Deadly States (Seaforth Files by Nicholas P Clark Book 2)

by Clark, Nicholas P

  A discontented, agitated muttering briefly moved through the crowd. Those countries who Deeley was speaking about immediately feared what was being given up on their behalf in the name of the greater good? That simple human reaction gave Jack some hope. That unholy alliance that Deeley was trying to forge would ultimately fall apart. Nation would always fight against nation, and when those nations were being led by dictators it always ended in unimaginable bloodshed. Hitler and Stalin, the Iran-Iraq war; those conflicts would pale to insignificance if states with a nuclear capability turned on one another. Unbridled power always led to destruction. It was the loss of innocent life that warring nations endured as they learned that painful lesson that Jack was concerned to avoid.

  “Ultimately we will be one large entity. Your former countries will be states within one great nation. We must work together; we must set aside all thoughts of past conflicts. We have one chance to do this. If we get it wrong it will be another century before the world is in a position to accept another attempt. A little pain now, both in terms of pride and in terms of force, will give rise to stability the likes of which this Earth has never witnessed before. It will be an age of peace, progress and compassion that will lift all mankind to a new level in our social evolution.”

  Deeley stopped mid flow. All eyes turned towards a corner of the room. The corner was not within Jack’s field of vision. Like an actor who had been waiting in the wings, she stepped out of the corner and into Jack’s view. It was dramatic and quite literally show stopping. Jack would have been disappointed had she done anything less. Jack’s spirits rose for an instant before being restrained by thoughts of how Deeley would respond to the interruption.

  “And when you say that we all have to make sacrifices, does that include England?” she said.

  Her stern consternation indicated that she was not going away until Deeley answered her question. Properly.

  “All conflict in the UK is at an end. The actions of one or two small terrorist groups does not constitute a war,” explained Deeley.

  “I think that you should let the countries that make up the UK decide on their own future. And Northern Ireland. I see a representative from the IRA in the room. Will he get what he wants? And my country? What will become of Israel? I see many of my neighbours in the room. Do you please them by sacrificing my nation? Or do you risk their wrath by allowing my country to continue to exist? Mr Deeley, there is no one in this room who would do more to see your dream succeed, but I just don’t see how it could ever be possible. And by even trying we risk the deaths of many innocents. It is a price that I’m not convinced is worth paying. Not for an unattainable dream.”

  Deeley did not like being challenged, especially when the points that she was making were so relevant. But she knew that already. She also knew that when he acted against her he would kill her. For better or worse he was a man hell bent on the realisation of his dream and she could not get in his way and expect to survive. Jack could see that some of the delegates who she was referring to did look confused and slightly anxious by what she was asking. It was clear that some of them were going to leave the room on that evening disappointed. That disappointment would lead to resistance and violence. Jack felt

  the tension in the room below rise. It was as if many of the delegates realised for the first time that they would either get their own way, or have a settlement imposed on them through the use of force; and the might of that force would be born in that room if they didn’t speak up.

  Alexa continued to hold her ground even though none of the others with compatible concerns dared to stand with her. Jack was worried for her. Even with all of his talk about an all-knowing council Jack felt that Deeley could change his mind at any moment and that would not be good for her. It made sense that the council would allow Israel to continue in its current form, if only to keep the Americans onboard, but that decision, for better or for worse would not stop Deeley from ending her outburst. Jack scanned the faces in the crowd again. There was still no sign of Barry, though Jack felt sure that Barry was the IRA man she had referred to. Barry was delusional but there was no way that he would believe the promises made by Deeley regarding the future of Ireland. At least Jack hoped that he wouldn’t. The others he could not be as certain as to how seriously they were taking Deeley’s brave new world speech. She had taken them along the road of realisation but they would have to make the rest of that journey on their own. If enough of them believed her words then the nightmare would be over before it had a chance to begin. At the very least, many of the delegates would leave the plant with a very serious dilemma to resolve. Jack almost held his breath as the tension raced towards a climax. “As I said, it will be a fair settlement. No country will be wiped out. And in the end, we will all end up united and powerful,” said Deeley. “Everyone living in member states will have the right to live their lives as they see fit. They can worship whatever god they want to worship, and they can hold any other beliefs that suit them, as long as those beliefs do not conflict with the laws of our nation. This is what I have been saying. Petty conflicts over religion and territory will no longer matter. Peace through unity.”

  “And what about that question of religion that you have so easily glossed over? Are millennia of religious differences simply going to disappear?” she continued. “I see others in this

  want to enforce their own strict religious outlook

  place who would on the world. Do we adopt their will or do you disappoint them by casting aside their beliefs? Beliefs that they are clearly willing to die for, and are dying for

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  as we speak.”

  “Each state will have control over its own territory. But we will all

  be governed by a common set of laws. But I would remind you that

  none of this will happen for many years. Decades even.”

