by John Gubert
“I guess an affair is the best cover,” he said to Maria. “We can use the usual story. We are concerned the wife will get to know. Keep our identities. They know me in this area. They’ll be discreet.”
They turned in to the shore and edged against the jetty. They tied up the boat and made everything secure. Charles saw they were being watched from a police car by the road. It was parked just behind theirs.
“Excuse me, sir. I wander if you could identify yourself,” said a voice with a distinct Sussex burr.
“Of course, I’m Charles Rossi and live the other side of Newhaven.”
“Ah yes, Mr Rossi. I’ve heard of you.”
“This is my assistant, Maria. We have permission to use this boat while the owners are away. We went for lunch and then decided to come down here for a ride.”
He smiled the smile of a man who thought he should act like a man of the world. “Bit dangerous what you did sir. The coastguard picked you up on radar and saw that you weren’t moving. I realise it was a false alarm. It was a bit stupid, if I may say so, sir.”
“Look, I’m very sorry. It was a mistake. But I would ask for discretion. It was stupid but no crime. The last thing we want is for this to be in the papers.”
“Sir, it’s a closed case. We know you were authorised to take the boat. And it’s not a crime to have stopped out at sea. The fact won’t even be reported at the station. That would be unnecessary. I would ask that you remember the consequences next time, sir.”
Charles breathed a sight of relief. The last thing he wanted was a record at the police station. There would be a record at the coastguards’ office but that was unavoidable. Still they were seen several miles away from the place they dumped the body. There was a bigger risk than they liked but nothing could be done about it. It was stupid as they had selected the sea as the all concealing hiding place. Still, the police were not suspicious and wouldn’t be sending divers down. That was why they had gone so far out. Onshore there is always the chance that an amateur diver could see something. Way out there and, at that depth, there was little chance.
Maria and Charles got back in the car and, with a wave to the police, headed off to London. She was the first to speak.
“They fell for the secretary and boss story hook, line and sinker,” she said with a laugh. “The younger one kept eyeing me up and down. He would have liked a go as well.”
“I don’t like getting stopped like that. If the cement fails and he comes loose we would be remembered.”
“Look, the cement is going to hold firm for twenty years. That wasn’t run of the mill stuff. That’s the sort of high-grade produce they use for containers for radioactive waste. The main danger would be if someone found the cement in a couple of decades and discovered the feet in them. Or they could find pieces of the rib cage for that reason as we encased that too. We’re safe. They won’t keep the records that long. And nobody will put a date to the remains. So nobody is going to recall a couple playing naughty games at sea some time in the past.”
She was right and Charles relaxed as they joined the motorway and sped up to London. They drew up in front of his house. It was gone eleven.
“Tell Jacqui about the police and their suspicions anyway. There’s always a chance that she will need to know. Otherwise, say that everything went smoothly. The boat was stationary because we were cleaning up.”
Tomorrow, they would depart to see the Russians. It would be just Maria and Charles. Jacqui would hold the fort.
Charles’ plan was simple. He would buy the evil empire from Di Maglio for a billion dollars cash plus a share of future profits. That was a pittance but Di Maglio would have no choice. And he would have the satisfaction of believing he had ensnared them. But Charles would sell on the business to the Russians. And Di Maglio would have a hard time getting his share of profits from them.
Charles had also plans to ensure that the billion dollars could be traced and seized. They knew that a billion dollars was far too much money for a man like Di Maglio to own, for now he was their enemy.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The next morning they flew to Paris and then on to Nimes. They used the executive jet to avoid customs and security. When you are carrying everything the good terrorist needs, other than guns, you have to take such precautions. The guns would be delivered to them at the airport. Charles felt they were too bulky to have with them, especially as he wanted sub machine guns and not just pistols.
Maria and he were both dressed in office clothes. Once in Nimes, they would head to the Pont du Gard near the Russian compound in Uzes. The hotel there, a modest tourist place, would be their base. It was somewhere they would never be recognised, far from the normal luxury hotels they frequented in that part of the world.
They hired a car in Nimes. It was a simple saloon, a Renault. They had no need for a fast car. They were not trying to escape from anyone, they were trying to establish who was running the Russian Mafia and whether they could do business with them. They found a quiet spot to change into less conspicuous clothes. Two business people left Nimes airport but two tourists showed up at the Pont du Gard.
They arrived at the hotel in the early afternoon and made a big show of affection in the lobby. They kept their arms around each other and kissed regularly. Charles felt gently aroused as he always did when he felt the slim body of Maria pressing against him. But the show was not a prelude to any lovemaking. It was a cover to allow them to disappear for the rest of the afternoon and get some sleep. They would be up around two a.m. That was the best time to get into the Russian compound and check out Rastinov.
Once in the room, they closed the shutters and drew the curtains. Soon they slept. The training of years on the field had taught Maria to grab sleep at any time. Charles found it more difficult, but the quietness of the place and the regular soft sound of Maria’s gentle breathing next to him in the bed soon lulled him to sleep. He woke up later and saw it was just after midnight. They had slept for around eight hours. Yet Maria slept on undisturbed.
