by Matthew Dunn
Will watched Flail run fast after he’d heard the gunshots. Will had known that Flail was the person who would finish the job and that gunshots would be the trigger. If shots were fired, it meant to Flail that Cochrane was dead. If Haden was there also, it meant he was incapacitated. It would be so easy to kill Flail. The guy was so focused on reaching the clearing, oblivious to Will’s presence behind him and out of sight. But Will needed Flail alive.
He tucked his sidearm under his belt and followed Flail.
Flail reached the clearing, looked around, then sprinted. He crouched by his dead colleague whom Ash had shot. “Break radio silence!” he said to his other colleague in his throat mic. “One man down. Where are you?”
He heard nothing in return.
“Where are you?! Cochrane or Haden’s here.”
Still nothing.
Will grabbed him from behind and tossed him to the ground. He placed a foot on Flail’s throat, but Flail wrenched his ankle aside, twisted it, and upended Will. Flail got onto his knees; his rifle was on the ground out of reach. He pulled out his sidearm a split second before Will booted him in the face and leaped to his feet. Will grabbed Flail’s wrist, flicked it back into an excruciating hold, and used his other hand to smash Flail’s pistol out of his hand. Now on the ground, Flail moaned. Will stamped on Flail’s chest.
“Enough!” Will tossed Flail’s sidearm to one side. “Enough!”
Flail lay there, looking at Cochrane. “Go ahead and shoot me!”
“Not yet.” Will called out to Kay. “Far side of the clearing. I have him.”
Within twenty seconds, Kay was by Will’s side, her gun trained on Flail.
“Get up!”
Flail did as Will ordered.
“Lose the combat knife and communications set.”
Flail looked venomous as he tossed both aside.
Will said, “You have two choices. The first is I kill you; the second is we talk and you clear up this mess. Completely clear it up. No bodies. No DNA. Understand?”
This was the first time Flail had ever been beaten in combat. The defeat stung badly. But he recognized he’d been bettered. “Go fuck yourself.”
“Wrong answer.” Will turned to Kay. “Kill him.”
She stepped one pace forward, her handgun aimed at Flail’s head.
“Okay, okay. Stop!” Flail could see that Kay wouldn’t hesitate to drop him. He looked at Will. “What do you want?”
Will turned to him. “The truth. If you don’t give it to me, I’ll punch your nose cartilage into your brain. Choose your next words wisely.”
“That’s easy for you to say when you’ve got a woman pointing a gun at me!”
Calmly, Will said to Kay, “Lower your weapon.”
She did so, predicting what would happen next.
Will pounced on Flail, put Flail’s arm in a lock, thumped his boot into Flail’s gut, and used his right leg to lift Flail’s body and toss him away. He said to Kay, “You can raise your firearm now.”
Writhing on the ground in agony, the ex–Green Beret spat out blood. “My team’s orders were to kill you and arrest Colonel Haden.”
“You know Haden?”
“Never met him. But I know what he looks like.”
“You know me?”
“Only that you’re ex–spec ops. You were getting in the way of our takedown of Haden.”
“Do you want to live?”
Flail grimaced as he got to his feet. No bones were broken. No doubt that was deliberate on Cochrane’s part. But Flail felt like he’d just done twelve rounds with a heavyweight boxer. “I’ve nothing to hide. My team was legitimately employed.”
“By whom?”
Flail said nothing.
Will grabbed him by the throat. “Best you speak.”
In Flail’s career, he’d never encountered anyone like this. He wasn’t scared. But he knew he stood no chance against Cochrane. And now Will loosened his grip. “I’m an ex–Green Beret. So were my three colleagues. They worked alongside me in numerous theaters of war, and yet you two killed them in a blink of an eye. We’ve been working off the radar.”
Will squeezed Flail’s throat again. “For who?”
Flail choked as he said, “Kane. Howard Kane.”
“Don’t know him.” Will glanced at Kay, who nodded. “But my friend does.” He looked back at Flail. “He wants Haden?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because of something that happened in Berlin three years ago. Me and my men removed Raeder’s body. Haden was supposed to be there. So was the cash. But all we found was Raeder.”
