Bionic Agent (18 page)

“Just thinking,” Jordan replied.

“What about?”

He jerked his thumb at the wall behind Angel. “The graveyard.”

Angel nodded. “It’s because of the dead that I asked you to come down. We’ve got some loose ends to tie up.”

“Oh?”

Angel glanced at his computer screen. “Those remains we pulled out of the river near Hoo Marina. The DNA was degraded, but there was enough to be sure we’ve seen the last of Salam
Bool. End of that part of the story.”

Jordan didn’t feel sympathy, only relief. “I’ll let Vinnie Dowd know.”

“I guess we owe him that.”

“Is that all?” asked Jordan.

“No.”

“Is it Norman Lightfoot? He hasn’t died, has he?”

Angel shook his head. “No. He’s under sedation in hospital.”

“What then?”

“I’m not satisfied he’ll be convicted. If he gets a good lawyer... We don’t really have the killer piece of evidence. It’s all circumstantial.”

“Unless he admits he did it,” said Jordan.

Angel nodded. “That’d help, but I’d still like to see solid evidence.”

“I want to go and talk to him.”

“What?” Angel looked troubled.

“I want to hear him confess. You could record it if you fitted me with a hidden microphone or something.”

For an instant, Angel looked surprised. Then he put up his palm. “I’m not convinced. I don’t know how you’ll react when you come face-to-face with him. Revenge is a
powerful emotion.”

Jordan realized that Angel’s decision was final. It was a waste of time arguing. He stared at the floor for a few seconds and then looked up. “I know.”

“What?”

“How to get evidence,” Jordan said excitedly. “If you get bits of bomb from the Crouch explosion and compare them with those fragments left over after the estuary
blast...” He looked at Angel and said, “Why are you smiling like that?”

“Because you’re on the ball. I’ve already got forensics working on it.”

“There’s another thing. I bet he was going to set it off with some sort of remote. If they find that, it might match what he used on the
Richard Montgomery
.”

“Good point.” Angel typed something into his laptop and then stood up. “Look, you deserve that break you keep missing. I’ll probably get the results on Tuesday. Till
then, you’re on leave.”

Over the weekend, Winter returned empty-handed from Norway and Jordan phoned Vinnie Dowd to tell him what had happened to Salam Bool. But Jordan believed someone else deserved
to know. After all, Amy Goss had given him the lead he needed to discover the truth. He set out to meet her after school on Monday, but he didn’t announce his intentions to Angel, Winter or
anyone else in Unit Red.

He lurked for a while outside Amy’s school but felt too exposed there. Worried that one of Melissa Pink’s thugs might walk or drive past and notice him, he moved on. He went down
Main Road, crossed over, and took the quiet lane that Amy used to walk home. Less conspicuous, but unaware that he’d already been spotted, he sat on a wall and waited.

He couldn’t go to Amy’s house and linger there because Jordan Stryker would not know where she lived. She’d be very suspicious if she thought he’d somehow managed to find
her address. Then there was Mr. Goss. If Amy’s dad saw him outside their house, he might send out some heavies – if he still had any.

Yet, after twenty minutes, there was no sign of her.

Jordan decided to take a gamble. Reckoning that there was one place she might have gone, he set out for the farm in Lower Stoke. He was so intent on finding her that he forgot to make sure no
one was watching and following him.

As he squeezed between the grain silos, a voice said, “Hey? Mr. Bool’s creepy but heroic next-door neighbour.”

Jordan was delighted to find her, even if she’d reminded him straight away of the lie he’d told her last time they’d met. He looked at her and said, “Sort of.”

Actually, more than one lie had come between them. He’d put his injuries down to a car crash and he’d given her a false name. Outside of Unit Red, though, the only person to figure
out who he really was had disappeared. Jordan believed he was working for the good guys, but he wondered if Unit Red had blown away the firefighter who had saved his life. He didn’t want Amy
to suffer the same fate so he had to keep her in the dark for her own protection.

“Why are you here? Been thrown out of the sports club again?”

“No. I was looking for you.” He smiled and sat down on the cold ground. “I just thought you’d want to know what I found out about Mr. Bool.”

“And you guessed I’d be here?”

“I missed you outside school and I couldn’t think of anywhere else to try.”