It was a warm night and he looked at her. She was lying on the bed with a sheet partly draped over her. It ran across her waist and over her thighs. She lay on her back, her face at peace. Her dark hair was tousled but still kept its shape. The short bob never looked untidy, even after the wildest of exertions. There was a faint sheen of perspiration on her face, but it seemed to place a gloss on it. The long dark eyelashes didn’t move. The small shapely nose flared slightly with each breath. The lips were red and moist and, from time to time, her tongue seemed to dart out and lick them lovingly.
He groaned quietly to himself. The excitement ahead always aroused him. Yet he knew that he had to put that all out of his mind. The venture was going to be dangerous enough. Maria was sleeping to be on maximum form in the morning. He needed to do the same. Reason triumphed over desire and soon he fell back into a deep sleep.
Maria was dressed when she woke him. She smiled down at him, as he lay there, naked as she had been. He was half covered by the sheet. She absent-mindedly licked her lips. Her eyes sparkled and she smiled almost to herself. He got out of bed and went to the bathroom. The shower hissed and then let out a slow dribble of coldish water. He fiddled randomly with the knobs and managed to change it into a flow of slightly warmer water. The plumbing protested at the early start and rumbled loudly.
Refreshed, he towelled himself dry. He shaved and walked outside again. Maria passed him a mug of coffee. The hotel did not offer that service but she had packed the necessary. It had the acrid taste of instant coffee but the warmth and the caffeine served their purpose. They were now fully awake and focussed on the task ahead.
Like Maria, Charles pulled on a pair of black jeans and a black shirt over a similar hue T-shirt. Dark trainers completed the look. He took a body belt and tied it to his waist. That had a couple of make-up jars with a solution that would enable them to camouflage their faces and hands. It also contained all they needed to se
t up plastic explosive that would make a blast out of all proportion to its size.
They each carried a bag with the guns. Each of them would have an Uzi with several rounds of spare ammunition. Then they had a second gun, a handgun that would go in the leg holster that they both preferred. Finally, they had an evil looking knife with a two-sided blade and heavy handle.
Their room was on the ground floor and they left it through the window. That, in turn, they left ajar to allow an easy return. They could not be certain when they would return and in what state. The ‘do not disturb’ sign would hopefully keep out any maid. In any case, they had signed in under a false name and Maria was now expertly going round the room eliminating any evidence of their presence. Their few belongings were left but they were all recently bought from popular stores and couldn’t be traced back to them. Their travel papers were with them. They had all they needed for any possible retreat.
The car had been carefully parked away from the hotel. That avoided anyone identifying it and had allowed them to pretend their arrival had been by train or taxi. Covering their tracks and confusing any pursuer was second nature at times like this.
They drove along the dark, winding roads of the French countryside. The morning had not yet announced its arrival. They had another two or three hours before dawn. The car contained the sensors that would allow them to scan the house and establish the presence, or otherwise, of Rastinov or Turpin. If Rastinov were there, their objective would be to kill him. If Turpin were there, they would see if they could start to negotiate a deal.
The car purred round the deserted corners and along the quiet roads of that rocky corner of France. They skirted Uzes itself, sleeping, in the absence of its transient summer population, in all the calm of its recently acquired bourgeois tranquillity. They headed along roads that were familiar to Charles. Years earlier, he had been there in more desperate times when Jacqui had been captured and tortured by the inhabitants of the Russian compound. Then they had attacked in force and left behind a trail of destruction and death. This time their mission was more secretive. They had to ensure they were not seen before they had established whom they would be seeing themselves.
They left the car about a mile from the compound, in bushes just off the road. They would be able to make a fast getaway from that point, over the rocky, rough ground and onto the straight section of the road. But the car would not be seen, at least while it was still dark.
They walked the rest of the way to the compound and came to the high wall. They reconnoitred from afar, saw that the security cameras did not cover all areas. They identified an unsupervised part. The wall at that point was well over two metres high. Charles held his hands together and Maria used that as a foothold. His arms were down and she climbed up, her thighs pressing warmly against his face. He called for her to tell him when she wanted him to hoist her up. On her call, he lifted his hands, still joined together, to chest and then head high. Once she was that high, and had let her hold go from him, she turned and then pulled herself to the top of the wall. He passed up a rope and they both took one end. She eased herself over the ledge and he felt her weight tighten on it.
He moved the rope still taut, closer to the wall. Then he jumped to the wall, just as he had been trained, and climbed vertically up it using the rope as a lever. He knew that Maria was moving away from the wall on the other side to ensure that it was still taut. Then, as he saw he was a metre or so up the wall in just three strides, he pulled himself forward and grabbed the top. From there, it was no effort to pull himself up and over. He joined Maria who was already tying up the rope.
Out of sight, they unpacked their bags. He took the make-up from the body belt and they darkened their skins. They each grabbed a holster, knife and handgun and fastened them securely. Then the Uzis were attached to their straps and placed over their shoulders. They fell to the right height for them to shoot them one handed, if needed, keeping them taut by their straps against their bodies. Charles assembled the scanner and, having placed the spare ammunition in his body belt, they advanced.
