The Renegade Spy

by Mark O'Neill

  “Schmitz!” she shouted, “take him out!”

  Other agents had already come running, guns drawn. The Scorpion had turned around and fired in their direction, cutting some of them down. They never stood a chance.

  Schmitz on the other hand had run out of the front door, went around the back of the house, and through the back door. He immediately saw the body of the dead agent and all of the blood, and felt sick.

  “That son of a bitch is dead!” he swore, and he nudged open the kitchen door, looking carefully to see if he could see the Scorpion. When he had a clear visual, he lifted his pistol and fired two shots. One went wide, but the other hit the Scorpion in the back. Gasping, the Scorpion turned and fired a wild burst of fire which caught Schmitz and drove him back against the wall.

  Meanwhile, Meyer had managed to partially regain consciousness, and she lay with tears in her eyes.

  "The kids" sobbed Meyer, with her hand pressed against her head.

  "They’re being evacuated out the front" shouted Decker, over the noise of gunfire. The Scorpion had by now picked up weapons from other dead agents and despite the bullet in his back, was taking on other agents in a pitched battle. Some of the agents were falling, and Decker had to wonder if they could hold out till the reinforcements got here.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The Scorpion cursed. He was hoping for the element of surprise, to catch Meyer unawares in the living room. He hadn’t expected that a guard would get spooked and rush Meyer out the front door.

  This was all going to hell. Fast. He knew then that he would never get out of there alive. Strangely he found himself OK with that idea. He had had a good run, and he knew that one day it would all end violently.

  But he would not die as a failure. He had been contracted to kill Meyer, and he would. She would be his last victim.

  Thankfully he had managed to pick up enough ammunition, and as one magazine was empty, he immediately ejected it and loaded another. Decker took the opportunity while the Scorpion was reloading to fire her gun in his direction. But the Scorpion was now behind a thick wall, and Decker’s bullets thudded harmlessly into it. Her gun clicked to indicate it was empty.

  Damn. She looked around for another weapon but the nearest one would put her perilously close to the Scorpion’s current position. Looking at the Scorpion, Decker then realised that he was so distracted with the other guards that she could potentially get Meyer out through the back kitchen door. Breaking cover would put them both in mortal danger if the Scorpion turned and saw them. But they were rapidly running out of options.

  “Alright, listen Ma’am” whispered Decker into Meyer’s ear, “we are going to make a run for the back kitchen door. We just have to hope we are not spotted as we move from behind the sofa”.

  “That will get us killed” hissed Meyer.

  “Staying here will get us killed too. Trying to get out gives us a chance”.

  No sooner had she said that when the last agent at the front door was shot in the throat. The Scorpion looked with astonishment, as if unable to believe he had managed to best them all. With an evil smile on his face, he threw the machine gun down, and with a pistol in his hand, turned to face Decker and Meyer. In the distance, loud sirens could be heard, as well as a rapidly approaching helicopter.

  “Looks like they’re all dead" laughed the Scorpion, “that’s rather embarrassing”.

  "In less than thirty seconds, there’ll be more" said Decker, through gritted teeth, “hear those sirens and that helicopter? That means you’re burnt toast, asshole”.

  “I know I’m a dead man walking. Which is why I have absolutely nothing to lose. So….who’s going first? Raise your hand if you want to die first".

  Before the Scorpion could fire though, three gunshots rang out. The front of the Scorpion’s jacket blossomed red, and he looked down with surprise at the wounds. A fourth bullet then tore into the back of his head, blowing the top of his skull off. His body fell forward and landed with a very loud thump on the wooden floor.

  Decker looked to see where the gunshots had come from.

  Schmitz was lying on the floor wearing a blood-drenched shirt. The colour was drained from his face and he was having trouble holding his head and gun arm up. Nevertheless, he managed to turn and look at Decker and Meyer.

  “I guess we can forget about the sandwich then”.

  Then he passed out.

  Heavily-armed police stormed through the front door, and were confronted with scenes of horrific carnage. Decker staggered to her feet and pulled up Meyer who was barely managing to stay conscious.

