by Ethan Jones
Bateaux said, “Delay the inevitable for as long as you can… It’s too bad this happened, especially now.”
“Why? What does the timing have to do with anything?”
“It’s about what I’ve found regarding Tom Murphy.”
Javin’s dark frown stretched across his face at the mentioning of the late assassin’s name. “What about him?”
“The man who sent him, the man who wants you dead, he’s also in London.”
Javin clenched his jaw. He unlocked it a moment later to ask, “Who is he?”
Chapter Twenty-seven
Victoria Tower Gardens
London, United Kingdom
“Do you remember a certain MI6 deputy director named William Fox?” Bateaux said in a wary tone.
How can this get any worse? Javin thought. “Yes, he had a heart attack a little while ago…”
The truth was more complicated, implicating Javin, Mila, and the Russian SVR. But Javin wasn’t sure how much Bateaux knew about the facts of the matter. He wasn’t Javin’s boss at that time. Moreover, Javin had been running a side operation, unsanctioned by his agency.
“What about him?” Javin asked.
“MI6 has reopened the inquiry into his death. It appears there’s new evidence, and a potential witness has come forward. Things seem to be a little different than the official report…”
Witness? Mila told me this had been a perfectly clean job. “He died in a coffeehouse… I remember reading that there was a dozen of witnesses to the heart attack…”
“Here’s the thing: MI6 is saying this wasn’t a heart attack. Seemingly, someone poisoned Fox.”
“They did?” Javin tried to give his voice a surprised tone. “And do they have evidence for such claims?”
“They either do, or are working to secure it. But some people who cared about Fox, what he did, and what he meant for the UK aren’t waiting until the end of the inquiry. They want their own kind of justice.”
Javin nodded. It’s Sawyer, it’s that snake Sawyer. “I… I still don’t see how this all ties in to Murphy and then to me…”
“These people are trying to eliminate whoever ordered or executed Fox’s murder. Someone in that circle believes that you, Javin, are somehow implicated in this matter.”
“What? That’s outrageous. What proof do they have?”
“I haven’t seen anything, and I’ve talked to a couple of MI6 directors. But these people, Javin, they don’t need proof. They have their assertions, and to them, that’s more than sufficient.”
“So, I’m their target?”
Bateaux didn’t answer the question. Instead, he said, “Did you have anything to do with Fox’s death?”
“No, sir, of course, not. And, to be frank with you, I’m offended by the question.”
“Don’t be. I have to ask, so I know where you stand.”
“You don’t have to ask.”
“Why do they think you were involved?”
Javin shrugged and thought about his answer. “My operation in Turkey and Syria. Mr. Fox and I… we had a disagreement about some intelligence that I had obtained. He quite strongly insisted it belonged to his agency.”
“Is that all?”
Javin hesitated for a moment. Bateaux would have read the files. “No, but that’s the gist of it.”
“Are you forgetting something?”
Javin frowned. “I’m not forgetting anything. Like I said, it’s the essence. But here’s the rest, since you insist: Fox got mad and apparently sent a team of operatives to hunt us down, me and Claudia, while we were still in Syria.”
“Apparently?”
“Yes, we could never confirm the men were dispatched by Fox. We had a high level of certainty, because of our sources on the ground.”
“So, these people believe you went after Fox to settle that account?”
Javin shrugged again. “It’s a possibility.”
“And now they’re coming after you, Pierce,” Bateaux said in a somber tone.
Javin didn’t like the tone or the fact that his boss had switched to calling Javin by his last name. It usually meant he was in trouble.
Bateaux said, “We followed the trail of information found on the woman’s phone, Fakhry. She was in direct communication with a man called Charles Sawyer.”
“Who is he?”
“He was Deputy Director for Counter-Terrorism at MI6, before retiring from the agency three years ago.”
“Oh, okay, I see the connection.”
“Yes, Sawyer worked closely with Fox, as well as the SAS.”
