by G I Tulloch
Some Irish explicatives spewed out of Reilly's mouth, not that Adam was familiar with the language but some things you just couldn't miss.
"Your friend with the rifle," said Adam, "he's making his excuses to St. Peter even as we speak."
There was the merest flicker in Reilly's eyes before he fell back on his original plan.
"Lennox, you have a count of five to drop the gun or I blow your friend's head off."
Adam indulged himself a smile. "At which point I blow your head off and your friend blows my head off. A bit of a lose/lose situation n'est-ce pas."
Reilly wasn't impressed with the reasoning or couldn't calculate the odds. One way or another he started to count, and Adam lifted himself onto the balls of his feet.
Reilly got past two but didn't make it to three before all hell broke loose.
On the stroke of two Adam took a dive to his left, keeping Reilly's head on target but before he could squeeze the trigger a shot rang out of the darkness and the henchman dropped like a stone, or a boulder at least. Reilly reacted fast, dropping Gerry and bringing his gun to bear on the new threat, but before his gun was level three more 'cracks' boomed out into the night and he went down backwards, pole-axed with three shots in the chest.
With reactions unbecoming a publicity agent, Adam was at Reilly's side before the echoes died.
Blood was flowing fairly freely from the wounds in stomach and chest. Adam turned Reilly's face to meet his eyes.
"Where is Bel? What have you done with Bel?" he demanded.
Reilly's eyes were having trouble focussing and breath was slipping away from him.
He opened his mouth but Adam had to lean down to hear him. "That's not fair. You didn't say you had help," he murmured. "Fran, we didn't kill Fran." He coughed up some blood, and seemed to gather some strength as a result. "Fran, we didn't kill Fran," he repeated. He met Adam's eyes for a final time and muttered, "Didn't kill Fran." His voice almost pleaded but the effort had been too much. His eyes glazed.
Adam shook him. "Where is Bel?" he shouted.
Reilly appeared to lose consciousness. Adam desperately picked him up and Reilly coughed up some more blood. A weak crooked smile played on his lips and he muttered in no more than a whisper. "The sluice. She's in the sluice, unless the sea has her already."
Reilly's body relaxed and then shuddered before going limp and his eyes rolled into his head.
Adam dropped him. He became aware of Gerry's voice for the first time.
"Don't worry, don't mind me, I'll be fine," came the caustic remark. "Do you think we better scarper before someone starts taking pot shots at us as well."
His emphasis on the word 'us' brought Adam back as he realised they didn't know who had done the shooting. He snipped Gerry's bonds with his knife and they moved out of the light and into the shadows.
The sluice was no more than three hundred yards away downhill and yet it seemed an eternity to Adam before they reached the walled surround. He climbed up and sat astride the wall using his flash-light to play over the sluice itself.
Confident expectation turned to ice. The sluice was empty, save for water rushing through to the sea as the water level was lowered inside the nature reserve. Adam was speechless as turmoil consumed his brain. He continued to search the utmost corners of the sluice in desperation, calling out Bel's name, and almost missed the sight of her jacket caught on a nail protruding from the wall. Far from being an encouragement it seemed to be the seal on her fate, whether she had been alive or dead when the gates had opened there was no hope for her now.
He had lost. He had lost Bel, others had died and for what? It all seemed pointless now. Weariness overtook him and he slumped forward on top of the wall. It was only because of the fact that he was leaning on his phone that he realised it was vibrating. Somehow anything now seemed pointless to him but sheer habit made him pick it out of his pocket and read the text message on the screen. He frowned for a few seconds before lifting his eyes to the horizon and jumping off the wall. He scrambled over to Gerry who was still trying to get his breath back.
"Gerry I know where she is." He waited until Gerry showed some signs of having heard him. "I know where she is. Go back to the chapel. Wait for the police."
"What if they don't show?" demanded Gerry.
Already Adam was moving fast away from him but called over his shoulder. "They will, believe me they will."
