The Palindrome Cult: A gripping, page-turning, crime suspense thriller, its fast pace takes you from London to New York, via Dubai and the Virgin Islands. (Hedge & Cole Book 1)

by Kevin Bradley

  Ten minutes later, after the mandatory equipment checks, the first group of divers rolled backwards off the boat and slowly descended to around twelve metres below the surface. They stayed close together as none of them were familiar with these waters. Fuller led the way and kept pointing out different fish and the occasional stingray. The rays were hard to spot as they lay motionless on the sea bed, the only giveaway being the large spike sticking up from the end of the tail of the ray. Accidentally standing on this sting would bring severe pain to anyone unfortunate enough to let it happen.

  They had been heading roughly north from the boat for around five minutes, when they noticed the black silhouette of a wreck. Jack had been hanging behind up until now, but he pointed excitedly at the sunken ship and he swam off ahead of the other two.

  After a brief investigation, Hedge and Fuller had found an opening in the hull of the ship, but it was too small for them to get through, so they continued to circle the wreck. Jack followed them, and stayed close behind Fuller. He obviously felt more secure with a highly experienced diver close at hand, Hedge thought to himself.

  They had just finished looking into various portholes on the side of the wreck, when Jack pointed to something that lay on the sea bed below them. It looked like a piece of old wood, and he seemed quite excited by this, so they all went to take a closer look.

  It was when Fuller was close to the bottom studying the section of decayed wood, that Jack suddenly produced what looked like a short harpoon gun. He must have had it hidden in his wetsuit somehow, and neither Hedge nor Fuller had noticed him pull it out. Jack quickly swam over to where Fuller was laying quite close to the sea bed. He casually placed the point of the harpoon against the back of Fullers calf muscle and pulled the trigger.

  There was a brief whoosh as the long metal dart pierced through Fullers leg and buried itself into the sand below. This particular harpoon gun was high powered and was an expensive piece of kit. The dart was made of solid titanium, and had a barb at the sharp end. The dart passed through the muscle and bone of Fuller’s leg with ease. Once it had come to rest in the seabed, the barb opened a fraction, which made it impossible to pull it out of the compacted sand. Fuller’s leg was effectively pinned down.

  Fuller let out a gurgled scream as the pain wracked through his body. He could feel the torn muscle and the broken bone in his lower leg. He looked around to see what was causing him such agony, but all he could see was the metallic dart projecting from his calf. The sea around his leg was beginning to turn red as he started to lose blood from the wound. He instinctively tried to reach out behind him to pull at the dart, but all that did was tear more of his leg muscle. He screamed again and he did so the compressed air regulator was pushed out of his mouth.

  Jack had been watching the scene with some satisfaction. He now took the opportunity to grab hold of Fuller’s regulator and pull it sharply. This breathing mouthpiece was connected to the air tank by a short plastic tube, and Jack’s action caused it to break away from the tank completely. There was a huge bubbling noise as the remaining air in Fuller’s tank escaped and disappeared upwards. Air that should have kept Fuller alive underwater for the next fifteen minutes, disappeared within a matter of seconds. The breathing equipment that Fuller had been using was now completely useless.

  Jack didn’t hesitate a moment longer. His work was done. He turned away from the wreck and swam off.

  Chapter Thirty Eight

  Hedge had watched with horror as the scene had unfolded before him. He hadn’t been able to react initially as he was a few metres away, but now he swam quickly over to Fuller to see what he could do. Fuller was pointing at the mouthpiece that Hedge was breathing from and he understood immediately. He took a deep breath from his tank, before removing his regulator from his lips and passing it over. Fuller took a deep breath, exhaled quickly, took another breath and passed the mouthpiece back to Hedge.

  By the time Hedge was taking his next breath, he felt desperate for air. This kind of ‘buddy breathing’ was all very well in the diving manual, but in reality it didn’t leave much time for each person to draw air. Hedge was not sure how long he could maintain this for. Not for very many minutes he guessed. He passed the regulator back to Fuller and decided that after his next turn, he would need to do something to help their situation. He was clearly not going to be able to move Fuller without causing him significant pain or injury. The dart was still stuck firmly in the sea bed, and Fuller appeared to be losing blood at an alarming rate. Hedge guessed that he would probably go into shock within the next minute or two.

  Hedge took one more long breath and then made his decision. He passed the regulator back to Fuller and unstrapped his own air tank, leaving it resting on the sea bed. He pointed upwards so that Fuller knew what he was doing, and he headed for the surface.

  Hedge tried to remember what the manual advised when you have to make an emergency ascent. He recalled that if you didn’t breathe out slowly then your lungs would expand as you went up. This could cause the lungs to overinflate, and even burst. With this at the front of his mind, Hedge tried to slow down his rate of ascent and breathe air out slowly as he went. It only seemed to take a few seconds before he had reached the surface of the water. Had he gone up too quickly? He wasn’t sure, but he felt ok. He tried to concentrate on what he needed to do next. Fuller now had a supply of air for at least the next fifteen minutes, but he may not stay conscious for that long.