Javin nodded. The men who had attacked Javin and Claudia in Syria were suspected to be members of the Special Air Service, the elite troops of the British Army. “So he’s avenging the death of his friend?”
“Yes. Sawyer is a rich man and still has a lot of power and connections. He can make things happen. He hired someone to eliminate you.”
“Tom Murphy?”
“No, someone else before him, but this person failed to finish the job, for whatever reason…”
Javin smiled. He knew the reason why the Mossad operative assigned the task to assassinate Javin had refused to execute it. “Then Sawyer turned to Murphy.”
“Yes. Now, all of this is based on intercepted messages, which are mostly encoded and open to more than one interpretation. I’m saying, this is nothing that can be used in a court of law.”
Javin nodded. These things were seldom settled in a court of law. “How are we going to handle this, sir?”
“I will be handling it, Pierce. And diplomatically. You, you’re already in deep trouble. And you’re in London, causing even more trouble… You’d better watch your back.”
“Always, sir. So, what are my orders?”
“Escort the physicist to our embassy, then leave the UK ASAP. Along with the Bahrainis, find the Al-Qaeda man and hand him over to them, dead or alive.”
“And Yael?”
“What about her? She’s getting all the care she needs…”
“Mossad will be coming after her.”
“I don’t think so. She’s still one of them. Running an unauthorized op, but still, blood is blood. Besides, she’s always under watch.”
“We both know that doesn’t mean anything to Mossad.”
“This will have to do, Pierce. You can’t remain in London, not after the mess you’ve caused…”
Javin nodded. As much as he didn’t like it or want to accept it, Bateaux was right. Javin, Claudia, and their Bahraini team members had to disappear before it was too late. He sighed and looked to his right. Ziyad, the Bahraini team leader, was walking at a brisk pace toward Javin. “We’ll do that right away. Anything else?”
“That’s all. Call me when you’re at the embassy. I’ll take care of Mossad and the Iranians.”
“Will do.”
Bateaux ended the call without another word.
Javin had barely put the phone away when Ziyad got into his face. “You lied to me; you tricked me—”
“Shhhh. People can see us, hear us.”
“I don’t care.” Ziyad poked Javin in the chest with his large index finger. “You lied to me, and Dhaif is dead because of you…”
Ziyad swung his right fist, but Javin was prepared for it. He stepped to the side, then grabbed Ziyad’s arm, and twisted it around his back. He shoved Ziyad closer to the wall along the promenade and held him. “Look, I’m sorry about what happened to your friend. None of this will bring him back, but it will get both of us arrested,” he whispered in a firm tone in Ziyad’s ear.
“Hey, what’s going on here?” A strong man’s voice came from behind them.
Javin turned to see a man’s face locked in a menacing scowl. He was in his late twenties, taller and heavier than Javin and was keeping his arms slightly up and to the sides, ready for a fight. A similarly tough-looking, red-headed man was standing a step back.
“Nothing, man, it’s all good.” Javin let go of Ziyad and raised
his hands.
“Was he trying to rob you, take your wallet?” the man asked Ziyad.
“No, no, nothing like that. We know each other… He was… He was just showing me this move, what is it called?”
Javin shrugged. “Don’t know. I saw it in a movie, Bruce Lee… Or maybe it was Bruce Willis…” He gave the men a sheepish look. “I can’t remember.”
The man searched Javin’s face and gave him a stern gaze. “No fighting in the park… Got it?”
Yes, tough guy. “Sure, man. Got it.”
Ziyad said, “We’re okay.” He put his arm around Javin’s back and smiled first at the men, then at Javin.
The man shrugged and stepped back.
The red-headed man gave them a menacing scowl.
Their eyes never left Javin’s face until both he and Ziyad had turned around. Javin whispered, “See what happens?”
“This isn’t over.”
“Shhhh. Keep it down.”
“Why did you lie to us?”
“I had to. I needed your help in case we needed to storm the safehouse—”
“Who was there? Who was shooting at us? And why do you need the fat man?”