Will released him and asked, “Why do you think Haden wasn’t there?”
Flail rubbed his throat. “We think Haden stole Raeder’s cash and vanished. That was Mr. Kane’s assessment.”
Will asked Kay, “What do you think?”
“He’s telling the truth.”
“Agreed.” To Flail, Will said, “I suspect you’ve done some serious dirty work. But I also suspect you don’t know all the details of what’s going on. If I ever see you again anywhere—on the same street as me, same subway, same city—I’ll snap your neck. Understood?”
Flail nodded.
“And if you have any contact with Kane from here on out, I’ll come after you.”
Flail got to his feet. “Kane is trying to do the right thing.”
“That may be, but zero contact!”
The former Green Beret said, “You can’t be certain I won’t contact Kane. And you can’t monitor me to check.”
“Try your luck at that.” Will asked Kay, “Who’s Kane?”
“Pentagon staffer. Big shot. Runs the department that liaises with U.S. SF. He’s a civilian.”
Will said to Flail, “There’s your problem. You have the skills to communicate from deniable phones and then vanish. Kane doesn’t. When I meet with Kane, I will know if you’ve been in contact with him. And if you have, I’ll hunt you down.” He picked up Flail’s rifle and pistol. “The police don’t need to know we were here today. Are you happy with that?”
“Yes.”
“You have transportation?”
“A car.”
“Take the bodies far away from here and—”
“I know what to do.”
Will smiled, though his look was menacing. “I’m sure you do. Get it done.” He walked, Kay following him, though she kept her gun trained on Flail until they were out of sight.
Chapter 29
Four hours later, Kay was standing outside the Pentagon. She called Hessian Bell. “I need you to call Howard Kane at the Pentagon. The call must be from an official Agency line, so he knows it’s legitimate. We need to urgently flush him out. Perhaps tell him to get his ass straight over to Langley.”
“I know what to say.” Bell hung up and called Kane. “Mr. Kane, this is Hessian Bell. I’m a director at the CIA. Would you like to call me back so you can check my credentials?”
Kane replied, “That won’t be necessary. I have the Agency on speed dial. I know you’re calling from the CIA.”
“Good. We have a major problem. I can’t go into it, even on a secure line such as this. What I can say is that it concerns a colonel. I’m in the dark on this and need your help to fill in the gaps. Can we meet in the next hour?”
Kane’s heart was racing as he replied, “Sure.”
The Agency was the last institution Kane needed meddling with his plan. He didn’t know Bell but knew of him. He was dangerous and way too smart. But he was also significantly powerful. Kane had no choice other than to meet him and find out what he wanted. Plus, if he had fresh intel on Haden, that would prove very useful. Kane hadn’t heard from Flail or his men, but that was normal. The protocol was that they’d always go dark after a hit job for at least twenty-four hours. No calls, nothing. That meant Cochrane was dead and they were lying low.
He exited the vast Pentagon building and entered the parking lot. He didn’t know Kay A
sh was following him on foot. Even if he’d turned around to see if he was being trailed, he wouldn’t have spotted her. It was only when he reached his car that she broke cover and sprinted. Will had been watching her the whole time. Her role was to identify Kane.
Will didn’t hesitate. He ran to her side, grabbed Kane, and said in his ear, “Get in your car and drive.”
“What the . . . ?” Kane was no match for Cochrane as the Pentagon highflier was bundled into his car by the former special operative.
Kay and Will sat in the back.
Will said to Kane, “We’re armed. You’d do well to follow our instructions to the letter.”
As they approached the security post where all drivers of exiting vehicles had to show their ID, Will said, “We’re undercover CIA officers. We can’t show ID. You have the authority to escort us off the premises. We have an urgent matter. Any dispute of that should be directed to Hessian Bell at the CIA. But if we’re delayed, there will be hell to pay. Got it?”
