The Newsmaker (Volume One Book 1)

by Tom Field

  “Can you take them out alone?” Ward asked.

  “Of course,” Lawson replied.

  “OK. You take the internal door and we will come in through the back. If anyone comes through your door you shoot, OK?”

  “OK. I’ll give you exactly two minutes to get into position,” Lawson said, “And then I will deal with my two,” he added before hanging up the phone.

  “Let’s go,” Ward said to McDermott as he screwed the silencer onto his Glock.

  They stepped out of the car and walked towards the stairwell. As they reached the top, one of the two guys standing outside the door looked at Ward and said,

  “You can’t go in there Sir, there is a sewage leak, and with the escape of gasses, there is the potential for an explosion.”

  “I’ll be two minutes,” he said, “I have some papers down there in storage and I need them urgently for work.”

  “I’m sorry sir, City rules. Tell me where they are and give me your number and I will call you if I can get to them,” the guy said.

  “OK. Fair enough,” Ward replied.

  He moved his right hand behind his back as if he was removing his wallet from his back pocket to get out a business card, but instead wrapped his hand around his Glock, and in one continuous, sweeping motion, he swung his arm around and shot the guy two times in the head. His head exploded and blood, bone and matter sprayed his smoking colleague, and his white overalls became red in an instant. He went to reach into his pocket,

  “Stop!” he shouted, and the guy froze, “If you move your hand one inch more you will be dead in one second,” he added, as he started to descend the stairs with McDermott stepping down with him but facing backwards, monitoring the rear. The guy stood still but Ward noticed that he didn’t look afraid.

  His eyes weren’t afraid.

  “I know why you aren’t afraid,” Ward said, “So no matter what you think your friends inside can do, that isn’t going to help you now because they don’t know we are coming.”

  The guy smiled.

  He knows something, Ward thought to himself.

  Then he looked above his head to the right and knew why the guy wasn’t afraid. There was a CCTV camera, clearly very recently fitted, facing straight onto him. So much for Lawson’s reconnaissance skills.

  “If you want to live, tell me how many guys are in there?”

  “You can’t shoot me with witnesses,” the guy said.

  “How many guys?” he repeated.

  He said something in Arabic that made no sense, and started to move his hand, so Ward shot him twice in the chest. He dropped to the floor like the complete dead weight he now was. They moved to the bottom of the stairs and McDermott had to pull the guy out of the way so that they could open the door.

  “So much for not needing the team,” McDermott said, “Should I call them now?”

  “No time; the guy in the hood probably has a minute left to live, we have to move now.”

  They slowly pulled the door half open. Inside it was poorly lit, and there was a hallway that had all manner of pipes and cables fixed to the walls running alongside.

  They stepped in.

  Ward facing forward, McDermott facing the rear.

  They moved slowly along the hallway. It seemed to go in a straight line the whole length of the building, and there were no doors or other hallways that led off of it. Eventually, after walking almost the entire length of the building, they came to a set of stairs that led down to another level, and into another hallway that took them back the way they had come. This hallway was as dimly lit as the one they had just walked along. When they reached the end of the hallway, they came to a large square open room which was at least seventy feet square, with rows of racking set up, and divided into bays. All had number plates fitted to the front which indicated apartment numbers Ward concluded. They had a variety of objects placed on them which ranged from sets of dumbbells, to cardboard boxes. He even saw a giant teddy bear which stood at least three feet high and was wearing a jumper which was emblazoned with the words, ‘Augusta 2nd’. There were four doors in the centre of the four walls that made up the room.

  “Take your pick time,” McDermott said.

  Ward stood still and thought for a second.

  If they came in through the back door, they would have gone to the nearest door which was the one slightly behind him to the right. They wouldn’t have risked dragging the hooded guy through the front of the building, too many residents and passers-by, so he had to be in there.

  He took out his phone and called Lawson,

  “Status?”

  “Mine are down,” Lawson replied, “You?”

  “Down too but they have CCTV cameras so whoever is guarding him in here knows we are here.”

  “Shall I come in?” Lawson asked.

  “Yes. We are in an open plan storage area two floors down, come and join us,” he replied and hung up the phone.

  McDermott looked at Ward,

  “This doesn’t feel right. If they knew we were coming because of the CCTV, why didn’t they jump us on the way in?” he whispered.

  Ward thought about this and immediately knew the answer.

  “Because there is no one else here,” he said in a loud voice. Lawson appeared a moment later,

  “Where is he?” he whispered.

  “No need to whisper Mike.”

  “The guy with the hood isn’t here?” McDermott said to Ward.

  “Yes. He’s here,” he replied, “Try that door first.”

  “How do you know there are no more guys here?” McDermott asked.

  “Because the CCTV cameras weren’t for the guys in here, they were for the person who has him held here; probably another angle on the live feed.”

  McDermott opened the door that Ward had directed him to and the open area filled with light, “He’s here,” McDermott said.

  Ward and Lawson walked over to the door and looked in.

  On a steel chair sat the guy, his arms and ankles tied tight with cable ties, and a hood fitted over his head.