  She smiled.

  “Typical British solution,” she said. “Wait and see what happens.

  It worked well in Kashmir when you partitioned India,” she added,

  caustically. “Are you really asking us to get involved in this fight without knowing first what it is that they are fighting for? You cannot ask

  us to kill in the name of this cause, to kill our own countrymen and

  women in the name of this cause, and not know where it will all end.

  No one in this room is going to stand for that. We need to know more

  details. This is your dream Mr Deeley. You have been the driving force

  behind it from the seventies. Surely after twenty years in charge of the

  project you must at least have some vague idea as to where you want

  to lead us. I for one would be very interested to learn more about that

  destination. And even more important than that, I want to know what

  it will cost my country.”

  The quiet moan of discontent was hard to decipher. They may

  have been exasperated by her speech, or they may have been moved

  by it. Either way, the situation in the room below was growing more

  and more tense. She had made her point and Jack hoped that she had

  enough sense to quit while she was ahead, if she hadn’t already pissed

  off Deeley too much for redemption to be an option open to her. It

  was the vital spark and fearlessness that attracted Jack to her in the

  first place. Well, that and her beauty. Her intellect was amazing and

  she had often left Jack struggling to keep up when they were together.

  With such a formidable intellect at her disposal Jack was struggling to

  understand why she was persisting with the harassment of Deeley. She

  had made the point clearly enough to convince those delegates with

  minds of their own to take nothing more to do with Deeley. The others

  would never have their minds changed, no matter how powerful her

  argument. Jack concluded that there w
ere two possible reasons why

  she was continuing to provoke him—either she had reached the point

  of desperation and she saw no other way, or she had a plan and the

  provocation was part of her plan. Jack felt confident that the latter

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  was true. Deeley raised his hands again. The crowd was not as quick to take their cue from him on that finally brought themselves that it took for them to respond to his signal was clearly a source of irritation to him andJack felt that it wouldn’t take much more for him to lose all control and reveal his true nature to the crowd. He had the appearance of a supply teacher on the verge of cracking under the pressure of an unruly class.

  “I would urge all of you to reserve judgement to until after you have listened to the individual proposals. the proposals in the adult fashion that I be willing to listen to your concerns. People, I would like to remind you of just how many of you have set aside differences in the name of cooperation. Do not let your fears stand in the way of a great shared future. Now please, enjoy the hospitality. I will speak to all of you as the evening progresses. Our hosts have guaranteed the safety of this place until tomorrow night, should we need it.”

  Jack smiled to himself. Their hosts couldn’t guarantee anything. Deeley walked away and the crowd turned to one another for some hot debate. Jack watched her. She was just as he remembered her. There wasn’t any fear on her face, or in her voice. Strong and brave; brilliant and in mortal danger. She was just how he remembered. She was clearly running interference in an effort to breed discontent and bring down the network, but if that was obvious to Jack then it would be obvious to Deeley as well.

  Jack turned as best he could and he started to make his way back to the bathroom. Once again Jack found himself in the slightly embarrassing position of not having a plan. He needed to get to her, to save her, but he had no idea what that rescue would look like. With a room full of ruthless killers to get past the odds this time were simply too high. The only option open to him was to do something about those long odds. He needed to get her on her own and then to safety. When he got to the trapdoor Jack placed an ear on top of it and he listened intently for any signs of life in the bathroom. There was nothing. Jack opened the trapdoor and he began to lower himself down onto the

  occasion. After a few tense moments they

  under control. The discontent and time After you have considered have suggested, then I will toilet seat. As his feet came down to rest on the seat Jack made eye contact with the man sitting on the toilet in the stall next to him. The man had a worried expression on his face. Jack smiled down at the man.

  “Sorry about this,” Jack said. “I’m carrying out a security sweep. You know? Deeley’s orders. The man is security on the brain. Don’t mind me.”

  The man said nothing as the look of shock on his face quickly morphed to a look of anger. Jack unlocked the door to his cubicle and he stepped outside. He couldn’t take the chance that the man in the toilet would not say something, He waited. When the man eventually opened the door to his cubicle he was met with a fast moving right hook from Jack. The man fell back onto the toilet. He was out cold.

  “And I’m sorry for that too,” Jack added. He moved quickly to the toilet block door. Carefully he opened the door just a crack and he checked the corridor. Two guards were standing outside the doors to the room where Deeley had addressed his organisation. One of them was smoking a cigarette. There had to be a way to get past the guards without causing a commotion. He needed to find that way and quickly as it would only be a matter of time before someone else came in to use the toilet. The guy in the cubicle wouldn’t stay out cold forever.

