The Terminate Code: A gripping, page-turning, action adventure revenge thriller, with a fast pace, and a terrifying twist in its tail ! (Hedge & Cole Book 2)

by Kevin Bradley

  ‘But, Cole ....,’ she had started to say.

  Then he was gone.

  Chapter Eight

  At around the same time as Cole was running out of Downing Street, some ten miles away ‘as the crow flies’, Hedge was about to have some breakfast.

  He was having a very bad morning. In fact, it had been a bad night as well. His girlfriend, Tania, had invited him to stay over after they had been out for dinner the previous evening. The meal had gone well, and Hedge thought his luck was in.

  As it happened, his luck wasn’t in.

  When he had got back to Tania’s home, her dad eyed him rather suspiciously, before showing him to the spare room.

  As he lay awake, alone in the strange bed, his mind had wandered back to the day he had first met the lovely Tania.

  It was in a night club, not far from where he lived. He didn't often go out drinking, but one of his best friends was celebrating his birthday, and Hedge had agreed to go along. The night out had been fun, and most of the revellers, including Hedge, had drunk too much.

  Towards the end of the evening, he had literally bumped into an attractive looking girl who had been standing near the bar. He apologised for spilling his drink down the front of her top, but she had seen the funny side of the incident, and within a few minutes they were both deep in conversation.

  She had offered him a lift home, as she felt that he would be incapable of finding his own way, given how much alcohol he had drunk.

  She pulled her car up outside the front of the night club and he jumped in beside her. Then they had set off towards his house. They had only travelled about half a mile, when a shaven-headed guy in a BMW sports car overtook them on a narrow road, and immediately pulled in front of them. Tania braked hard in an attempt to avoid him, but the front bumper of her car clipped the back of his. The BMW screeched to a halt, forcing Tania to swerve her car off the road. The driver of the BMW leapt out of his car, and came striding towards Tania’s car. He was shouting obscenities and waving his arms. Hedge thought he looked drunk. Either that or he was under the influence of drugs. Whatever it was, he appeared angry and dangerous.

  As he approached Tania’s car, he suddenly lashed out with his right leg and sent his booted foot crashing through one of the front headlights.

  Tania immediately jumped out of her vehicle.

  ‘What the hell are you doing? You can't do that to my car. You were driving like a lunatic,’ she shouted.

  ‘You crazy bitch,’ the shaven-headed man screamed back at her.

  He looked angry. His eyes were blazing, and his face was screwed up in a menacing glare.

  Hedge was torn. He wasn’t naturally someone who got himself drawn into potentially dangerous situations. But, the man seemed nasty, and Tania looked quite vulnerable. Also, the alcohol he had consumed seemed to have made him feel a whole lot more confident.

  Hedge fumbled with the door handle on his side of the car, and eventually managed to get out. He shouted across to Tania telling her to get back in the vehicle.

  Just at that moment, the BWM driver reached his right hand in to the inside pocket of his jacket. Hedge's mouth dropped open. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. The guy had pulled out a long knife. The blade shone as the moonlight bounced off it. The handle looked like it was made of black plastic. The dangerous end appeared to be a bright metal, probably steel. It was thin, like a stiletto knife, with a sharp point at the end.

  Everything that happened next seemed to be in slow motion. In reality though, it all occurred in a fraction of a second.

  The guy drew his hand back and thrust the knife directly at Tania’s chest. She screamed, and at the same time tried to turn her body away from the deadly attack. Hedge leaped across the front of her car, reaching out his hand to try and make a grab for the knife.

  The ambulance had arrived within ten minutes. A quick witted passerby had called the emergency services as soon as he had seen what was about to happen.

  Another twenty minutes later and a specialist surgeon at the nearby hospital was busy trying to remove the knife, and sew up the wound.

  Tania was crying. She couldn't stop looking at all the blood smearing her hands, and staining her trousers. Her face was creased up, and her makeup was a mess. She looked like she had been through a war zone. She was still in a state of shock, unable to comprehend what had just happened to her.

