was said to me; look after the army. If that means we got to be host to someone without a uniform for a while then so be it. Soon as Tom spoke to me it made sense, all I ask is that nothing happens I may be asked to explain later. That’s it. We keep a clean unit here, and I’d like to keep it that way.’
John nodded.
‘I get it. The problem is we can’t risk him making contact now, and we took him by surprise so they can’t know where he is. We aren’t telling anyone, even the LAPD.’
‘Ok, that’s good. Trust nobody. You heard Major Hayter’s billet got searched, right?’
‘Yeah, Tom said.’
‘As you can guess that is a royal pain in the ass, it means that someone here on this base is no good. Lot of people here, and no clue to where to start.’
‘You got cameras anywhere?’
‘Not really. There are some in the stores and the armoury, but none near the billets. All we got is who might have seen something. We are asking, but nothing so far.’
‘Can I take a look?’ John asked, expecting a firm ‘no’ in response.
Turner gave him a long look, then smiled.
‘I don’t see why not,’ he replied.
They finished eating, and then then left the OC. Luisa went back to the MP office, so John followed Reed and Turner down the hill. The camp was huge, almost a small town. Eventually they crossed a side street and up some steps into a long building lined with small windows. They walked down a corridor with rows of identical pale blue doors on both sides and stopped next to number thirty-seven. Reed produced a key and they went inside.
It was just a basic small room, like a budget motel. Toilet with a shower. Single bed, wardrobe right in front of the door, chest of drawers, footlocker and a small desk. John looked around but there wasn’t much to see, all of Hayter’s belongings had been removed.
‘Officer’s quarters?’ John asked.
Reed nodded.
‘Enlisted men don’t have a bathroom. Fact is not many officers above lieutenant use them. Major Hayter seemed happy enough but he had no family,’ Turner told him.