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

by Clark, Nicholas P

  Alexa paused for a few moments as she thought about what Jack was saying.

  “OK Jack,” she said. “But if I find out that you only suggested going back into Jordan to get out of this damn line I will kill you.”

  “As if I would do something like that,” Jack said, playfully.

  With a little careful manoeuvring and several blasts of the horns from neighbouring cars, Jack turned the car around. A few hours driving around Jordan would not make much difference when they had no other leads to follow. Jack felt better on three fronts—cold air was now flowing through the moving car; they were doing something that he felt was useful, and he was driving her away from danger.

  After an hour of leisurely driving they pulled over to the side of the dusty road. They got out and took stock. The parched landscape was an open ended canvas of hiding places—small patches of wooded areas, little villages with flat roofs and oversized satellite dishes; and mountains—or hills, as Alexa insisted on calling them. No amount of deductive reasoning was going to put them within a million miles of the weapons that they so desperately sought. It really was the end of the line. Alexa was not going to give up without a fight. Jack had no idea where she had concealed them in the car, or on her person, but as they stood by the side of the road, Alexa was slowly sweeping the landscape with a tiny pair of binoculars. Jack smiled as she searched the

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  countryside—the weapons were certain to be well hidden by that point,

  and even if they were on full display, there wasn’t a hope in hell that she would ever locate them using binoculars that looked like they had come out of a small child’s toy box. The smile dropped instantly when she removed the binoculars from her face and turned towards Jack.

  “I think I have something,” she said, calmly. “Really?” replied Jack, with more surprise and disbelief in his voice than he had intended. Much to her annoyance.

  She sighed with impatience. Jack quickly moved to fix her mood.

  “Where? Show me,” Jack said.

  Alexa handed Jack the binoculars and she pointed at a small huddle of unremarkable buildings about a mile from where they stood, across a shallow valley. Jack looked at the buildings through the binoculars. He was surprised just how powerful the tiny ocular device was. He was then annoyed. He could see nothing that would raise his suspicions about the small collection of buildings. The vehicles next to the buildings were old and none of them were any bigger than a small family sized car. A dog on a long rope paced across a small courtyard. The animal was not looking at anything in particular. She had seen something obvious through the binoculars and the fact that Jack could not see whatever that something was really annoyed him. She would not make fun of him, as he would have done to her had the situation been reversed, but she would give him a look that he had already, only days into their romance, characterised as her mommy look. That mommy look was nothing compared to the mommy tone of voice— sympathetic and patronising and entirely unintentional and annoying.

  “Sweetheart, you are going to have to help me out here,” Jack said, removing the binoculars from his face.

  “Ok,” in her mommy voice, “see the dog?”

  Jack looked through the binoculars.

  “I see it. So what? It’s walking back and forth. What am I supposed to be looking at? Does it do tricks?”

  “Just one trick. Keep watching,” said Alexa, the mommy tone gone. The dog continued to walk the same route, from one side to the other,

  as far as the length of rope that was fixed to its collar would allow. Suddenly the dog stopped. It looked down into the valley for a

  204 few moments before continuing on its way. After a few minutes the animal repeated the actions—brief pause, before continuing. The animal was not agitated, as it would have been had it been looking at a potential foe, nor was it excited, had it spotted its master.

  “Seriously, I don’t get it,” Jack said. “Look again. When the dog stops, look down into the valley to where the dog is looking.”

  Jack took the binoculars off her and he looked across the valley once again. The dog was in the centre of his view. The animal came to a stop. It looked down into the dead valley. All grass and the hardy bushes had turned brown under the drought conditions that had besieged the area for over two years. However, at the bottom of the valley there was a small line of green life that snaked off into the distance, following a low-lying contour. Jack reasoned that there must have been a river or stream in that part of the valley, maintaining that thin line of plant life. He turned his attention to where the dog was looking. This time he looked more carefully. Along the waterway there was a particularly dense patch of vegetation. A small, overgrown, olive grove. Underneath the leafy trees, and almost completely concealed from the roads and settlements above, there was a vehicle. It was white and catching the sun. But what kind of vehicle it was, or how large, was not discernible. By the edge of the olive grove a man stood guard. He was dressed in dark green clothing—more paramilitary than proper army, but the automatic rifle that he was carrying did not care about the distinction.

  “So pet, what’s the plan?” Jack asked. “No

  idea, but we have to do something.”

  “We could go to the border and report back with this position,” Jack suggested.

  There was a pause as Alexa considered her position.

  “I don’t know Jack. If the nukes are down there then it looks like they have been keeping them on the move. And that makes sense. By the time we get back to the border then the weapons may be on the move again. And if my government goes ahead with an attack on this position then it will be clear that their attempts at hiding the weapons have failed. They will make sure we don’t find them the next time. We

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  could end up making matters worse. If we could take out the guard and destroy the vehicle before we go for help, then it might buy the army enough time to mount an attack before the nukes are moved.”