  "Get the chancellor out of here!" she shouted, "now!"

  "Yes Ma’am" said the lead police officer. He lifted Meyer up in his arms and carried her outside, flanked by a protective cordon of more armed police with shields. By this point, a military helicopter had landed in the garden, and Meyer was passed over to paramedics who were in the back.

  Seconds later, it had taken off, surrounded by German air force jets, who had been ordered to take down anything remotely resembling a threat to the chancellor. The local residents cowered in fear, feeling they were in a war zone.

  Decker scrambled over to check on Schmitz and discovered he was barely breathing.

  “We need a paramedic in here right now!”.

  As Schmitz was carried out to an ambulance, Decker leaned back against the bullet-scarred wall and stared at the Scorpion’s body, which was now surrounded by blood and brain matter.

  She started to cry.

  Chapter Sixteen

  It was later that evening before Decker managed to get back to the Chancellery. The whole building was in a state of shock. It was bad enough that Meyer had almost been shot. But for most of the protection detail to have been wiped out was even worse.

  Decker had checked herself out of the hospital after being stitched up for minor lacerations, and she soon found out afterwards that Meyer had done the same. She had had her head wound repaired, and after it was done, over the loud protests of the doctors, she announced firmly she was leaving.

  Decker was walking along the corridors of the Chancellery when she saw Unterwald coming out of Meyer’s office. He looked crushed and walked over heavily to Decker, placing a hand on her shoulder.

  "Thank you for today" was all he could say.

  "For what? Almost getting the chancellor killed? Having more than a dozen good agents shot dead?".

  “That wasn’t your fault” said Unterwald sharply, “how were we to possibly know that he would murder the caterer and impersonate him? There are just some things which you can’t factor for. You saved the chancellor’s life and that’s all that matters. As for the dead agents, they knew the risks and they died doing their jobs. End of story”.

  “If you say so”. Decker looked thoroughly unconvinced. She suddenly felt exhausted and wanted to go home to bed.

  "She wants to see you" said Unterwald, nodding towards the door, "don’t worry, you’re in her good graces. You saved her today".

  “And the traitor who helped the Scorpion?”.

  Unterwald paused. “He or she can keep for another day. We won’t give up on that score, I can assure you. Their day will come”.

  When Decker entered the office, she was struck by how dark it was. The room was illuminated only by a desk lamp, and for a moment, Decker wondered if Meyer had slipped out of the room by a back door.

  "Over here, Captain" said a soft voice in the corner.

  Decker’s sight adjusted to the gloom, and she could eventually make out Meyer’s features in the dark. She had a glass on the table beside her, and was refilling it from a partially-empty bottle. Her head had a bandage around it.

  "Ma’am, you should be in the hospital"

  "Says the woman who checked herself out of the hospital".

  "That was different" said Decker, "I had glass splinters in my face. You had a serious concussion. There’s no comparison".

  "Shut up and sit down Captain".


  "Are you drunk Ma’am?"

  "After the day we’ve had, I think I’ve earned the right. You too. Get a glass from the table over there and help yourself".

  Decker got a glass and helped herself to a double Scotch.

  "Cheers" said Meyer, clinking her glass against Decker’s, "thank you Captain for today".

  "For what? As I said to Unterwald just now, I failed you. You were hit, security was breached, a dozen good agents are dead, your niece was endangered...need I go on?".

  Meyer was quiet for a moment. “What’s done is done. What matters is that at the end of the day we won and the Scorpion is dead. Everything else…we’ll forgive ourselves one day”. She paused. “How is Schmitz?”

  “In surgery” said Decker, “fighting for his life”.

  “He’ll make it. People like Schmitz are indestructible. Just like you. You both make a good team”.

  Decker stood up. “I think it’s time I reported back to Deputy Director Wagner Ma’am”.

  Meyer seemed not to hear her. "I’ve been reading your file Captain. Nobody except Wagner likes you very much. You were too independent for them. Wagner won’t be able to protect you forever and when he can’t anymore, your enemies will be circling like buzzards waiting to feast on your corpse".

