Chasing The Dawn (Luke Temple - Book 2) (Luke Temple Series) (22 page)

Chung Su sat alone in the car. She felt isolated in every sense of the word. In an immediate sense she was sat in a tiny stolen car surrounded by someone else’s life: magazines lay sprawled in the footwell, various music discs were crammed into the central partition between driver and passenger and the smell was one of a lived-in machine. Her captor had broken in and started the car in the time it took her to even process what was happening.

Robert Reid had driven them directly out of the town and navigated a range of windy roads that climbed up and away from Teramo. After around fifteen minutes they had stopped where the car now sat. In the morning silence, confronted with the rural winter scene, Chung Su couldn’t help but think of her family: her mother and grandfather was the extent of the family she had. Her father had disappeared before Chung Su reached two years old; all she ever knew was that he had been summoned to the Southern border within the De-Militarised Zone and had never returned.

Chung Su had grown up close to the DMZ stretching along the border between North and South Korea. Does it affect a person living so close to hatred? She had always felt it must do, somewhere deep inside it creates unrest, an ever-shifting anxiety that seeps into the soul. Looking far into the distance, the rolling Abruzzi hills framed her thoughts; they were so peaceful, so unfettered by pain or unease. Chung Su caught the tears in her eyes, blinking away the moisture. The streets of Teramo had been gentle and peaceful. She saw herself sweeping in like a demon.
Stop it, Stop it, stop it.
She needed to focus her thoughts elsewhere, focus on positives, lighter thoughts.

Grandfather …

***

Luke pushed the SIM card into place, and clicked the battery in over the top, replacing the back cover securely. He pressed down the power button and the familiar mobile operator logo flashed up. He left it for a while; no voicemail or text message symbol came up so he pressed the green dial button on the only number in the phone.

“Hello, Nissell & Randall?”

“Hi, I currently have money invested with one of your offshore departments.”

“Which department please?”

“Italy.”

“Branch?”

“Abruzzo.”

“Please hold.”

Luke waited for the high-pitched singular beep to stop and Davison’s voice to come on. But after several seconds Davison still hadn’t got on the line. Suddenly, the clipped female voice came back on
. “
I am sorry Sir, no one is available right now, we shall give you a call back shortly.”

The line went dead. Luke had not been expecting it and he looked inquisitively at the screen. He knew the procedure, if it was stated that someone would call back shortly then things were serious. It meant that Davison did not want to communicate in casual code. If he was calling back then it would be using their satellite system, bouncing the signal across a wide array of different satellites, putting any unwanted traces into an ongoing loop, completely secure.

The phone pinged into life, the screen flashed on and off but no number came up. The frame gently vibrated against Luke’s palm. He answered. “Hello, Robert speaking?”

“Temple, it’s Davison.”

The familiar East London tone came through clearly.

“We are fully encrypted so I hope you are somewhere you can talk freely.”

“Yeah.”

“The girl with you?”

“She is sat in a car twenty feet away.”

“Ok. We are exhausting options our end. I don’t know what your strategy is and at this point I don’t care. I know you are now aware how big this is. There are more players than we first thought so we are trying to readjust.”

Davison went silent; Luke didn’t say a word.

“I will level with you Luke, we didn’t see this coming. Vittorio’s disappearance was the catalyst for an unravelling of revelations that we were not prepared for. When he went missing we knew that there was work being done at the facility that was of European importance … but this … this we did not know.”

Luke could hear Davison was frustrated that Group 9 did not have a full view; it was what he lived for, total control.

“In what directions are you looking?” Luke asked.

“Because of your new best friend we are looking hard at the People’s Republic but you and I both know it can be like a black hole.”

“What have you got on her?”

Luke heard Davison take a breath. “She is a scientist … we are being told she is nothing more than that …”

“But?”

“She is definitely a scientist … fully legitimate … but I don’t like her work history, especially for the last eight years or so.”

“Why?”

“We can’t get a grip on it. She is down as working for the main government physics research lab in Pyongyang, but we cannot pin down exactly what she has been working on.”

