Deadly States (Seaforth Files by Nicholas P Clark Book 2)
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“Are you OK?” she asked, with concern.
“Yeah. I’ll live. It is just a graze.”
They took shelter off the main corridor as the rain of bullets continued to spray in all directions. Without a word Barry headed back the way they had just come. Jack assumed that as he hadn’t said anything Barry was intending to come back. He was probably going to try to find a way to get to Deeley and the guards from the other end of the corridor. If he was successful then the fire from the guards would be divided. If they had enough time the guards would run out of bullets, eventually, but as the whole complex was probably aware of the fire fight it would only be a matter of time before a small army descended on their position. Jack knew that the best he could hope for from this encounter was to take Deeley out. The network of illegal weapons would have to be broken a different way.
“What now Jack?” Alexa asked. “Honestly? I haven’t got a clue. I can’t let Deeley get away. That much I do know.”
As Jack finished talking Barry ran past them. He was carrying the body of the dead guard on his back. He ran straight into the hail of bullets, spinning as he went so that his back, and the guard, were facing the weapons fire. Jack quickly used the distraction to attack. His first two shots landed true as they took out two guards. Alexa quickly finished off a third guard and Jack took out the last guard to leave Deeley standing alone, and unarmed in the corridor. For a man who had just lost the tactical advantage and who was just about to lose his life, Deeley did not look terribly concerned. Jack closed in on Deeley with his gun pointed at his head all the while.
“Here we are again, Jack,” Deeley said, with a smile.
Jack struck him on the side of the head with his gun and then he
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pulled Deeley into a nearby room. Barry and Alexa followed them into the room. “No Jack,” Deeley began. “Before you start giving me a lecture let’s save us both a lot don’t give a damn.”
Jack struck Deeley again. “No lecture mate. Just a couple of questions, then a bullet in your head,” said Jack.
Deeley grinned. His teeth were covered in blood.
“A bullet to the head would be preferable to one of your insipid speeches,” Deeley said, through gritted teeth.
“Sit your arse down,” Jack ordered.
Deeley sat in a chair in front of a desk, where a visitor might sit. Alexa watched Jack carefully while Barry kept an eye on the corridor outside through a crack in the slightly ajar door.
“Now tell me all you know about the people in this country who are behind the chemical and biological weapons,” Jack said.
“If I was to tell you everything that I knew about that Jack then we would be here for days. I don’t mind finding the time to do that, but I have a feeling that you are quickly running out of time. Minutes rather than days.”
“You let me worry about that. Talk.”
“Jack, you know that the weapons are on the move. You know that the families in charge of the shipments are untouchable. In short, you know that there is not a goddamed thing that you can do about any of this. Now be a good boy and save yourself. I will order my men to stand down and you and your friends will be free to go. I won’t even send my men after you.”
Jack laughed.
“I’ll say this for you Deeley, you have some balls on you. Big, leathery balls,” Jack said.
“You don’t believe me Jack? Think about it; Alexa is not the only one here today who didn’t want to go through with my plan. Though I’m sure there are those who will pretend that they are happy with the idea that will change their minds once they are back home and safe in their own countries. I will not lift a finger to stop them. I don’t need of time and effort. You don’t agree with me and I to.”
“And there it is,” Jack said. “The clanking sound of the other shoe falling.”
“Well Jack, you would have been disappointed if I made it easy for you.”
“So, what have you done?”
“Each delegate has been set a task specific to their own circumstances. They have twenty four hours to complete that task.”
“And if they don’t?”
“Now this is the part that will be of great interest to you and your friends. This entire facility has been pumping weaponised anthrax through the ventilation system for the past two hours. There is a 48 hour window before the disease finally kicks in and once that happens there is no stopping it. For those delegates who decide to walk away from my organisation they will die. For those who carry out the test that I set for them, they will be given the cure. Now, this is where it gets interesting Jack. One way or the other your time here on earth is coming to an end. The only question left to answer is do you want it to end in the next day or two, or would you like a few more years?”
“Bullshit. You intend to kill us one way or the other. There is no way in hell that you will let me go back to London knowing what I know,” Jack said.
“Grow up Jack, do you really believe that I haven’t already taken care of our masters back home? I am untouchable. I am running this show. And if you kill me here and now, my next in command will carry out my orders.”
“Soyou are just going to let us go and give us the cure,” Barry said.
“Yes Barry. And if you allow Jack to kill me then you are screwed. My life for your lives. It is a fair deal.”
“Tell me where the cure is or I swear to god I will blow your head off right now,” Jack said, as he pressed the gun to Deeley’s head.
“If I tell you do you promise that you won’t shoot me? That none of you will shoot me?”
“I promise,” Jack said.
Deeley could die another day; he was not prepared to sacrifice Alexa simply to satisfy his own need for revenge. Deeley turned to Barry and Alexa. They nodded their heads in agreement.