  McDermott and Lawson raised their guns and then watched Ward tuck his back into the back of his waistband,

  “You won’t need them,” he said to them both.

  “Better to be safe than sorry,” Lawson said.

  “I don’t think this person will hurt you.”

  He stepped up to the guy and put a hand on his right shoulder. The guy’s head shot up and he went rigid with fear.

  “It’s OK,” Ward said, “I’m a friend of your dad’s. He has sent me to get you. You are safe now,” he added, and then he slowly lifted the hood off of the guy’s head.

  As he moved it, Lawson and McDermott saw the face of a fifteen year old boy appear. His eyes were red where he had been crying so much, and his nose was running.

  Joseph Walker, Martin Walker’s fifteen year old son, looked into Ryan Ward’s eyes and saw safety, someone who would comfort him and someone who would protect him. He then promptly burst into tears and sobbed loud and hard, like the child that he was, would be entitled to.

  McDermott leant down and carefully cut the cable ties holding Joseph Walker to the chair. When they had all been cut off he stood up, a little uneasy on his feet, and he opened his arms and wrapped them around Ward and sobbed a little harder.

  Ward wrapped his arms around the boy and held him tight.

  “We are going to take you back to a safe place where our people will protect you,” he said.

  “What about my dad, what have they done to him?” Joseph asked, fear ringing through his voice.

  “He’s fine, I spoke to him this morning,” Ward replied.

  He pulled away and looked at Ward with his big blue, tear-filled eyes.

  “Have they hurt him?” he asked.

  “No,” he replied, “They have just tried setting him up for mass murder and terrorist offences.”

  Ward put his arm around the young boy’s shoulder and slowly led him out of the room; Jose
ph winced when he stepped over the bodies of the two guys dead on the floor, before climbing up the stairs and back into the sunlight.

  Ward stopped in front of the CCTV camera on the outside of the building and still with his left arm supporting Joseph Walker, protecting him, making him feel safe, looked straight into the camera, raised his right hand and made a cutting motion across his throat. Then he turned and walked away, out of site of the camera.

  The watching Aidan Lucas slammed down the lid on the laptop in front of him.

  They got into the car and McDermott tossed a bottle of energy drink to Joseph and said,

  “Drink that, it will stop you becoming dehydrated.”

  “Ring Nicole-Louise and tell her what’s happened,” Ward said to Lawson.

  Ward took out his phone and dialled Centrepoint.

  “About time.”

  “I need a clean-up crew on East 70th Street.”

  “I know, The Optician has already told me.”

  Ward hung up the phone.

  “Let’s get back to Nicole-Louise’s,” he said to McDermott, “Then I need to see his dad.”

  They drove without speaking; the silence only occasionally broken by Joseph Walker’s whimpering; although Ward knew that the whimpers were now of relief rather than fear.

  They arrived back at Nicole-Louise and Tackler’s and as soon as the door was opened, she put her arms around Joseph and took him through to the bedroom. It was the first time that Ward had ever seen the strong and always in control Nicole-Louise act in a gentle way.

  “Did you find out the schedules?” he asked Tackler.

  ”There were no schedules,” Tackler replied.

  “Nothing at all?”

  “For everything but the two reports you asked for,” he replied.

  Ward smiled to himself and nodded.

  “I need to go to USBC News now. Lawson, you can come with me,” he said.

  He looked at McDermott,

  “Can you get the team on standby to go at a moment’s notice?”

  “They already are,” McDermott replied.

  “I think you need to move them closer to us,” he said, “Have you got room for six more guys for a few hours?” he asked Tackler.

  “Of course we have,” he replied, turning his nose up at Lawson in the process.

  “Let’s go,” he said to Lawson.

  They both walked out of the apartment and headed down to where Lawson’s car was parked.

  Ward took out his phone and called Centrepoint.

  “I find it increasingly irritating when you hang up on me,” Centrepoint said as he answered, “So explain to me what exactly is happening.”

  “We have a problem that you are going to have to somehow put right when I’ve dealt with it.”

  “What is it?”

  “I can stop this bomb, in fact, I will stop this bomb from going off, so I need you to use all of your influence with all your powerful friends to accommodate my actions,” Ward said.

  “What are you going to do?” The Old Man asked; concern in his voice.

  “I’m going to beat a knight of the realm until he tells me where the next bomb is going to go off. Then, I am going to kill him,” Ward replied.

  “Hold on, you can’t………..” Ward hung up the phone.

  THIRTY THREE

  “You seriously think that Ashurst-Stevens is behind this?” Lawson asked, “That’s a bit way out there!”

  “I know,” Ward replied, “The one piece I can’t figure out is why?”

  “I mean, seriously, the guy must be a billionaire, and he is a Knight for God’s sake, there would be nothing to gain from this for him,” Lawson added.

  “Charlie Dunno told me in London why, I just can’t see it yet.”

  “Can you explain how you knew right from the beginning that they were behind it?”

  Ward’s phone vibrated, it was Eloisa.

  “Hello?” he answered.

  “Hey. How are you? Keeping us safe?” she softly asked.

  “Yes we are.”

  “I know you are busy but I have something that we want you to look into,” she said, “But I can wait until you have time to talk to me,” she added.