At first glance the cottage appeared in total darkness but on closer inspection a low light was burning in a downstairs room. He approached from the rear where the heathland wilderness gave easy cover right up to the garden gate. The cloud cover was still there and the distant thunder was edging closer. Adam was now upbeat. He was on his own patch, he knew every inch of his own cottage in the pitch dark. Again the adrenaline flowed but this time it was nurtured, controlled, harnessed.
He gained the garden without making any discernible sound and moved quickly towards the wall of the house, making for the kitchen garden door and deep shadow. His hate of squeaking doors gave him confidence of a quiet entry but he stopped when he found the door lying very slightly ajar.
Adam didn't like open doors. Criminals who were in defence mode locked the doors. Open doors were bad news. Like all crime dramas where the detective/policeman finds a house with the front door slightly ajar you could be sure he's going to find a corpse in the lounge or bathroom in the middle of a bloodstain. Adam didn't like to think about the possibilities. In the woods across the road two howls hooted to each other.
Sixth sense and house-to-house combat training told him to drop to all fours and keep low against the walls. If people are expecting you then they're expecting you at normal height.
The kitchen was devoid of human presence and everything was where it should have been. The kitchen table was clear. From here he could see now that the low-level light was coming from the lounge on the other side of the dining room. He crept around the doorway into the dining room and stopped, scanning the shadows for anything out of place. Still no sign of life. He moved across quickly to the door frame of the doorway into the lounge. Now light was becoming an issue. He would be visible as soon as he put his head around the door. Dropping to ground level he risked a glance through the doorway.
Bel's body hung from the main beam across the ceiling, her head slumped forward on her chest. Her clothes had been systematically shredded and across the semi-naked torso were dozens of congealed bloodstains from dozens of cuts to the skin.
Chapter 43
In hindsight it was a dumb move but he wasn't thinking too clearly as he flicked the switch on the main light. The room was flooded with a sharp bright light and Bel's head snapped up in response. Adam froze briefly in disbelief before running over to her and pulling out a knife to cut her down. Her eyes were still closed and her voice came at no more that a loud whisper.
"Don't look, for God's sake don't look." She was having difficulty breathing with her arms tied above her head supporting her weight. She took another deep breath. "Get out you fool, she's still in the house somewhere."
Adam focussed on her unsighted eyes and comprehension came at the same time as he heard the words from the open doorway.
"She sure as hell is."
Anna stood in the doorway, an automatic cradled in two hands, not as a result of watching too much television but all down to CIA training. She watched Adam carefully, unworried by Bel still strung from the ceiling. Slowly she moved out of the doorway and into a position she was happy with, the gun unwavering from its target.
Likewise Adam locked his gaze on hers.
He nodded in Bel's direction. "Let me cut her down, she poses no threat."
Anna frowned, considered it for a moment and then shook her head. "No, I like things just the way they are."
As if he hadn't heard her Adam took out his knife and went to cut Bel's wrists down.
Anna's gun boomed once, the noise in the confined area making them all jump. The table lamp exploded an
d disappeared from the table.
"I said no!" shouted Anna. "Move away from her now or she gets the next one."
Adam moved away and backed against the wall, moving slowly and deliberately, gaze still locked with Anna's.
"Now throw the knife into the corner over there," she ordered, gesturing into a dark corner with a nod of the head.
Adam briefly toyed with the prospect of hitting her with the knife before she could get a shot off but decided the odds weren't good. He tossed the knife into the corner as instructed.
Anna and Adam were so intent on each other that they almost missed Bel's voice.
"Adam, what's going on? What is her problem?" Her voice was still weak and tired.
Anna smiled. "Yes Adam, why don't you tell her what is going on."
Adam still didn't turn to look at Bel, but continued, fixed on Anna.
"Anna Low isn't her real name, it's her CIA alias. Her real name is Paula Lee. She used to be a member of the CIA. She had a brother, Richard who was in the UK studying at university."