“Okay then. You will find the cure in the main safe back at the embassy. The combination to that safe is 7791234.”
Suddenly Jack drew out and stuck Deeley on the side of the head. He used much more force this time and Deeley was out cold. He slumped onto the floor in a heap.
“The explosives are still good to go, right?” Jack asked.
“Sure mate,” Barry replied.
“Good. I promised that I wouldn’t shoot him. I didn’t say anything about blowing his psychotic arse to kingdom come.”
As they made their way down the corridors they met with very little resistance. The two guards standing next to the cars at the front of the facility were neutralised before they got a chance to raise their weapons. Jack got behind the wheel of the first car he came across with the keys still in the ignition. Within minutes they were clear of the factory and speeding back towards the city. Barry checked his watch.
“Any minute now,” he said.
There was a short pause before a massive explosion and fireball erupted from the factory. Four more lowed. They barely looked back. Soon city would be sealed off and they didn’t have time for any delays. Their lives depended on the honesty of a man for whom the very notion of honesty was an alien concept. Jack had a really bad feeling. Deeley would have his revenge on them, from beyond the grave.
huge explosions quickly folevery road in and out of the
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20
The Font of all Evil
London, 1989
Deeley had been clinging to Jack like a sulphurous odour since they got back from the Middle East. He was at the safe house in London moments after Jack sat down to relax on the soft leather sofa and he sat in the corner of the briefing room as Jack relayed what he had been up to during his time “off the radar”. Jack found his presence very odd as he had not given Jack any special instructions about what he should or shouldn’t say about the events of recent weeks. Why was he there? Why was he staying so close to him? On several occasions Jack also lost his composure with Deeley’s constant presence—what the hell do you want? Three days of intensive debriefing had left Jack feeling tired and irritable. If this was the kind of
treatment his organisation put its own agents through he would hate to be an enemy in their hands, Jack mused. At one point, and to amuse himself, Jack began to describe one of the hotels he stayed in in mind-numbing detail. Well, they had pressed him over and over again to give more detail. Mission accomplished. As the final session drew to a close Jack got a sense that he was forgiven—the intensity with which the two men
conducting the interviews
had at first lessened, and then turned relaxed to the point of informality. They were either trying to lull him into a false sense of
security, or they were every bit as bored with the sound of Jack’s voice as Jack himself was. After all of the questions and additional questions in light of his responses Jack feared that the main points of the mission had been lost in a mass of the irrelevant.
At six o’clock on the Friday evening the interrogations finally ended and Jack sighed with genuine relief. It was memorable to Jack as it was such a civilised hour to bring the proceedings to an end. For a moment he could imagine what it would be like to work in a normal profession, keeping to strict business hours in an effort to maintain the right work-home balance. Jack wondered if the men asking the questions did stick to such a routine, and were their loving families waiting for them to get in from work on time at the weekends so that their precious time together could begin—Friday night supper, and a Saturday trip to the zoo with the kids; perhaps an early Sunday morning round of golf? His musings were brought to an abrupt end when a secretary entered the interrogation room as the proceedings were being wrapped-up.
“Commander Deeley wants to see you at the front of the building when you have finished,” she said, directing the instruction at Jack.
Jack nodded to indicate that he understood. The fact that she had simply referred to Jack as “you” somehow made the effort of a verbal response from him seem unnecessary. It was somehow fitting and unsurprising that Deeley wanted to see him one last time before he left as he had barely left him alone for a minute since he returned. When he went down to the front of the building he found Deeley sitting behind the wheel of a black Range Rover. The make of vehicle, and the colour in particular, somehow seemed to marry perfectly with the man’s pretentions. The motor from the electric window on the passenger’s side stuttered, and then purred, as the glass slowly lowered. The stuttering electric window somehow took the drama out of the moment.
“Get in,” Deeley instructed, in a tone which was lost in the no man’s land between formal instruction and friendly request.
Jack struggled to suppress a teenage roll of his eyes before he obeyed the commander. Jack got into the car and he shuffled slightly in an effort to make the hard seat a little more comfortable—he was not successful and so he gave up. Ten minutes later and much of Greater
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London had been left behind them. They had been driving in complete silence and Jack was determined not to be the one to break that silence. Eventually Deeley began to explain what was going on. Jack tried to respond as little as possible. He was tired and he wanted some time to himself. He had a life outside work, such as it was, and if losing himself in a bottle of Scotch as he obsessed over the loss of Alexa was how he chose to spend his personal time then Deeley had no right to stand in his way.
“Officially everyone back at HQ is in a right state over what you have done,” Deeley said. “And Whitehall has been getting into a complete spin. Though a parking ticket on a ministerial limousine is enough to get Whitehall into a complete spin these days.”
A pause.
“And unofficially?” Jack asked, almost passively.
Deeley smiled.