  She wiped her eyes and told herself to be strong.

  Then she pressed her face to the window of the operating theatre once more, and tried to see what was going on inside.

  She caught a glimpse of the stiletto knife again, just as the surgeon was slowly pulling it out of Hedge's hand.

  What a brave guy he was, saving her from serious injury.

  Then she started crying again.

  A few days later Hedge had asked her out on a date. It was impossible for her to refuse. The memory of the recent drive home was still fresh in her mind. He had been so fearless. Anyway, she quite liked this strange young man. He was so bold, but at the same time he always appeared nervous and timid.

  She had agreed to go out with him again. They had been seeing each other regularly ever since.

  So it was that he now sat at the kitchen table in his girlfriend’s house. He felt very little disappointed. He had really hoped that last night would be the first time with Tania. But it wasn’t. Next time, he thought to himself, hopefully.

  Tania’s dad had already left for work. Hedge thought he had heard him moving about the house just after six o’clock that morning, followed by the noise of a car pulling out of the driveway shortly afterwards.

  Tania was sitting opposite him at the table. She looked gorgeous this morning, which made his frustration feel all the worse. She had a pale, soft complexion, with large blue eyes, and brown hair that fell past her shoulders. He imagined that Queen Boadicea, the ancient leader of the British Iceni tribe, may well have looked very similar.

  Tania’s step-mother, Roz, was busy frying the breakfast. The kitchen smelt of salted bacon and slightly burnt toast, but Hedge was hungry, so he would eat whatever he was offered.

  Tania’s father had remarried after his first wife had died almost five years ago. Hedge had felt sorry for Tania when she had talked about losing her mother. It had brought them closer together. It was a feeling he knew well.

  The telephone handset in the hallway started ringing loudly.

  ‘Get that would you, sweetie,’ shouted Roz, trying to make herself heard above the sizzling noise coming from the frying pan.

  Tania jumped up and darted into the hall. The ringing stopped and they heard her voice, shrieking with excitement.

  ‘Oh, my god, no way. How did it happen? Did he get down on one knee? When is it going to be?’

  ‘Who is it,’ Roz shouted.

  Tania cupped the end of the phone with her hand. ‘It’s my friend Sarah. She’s getting married at last. I’m just getting all the details. Carry on eating without me, I may be a while.’

  With that, she pulled the kitchen door closed and started talking into the phone again. As she did so, she ran upstairs to her room to continue the conversation in private.

  Roz had finished frying, and so walked over to where Hedge sat and scooped two eggs and some bacon onto his plate. He started eating immediately. It tasted good. He grabbed some toast and started buttering it. Roz was watching him closely, still standing next to where he sat. She wore a long, red, dressing gown, tied at the waist with a thick cord.

  ‘You look like you’re hungry,’ she said.

  As she spoke, she moved round behind him and placed her hands gently on his shoulders.

  ‘You feel tense. You need to relax. It must have been disappointing sleeping on your own last night?’

  ‘No, it was fine really.’ He didn’t know how else to respond. It wasn’t as if he knew Roz particularly well. Her question seemed to be a little too personal.

  ‘Not what you were expecting though, was it?
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  Hedge stopped eating, but still held on to his fork. He was enjoying the gentle caressing of his shoulders, but he didn’t know what to say next. So he said nothing. He could feel the tension rising in his body. He wasn’t sure why. He placed the fork on the table next to his knife, and made sure they were lined up neatly together, just next to his plate. That seemed to ease his anxiety somehow.

  Roz carried on talking. ‘Next time you come round, I’ll make sure me and Tania’s dad go out somewhere. Then you two lovers can be alone. Would you like that?’

  ‘I guess so,’ Hedge said nervously.

  ‘Of course you would.’ She leaned down closer to him and whispered in his ear. ‘Tania must have been really disappointed this morning. I think she was hoping that you would be fucking her for most of last night.’

  Hedge coughed, and reached for his glass of water. He took a gulp and tried to compose himself. Roz was still massaging his shoulders. He was feeling very nervous.