Amy nodded as if she almost believed him – but not quite. “So, what’s with Mr. Bool?”

“He’s dead. Ed Hathaway killed him. Not on purpose. Not really. They had a bit of a scrap and Mr. Bool banged his head. That’s why Ed went away.”

Amy looked puzzled. “Why didn’t anyone say anything?”

“No one knew,” Jordan answered. “Ed and his mates pushed him out in a boat and it sank. His body was trapped underwater. The police have just found it.”

Somewhere nearby, the engines of farm vehicles spluttered into life. Jordan turned down his hearing.

“Well,” Amy said, “I didn’t like him, but...”

Jordan shook his head. “Don’t feel too sorry for him. Do you want to know what he did for a living?”

“Teach?”

“Apart from that. He had a nasty sideline.”

“You’re weird,” Amy said abruptly. “It’s like you know too much. Like you’re a cop or something.”

Jordan shrugged. “I just asked a few questions. Got a few answers. That’s all.” He hoped that the real parts of his cheeks had not turned bright red.

“Okay. What’s his other job, Sherlock? You’re itching to tell me.”

“He beat people up to get money out of them.”

“What?” Amy cried out.

“It’s a long story.” Deciding where to begin, Jordan drummed his fingers on one of the metal struts. He took a deep breath, took one look at Amy and stopped before he
started.

Amy was staring at him, her face completely drained of colour.

“What is it?”

She could barely speak. She raised a hand and pointed at him. “I know who you are! Not Jordan at all!”

It was Jordan’s turn to gasp in astonishment. “What do you mean?”

She scrambled to her feet and nodded towards his left hand, still resting on the silo. “There’s only one person who does that.”

“What?”

“Taps a rhythm out like that. No one does it as well as...” She still looked startled, her eyes wide open. And she was breathing rapidly. “You’re...”

They both jolted as a tractor rammed into the gap between the silos. On the opposite side, two more farm machines crashed into the metal containers and blocked off their retreat.

Melissa Pink and her bodyguards clambered over the wreckage, violating the secret meeting place. More heavies stood outside, encircling the area.

They were trapped. Instinctively, Jordan and Amy moved together in the centre of the space.

“What do we have here?” Melissa said with glee all over her freckled face. “Goss’s daughter if I’m not mistaken.” Shorter than both of them, she didn’t
risk getting too close. She smiled at Jordan and said, “Confirmation, I think, that you work for Goss. Maybe you’re young Amy’s minder.”

“Wrong,” Amy said. “He doesn’t work for my dad.”

Amy must have known she was facing her dad’s victorious rival because she almost spat.

Melissa was plainly enjoying another moment of triumph over the Goss family, enjoying her power. “So, what’s going on here? Is it a love nest? How sweet. And quite a catch for me.
Must be my lucky day.”

Amy growled, “My dad will...”

Melissa interrupted with a loud laugh. “Your dad won’t do anything. Believe me, I own most of his people now. And the rest...” She shrugged, suggesting that they no longer
mattered.

Jordan had to hope one of her gang members was still loyal to Mr. Goss. He had to hope that person would slink away and phone Mr. Goss secretly. Jordan needed Amy’s father to come and
rescue them because he couldn’t see any other means of escape. Both of Melissa Pink’s bodyguards had trained their guns on him. He might be able to deflect one bullet, but he’d be
helpless against two fired at the same time.

But Melissa Pink was even more cold-hearted than he thought.

She turned to her minders and said, “No, no, no! Don’t aim at him. Aim at her.” She jabbed a finger towards Amy.

Clearing her nose with a grotesque sniff, she grinned at Jordan. “Maybe you can protect yourself, but you can’t protect her. Try anything and she gets it. Understand?”

Jordan nodded.

“Someone should’ve told you the problem with friends and family,” Melissa said as she waved some men into the gap between the silos. “Caring about someone makes you
vulnerable.”

Coming up behind him, two men grabbed Jordan by the shoulders.

Melissa pointed at one of the strong metal struts. “Use the towrope to tie his right arm to one of them. Then attach it to the tractor.” She gazed into Jordan’s face.
“When we put it in reverse, you’ll be disarmed. Literally.” She laughed at her own malicious joke.