“What are your thoughts?”

“I don’t know, but I know when I start hearing words like physics research associated with hostile dictatorships I get very nervous indeed.”

“There is more than one entity involved. My guess would be Iraq, Iran or Afghanistan ... maybe Syria.”

“That just a swing?”

“No, seen them, heard them, they are prepped and armed.”

Davison let out a low growl. “You have just named four entities that could fit a thousand profiles. They are the standard go-to players.”

“And?”

Davison didn’t answer.

“There are too many coincidences in all of this … and I don’t believe in …” Luke was cut off.

“Coincidences, I know.” Davison again went quiet. Luke looked over at the small white Fiat 500 that he had stolen, he could see Chung Su’s outline.

“We cannot afford to put anyone else on the ground with you, so you are our man at the moment. Can you prove there are more parties involved than just North Korea?” Davison’s voice was tense with anxiety.

“Not yet but I’ll do what I can. Instinct is telling me the girl is a sideshow, which would put the Republic as a sideshow as well.”

“But they are involved, that is pretty clear, and we have to find out what the hell is going on! What have you found on Vittorio?”

Luke knew not to release everything, not even to Davison.

“Not much …”

“Vittorio is key! He is key! Where the hell is he? You think he is dead?”

“Probably …”

“Really? Hmmm. I have a whole team thumbing through what professor Brun revealed …” Luke felt Davison bristle. “We don’t have the expertise to verify. What’s the girl saying?”

“Not a lot.”

“Shit Luke, you are an intelligence operative, give me something!”

Luke said nothing, there was nothing Davison could do. He knew that he was being told he was on his own so he may as well keep it that way.

“This is big, I don’t need to tell you that. We are sharing nothing with anyone at the moment, this is why we exist. But shit Luke … shit. This OPERA stuff … there are vultures swarming, and I don’t like it one bit.”

“Sure.”

“Ok … one thing I can do for you is provide some accessories. Ready for the location?”

“Go.”

“Corso San Giorgio, 36, IT64100.”

“Got it.” Luke committed it to memory, no trail.

“They will be there within two hours.”

Luke considered asking how Davison knew about what Brun had revealed, but what was the point? It changed nothing.

“Luke …” Davison hesitated. “I am no good with all of this science babble. Level with me … how bad could it potentially be?”

Luke thought a moment about the question. There was no point in lying, not to Davison.

“Start brushing up on that science babble because this is a game changer.”

“Then I don’t need to tell you that you are free to do whatever it takes. This isn’t a reconnaissance mission anymore, we need to get pre-emptive. You have to unravel this. You hear me, this is why you exist … find and neutralise. I don’t give a shit how you do it, but get the job done. Understood?”

Before Luke could answer the line went dead. He processed the conversation and ran through his options, they were few.

He walked back to the car and beckoned Chung Su out. She clicked the door open and stretched as she stood.

“Let’s go.”

“You say this very often …”

Luke gave a half smile. “I like to keep moving.”

“Yes, I noticed. Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.”

“Are we just leaving this here? Anyone can drive past, the police can find it here very quickly.”

Luke turned and stared at her. Chung Su felt herself go red. She had surprised herself with her thinking. Perhaps she was taking to this life more than she realised.

“It’s fine.”

They marched down the road. The morning was bitterly cold and the wind blew unhindered across the open plains. They reached a sharp bend where houses staggered up the hillside; Luke led Chung Su across the road and up to Professor Brun’s front gate.

Delvechi and Beltrano walked side by side back toward their cars. Beltrano had not said a word since leaving the café, he was navigating his own thoughts and Delvechi didn’t need to be psychic to know his boss didn’t want to chat.

Beltrano had interrogated the five men in the café as if they were murder suspects, showing absolutely no concern or sympathy for the victims. The five men were all construction workers by trade, none too bright, but not weak. Yet they all agreed they had been confronted by one man, the man who was with the girl
from the radio
.