"My, you have been doing your homework," replied Anna.
"Five years ago he tried to rob a jewellery store in Oxford Street."
Bel seemed to find her voice. "Wait a minute. Five years ago. Are you telling me her brother was the shoplifter?"
"That's right."
"He wasn't a thief." declared Anna defiantly. "He was mentally ill, he suffered from kleptomania. He didn't know what he was doing."
Adam continued, talking to Bel but watching Anna closely. "You and Fran raised the alarm. Store security caught him and called the police. Six months later you both gave evidence at his trial."
"Tell her what happened," screamed Anna. "Tell her what she did."
Adam watched her trembling hands with increasing concern.
"If you remember, he was sentenced to six months in prison." Adam paused before continuing. "He was two days away from parole when he was knifed by a drug addict who was going cold turkey."
"Oh shit." lamented Bel.
"He died three days later."
Anna burst out again. "He needed medical help and you killed him." She waved the gun around and pointed it menacingly in Bel's direction briefly before remembering that Adam was still the biggest threat.
Adam continued the story, his mind working out a strategy for outwitting Anna.
"The rest is largely conjecture, I don't know the details but they're unimportant. I guess Anna got hold of the names of those who had testified against her brother and decided on revenge."
"The influence of the CIA can get us most things we want," declared Anna, pride in her voice.
Adam addressed Anna. "I guess you came across to kill Fran." He hesitated. "You did kill Fran didn't you?"
"I hadn't planned to," she conceded. "I wanted to confront her, to make her see what she had done, to make her beg for forgiveness. But when I found her I just saw red and I wanted to destroy her." Her voice rose a tone and the volume increased in defiance. "I killed her. She paid for what she did to my family."
The exertion of Adam's control showed in his face and his clenched hands but he succeeded in containing himself. Bel's voice interjected once again, considerable weariness evident now.
"There was a third witness."
Adam interrupted her. "Yes there was. Apparently Helen Cole died in suspicious circumstances three years ago when she fell two hundred feet off a cliff in North Devon. The coroner's verdict was accidental death although there were a number of unexplained factors."
"CIA training pays off again," Anna gloated, laughter not far from her voice.
"So how did you find out about Bel?" asked Adam.
Anna let out a small giggle. "One of life's superb ironies. I really did get a secondment to help Customs and Excise investigate suspected arms smuggling. I discovered Bartletts were under suspicion and who should I find at the top of the Bartlett tree but dear Bel here?"
"You pretended to join O'Rourke and Reilly?" suggested Adam.
"Fools. The poor bastards thought I was working for them as a sympathiser."
"So you played the authorities and O'Rourke off against each other, when in fact your prime purpose was revenge on Bel."
Anna shrugged. "It got confusing at times I guess, although the challenge of playing so many roles was good fun. Convincing O'Rourke that you were the threat was a master stroke of course."
Adam's playing for time had given him little inspiration for getting them out of there in one piece. He was extremely disappointed at how calm Anna was again.
"So can I assume that the mystery gunman who disposed of our friend Reilly a short while ago was in fact you?"
Anna smiled with satisfaction. "Nice to know that I haven't lost the touch. Just tying up loose ends."
"And that's what we are I presume? Loose ends."
"By no means," she reassured him. "I had to keep you alive for the finale.. " She laughed. "You are both main events. Like Fran." She started to giggle again. "You should have seen her eyes in the headlights. Talk about a startled rabbit. I'm sure she knew who I was just before she died."
Adam was on the point of doing something desperate but once again the gun brought him up short.
"Go on, do something rash, give me an excuse."
She giggled again, her voice getting higher again. "You know what bugs me most. Out of all of it." She waited for a response but was disappointed. "It would have been the icing on the cake to bed her widower but you wouldn't have it would you? It was a moment of genius, but no, you were still loyal to that bitch."
Bel struggled with her cords to no avail. Anna surveyed her briefly and a light came into her eyes.