Realizing the true horror of his situation, Jordan flinched as the men dragged him to the side, attached his artificial arm to the metal rod, and then looped the rope around a bar across the
front of the tractor. If the bolts in his arm were weaker than the bones of his shoulder, the arm would wrench off without damaging him. If the bolts held firm, the tractor could wrench the bone
out of his body.

Amy had worked it out as well. There was terror in her eyes.

Melissa did not react. She was simply doing what she did best. “We’ve got unfinished business, you and me. It’s time it was dealt with. But I’ve learned to be careful.
You’re dangerous with that arm. Let’s see what you’re like without it. You know, in the good old days, bad guys had their arms and legs tied to horses that were made to gallop off
in different directions. Being pulled apart was a spectator sport back then. So’s this, I guess.”

He shut his eyes and braced himself as the engine started to clatter.

The tractor clunked into gear, revved, and then jerked backwards. The rope lifted off the ground.

Jordan recalled Angel’s words in his mind. “You don’t give up.” It was true. So, why had he closed his eyes and accepted what was about to happen?

He looked down at his fake arm as the rope became taut. At once, he saw what he had to do. He couldn’t stop what was about to happen but he could lessen the damage – and the pain. He
crooked his arm so that its elbow joint nestled against the strut. That way, the elbow and metal support would take the full force, instead of his shoulder.

The rope tightened and tugged but he kept still, making sure his arm wasn’t dragged out of position. He concentrated on bending his elbow firmly around the metal rod. The tension increased
and he felt the strain on his shoulder, but that’s all it was. A dull ache, not pain. The elbow joint creaked as if it were being crushed in a vice.

His gut told him to expect agony and blood but his brain told him that flesh and bone weren’t coming apart. It was only metal, carbon fibre and wire.

There was a massive crunch and a jolt. By instinct, Jordan cried out as his forearm detached at the elbow.

His hand and lower arm flew in one direction and he collapsed in the other.

Above him, Melissa Pink scratched her nose and said, “Not as spectacular as I’d hoped. But it’s good enough. You can’t do much damage with a stump.” She shouted to
her men, “Tie them both up, gag them, and sling them in the back of the van. Leave the arm here in case anyone comes looking for him. A nice little warning about what happens to people who
cross me.”

The ride in the van was horrible. He lay on the hard metal floor, barely able to breathe because of the tape across his mouth. Each time the van went round a corner, he rocked
sideways. When it braked or accelerated sharply, he slid up and down. His sweatshirt hung limply from the smashed elbow, reminding him how helpless he felt without his forearm.

But that discomfort was nothing compared with Amy’s angry face. She made him feel awful. Also gagged, she was trying to communicate with her eyes. They were very expressive. “How can
you still be alive?” she was saying. “What was your funeral all about? Why do you look so different? WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME?”

Jordan felt tortured by his dishonesty towards her, yet how could he have explained what had happened to him? The truth was too complicated, too hush-hush and probably too dangerous. He’d
made a deal with Angel never to contact her, never to reveal who he really was. He didn’t want her to vanish off the face of the planet like Deborah Metland.

At least he could be open and honest with her from now on because she knew who he was. But then would she want to stay friends? And did they have any hope of a future?

Jordan wanted to get himself and Amy out of this mess on his own. He didn’t want to rely on Unit Red, especially when he was determined to keep Amy secret. But they were in big trouble. He
had little choice. Concentrating enough to log on to the Unit Red computer was difficult under the circumstances. It took him three attempts to gain access. Then he left a message.
In a van,
kidnapped by Melissa Pink. Arm broken. No idea where going. Will update when I can
.

What would Angel make of that? He’d know what was happening, but what could he do about it? To attempt any sort of rescue, he’d have to know where Jordan was. But Jordan didn’t
have a clue. There were no windows in the back of the van.

Winter stood between the silos with half of Jordan’s arm in her hand. The GPS device that revealed Jordan’s location at all times was in this part of his false arm.
Into her phone, she said, “No, it’s not Jordan. It’s the section from the hand to the elbow. That’s all.”

“Is there any blood on it?” asked Angel.

“No. They’ve detached it at the elbow. He’s probably okay. But we’ve lost our trace. Has he got his mobile on?”