  "You have a remarkable way with the words” said Decker, “I’m a big girl Ma’am. I’ll just have to suck it up".

  "If you go back”.

  "What do you mean?".

  “I might have an interesting job for you, if you are so inclined..."

  Decker sat back down very slowly.

  “Tell me more”.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Five Months Later

  Sophie Decker made her way through the darkness and the Spanish woods, in search of her prey. She had been after him for weeks now, chasing him all over Germany, and now down into Spain. Rumour said he was on his way to an arms deal with ETA. Nobody knew for sure, but the German government was taking no chances. Decker had been ordered to take him out.

  Her professional pride was at stake now because she had had a golden opportunity before to take him out, and she had missed with the shot. Decker never missed, so she couldn’t understand how she had done it now.

  To miss once was careless, to miss twice was incompetent. So she was determined that the second time was going to be the charm. She would not miss this time. The cat with the nine lives was about to see all of his lives suddenly used up.

  As she crept through the trees, she looked down into a valley and saw someone creeping about, crouched down. She took out her night vision binoculars and focused them on the figure until she could see him turning his head. When she saw his face, she knew it was her target.

  She unslung her gun, dropped down into a firing position, and raised the sniper rifle. She looked down the sights and placed her finger slowly and carefully on the trigger.

  When she was convinced she had a shot, she fired. The shot echoed loudly through the valley and Decker heard the target cry out and fall down. She dropped to the ground to stay out of sight. She lifted the binoculars and focused on the valley ahead.

  She couldn’t believe it. The target was still moving. He was limping heavily and clutching his leg, but he was still alive, and still moving. That man had more lives than a cat.

  She raced to get back into a firing position, but before she could fire again, a voice could be heard behind her. Her Spanish was not perfect but it was enough for her to know it was a civilian coming to check on the noise.

  She swore to herself. She couldn’t risk sticking around, as the local police might turn up at any moment. She had strict orders not to get caught.

  With a look of both anger and embarrassment on her face, she turned and ran in the opposite direction, melting into the darkness.

  * * *

  To be continued in “The Reichsbank Gold”, due out October 31st 2017.

  Acknowledgments

  Being my first fiction book, even if it is only a short free novella to make a name for myself, meant that I was seriously freaking out about how it would be received by the readers. Anyone who says that writing a novel is easy is lying through their teeth. The fact that I am not a raging alcoholic by now can be credited to my wonderful team who helped me throughout the whole process.

  First, a huge thanks to my massively talented graphic designer Christina Paraskevopoulou. Your fantastic artwork has made the book cover shine, and you helped me figure out how Sophie should look. I wanted my girl to "look bitchy" and you gave me a bitchy looking woman on the cover! Thank you! Once I had a picture of Sophie in my mind, the story came more easily.

  Then there are my advance readers team. These are the fine individuals, my closest and dearest friends, who gave up some of their free time to read the first draft. They pointed out all of the plot inconsistencies (of which there were many in the first draft), plot change suggestions, ludicrous story twists, and much more.

  The book is now much better as a result and I am very grateful to them all. I am normally not very good at listening to criticism, but their assistance has very definitely made the book a million times better.

  These fine individuals are Monika O’Neill (my wife), Kari Breed, Helen Varras, Mary Hill, Leni De Jong, Bonnie Lawson, Jean Hale Lawson, Don Lawson, Lori Kaufmann, Mirko Schieder, Nikki Nicholas Mohamed, Michelle Lipson Barrineau, and Thomas Zitzmann.

  Finally a big thank you to author Mark Dawson and his wonderful online SPF community. The SPF community are also independently-published authors, and the amount of support and help I have received from them has been phenomenal.

  Sophie Decker will return in October 2017 in “The Reichsbank Gold”.

  Mark O’Neill

  August 2017

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  About the Author

  Mark O'Neill is a Scotsman, now living in Würzburg, Germany. Since 2004, he has been a technology journalist and an English teacher.

  When he is not writing, Mark likes to read, collect books, scour the Internet for story ideas, and discuss politics. But all of that is secondary to spending time with his wife and dog whom he adores.

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