Hawkins fell into step beside him as he headed towards the SUV, two protective agents bringing up the rear. ‘Frost and Drake are in custody, prepped and ready for transport.’
‘Unharmed?’ Cain prompted.
‘Mostly,’ said Hawkins.
Cain decided to let that one pass. He would get to Drake and his fellow conspirators in due course, but right now the priority was Anya.
‘And our resources?’
‘NSA intercepts have been alerted to look out for the usual keywords. If they get a hit on phone, email or radio, we should know within minutes,’ Hawkins confirmed, raising his voice over the din of a C-130 cargo plane taking off from one of the distant runways. ‘We’ve also mobilized every field asset available and vectored them into Frankfurt. They’re still coming in, but as of this morning we have 18 reliable operatives in the city.’
Cain hadn’t missed the emphasis on reliability. This wasn’t some battle being conducted in caves in Afghanistan or a remote Iraqi desert, but a sensitive, clandestine operation in a major population centre. The goal was to apprehend Anya quickly and quietly, without causing a major incident either with the German government or for the Agency. For this they needed men they could trust not to talk.
‘Forty more are on standby if we push the panic button,’ Hawkins added. ‘They’re not part of our programme, but they’ll follow orders if it comes to it.’
‘What about the Germans?’ Cain hoisted himself up into the big vehicle, Hawkins climbing in the opposite side.
The BND, the German intelligence service, was nominally a close partner – the two organizations were party to a complex agreement to spy on each other’s citizens and share the resulting intel – but he didn’t imagine they’d take kindly to a covert operation being mounted on their soil.
‘The BND have been sniffing around. They suspect something’s up in Frankfurt, but they don’t have anything definitive yet. We should be able to stall them.’
‘Doesn’t matter. The exchange won’t happen in Frankfurt,’ Cain announced briskly.
‘Excuse me?’
‘You really think Anya would give us the name of the city 48 hours beforehand?’ Cain asked rhetorically. ‘She’s playing us, Jason, making us waste time chasing ghosts. She’ll give us the real location on the day.’
Hawkins said nothing.
‘She wants us off balance and unprepared when the time comes,’ Cain said as the SUV’s engine started up. ‘But we won’t be. We’ll be ready for her.’
The Mercedes pulled out of the hangar. Anya might have caught him off guard once, but it would be the last time he made that mistake. Tomorrow, she would find out just how wrong she’d been to make this personal.
Chapter 45
Lauren closed her eyes and leaned back in her seat, allowing the sunlight breaking through gaps in the clouds to play across her face. The steady drone of the car’s engine, the faint vibration of wheels on tarmac, the rush of wind outside all seemed to blend together into a comforting, familiar feeling of movement.
They’d been on the road for close to three hours now, making steady progress northwards from Anya’s home. Lauren had been blindfolded so she couldn’t give away the location of the building later, but after the first hour or so Anya had finally consented to remove it.
Alex was the one doing the driving, with Yasin sitting in the passenger seat up front. That left Anya in the back to keep an eye on Lauren. Her rationale was obvious – she didn’t trust anyone else to guard their prisoner.
Given her earlier escape attempt, that certainly made sense. But then again, what was Lauren going to do? Throw herself out of a car moving at high speed down a busy highway? If the fall didn’t kill her, other vehicles would.
So she sat still and bided her time, taking in as much information as she could glean. The first conclusion she’d drawn was that they were in Germany. She’d seen signs for Stuttgart, Nuremberg and various other towns located in the south of the country.
With Anya hardly a spirited conversationalist, communication had been largely confined to the two males up front, particularly the young boy. Yasin seemed to have an immense interest in everything, staring in excitement at buildings, cars and advertising boards as they passed by, often pestering Alex with questions.
‘What is that car?’ he asked, pointing to a black sports car that had just zipped past them on the inside, taking full advantage of the lack of autobahn speed limits. They caught a fleeting glimpse of the driver, sporting designer sunglasses and grey hair pulled back into a ponytail.
Alex glanced at it without much interest.