Kane nodded. At the security post, the excuse wasn’t needed. All Kane had to do was flash his ID. The tighter security was inside the Pentagon building.
They drove out of the complex.
“Where are we going?” asked Kane.
“Your home. I presume it’s not far.”
Fifteen minutes later, they entered Kane’s apartment. In the living room Kane took a seat, fuming. Will and Kay sat in chairs opposite him.
“What is this about?” said Kane. His demeanor was calm, though internally his mind was racing.
“You know what this is about,” replied Will. He pointed at Kay. “You know who this woman is?”
“Yes.”
“How do you know her?”
“She works for the CIA. Our paths have crossed. Her name is Kay Ash.”
With a smile on his face, Will looked at Kay. “Oh dear, he knows your name.” His expression was deadly serious as he returned his attention to Kane. “And you know who I am?”
Kane smirked. “I do. Will Cochrane.”
“Superb. Now we have introductions out of the way.” Will placed his fingertips together. “Three years ago I was hired to assassinate a man called Otto Raeder in Berlin. Unwin Fox brought me in for the job. Colonel Haden was also involved, though I never met him. I killed Raeder. The mission was a success. Or so it seemed. But Fox was recently killed after his house was torched. I met Fox before he died. He told me something was wrong with Berlin. Logically, others had to be involved in a mission of that magnitude. I’ve been trying to find out who.”
Kane looked confused.
“You were one of them!” Will said.
Kane looked back and forth at Kay and Will. “It was a black op job. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“Who else?!”
“Senator Charlie Sapper.” Kane was utterly composed. “You’re making a big mistake.”
Will wasn’t flummoxed by the comment. “You had four men protecting you. They were good, but not good enough. Where is Sapper?”
“I don’t know. She’s vanished. Just like Haden.”
“Really?” said Will. “You tried to kill me.”
“My men—”
“That option failed.”
Kane ran a finger along the cuff of his immaculate white shirt. “I was just trying to get to the truth. To Haden.”
“By killing me?”
Kane was silent.
Will said to Kay, “Leave the apartment. Wait for me at your place.”
She frowned. “Why?”
“Just do it.” He didn’t want to say in front of Kane that she couldn’t incriminate herself by being privy to what Will was going to say next. She had already broken laws, but Flail could cover that up by disposing of the man she’d murdered. But things were about to get worse. Will placed his hand on hers. “Trust me on this. Public transport only. I’ll reimburse you the costs.”
She left feeling resentful and bewildered.
Will peered at Kane. “I’ve been doing this kind of stuff all my adult life. In MI6 we call it ‘using our antennae.’ In the CIA and FBI, they call it ‘following a hunch.’ But basically it’s the same thing—an extremely rapid combination of deducing evidence, reading people, and using imagination.” His fingertips were back together. “This is what I think happened. Unwin Fox sourced the intelligence about Otto Raeder. It was legitimate intelligence, though Fox was worried that it would be wrongly actioned, most certainly handed over to the Germans. Raeder could escape or be acquitted in a trial. So Fox took the intel to a bunch of powerful bastards—you, Colonel Haden, Senator Sapper. Still, just because you’re bastards didn’t make the job wrong. The problem was there was one bastard worse than the others.”
“Haden.”
“It’s nice to think of it that way, isn’t it?” Will’s voice was calm. “Yes, Haden was a nasty piece of work, but he did his job in earnest. No subterfuge. No duplicity. He followed the target and gave me the green light to take the shot. What I had to go on was the license plate of Raeder’s car. That plate number was given to me by Fox. But it was you who gave Fox the plate number.”
Kane was trying to hide his fear. “So what? We were all pooling intel. Haden had been tailing Raeder for days. He got the plate number and relayed it to me. I relayed it to Fox. Fox relayed it to you.”
“And Sapper’s involvement?”
“She was our protection. If things went wrong, she’d tell the Senate the truth about how the hit came about. Fast-moving situation. Heroic Americans and a Brit. Instant terror plot. Et cetera.”
“She was a stooge and a corrupt one at that.” Will shook his head.