  Hedge saw the dive boat about two hundred metres to his left. He waved his arms frantically and shouted for help. No one on the boat seemed to be able to see him or hear him so he started to swim towards the boat as fast as he could. It helped that he had flippers on his feet and so within a couple of minutes he had reached the vessel. He couldn’t quite pull himself up to the side of the boat and so he banged vigorously on the hull with both his hands.

  Joe was the first person on board to react and he looked over the side and saw Hedge. ‘What’s the matter,’ he called down to him. ‘Is everything ok?’

  ‘No, it isn’t. That guy who called himself Jack has attacked Fuller with a harpoon gun. He is stuck fast to the sea bed and needs urgent help. His breathing apparatus was damaged so I left him with mine. We need to get back to him without delay.’

  Joe reacted quickly. He told the other two on the boat to see if they could get help on the radio. ‘Looks like we are going to need immediate medical assistance,’ he said.

  He then passed a spare dive tank and breathing set down to Hedge, who was still in the water.

  ‘Put that on and lead me to your friend.’

  Hedge struggled to get the kit on because of the swell of the sea, but he finally managed to secure the tank to his back, and then tested out the mouthpiece. It seemed to work fine.

  They set off in the direction of the wreck with Hedge leading. The two of them descended to the sea bed as they approached where Fuller had been pinned down. The shadow of the wreck appeared before them, and they saw what looked like a red cloud just ahead.

  Hedge looked a little closer and managed to see the outline of Fuller. As he did so, he gasped in horror and choked on the seawater that he had accidentally swallowed. He looked again and couldn’t believe what he saw.

  Jack had obviously returned to the scene while he had been away getting help.

  Chapter Thirty Nine

  The man who they knew as Jack was nowhere to be seen, but it was evident to Hedge that he had returned.

  He had shot another titanium dart from the harpoon gun, and it had pierced Fuller’s head. It looked like the weapon had been fired at close range into Fuller’s left eye socket. The eyeball was missing, and the barb of the dart was sticking out of the back of Fuller’s head. There was a hole around the size of a golf ball where the dart had exited, and a mixture of what looked like white brain matter and thick red blood was oozing out of this hole.

  There was no sign of Jack. He must have come back just after Hedge had swum off to get help.
Hedge imagined that Fuller would have been horrified when he saw Jack coming back towards him with the harpoon freshly loaded. He would have been unable to put up much of a fight, as he would have been very weak due to the shock from the blood he had already lost.

  Hedge felt sick at the thought of Fuller’s sudden death. He had not known him for very long, but they had become friends. They had been through a lot together over the last few weeks.

  Joe seemed quite calm, given the circumstances. He swam over to the body and had begun to dig in the hard sand around Fuller’s leg in an effort to free him. He produced a steel diver’s knife and was busy scraping away chunks of the sea bed.

  Hedge grabbed hold of the limp body and tried to hold it still while Joe continued with his work. Eventually Joe tugged the dart free, and they both slowly swam to the surface carefully holding on to Fuller’s body.

  They managed to get him back to the boat, gently laid out the body and then covered it with a black plastic sheet. One of the Americans on board had got through to the coastguard on the radio and advised them that they had a potential medical situation. He wasn’t able to give any specific details, but had asked the coastguard to attend the scene as soon as possible.

  Less than ten minutes after Joe and Hedge had arrived back at the boat, the coastguard was pulling up alongside. They had a doctor on board, but a quick examination of the body was all he needed. The coastguard officer advised that they would all have to give statements back at the police station in Road Town, so both boats headed back that way.

  The rest of the day and most of the evening was taken up at the police station where all the passengers from the dive boat had to be interviewed. The local police asked them what they all knew about the man who called himself Jack, but all they could do was give a brief description as none of them were familiar with him. The police said they would continue to look for the man, but it was likely that he was long gone by now. In all probability he would have prearranged to be picked up by boat and whisked off to sanctuary somewhere in the nearby U.S. Virgin islands, or he maybe even have been taken direct to Puerto Rico.

  Hedge was collected from the police station by Cole. They were both deeply depressed by the death of another of their colleagues. Once Hedge had explained what had happened, Cole remained quiet. He seemed lost in his own thoughts. He and Fuller had been friends for a long time and it would be a hard loss for him to bear. They found a quiet bar on the eastern side of Tortola and ordered some drinks. Neither of them felt hungry. They drank several beers but the mood remained sombre.

  ‘It’s them,’ said Cole. ‘They obviously knew we were here and wanted to send us a message. I am going to find the leader of this so called Palindrome Cult, and I am going to personally cut his throat.’

  Hedge said nothing. Cole sounded like he meant what he had said. He glanced across the table at Cole who looked mortified and also intensely angry. He drained his glass and stood up.

  ‘Let’s get back to the hotel. We need to get some sleep. We still have a job to do. Let’s finish it and get back home.’ With that Cole left the bar and headed for the car park.

  Something had been troubling Hedge ever since the tragic event earlier in the day, and when they arrived back at the hotel, he asked Cole for another look at the photograph of the German. He studied it carefully for a while.

  ‘What is it you are looking for,’ said Cole.

  ‘I don’t know how we missed it, but if you take away the beard and the moustache, this could be the same person as the young guy on the boat,’ said Hedge.

  ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Not a hundred percent, but it’s possible. This picture isn’t very clear, but the eyes and the mouth look similar.’

  ‘He was taking quite a risk by showing himself in front of you and Fuller, don’t you think,’ said Cole.

  ‘Not really, I guess he thought we didn’t know who he was.’

  ‘We need to find this guy,’ said Cole with a serious look on his face.

  Chapter Forty

  The following day, the two of them left the hotel immediately after breakfast. They were both still subdued, but the plan was to continue to work through the list of Trust Companies to see if any of them recognised any members of the gang.

  As they were now well aware though, these organisations who handle large offshore funds are always cautious when it comes to giving out client information. Cole however continued to advise them that this was a British government enquiry and cooperation was appreciated. It helped to mention that those businesses who refused to assist Cole may well find themselves on a UK Inland Revenue hit list. The abuse of offshore finance was being investigated at the present time not just by the UK, but also by all the major European countries. Not surprisingly, it helped when this piece of information was slipped into the conversation.

  It was early afternoon when they finally got the breakthrough they needed. It wasn’t from any of the companies they had visited that day though. None of those had provided any leads, despite being shown the photographs of the known cult members.

  It was just when they were feeling like they were getting nowhere. The heat was intense and they probably hadn’t been drinking enough fluids. They were both getting stressed out, and Cole had a stinging headache. They had decided to head back into the centre of town and find somewhere to get a long, cool drink.

  They were driving along the main street of Road Town when Hedge grabbed Cole’s arm.

  ‘Over there, by the post box, I recognise that woman. It’s Anna. It’s definitely the woman who was with Monica in the hotel back in London. That surely means there must be more of them here on Tortola, maybe even the top man himself.’

  Cole slowed the car and pulled over. They sat across the other side of the road and studied Anna. She was standing on the pavement, looking nervously from left to right up and down the street. Her clothing was basic – a plain white shirt and matching skirt, cut just above the knees. She seemed to be waiting for someone. Sure enough, a few moments later, a Toyota pick-up pulled in next to her, the door opened and she jumped in. They couldn’t see who the driver was from where they were, but they hoped it was the German.

  The Toyota sped off heading west out of Road Town. Cole turned his car round and followed them at a discreet distance. The Toyota headed out of the town and turned off right at a junction about three miles later. Cole followed as the road climbed into the hills. It went straight up at a sharp angle initially before it levelled off. Two miles later the Toyota pulled off left down a dirt track heading for a deserted house. Cole carried on driving past the track and pulled over half a mile further on.

  ‘We travel by foot from here. Grab what you need and let’s go.’

  Cole took his Glock out from under the seat and stuffed it down the back of his trousers. He pulled his shirt out of his jeans so that it hung loosely around his waist, covering the gun. He then set off back in the direction of the track.

  Hedge hesitated for a second as if trying to make a decision. He muttered to himself, ‘what the hell,’ before he reached into his bag which was in the passenger foot well and picked up his own Glock. It was heavy in his hand and he felt slightly awkward holding it. He was wearing long, thick socks under his jeans and so he pushed the gun into the top of his right sock. It felt secure. He closed the car door and walked briskly after Cole.

  They reached the track in a few minutes and walked down it until they were close to the house. There was a small clump of trees near the front of the house and they used these as cover as they approached the front door. It was wooden, faded now and in need of repainting. Cole had clearly decided on a direct approach and he pulled his Glock out and banged it hard on the door.

  A few seconds passed and then a male voice shouted from inside. ‘Whoever you are, you can fuck off, unless you’re looking for trouble.’

  The words were in English, but there was a slight, noticeable German accent.

  Cole waited for a few more seconds an
d then he banged on the door again.

  There was silence, and so he shouted out his reply. ‘So what if we are looking for trouble?’

  A few seconds passed. Cole looked tense and a thin layer of sweat had appeared on his forehead. He brushed the moisture away with his left hand, the Glock still held in his right. The door swung open and Hedge immediately recognised the man who called himself Jack.

  ‘What the hell do you think you ……….,’ the German never finished his sentence. Cole had raised the Glock and shot him square in the forehead. His head appeared to explode in front of them. His eyes briefly registered shock and then he fell backwards. The back of his skull was now spread across the hallway of the house. There were particles of bone and flesh splattered along both sides of the walls.

  Hedge looked down at the man, who was now surrounded by a pool of blood. It had all happened so quickly. He could hardly believe what he had just witnessed.

  ‘That was a present from Fuller for you. He always did like the effect of hollowed out bullets,’ Cole said as he stepped over the body.

  Anna came running through into the hallway to see what all the noise was about. She looked down at the body on the floor, and then her eyes lifted up to stare at Cole. There was pure hatred showing in them. He was only two feet away from her, but before she could say anything he hit her head hard with the back of the Glock. She dropped like a sack of potatoes and lay flat out on the floor.

  Cole smiled as he looked across at Hedge.

  ‘See if you can find a kettle in the kitchen. Fill it up and switch it on. I’ll have coffee. You can have what you like. Our friend here is just going to have hot water.’

  Chapter Forty One