  Ward found her voice so soothing. He felt a calm wash completely over him, and whenever he heard her voice, he missed her so much more. He would happily listen to her talking about the ingredients required to make the perfect omelette.

  “It’s fine, I have ten minutes,” he said, “Give me an overview, I could do with the distraction.”

  “There is a guy in Ireland. A gypsy leader who is getting girls sent over to Ireland from desolate countries, with the promise of a better life. He has a contact in both countries who takes money from the parents and he transports them for him,” she said.

  “Why can’t the locals deal with it?” Ward asked.

  “This is massive Ryan. He is moving them from all over Europe after he has primed them and he has a high number of local and international police in his pocket,” she continued.

  “His name?”

  “Michael O’Leary.”

  “Put everything together as usual, all the information, and as soon as this is done we will deal with it.”

  “OK.”

  “Eloisa?”

  “Yes?”

  “I miss you, so tomorrow night how about we order takeout and sit in and watch some old movies?”

  “I am smiling so much right now,” she said excitedly, “I can’t wait! Keep safe and ring me when you have saved New York.”

  “I will”

  “Promise?” she asked.

  “Promise,” he replied. The line went dead.

  Lawson looked at Ward and was going to ask about Eloisa and then decided against it.

  They arrived at the offices of USBC News and parked right outside.

  They walked into the reception area, the pretty young receptionist was still there and the old security guard had reappeared.

  Ward walked straight past without acknowledging them and called the elevator.

  “Have you got an appointment?” the girl shouted across the reception area to Ward,

  “Yes, he told me to come straight up.”

  She smiled at him and he noticed she didn’t pick up the phone to call through and check.

  The elevator doors opened and they stepped in.

  “Remember you work for MI6, Mike, so leave this to me. They can’t touch you if you are just watching, you are on American soil, and The Old Man will keep you protected, providing you do nothing but observe,” he said.

  “I’ll try my best.”

  The elevator doors opened and they stepped out.

  As they walked along the glass panel walled corridor towards the boardroom, Aidan Lucas came out and closed the door. He stood there with his arms by his side.

  “Can I help you gentlemen?” he asked as they got to within six feet of him. Neither of them said anything.

  “You’d better stop right there,” he said, adjusting his weight on his feet and slightly turning his body. Ward kept moving forward.

  “I mean it……..”

  When Ward got two feet away he launched a lightning fast jab with his right hand that caught Lucas full in the throat, and by the time his hands had come up in self-defence, he was jabbing him in his bulging eyes with the fingertips of his left hand. He crumpled to the floor.

  He bent down over him, yanked his head up by his hair so he was looking in his eyes and said,

  “Don’t play at being a Seal Lucas, you are not worthy of even saying the name.”

  He pushed him to one side and opened the door.

  The people inside were in exactly the same seating positions that they had been the previous two times that he had entered the room.

  Walker looked startled sitting alone on the left hand side of the table, Ashurst-Stevens sat at the head, retaining his calm, and the three lawyers sat at the left of the table looking at Ward with contempt.

  “Yo
u three, out,” he said to the three lawyers.

  “I beg your pardon?” the one nearest Ashurst-Stevens said.

  “Out now or I will throw you out!”

  “You are very much out of your depth here,” the lawyer said.

  Ward walked around the table, and when he got level with him, he unleashed a half strength right hook full into the old guys face. He felt his nose break as his knuckles connected with his bone.

  The other two jumped.

  “You are in so much trouble!” the lawyer furthest away from Ashurst-Stevens shouted.

  Ward then took three steps back, and with the back of his hand, slapped the guy hard in his face and knocked him off of his chair.

  “The only people in so much trouble are you,” he said to the table, as opposed to one individual.

  “You think that I will follow protocol and keep in line with your absurd laws, and not step outside of the parameters that you as lawyers have decided are acceptable, until it suits you for them not to be?” Ward asked.

  “What do you want?” Ashurst-Stevens demanded.

  “Your old lawyers can’t help you,” he said to him. “This is my playground, my rules and I’m untouchable because I don’t exist, so you will tell me all I need to know now, or I will kill you,” he said calmly to Ashurst-Stevens, who by now, kept looking at the door waiting for Lucas to appear.

  “He won’t come, he’s crying like a girl on the floor,” Ward said, “You are so far out of your depth in my playground you fool. Who would employ an idiot like him and think he could protect them?” he asked, maintaining his calm manner.

  “Tell your three stooges to leave. If they stay, after I have killed them, I will kill their families and everyone who has lived on the proceeds of their immoral, pathetic existences.”

  “Leave, now. All of you,” Ashurst-Stevens shouted.

  Walker stood up to leave.

  “You can sit down Mr Walker,” Ward said.

  The three lawyers left the room without turning back once. Lawson accompanied them outside.

  “We are going to have a talk,” Ward said “But first things first,” he added and then paused.

  He looked at Walker, who looked terrified.

  “Mr Walker, I have your son. He is safe and being well looked after, so the threat against you has now gone. No harm will come to him at all. I promise. He has a whole team of the best killers on the planet protecting him right now, so you need to help me out, OK?”