“I—”
“You got your men to torch Fox’s house so you could flush him out. When that didn’t work, you got your men to kill Fox.”
Kane was silent. He knew what Will was saying was true.
Will continued. “I don’t think Sapper was involved in what actually happened. But I suspect she believed Haden had committed a crime. Instead of doing something about it, she decided to cover her political ass and keep silent. She’s dead, isn’t she?”
Kane lifted his head. “Yes. Haden stole Raeder’s cash and vanished. We had to keep quiet. All that mattered was that Raeder was dead.”
“That’s one option. Here’s another one: You gave Fox and me the wrong license plate number. I shot Colonel Haden—a man I’d never met before and in any case he was heavily disguised. You did so because you wanted Haden’s job. Probably you have significant aspirations beyond that post. But he was in the way. When Fox presented you with the intel about Raeder, you spotted an opportunity. You got Haden to tail Raeder and got me to kill Haden.” Will was motionless.
Kane tried to smile but failed.
“Haden has been dead for three years,” Will said.
Kane was motionless.
“Your assets cleared his body from the car after I shot him. Maybe they didn’t know what Haden looked like. But if they did, it would have been impossible to identify his body. My sniper rifle obliterated most of his head. They disposed of the body. But why did you kill Sapper and Fox? There was no need to for three years. And then something recently triggered an escalation.” Will leaned in close. “I reckon you got new intelligence that Raeder had been spotted again. You couldn’t have that intel released to your team because then they’d know that Raeder hadn’t been killed in Berlin. Fox in particular would suspect the wrong man was killed. He’d further suspect you were behind everything.”
Kane felt sucker punched.
Will held Kane’s chin. “After the recent sighting of Raeder you panicked. Your solution was to eradicate all traces of all matters Berlin. Because the Berlin mission against Raeder was off the grid, it didn’t matter that others knew Raeder was still at large. But it damn well mattered that Sapper and Fox were taken out of the equation. They were the only ones who’d blow the whistle if they discovered Raeder was alive.”
Kane held his head in his hands.
/> “You poisoned my friend Unwin Fox.”
“Not me.”
“One of your men.” Will stood. “I believe there might be two things you’re not telling me.”
Kane felt like he was tumbling down a ravine. “I’ve told you everything.”
“No, you haven’t.” Will spoke to him for one minute.
Kane knew there was now no way out of this situation. “I had you kill Haden because I wanted his job and more. I killed Fox and Sapper. I tried to kill you. But you’re right—I was told to do this.”
Will pulled out his handgun. “You’ve been on borrowed time for a while, haven’t you?”
Kane rubbed his face vigorously. “Fuck you!”
“You shouldn’t have done it.”
“You want me to beg?”
Will pointed his gun at Kane. “Do you think you’d survive prison?”
Kane laughed. “Of course. I’d thrive. It would be my fiefdom.”
“I thought you’d say something like that.” Will pulled the trigger and blasted open Kane’s head.
Chapter 30
Will pulled up in Kane’s car outside Elizabeth Haden’s house. He knocked on her door. When the svelte and elegantly dressed woman opened the door, he said, “I’ve just killed Howard Kane.”
She tried to shut the door, but Will kicked it open and entered. Grabbing her hair, he dragged her into the living room and dumped her on the floor.
“Get up. You’re no threat to me.”
Haden complied, her eyeliner smudged.
“Queen bee.” Will prodded her on the forehead. “That’s who you are.”
“What are you talking about?” Haden’s voice was trembling, her fear genuine and absolute.
Will grabbed her jaw. “You get your workers to do everything for you. You dicked over Howard Kane, telling him you loved him, telling him you wanted to marry him, telling him your husband was a cheating bastard. At the same time you were grooming Kane. You and someone in the White House. Even Kane didn’t know his identity, though he spoke to him on the phone. But the deal was you help get Kane into power. If you could do that, you’d get something in return. I don’t know what. Maybe cash, maybe the affections of the White House man, maybe Kane himself.” Will forced her onto a sofa and stood over her. “What was it?”