  “And what do you think the army will do?”

  “Invasion would be the safest option but it would take too long, even if we are successful in destroying the vehicle. I would imagine they will launch some kind of commando raid. Or if it looks like such a raid would not be possible, then they will destroy this entire valley.”

  Jack was shocked by her last suggestion.

  “If those weapons are damaged it could cause a fallout that will kill everything for miles around. The fallout might even reach some of the bigger settlements or one of the cities. That would be madness.”

  “This is a mad part of the world Jack. I really thought that you would have understood that by now. We have to do whatever it takes to survive, even if that means sacrificing innocent lives. If one of those bombs gets through to Israel then the death toll there will be even worse.”

  “OK, I understand. But that doesn’t mean that I’m happy about it. Promise me that you will do everything that you can to protect the civilian population?”

  “I always do, Jack. I know as well as anyone that innocent deaths here will be met with innocent loss of life back in my country.”

  There was an awkward pause. Jack felt uneasy. Her words were uttered with sincerity but Jack felt that he was being played—it was the first time that he felt that way about her and he hated himself for it.

  “Good,” Jack said, eventually. “We will have to make sure we give your guys enough time to do this thing the sensible way.”

  She looked past him, into the distance, and remained silent. Jack waited for a response. There was nothing. Jack looked back to where she was staring.

  “I think we may be too late,” she said.

  In the distance, just over a shallow ridge, two helicopter gunships appeared.

  “Your guys?” Jack asked. “Almost

  certainly,” she replied.

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  Three of four puffs of smoke appeared from the helicopters—the unmistakable signal that they were firing missiles.

&nb
sp; “Time to get the hell out of here, Jack”

  “But what about the nukes?” Jack said.

  “They are targeting the nukes!”

  They ran for the car. Once inside Jack drove off at high speed along the potholed road. Three explosions close to the vehicle in the valley found their range. The next set of missiles would find their target.

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  17

  The End of the World

  The guards didn’t look as if they were going anywhere in a hurry. Jack searched for another way out of the toilet block—there were none. The block was surrounded by corridors on all sides and there were no windows. Slipping back through the hole in the ceiling was the only option that he could think of though he had no idea where that dark space would take him.

  To hell with it, Jack said as he opened the door to the toilet block. He strode out into the corridor with confidence. The guards barely noticed him as he walked past them. Sometimes the simplest approach to a problem was the best approach. A small pang of nervous tension stabbed at his stomach, but only for a moment. As he entered the room he expected to be made instantly—a hush descending quickly followed by the sound of automatic weapons being cocked, followed by the sound of gunfire as his riddled body tumbled back through the doorway. There was nothing. As the delegates attending the mad conference went about the business of subterfuge and self-promotion none of them cared one little bit about Jack—his dramatic entrance only ever materialising in his head. There was nothing like a preoccupied crowd when seeking deep cover.

  Jack scooped a glass of wine from a near-by table and then he helped himself to several small squares of cheese. With all the excite

  ment and stress of the day his poor stomach had been badly neglected. A contented rumbled quietly extended thanks. As Jack casually sipped on the wine he hoped that no one in the room would note the condition of his clothing. He also hoped that someone from previous missions wouldn’t spot him. Robert could be handled. Alexa was different. What they once had was passionate and deep, but time had a way of weakening even the strongest of emotional bonds. If her mission was a matter of life and death, with millions of innocent people depending on her for their survival, then sentiment would crumble and she would turn Jack over without a second thought.

  Alexa was talking to three men in one corner of the room, next to the far side exit. As two of the men moved away Jack made his move. Alexa was deep in conversation. She was smiling and laughing. It was a convincing laugh but Jack knew the difference between her fake and her real laughter; the latter was guttural and filthy. She caught sight of Jack long before he closed in on her. The smile and the fake laughter remained in place, but she shifted the conversation quickly, terminating it before Jack arrived in front of her. Her conversation partner nodded at Jack as he walked away from Alexa.

  “It is good to see you again,” Alexa said. The warmth of her tone and breadth of her smile could not mask the hurt that lay underneath. Even though Jack could see that hurt quite clearly, he did not fear it. Had she wanted to betray him then he never would have made it across the room.

  “It’s good to see you too,” Jack replied. There was a short pause as their eyes locked in an effort to divine what was truly to be found in the depths of their hearts.

  “Is there somewhere private where we can talk?” Jack asked.

  “That would probably be a good idea,” Alexa returned.

  Alexa, as was her way, took the situation in hand. She turned quickly and headed out through the exit. Jack quickly followed her. Leaving the room did not go unnoticed.