‘Porsche,’ he replied, sounding like a weary parent trying to manage an overexcited child. ‘Driven by a total arsehole, if I’m not mistaken.’
‘Porsche,’ the boy repeated, dreaming of fast cars, wealth and success. ‘This is a cool car, yes?’
‘Suppose so,’ said Alex. ‘Bit old school for me, but—’
‘Then I will have one,’ Yasin decided without waiting for him to finish. ‘And I will wear sunglasses and drive it every day. And everyone will be jealous of me.’
‘A little young to be having a mid-life crisis, aren’t you?’ Lauren said, smirking.
Yasin twisted around to look at her. ‘Mid-life crisis. What is this?’
‘When rich guys get to a certain age, they start feeling scared about getting old. So they buy expensive cars, grow their hair long, hook up with younger women.’
Yasin frowned. ‘I do not understand. When you are rich, why worry?’
She shrugged. ‘They say money can’t buy happiness.’
Yasin laughed. ‘Whoever said that has never gone hungry.’
It was Lauren’s turn to frown. Earlier today Yasin had explained – albeit briefly – how he’d ended up here with Anya. But what she didn’t understand was why he’d been willing to leave his home country with a virtual stranger, or what his family had to say about it. She’d considered the possibility that Anya had abducted him, but quickly discounted it. One way or another, he was here of his own volition.
‘Tell me something,’ she said. ‘How did you meet Anya in the first place?’
‘She catch me stealing from her,’ he said, grinning conspiratorially. ‘In a warehouse in Pakistan. I was fast, but Fauji is faster. I think she would make good thief, if she is not so old.’
Lauren checked to see if Anya was offended but she seemed to care little.
‘Fauji want to kill me for this, but the others try to stop her,’ he went on. ‘There is big argument and they point guns at each other, but Ryan stops them. He gives me money and send me away, but I follow them instead. There is big fight in middle of city, explosions and shooting like in movies.’
Anya’s expression was still carefully neutral, but Lauren sensed she was uncomfortable with the change in conversation.
‘I find Fauji afterwards. She is hurt, and men are looking for her. I make deal with her then to help her escape, if she takes me with her. I know all the secret ways, how to move around city without being seen. She says yes, and now we are here.’
Lauren was beginning to understand the basis of their relationship a little better now, at least from his point of view. She also had a sense of why he’d been so willing to leave his old life behind.
‘What about your family? Your parents. Won’t they be worried about you?’
‘They do not worry about anything now,’ Yasin said. ‘They are dead.’
It came out so easily, as if it were a matter of no consequence to him. Just some long-accepted fact that no longer had any meaning.
Lauren immediately regretted probing so deep. ‘I’m sorry.’
The boy looked at her curiously. ‘Why?’
‘Enough storytelling,’ Anya said, motioning at Yasin. Lauren appreciated her interruption.
Time passed and the miles crept slowly by, but Lauren could feel Anya’s eyes on her. ‘You keep looking at me,’ she said. ‘Something wrong?’
‘You seem very interested in all of us. Why?’
‘It’s not like there’s anyone else to talk to.’
Anya wasn’t fooled.
‘I told you before that I was willing to treat you fairly, provided you were honest with me. Do we need to revisit that arrangement?’
Lauren sighed. ‘Fine. I was trying to understand what my chances are of making it out of this alive.’ She turned to look at Anya again. ‘I thought that if I got to know you all a little better—’
‘We’d be less inclined to kill you?’ Anya offered.
Lauren paled, and even Alex glanced at her in the rear-view mirror. ‘Something like that, I guess.’
‘If you believe that sentimentality will keep you safe, you are very wrong. I have killed people that I knew far better than you, Lauren. And I may have to do it again.’
The silence that followed was excruciating as Anya stared her down. ‘Luckily, you are not one of them. I said I intend to hand you over to your father unharmed, and I will. Provided you give me no reason to rethink that decision,’ she added ominously.
Lauren closed her eyes, trying to concentrate on the familiar comforting sounds of the car in motion.