  Tania’s stepmother bent down again and bit his earlobe softly. Then, she took hold of his hand. She turned it over so that his palm faced upwards, and she touched the scar that ran across it.

  ‘You are a brave boy,’ she said.

  She kept hold of his hand for a little longer, and then she slowly pushed it inside the fold of her dressing gown, and placed his fingers against the soft area between her thighs. She parted her legs a little more, pushed his hand up a bit further, and leaned over to whisper in his ear again.

  ‘Push your fingers inside me.’

  Hedge tried to pull his hand away, but she held him tight.

  ‘What are you doing?’ There was surprise in his voice. ‘Tania is just outside the door.’

  ‘She’s gone upstairs. Don’t worry.’

  ‘But she’s my girlfriend, you’re her mum,’ he exclaimed.

  ‘Step-mother,’ she corrected. She leaned close to his ear again. ‘Now be quiet, and do as I say. Feel inside me, now.’

  Hedge was torn. On the one hand, this was quite exciting, especially as he had been dreaming all night about making love to Tania. But, on the other hand, it was so wrong. He really liked Tania, and didn’t want to upset her in any way.

  Roz noticed his reluctance. ‘Do you want me to call out, and then say that you were molesting me? Don’t make me do that. Just do as I say.’

  Hedge realised that he was in an impossible position. Reluctantly, he gave in. She was very wet between her legs and he moved his fingers around easily. He pushed two of them inside her. She groaned, and grabbed his shoulder more tightly. He started rubbing his thumb against her sensitive part, and she took a sharp intake of breath.

  ‘Yes that’s very good. Keep doing that.’

  She pulled open the top of her dressing gown to reveal her breasts, and leaning closer, offered one of them to him. It was soft and pale, and the dark pink nipple stood proud.

  ‘Suck please, hard.’

  Hedge covered the nipple with his mouth and ran his tongue across it. Then he bit it lightly, before starting to suck on it. He could sense his initial reluctance was waning.

  ‘Harder,’ she whispered.

  He increased the pressure. His hand was still between her legs, rubbing her clitoris and probing inside her. Then, without warning, she dug her finger nails into his shoulder, as she let out a long groan.

  ‘Yes, yes, keep doing that,’ she gasped.

  She was pushing hard against his hand now, and her groaning was becoming quite noisy. Her fingernails were hurting as they cut into his skin. Her legs buckled a little and she had to steady herself on the table. Then, finally, she thrust hard against his hand, screamed briefly, and her whole body seemed to tense and shudder.

  ‘Bloody hell, yes, that was nice.’ She kissed him briefly on the cheek and quickly moved away.

  They heard Tania’s bedroom door opening.

  ‘Is everything all right down there? I’ll be back in a minute. We’re just going over the list of possible bridesmaids. Nearly done.’

  The bedroom door closed again.

  Hedge was feeling slightly stressed out. This was all too much for him. He pushed his plate away, and rose from his chair. He tidied the table as best he could, moving the salt and pepper pots back to the centre, and replacing the lid on the brown sauce. He would like to have organised things some more, but he needed to go.

  ‘Thanks for the breakfast,’ he muttered. ‘Tell Tania that I had to get off to work. I’ll catch up with her soon.’

  ‘Ok, will do. Hopefully see you again soon,’ said Roz. She smiled softly and blew him a kiss.

  He turned away, as his face blushed bright red, and he quickly headed for the front door.

  Chapter Nine

  Hedge was deep in thought as he made his way to work that morning. It had been two weeks since he had slept over at his girlfriend’s house. His luck still wasn’t ‘in’. No further opportunities to be amorous with the lovely Tania had arisen. He was disappointed about that, but also slightly relieved, as he was dreading the thought of bumping into her stepmother again.

  But, he was seeing Tania tonight. So, he was hopeful. He just needed to get through his busy day as uneventfully as possible.