Javin smiled because of the way Ziyad referred to the nuclear scientist. “He’s not that fat…”
Ziyad snorted. “Didn’t you see his belly?”
Javin smiled and shrugged. “I’ll tell you everything when we’re alone and when you’re calm.”
“Tell me now.”
Javin shook his head. “We’ve got to go.”
“Where?”
“To get Shinwari.”
Ziyad shook his head. “I fell for it once, Pierce. I’m not making the same mistake again.”
Javin stopped and turned to Ziyad. “Look, this is the real deal. I have Shinwari’s location. He’s in Barcelona, Spain. We know where he lives, and he only has two bodyguards. Not only will I give you the location, but Claudia and I will help you get him. Dead or alive.”
Ziyad held Javin’s glance for a long moment. “How can I trust you after what just happened?”
Javin waved his phone. “I’ll show you the evidence. Photos and a video. You’ll see it for yourself.”
Ziyad didn’t reply right away. “And those are genuine?”
“Of course. You can have someone check. Do you have anyone on the ground?”
“I’m not sure.”
Javin resumed walking. “We’ll get this done, I promise. Now, let’s get out of here before it becomes impossible…”
Chapter Twenty-eight
Outskirts of London, United Kingdom
Javin met with Claudia and the rest of the Bahraini team at the northern edge of the park, at the busy intersection of Millbank and Dean Stanley Street. They were driving a bluish Mazda seven-seater SUV. Javin didn’t ask how they’d found it. Claudia told him that the body of Dhaif had been taken to the Embassy of Bahrain.
Their next stop was the Canadian embassy—or the High Commission of Canada in the United Kingdom, as per its official name—on Trafalgar Square. Bateaux had called ahead and had made arrangements for one of the CIS operatives stationed in London to take custody of the nuclear scientist. Then the team headed for the airport.
Before leaving the city, Javin called the Andover Medical Centre to learn about Yael’s fate. He pretended to be her brother, but the receptionist refused to give Javin any information about the patient or connect him to anyone else from the staff.
Claudia tried as well, but she couldn’t even get a confirmation that Yael was still at the center. “Maybe they moved her to a hospital, since she needed extra care?”
Javin gave her a serious look and nodded. “That’s what they told me when I dropped her off.”
Ziyad, who was driving the SUV, turned his head, so he could look at Javin and Claudia. Then Ziyad said, “Can’t someone from your embassy check on her and let you know?”
Yael’s cover story had been that she was working for the CIS, like Javin and Claudia. Otherwise, the Bahrainis’ reaction might have been quite unpredictable, if they knew they were working with an agent of the hated Mossad.
Javin said, “They can, but I wanted to hear it first and now.”
Ziyad’s phone beeped, and he looked at it. He scrolled through the screen and began to type with his right hand. As he held the steering wheel with only one hand, the SUV began to veer to the right and into oncoming traffic.
“Hey, watch it,” Javin said.
Ziyad turned the wheel. “Take it easy, my friend. I’ve got it under control.”
I can see that, Javin thought but said nothing.
He shifted in the seat. The third row had very little legroom. He or Claudia could have opted to sit in the empty seat on the second row, but that one was blood-soaked. Dhaif’s body had been lying there while being transported to the Bahraini embassy.
Javin closed his eyes and thought about trying to take it easy for a few minutes. He leaned closer to Claudia to whisper to her his intentions, so that she could be completely on guard, but just then, his phone rang. Javin frowned, because he recognized the number flashing on the screen. “It’s Salimi,” he whispered to Claudia.
“Huh, who’s that?” Ziyad said.
“A friend,” Javin said. “Pull over.”
“Your friend is our friend.” Ziyad didn’t slow down.
“Yes, but this is sensitive.” Javin waved his hand. “Right there.” He pointed at the side of the highway.
Ziyad slowed down as the phone rang a couple more times.
Javin answered it and said, “Yes, this is Javin.”