‘There’s a police car behind us,’ Alex intervened urgently. ‘And he’s got his lights on.’
Lauren’s eyes flew open. She looked out of the back window, and sure enough spotted a BMW with the distinctive blue, green and silver colour scheme of the Autobahnpolizei tailing them about 30 yards back. Its siren hadn’t engaged, but its flashing lights were on, giving them a polite but firm instruction to pull over.
There was no way they could outrun a high-powered highway patrol vehicle. And even if they could, the attempt would only invite a larger pursuit that they could never hope to evade.
If the German police were on to them, this could well mean her father had managed to track her down. This could mean the end of her captivity right here, right now. But then, how would her captors react? Yasin and Alex would likely capitulate without a fight, but Anya was cut from a different cloth. An attempted arrest could end in a bloodbath.
‘I’d appreciate some input,’ Alex said anxiously. ‘What do you want me to do?’
Anya had seen it too, and seemed to be entertaining similar thoughts. It didn’t take her long to weigh up the facts and come to the same conclusion Lauren had.
‘Slow down and pull over, then kill the engine,’ she said. ‘Make no sudden moves.’
Alex stared at her in disbelief. ‘If they pull us over, we—’
‘Do it, Alex,’ she said firmly.
The driver shook his head. ‘Jesus, I hope you know what you’re doing,’ he said, flicking on his turn signal and easing them into the side of the highway.
The patrol car followed them, pulling to a stop about 20 yards behind and shutting down its blue lights. However, the occupants remained in their vehicle, making no move to approach.
‘I don’t like this,’ Alex said, turning off the ignition. ‘Why are they just sitting there?’
‘Keep your nerve,’ Anya advised. ‘They will be running our licence plate through their database to check the car isn’t stolen.’
‘And is it?’
Anya gave him a reproachful look. ‘The car is registered to me.’
‘So what do we do?’
‘We wait,’ Anya said. Lauren noticed that she’d shifted position slightly, giving her easier access to the weapon she’d concealed behind the driver’s seat. ‘If they question us, you must do the talking, Alex. You are the driver.’
‘What am I supposed to say?’
‘Improvise. Think fast. And above all, stay calm.’
‘Fucking Christ,’ he said under his breath. ‘Easy for you to say.’
‘They are coming,’ Yasin said, having spotted movement from the police car in the wing mirror.
Lauren’s heart was racing as a uniformed officer steadily approached their car, his eyes hidden behind dark sunglasses.
‘Lauren,’ Anya said quietly, ‘I will be watching you. If you try to signal for help, I will know.’
There was no need for her to say more. Lauren could guess what the consequences of disobedience would be. Her mind was racing as fast as her heart. She glanced left as the police officer’s blue uniform passed by her window, halting beside the driver’s door. A gentle tap on the window served as a prompt for Alex to open up.
As he lowered the electric window, the officer removed his sunglasses and bent down to speak with them. Lauren saw a youthful, clean-cut face with short dark hair and grey, impassive eyes that gave little away.
‘Morning,’ Alex said, forcing a weak smile.
‘Guten Morgen,’ the officer replied without emotion. ‘Sprichst du Deutsch?’
‘Sorry, afraid not. English?’ Alex offered, as if that were helpful.
Lauren saw momentary annoyance flash across the officer’s face. ‘Are you the owner of this car, sir?’ he asked, speaking with only a mild accent.
Alex hesitated. ‘Erm, no. My partner owns the car,’ he said, gesturing to Anya in the back. ‘I just took over to give her a break. She gets tired easily.’
Anya smiled and nodded acknowledgement to the officer.
‘May I see identification for both of you? And the car’s registration documents.’
‘Sure, no problem,’ Alex said. Going on what Lauren assumed to be pure instinct, he popped open the glove compartment and fished out a small plastic folder with the car’s official documentation inside.
Next came his driver’s licence, though Lauren noticed his hands were shaking slightly as he handed it over. Anya also passed her ID forward for inspection.
‘Did I do something wrong, officer?’ he asked. ‘I didn’t think there was a speed limit on the autobahn.’