  He worked in a small office on the outskirts of London, not far from where he lived. The business he worked for offered financial advice to wealthy individuals, and he was one of their most successful employees. He was hoping he may be offered a partnership in the near future.

  He was thinking about his life, as he often did. He hadn’t always lived in London. In fact, he was born in the United States. His family came from near Houston, in Texas, so he was officially an American citizen. His father had been in the US Air Force, and the family had moved to England when he was just eight years old. His dad had been deployed to the 48th Fighter Wing (also known as the Statue of Liberty Wing), which was permanently based at Lakenheath in Suffolk, a very pleasant part of England.

  Tragically, just after Hedge had celebrated his tenth birthday, both his parents had been killed in a car crash near the base. He remembered the day it happened as if it were only yesterday.

  At the time he had no brothers or sisters, so he had felt quite alone in the world. His uncle Larry had taken charge of the funeral and other formalities, and Hedge had then gone to live with him and his family in London. They had two of their own children, a boy and a girl, and they had all been happy to welcome him into their home. His uncle was employed in a senior position with a large bank, and Hedge had found his work at the bank of great interest.

  Despite the trauma of losing his parents, he thought he had done reasonably well for himself. His Uncle had paid for him to go to a good English boarding school, and following that he had attended Cambridge University. He wasn’t what might be described as a top student, but he had worked hard, and had done just enough to scrape his place at one of England’s finest places of learning. The main focus of his study had been in the area of Economics, and after three years of hard work he had achieved a BA Honours degree.

  He had enjoyed his time in Cambridge, but he had been keen to get out into the wider world and start his career. With a little help from his uncle Larry, he had secured a position in a small investment bank in London. He had lost that job though, after spending a short time in prison. He had been found guilty of ‘insider trading’, although he hadn’t intentionally set out to do anything wrong.

  Hedge kept himself in good shape due to regular visits to a local gym. He was a fraction under six feet tall, with dark hair, and, as he was often told, he had a very pale complexion.

  Although everyone called him Hedge, that wasn’t actually his real name. His passport stated him as Tom Millar. The only person who still called him Tom though, was his aunt. To everyone else he was simply known as Hedge. The reason for this was that for as long as anyone could remember, he had been fascinated with money and finance. Even as a young boy he would keep a record of his pocket money – how much he received and how he spent it. When he was
at junior school in Houston, he had regularly followed the share price movements on the New York stock exchange. He read financial magazines and books, and he had been a daily reader of the Financial Times ever since he had moved into his uncle’s house in London.

  When he was just seven years old, before the family had moved to England, his father had asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up. To everyone’s amazement he had announced that he would like to be a ‘Hedge Fund Manager’. He wasn’t actually sure what one of those was at the time, but he knew it was an important financial job, and anyway, he quite liked the sound of it.

  So the name had stuck, and from then on everyone had called him Hedge. Most people who knew him now would probably not even be aware of his real name.

  His thoughts came back to the present as he parked outside his office. He was getting out of the car, when his cell phone rang. He looked at the display. ‘Number unknown’. He was tempted to ignore it, but something made him change his mind.

  ‘Hello,’ he answered cautiously.

  ‘Hi, Hedge. How are you?’

  Hedge recognised the voice instantly. His mouth dropped open, and he stopped walking. His breathing had suddenly become fast and shallow, and beads of sweat had appeared on his forehead. He didn’t know what to say. There was panic in his face and his knuckles gripping the phone had turned white

  ‘Oh, my god, not you,’ was all he managed to blurt down the phone line.

  Chapter Ten

  ‘Hello. Are you still there?’

  ‘Yes, I’m still here.’ Hedge had managed to recover some of his composure. ‘Why are you ringing me Cole? The last time we met ended up being the worst time of my life.’

  ‘Surely not,’ replied Cole. ‘I thought you were enjoying yourself. What about all that travel and adventure?’

  ‘Adventure,’ shouted Hedge, ‘I ended up murdering a young woman. Don’t you remember? Also, two of your friends died, quite horribly, and I was lucky not to be killed as well. What do you want?’