Beltrano had pushed hard to get details
. How tall was he? What language did he speak? Was the girl hurt? Was the man hurt?
What weapons was he carrying? Did he seem scared or calm? How many times did he hit you? Did the girl help him?
Delvechi did not doubt the men’s unanimous testimony, which meant Beltrano had been right, it was a professional they were dealing with.

Delvechi felt a buzz
. Imagine wrapping this up as my first assignment.
Images of him being applauded by his superiors gave him a tingle. It was starting to become obvious that some dangerous people were interested in the OPERA experiment.
But what has the girl to do with all of this?

Suddenly a mobile phone ringtone blared to life. “I need to get this.” Beltrano grunted and stalked off around the corner. The call was quick. “Something has come up. I want you to do a door to door around here.” Delvechi gave a look of confusion. “We need to know how they got away from here, my guess is car, so put a call into the station and ask them to cross-reference any stolen car reports with this area.”

“But I can do that back at the station, Sir.” Delvechi tried to keep his voice upbeat so as not to anger Beltrano, but he couldn’t see the point in a door to door.

“No, you need to do a door to door … they may not have left the area.” Beltrano left no doubt that it was an order.

“I’ll make some enquiries. Who was on the phone?”

Beltrano was staring down the road, lost in his own thoughts. “No one ... report to me immediately if anything comes up.”

“Ok, but where are you …”

Beltrano was already walking back to his car before Delvechi could finish his sentence. Scratching his bandage, he shook his head.
Goddamn it!
The other two gunmen were gnawing at him, eating away at his thoughts. Delvechi felt the energy rising in him. He had not joined the force to sit by and let others mess up … mess up his glory.

He fished around in his pockets and tapped a number into his phone. He hesitated, staring down the road as the Mazda screeched round a corner. He pressed dial. “Yes, it’s Officer Delvechi … I need the number for the ENAC head office in Rome …”

The professor had aged ten years. The homely atmosphere that had been present on Luke’s first visit had evaporated; the whole house was now under a cloud and the stench of alcohol was powerful.

“Ok, it’s clear.” Luke re-entered the room.

“I had told you that …
Mr Reid
. My wife is staying elsewhere; I thought it was for the best.” Brun let his head drop; his hand shot out instinctively for a glass tumbler that contained whiskey.

“We need new clothes.” Luke was taking control. “Professor, I want you to go upstairs and get a set of your clothes for me, warm and comfortable, and then something from your wife for her,” he jerked his head to the side in the direction of Chung Su, “same requirements. Then we need some sort of combustible fuel, I saw oil out in the shed.”

Chung Su picked up on the statement. “You have been here before?”

Luke didn’t respond. He nodded to Brun and the professor wobbled up the stairs, unsure on his feet.

Luke took out the 9 mm Beretta and sat it on a small table; he then extracted the kitchen knife and placed it next to the Beretta. Brun returned after only a short time, he had clothes draped over his arms. Moving to the centre of the room he dropped it all into a pile. “I think you will find what you need in there.” He then turned to head outside.

“Professor, bring some grease and a cloth back as well.”

Brun nodded, his eyes lingered on Chung Su. “Miss Chung, are you ok, my dear?”

Chung Su really did not know the answer to that question. What did
ok
even mean anymore? She had so much to try and understand that she no longer knew which way was up. But a purpose had started to form out of the haze, a purpose bigger than just the hunt for her countrymen. She was stood face to face with a man who had done the unthinkable.
I am such a fool, how did I not see it?

“Miss Chung, I feel partly responsible for … I wish I had never invited you, I really am very sorry.” Brun glanced over at Luke, his eyes bloodshot.

“Professor, please, it would have taken a very strong force to stop me coming. It is not your fault … none of this is.” Chung Su spoke softly.

“It is … it is … we weave a web and then feel sickened by what we catch.” Brun was rambling

“You did it … Professor … you and Professor Vittorio did it. Is it real?” In the professor’s presence her heart bent only to her life’s work … discovery.

Brun looked back at his young counterpart. Recognising the fire in her, his eyes welled up. “We did it.”