"Perhaps I have a proposition. Perhaps I'll spare her if you'll go to bed with me. Rather like 'Indecent Proposal' with a twist." She ruminated on the possibilities. "But it would be difficult wouldn't it? You might get the better of me, put me at your mercy." She thought some more. "Perhaps if you were tied to the bed though?"
Whilst she was fantasising Adam had taken the opportunity of moving undiscernibly along the wall away from Anna.
She came out of her reverie. "You don't think it's a good idea?"
She never found out his thoughts as Adam flicked the light switch behind his back and the room was plunged into virtual darkness. Two shots rang out from Anna's gun but Adam was already on the move. He lunged towards the doorway but Anna had already gone. He could hear her feet on the stairs, and picking up his own gun from the chair he moved to the foot of the stairs. A quick glance at the staircase convinced him that the landing at the top was empty and, recalling each squeaky board, he climbed slowly to the top keeping as low as he could.
The small darkened landing was indeed empty but heavy breathing could be heard from the second bedroom.
He remained on the landing, letting his eyes gain their full night vision.
"You realise you're now in very big trouble," he called.
"No more than before I guess," she replied.
Adam was painfully aware that the walls wouldn't stop a bullet but he was determined to keep her talking in order to track her movements.
"You realise I know this place like the back of my hand," he said.
She laughed. "You might have the superior knowledge but I'm trained for this by the CIA."
"Who are acknowledged as the second best training outfit behind the British SAS," insisted Adam. He hadn't a clue if it were true but if it wound Anna up it might evoke a response.
It did. A shot rang out and a large chunk of wall fell from above him, where his head would have been if he hadn't crouched down.
"You still alive?" she called.
"Still here," he replied as he spat out bits of plaster.
"After John Bartlett stumbled on the body in the Hermes, I presume it was you that convinced O'Rourke that Bel and I were a danger to him."
"O'Rourke took some persuading," she admitted, "but Reilly helped, he was up for anything that included killing and tort
uring."
As she spoke her voice was moving slowly away from Adam. He listened intently before moving slowly into the bedroom which was now empty. After a pause he crossed the room, skirting the bed and making his way to the access door adjoined the main bedroom.
He moved slowly into the doorway covering the room inside as he went but it was only due to the moonlight that he saw her standing by the window in shadow, her gun trained on him.
They stood like that for several moments. No words no movements, silence building up around them.
Anna broke it first.
"I don't want to kill you, you know, but you got in the way and someone had to pay."
"Did Kemp have to pay?" queried Adam. "It was you I texted to protect him but instead you told O'Rourke didn't you?"
"Collateral damage, you can't avoid it. CIA rules dictate that the ultimate goal shouldn't be endangered or compromised by the risk of collateral damage. I had to keep giving him titbits to keep him happy."
Adam realised that the window was open. "You can't get away now." He said. "Too many people know. Ford knows. Even if you kill me and Bel, it would be the end."
Anna's smile glowed in the dark. "Don't worry about me. I can disappear. I'm trained to do it. I have the means and resources to reinvent myself. I've done it before, I can do it again."
Adam shook his head in the darkness. "So you're going to keep running? It isn't worth it."
"I think that's my decision," said Anna. She stopped and listened. Adam heard it too, sirens, plural, not far away and getting closer. She smiled again. "Time I was going. I'll see you again, I can promise you that."
She took a step to the windowsill and without warning launched herself through the opening and into the darkness. Adam was already moving across the room after her, when an ear-splitting scream of agony rent the quiet of the night before it was cut off as abruptly as it had started.
Adam peered out of the window. Anna's body was stretched across the old metal railings that surrounded the border below the window. Her neck was obviously broken, the shafts of two of the rusty spikes had pierced her throat and her abdomen. Her body, like a rag doll, lay limp across the remainder, still and lifeless eyes staring upwards at him as if making some sort of mute accusation.