‘Just a moment, please,’ the man said without looking up from the documents, his face set with concentration.
Silence prevailed as the seconds ticked by with agonising slowness. Lauren glanced over at Anya, who was now watching the officer’s every move, her body held tense and ready.
‘This car is registered in Switzerland,’ he said, glancing up at last and fixing Alex with a hard look. ‘May I ask your purpose in Germany?’
Alex cleared his throat. ‘Family vacation. I haven’t seen much of Germany, and neither has my sister here,’ he added, motioning to Lauren in the back. ‘I’m told people here are very friendly towards visitors.’
That last remark was slightly pointed given their current situation, Lauren thought. She was surprised he’d had the courage to challenge a police officer, even in an oblique way like that.
The officer’s eyes had now swung towards Lauren, taking in her appearance, looking at her the way men often did when they saw an attractive young woman. He noticed the graze on her left cheek, where she’d hit the ground after Yasin had tasered her the previous day.
‘Are you all right, miss?’ he asked. Not on full alert yet, but doing his job, checking nothing was amiss.
Lauren didn’t respond, frozen by indecision. This was her chance, she knew. If she was to do anything, if she was to get this man’s attention and signal to him that something was wrong, then now was the time.
‘Miss, can you hear me?’ he asked. She saw his hand stray a little closer to the sidearm holstered at his hip.
At the same time, Anya’s hand moved towards the concealed weapon behind the driver’s seat. She couldn’t force Lauren to respond, couldn’t threaten her with the police officer watching their every move, but Lauren knew that if it came down to it, she would start shooting and take her chances.
She saw the officer reach towards his weapon, and knew he wouldn’t get a chance to draw.
‘Sorry, I was a little distracted,’ she said, breaking the silence. ‘I’m fine, thank you. I just fell when we were out skiing a couple of days ago.’ She offered a rueful, faintly flirtatious smile that she knew helped smooth over difficult situations where men were involved. ‘Believe me, it
looks a lot better now than it did at the time.’
The officer seemed to relax, and his hand moved away from the weapon. He handed Alex back the car documents, along with his and Anya’s IDs.
‘I pulled you over because of the boy,’ he said, nodding to Yasin. ‘Under federal highway law, children under 12 must have booster seats. For safety.’
Even Lauren could see the surprise written all over Anya’s face. Clearly she’d never had children of her own, because such a consideration had never even entered her head.
‘Oh, I’m sorry about that,’ Alex said, trying to hide the elation that this entire debacle had been nothing but a minor safety check. ‘We’ll get ourselves one at the first town we arrive in.’
‘I am 12 already,’ Yasin said, sounding faintly defiant at what he perceived as an insult.
The cop glanced at him, surprised by his outburst, then back to Alex as if looking for an explanation.
‘He’s small for his age,’ Alex said, speaking quietly as if he didn’t want Yasin to hear.
‘I see,’ the officer remarked, looking slightly dubious as he compared the two males in the front seats. ‘He is your child?’
‘He is mine,’ Anya piped up. ‘From a previous marriage. His father was from India.’
Smart, Lauren thought. Mentioning Pakistan would only invite more unwanted questions, and possibly snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
The cop eyed Anya a moment longer. ‘I will let you off with an advisory in this case,’ he decided. ‘See that you get the booster seat for the boy.’
‘Will do,’ Alex said, nodding emphatically. ‘Have a good day.’
The man slipped his sunglasses back on as Alex wound up his window and started the engine. Within seconds, he’d pulled out into the traffic and they were on their way again, Alex furtively checking the rear-view mirror until the police car had faded from view.
‘Christ, that was close,’ he said. ‘I don’t know about you guys, but I could use a new pair of trousers.’
‘You could have given us away, Lauren,’ Anya said. ‘I appreciate that you did not.’
‘I didn’t do it for you,’ Lauren shot back. ‘I did it for that cop, and for Yasin. I know you’d have started shooting before you’d ever let them take us in, and innocent people could have gotten killed. You might be willing to live with that, but I’m not.’
Shadow Conflict Page 30