“Pierce, how could you betray us like this?” Salimi shouted.
His voice was so loud that Javin had to move the phone away from his ear. “Give me a moment, okay?”
He stepped out of the SUV before it had come to a complete stop. He hurried his steps as he said on the phone, “Yes, you were saying…”
“I was saying that I wasn’t expecting you to stab me in the back, Pierce…”
“Whoa, whoa, let’s get the facts straight here—”
“The facts are clear. The doctor’s gone. Three Iranian agents are dead and two wounded, one of them gravely. Those are the facts.”
“That may be true, but let me explain what happened before you lay the blame on me and my team.”
“Explain away, then…”
“There was another team that opened fire on us—”
“That’s convenient—”
“Maybe, but true. Ask the Iranians who were there. Gunfire came from two locations, from men who were already positioned there, before our arrival. We came in a two-vehicle convoy, a gray Nissan and a white Rover. Two SUVs. We were ambushed as soon as we got there.”
“By whom?”
Javin shrugged. He couldn’t tell the truth to Salimi. “I didn’t ask their names or whom they worked for—distracted by their bullets aimed at my head. When shots came from the safehouse windows, we were forced to return fire…”
“Even if that were true, we had a deal. You were supposed to call me, inform me of your arrival, so that I could ensure you were properly welcomed…”
“You must have a very short memory, Salimi.”
“And why is that?”
“Do you not remember what happened? You were the one who refused to give us his location, claiming you were going to move him somewhere safer. Well, you saw how that turned out…” He spoke in a calm, yet matter-of-fact tone.
Salimi cursed and said nothing else for a long moment.
Javin let the tense silence reign. He liked where this was heading.
Salimi said, “Do you have the doctor, Pierce?”
“No, but I know where he is…”
Javin didn’t say it. He didn’t have to, as the implication was clear.
Another moment of hesitation, then Salimi said, “How do we get him back?”
“So that you can hand him over properly?”
“Eh, yes, and so that we can
complete our deal.”
“Our deal? There’s no deal.”
“What do you mean ‘There’s no deal’?”
Javin sighed and looked at the Mazda SUV. Ziyad was standing near the hood and typing on his phone. At some point, he glanced at Javin and gave him an annoyed look. Javin ignored it and said, “Salimi, that deal ended the moment the Iranian agents began their hail of gunfire…”
“That was self-defense…”
“Even so, the deal is dead.”
“You don’t want to do that… We still have incriminating evidence, the phone call recordings. What I gave you was just the tip of the iceberg. The rest makes it clear that Israel and Saudi Arabia pushed and pressured the US to go to war with Iran.”
Javin nodded. That much was hinted in the snippets of conversations among top officials of both countries. But those clues would be ignored, re-interpreted, or even misinterpreted by media close to the leaders, especially in the United States of America.
“You do have something valuable, Salimi, but so do I. I have the promise from Mossad that they’re willing to take a closer look at your offer, inspect the nuclear facilities, and potentially sit at the negotiating table. Even more important to you, I have the doctor. Remember what you told me the last time we spoke?”
Salimi hesitated for a moment, then said, “I don’t remember… I say a lot of things, to a lot of people…”
“I told you that you were being unreasonable when you didn’t give us the doctor’s location. Your reply was that you were being careful. Then you added that if the doctor died or was kidnapped, your neck was on the line. Do you remember that?”
A long pause, then Salimi said, “I remember.” His voice was dry and slow as if he were admitting a grave crime.
Javin said, “Well, the doctor is gone, so your life is in danger. Your boss isn’t going to forgive that mistake. Help me give you your life back…”
Another long pause, followed by a curse and a couple of sounds as if a chair or something heavy was being thrown across the room. Then Salimi came back on the line and said, “What do you want, Pierce?”
“I want the recordings, everything you have. In return, I’ll hand over the document from Mossad, with its chief’s signature, a goodwill gesture offering to consider peaceful ways to resolve the conflicts between the two countries.”