“Unofficially, you did one hell of a job. The entire region is in a
more dangerous state than ever and with extremists on both sides carrying greater sway over policy, it is only a matter of time before one side or the other does something that starts the biggest conflict since the last World War. With the old guard in Russia still firmly in charge of the military we are looking at the possibility of an international conflict involving nuclear armed superpowers. What you stopped out there may never be made public but the fact that the intelligence communities in the countries that matter know about it means that all sides will be more careful about the kind of bullshit they try to pull. At least for a time. They know that we are watching them. Or, to be honest, Israel knows that Washington is watching them. America will be very careful before they step in with military assistance if a real incident does take place in the future. At least we hope that there are enough cool heads in Washington to keep them out of a self-made crisis.”
“And how long is, a time, sir? How long before some genius comes up with another fool proof scheme that takes the world to the brink?” Jack asked, with resignation in his voice.
“Honestly Jack... Months. Maybe a year or two if we are very fortunate. You know how the game is played. A hell of a lot of back breaking work for very little compensation—but it is that tiny reward
that stands between civilisation continuing, and everything we know and love coming to an abrupt end.. Luck, tenacity and sheer bloody mindedness is all that we have in the end. And thank god you have all three in spades.”
“Thank god indeed, sir,” Jack said, dismissively.
A longer pause.
“You may find it hard to believe Jack, but I do understand some of
what you are feeling right now. I have had to give up people in the past. People who I cared about. When you first entered the service you were told that it would be a lonely life. Even when you were surrounded by people you would always carry weighty secrets that would leave you feeling lonely and exposed. A wife and kids is not for men like you and I. It doesn’t make it any easier to bear by having me tell you what you already know, but there it is. Alexa and you were never going to happen. You know that better than anyone. ”
“I really don’t want to talk about her, sir. It is done.” Uncomfortable pause. Maddening delight etched across Deeley’s face.
“I understand Jack. I really do. But I have to warn you that you must put all ideas of seeing her again out of your mind. I know you. I know that you are not the kind of man who simply walks away from something important. And I get the feeling that she was perhaps the most important thing to enter your life in a long time. For your sake, and in protection of her life, you must let her go.”
His words were sincere, but perceived or real, Jack detected a sadistic tone running through everything he said.
“As I have already said, sir, it is done.”
“I hope that is true Jack. I really do.”
“Like I said, it’s done. And besides, I’m hardly likely to go jetting off to the Middle East when I can’t even take a piss these days without you there looking over my shoulder,” he added caustically.
Jack turned away from Deeley and he looked out of the window as the city slowly gave way to countryside. He had thought about asking where they were going but the thought of asking anything from Deeley, even something that simple, grated on him—he would not give the commander the satisfaction.
For a short eternity nothing further was said, until finally Deeley broke the self-imposed impasse.
“We are going to our country residence for the weekend,” he announced.
Jack remained silent, stoic, and fuming on the inside.
“The events of the last few days have illustrated to us all, and to you in particular, just how dangerous the world has become. Jack, you are one of the few men in British intelligence who understands how important it is for us to be ready for the day when some mad men finally slip through the net and light the touch paper on a conflict that could end everything. Politicians can have the realities of our world explained to them a million times but what we tell them is so abstract and distant from the world that they inhabit that it all goes in one ear and straight out the other ear. And unfortunately that information finds no resistance whosoever as it makes that short journey.”
“The building we are about to enter is completely secure. You have been there before. In that one place we are free to talk about all things without fear from our own side or from our foreign enemies. In that place we can imagine those nightmares that the political class shy away from and we can make preparations for the day when one or more of those nightmares becomes reality.”
“If we do our jobs right, sir, then that day might never come,” Jack said.
“In over ten thousand years of recorded history, we can be certain of one thing. The nightmare always comes, in the end. It is up to us, and us alone, to make certain that something of us and our way of life survives. I want to share with you our plans for survival because you have the experience to see the possibilities. That is why we are here.”
“I’ll do what I can,” Jack said, as they drove past the security checkpoint at the entrance to the estate without being stopped.
For two days Jack was lectured on surviving theworst case scenario. His mind was elsewhere and try as he might he simply couldn’t engage with what he was being told. It was disaster planning on an obsessive scale, and it indicated to him that within their organisation there were simply too many people with too much time on their hands. A quick shot of reality would help them see a little perspective. By the time he had listened to dozens of ways in which the world might end and how the British way of life was to be preserved, he felt every bit as disinterested as those politicians whom Deeley had so roundly dismissed as fools. If any of the doomsday prophecies came to pass he would make his way to Scotland and do what he could to look after his family— maintaining a command structure, military defence and response, and even a working civil service, would be the last things on his mind at such a time—it would be a time of personal crisis, for everyone. By the time Deeley dropped Jack off at the safe house in London, midmorning on the Monday, it was clear to the commander that Jack was not as impressed by the weekend as he had hoped. As Jack was getting out of the Ranger Rover Deeley said one last thing to him.