  16

  The End of the Affair

  Israel-Jordan Border, 1989

  Jack almost found himself in awe of the network that was effortlessly transporting the weapons across the continent. At least he would have been in awe of it had it not been for the fact that the very ease with which the weapons were being moved frightened him to his very core. He never showed her that he was genuinely worried, but Alexa was clever and highly intuitive and Jack was not as inscrutable as he may have liked to think. He had given himself to her wholeheartedly and that openness came at a price—she could see into his soul.

  As the days passed and the nuclear weapons stayed ahead of them, always out of reach, Jack grew more and more apprehensive. The thought of thousands of innocent people being destroyed in the name of pointless ideology frightened him; but the thought that Alexa was heading towards that destruction utterly terrified him. He was not afraid for himself, but if she was to get hurt, or killed, then he would want to be dead too. He was hers, mind, body and soul and his protective instincts told him to take her as far away from Israel as he could, and quickly. There was no way that she would even consider such a

  move and so he saved them both from an argument by not bringing it up.

  With each town that they passed through they picked up a little more information. Never once did her smile falter. Never once did she lose her cool. For her the mission would only end when she had the weapons under her control, or when those weapons killed her. One name kept coming up time and time again as she questioned people along the way; The Base—it was a translation of an Arabic term, and it was an organisation that Jack had never heard of before. The group was based out of Afghanistan or the mountains of Pakistan and even the Israelis were finding it hard to gain information on them. They were very secretive and utterly ruthless.

  “How did they become so influential so quickly?” Jack asked, as they sat in the heat of an early eighties Ford Cortina on the Jordanian side of the border, waiting for the border guards to get to them.

  “Money,” Alexa said, simply.

  Jack smiled.

  “Come on, there has to be more to it than that. If it was only a

  matter of money then America would have bought into groups like that a long time ago.”

  It was Alexa’s turn to smile.

  “What’s so funny?” Jack asked.

  “America has been buying its way into those kinds of groups for years. They pretty much funded the Mujahideen in their fight against the Russians. Many of their operatives, including the leader of The Base, have been trained in terror tactics by the CIA.”

  “I don’t understand. Surely that would make them the good guys? Why are they getting involved with any of this? The communists are still in power in Afghanistan, even though the Russians have left. You would think they had enough to be getting on with in their own country without getting involved in this carry on,” Jack mused.

  “America was their great ally until the CIA pulled all funding. That left a hole of several hundred million dollars a year for them to fill. That’s where the new leader came in. He is the son of a wealthy Saudi industrialist. He has used his own money and money from billionaires all over the Middle East to make up for the cash that America withdrew. This guy is no goat herder; he was educated in the West and he is very well connected. He even managed to buy weapons from the

  Russians when they were still at war. All unofficial of course, but you have to admire his cheek.”

  “I don’t know,” Jack said. “It has never been that hard to pull the wool over the eyes of the Ruskies. I have done it a few times myself. And I didn’t have a millionaire education.”

  Alexa smiled again.

  “Don’t worry Jack, you don’t need to compete with him.” “Hardly,”

  said Jack, dryly. “But he does sound like some over privileged child who wants to play at war. Hewill come in, make war, leave the country in a mess before moving back to his palace in Saudi. I have met his type before.”

  “I don’t know Jack. This guy seems to be different.”

  Jack smiled.

  “Are you sure that I shouldn’t feel jealous.”

  She reached across, touched his arm and beamed a smile at him.

  “I’m quite sure darling,” she said.

  The
y kissed. Jack pulled her towards him. He gently stroked her arms.

  “Trust me,” Jack continued, “in a few years’ time he will have gone back home. His kind always do.”

  Alexa smiled. She was too hot to argue any further. The temperature inside the car was rocketed up. There was no air conditioning in the vehicle and even though they had all of the windows turned all the way down, it made no difference. Jack sighed. The line of cars in front of them did not appear to be getting any shorter. There had been a number of suicide bombs in Israel at that time and so the government had ordered a security clampdown. Long lines of cars and people on foot at border crossings were the result.

  “Can’t you get out and tell them who you are?” Jack asked, with mild desperation.

  Alexa shook her head and she smiled at the very suggestion.

  “Sure Jack. And I can hand out business cards to everyone waiting in the line, announcing who I really am. And here was me thinking that you were here to protect me. Looks more like you are trying to get me killed.”

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  “Perish the thought,” Jack said, through a wide grin.

  There was a short period of silence.

  “Do you think that they would risk shifting the nukes through one

  of these checkpoints? Especially with the country on lockdown,” Jack asked.

  “What are you saying?”

  “It’s just a thought but would it not make sense for them to lie low for a week or two somewhere in Jordan? You know, until the heat dies down.”

  “There are risks associated with that strategy too,” she said.

  “Sure, but on balance I think they would hide out for a week or two. If they are caught trying to get nukes into the country your government will go into security overdrive—they will never again get the chance to shift those kind of weapons into the country.”