They went quietly and slowly, checking out for hidden surveillance equipment and trip wires or other traps. They identified some and avoided them. The night was cool but not chilly. There was a quiet and gentle breeze but it was refreshing rather than unpleasant. The clouds could not hold out the moon but they reduced its brightness and that of the stars. It was dark enough for their purpose, although they would have preferred a thicker screen of cloud.
It was only a mile from the road to the house but they took around an hour to go across the wooded wilderness that led them to the more manicured gardens of the main building. There they would have to use cover from the clumps of bushes and conifers that spread around the perimeter of the cultivated area and marked out the different paths that criss-crossed the lawn.
They approached carefully. Maria tugged his arm and indicated a box on the front of the house. He looked and picked out another one. Then another. They circled the house. These would be alarms or sensors that would bathe the lawn and its surrounds with light from the powerful lamps that topped the house itself. Maria signalled that they should stop.
Charles hid behind the cover of a bush and pushed the sensor in front of it. That allowed it a free range to the house and improved its response time to objects. He set up the machine and focussed on the screen. He started down in the cellars, searching methodically over the whole area for people. There was a wine cellar. There was an armoury full of a variety of weapons, he also identified a storeroom. From the size of the packages, he would have said that there could be over a hundred million dollars of heroin. But there were no signs of life.
He scanned the next two floors and identified several people. They all seemed to be asleep or at least in bed. Then he saw a red light flash on the monitor. That indicated a target had been identified. He checked out as they zoomed into a sleeping form and established that Turpin was in the building. Turpin was an interesting man as he was only Russian by ancestry. His parents had emigrated from St Petersburg to Pittsburgh. Perhaps they felt that the similar names would make them less homesick. Turpin had run a few gangs in his hometown before striking the big time with the emergence of the Russian Mafia. He had worked as one of Rastinov’s deputies and, after the sacking of this same Uzes compound by Di Maglio and his men, had assumed control of the whole Mafia itself.
He was not a crude and brutal man like Rastinov. He was a schemer. And he would be ruthless. The fact that he had managed to maintain his position of supremacy in the Mafia showed that. He was also, or so they believed, a man who would see the benefits of cutting a deal. It was better to negotiate a take-over of Di Maglio’s world. That avoided a battle and endless bloodshed. Then it was better for him to be friendly with Charles, who owned banks and could be used to launder large sums. Turpin was not to know that their plans did not see them owning the banks for long. But there was no need for him to know that for the moment. In any event, even without the banks, the deal would be valuable for him.
Charles carried on examining the building. He now moved to the outhouses. In the old days, when he had hit the building to snatch Jacqui from Rastinov and before they subsequently attacked it and sought to raze it to the ground, these were unconnected other than by underground passages. These days they were all adjoining. It was in a small such outhouse that further trouble was detected. Charles’ heart sank. He watched carefully as it analysed what seemed to be a sleeping figure. Then the answer came. The figure was that of the dreaded Rastinov.
He turned to Maria and mentioned what he had found to her. She bit her lip in concentration as he sent the sensors over the building itself. It consisted of three rooms. The one where Rastinov was located was some sort of cell. Next door was a room that contained a kitchen and an office. The third was a small bedroom where there was someone in bed. He zoomed onto the figure again and noticed that the person was a woman.
He switched the sensor over t
o find guns. The sensor checked out the three rooms and found nothing. It identified several knives in the kitchen area but they were all standard household ones. Then it stopped by a unit on the wall of the second room. It identified scalpels and other surgical equipment. Charles checked out a table. It seemed high. He identified an operating table. The place seemed to contain a mini hospital. It seemed unguarded. And most ominously, it appeared to contain their old enemy, Rastinov.
He turned to Maria, “What the hell is he doing there? It’s some sort of private area with a medical bay.”
“Perhaps he’s ill. They may be treating him there.”
“I need to see. If Jacqui thinks he’s alive, she’ll be petrified. He caused us enough pain last time we met. I thought we’d killed him.”
“Let‘s do it now?” said Maria. So they moved forward and slowly made their way to the outhouse. Inch by inch they crossed the intervening fifty yards or so.
They were careful not to activate the sensors around the building. External sensors have to be less sensitive than internal ones or they’ll be set off by wild animals and birds. They slid up against the wall and approached the door. Maria gently turned the doorknob. It made no noise but it turned and she pushed the door gently. It opened. Still there was no sound.
Charles looked through the widening gap into a small hallway he had identified on the scanner. There were no cameras and apparently no alarms. Cautiously, they eased their way in. Maria shut the door carefully. In front of them were two doors. From the scanner, they knew that one led to the medical room and one to the woman’s bedroom. They wondered now if she were a nurse.
Again, Maria opened the door slowly. Charles motioned her to go to the left-hand door. This was the one that led to the medical room. They needed to check out the cell before they did anything. The door opened silently again and they eased in. Maria indicated the sensors. They could not tell their range.