  The corridor on the other side of the door was quite short with four or five doors leading to various offices and a conference room. It was to one of the larger offices that Alexa led Jack. During the short journey to the office Jack was rehearsing what he was going to say to

  Alexa, but nothing that he could come up with at that time, or during the time from when he had first seen her in that place, sounded right. As it happened, Alexa was in no mood for listening to any explanation Jack might have offered. Alexa held the door to the office open for Jack and once he was inside she quickly shut the door behind him. Alexa caught Jack by the arm and she spun him around. Before Jack could protest Alexa moved in close and she began to kiss him passionately. All plans and speeches and excuses evaporated in an instant. They instantly picked up where they left off. It was a moment that somehow felt right and it was a moment that made all those years without her seems all the more painful. After several blissful moments they slowly pushed off from one another.

  “We never should have let them do it to us, Jack,” Alexa said. “I

  know, angel, I know.”

  Jack brushed her hair away from her face. It was just as he remembered—time had done nothing to diminish her beauty.

  “So Jack, where are you at on this?”

  Their business life soon pushed the wonder one side.

  “I was listening to the great leader’s speech. say, it mainly sounded like the fantasies of a mad man.”

  “Believe me Jack, he is many things, but a fantasist is not one of them. There is too much truth in what he had to say, and if anything he was holding back some of the more serious stuff his organisation has been up to.”

  “I just find it so hard to believe that all of this could have gone on under the nose of the world’s intelligence agencies.”

  “That’s the genius of his plan,” Alexa explained. “He has a significant number of agents working for him all over the world. In every country.”

  “But still, it would only take one of them to talk and the whole scheme would have been exposed. It just doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.”

  “But don’t you see Jack? That’s the beauty of his plan. If one of his agents did turn on him and they went to their government with this story, who would believe them? Some things are just too big and too

  of their private life to

  As for what he had to scary to find a footing in reality and he is depending on that disbelief.” “OK, so what do you suggest we do about it? I assume that you have a plan in place?” Jack asked, wryly.

  “I want to hear your plan first,” she replied.

  Jack threw his head back and laughed.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “I will tell you my plan and then you will gently point out how it is nonsense before telling me your plan, which is the one we will end up using,” Jack said.

  “That never happened!” she protested.

  Jack smiled.

  “OK then,” he said. “My plan is to blow this place to kingdom come and take out as many of these bastards as we can.”

  “A good plan,” she said. “And as it happens, it is exactly the same as my plan. Do you have the explosives planted yet?”

  “Ah, now that’s the part of my plan that hasn’t been developed as much as I would like.”

  “Meaning?”

  “I don’t actually have any explosives with me.”

  She rolled her eyes.

  “I told you we would end up doing things your way.”

  “Only because you don’t have an actual plan, you fool.”

  “Where are the explosives?”

  “They are in two black holdalls in the office at the end of the corridor.”

  “Bloody hell. Talk about overkill. How in the hell did you manage to get them past the security.”

  “Your old friend Robert helped me.”

  Jack looked disappointed.

  “Pity,” he said. “I was looking forward to killing him.”

  “Don’t hold back on my account. The man is a complete arsehole. If he gets a few extra dollars from someone else he will rat me out in the blink of an eye.”

  Jack smiled.

  “Though Robert has a fair idea what is coming so the chances are

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  he will be long gone before we get the chance to set the charges off,” she said. It was almost imperceptible and to the lay person it would
have gone unnoticed, but Jack knew her too well to let the look that flashed across her face pass by unchallenged.

  “What is it?” Jack quizzed.

  “You aren’t going to like this, but...” she began.

  Jack tried not to look worried but as she was never given to overreaction what she was about to say could not be good. His gut tightened as he stifled a sigh.

  “I needed the help of one of your former associates from your time in the IRA,” she said.

  Before Jack had time to spit out Barry’s name, the door opened and the man himself, toting a gun, entered the room. Robert quickly followed behind Barry.

  “Looks like we are all here now,” Barry said, with a satisfied smirk. “There have been a lot of men looking for you this evening, Jack,” Robert said. “There is a bounty on your head and it looks like I am going to be the one to collect it.”

  “We are going to collect it,” Barry hastened to add.

  “Of course my Irish friend. We are going to collect.”

  “Good lad Bob. You aren’t as bad as people say,” said Barry. “Really,”

  snapped Alexa. “I’d say he was a hell of a lot worse.” “Ahh, don’t be

  so hard on old Bob there,” said Barry. “He brought

  you your bombs. I saw them. If he hadn’t been made a better offer then he would have gone through with your agreement. That’s the kind of man he is.”

  “What? Honest up to a point?” snarled Alexa.

  Barry threw his head back and laughed.

  “Christ almighty Jack, you have got your hands full with this one,” Barry said.

  There was a pause.

  “Bob,” Barry began, calmly. “The bounty on their heads. Did it say dead or alive?”

  Robert grinned wickedly.

  “That’s what the man said,” Robert confirmed.

  “Then it would make a lot of sense if they weren’t able to talk to anyone about your agreement with Mrs Jack here,” Barry said. “You know how touchy the man can be about those kind of things. Now, I think that it would be best all round if Jack and Jill here never made it back down the hill.”