Counterpoint (43 page)

They had to sink the cylinder before
anyone else saw it!

Seizing the opportunity, Teal told his
team to close in and arrest Gregor and his men, while they were
surprised, and confused.

Teal was about 300 metres away when his
men were spotted, so Gregor’s men turned back for the cover of the
warehouse. Teal and his men were out in the open and would be cut
down by the automatic weapons, fired by Gregor’s men.

The criminals started to run, but
faltered and stopped. Framed in the large lit doorway of the
warehouse was a young girl clutching a machine gun in each hand,
the butts pinched tightly between elbows and ribs. Teal and his men
watched tensely while scurrying closer.

Her slight build and shoulder length
blond hair gleaming healthily in the yellow light was at odds with
the situation. She stood perfectly still, her slim legs placed
slightly apart for stability, were clad in tight fitting black
trousers.

The two machine-guns pointed menacingly
at Gregor and his men, broke up the shapely silhouette formed by
her stylishly tailored black jacket. The profile of her face showed
a mask of intense concentration, from Teal’s viewpoint; though
Gregor saw her grin wickedly at him.

It was bound to happen, one girl
against 20 or so hard men. Two of them leapt sideways and drew
their own guns. The girl fired both her guns simultaneously, one at
each man, the recoil juddered her frail body backwards slightly as
she leant into their recoil. With a spray of six bullets, neatly
grouped into each body, the men hit the floor stone dead without
getting a shot off themselves.

By now Teal and his men swarmed around
Gregor and Carla, shouting to drop their weapons.

Not wishing to provoke Teal’s men,
Carla cautiously lowered her guns and placed them on the ground in
front of her, placing her hands behind her head and stepped back.
Someone shouted almost hysterically for her to lie on the ground,
as Teal moved close to her, covering her with his own gun.

“You must be joking,” she said, turning
to face Teal for the first time, “I’m wearing Gucci.” She then gave
Teal her stunning smile. Her beautiful face was half lit as she
turned. Teal felt something stir deep in the core of his being as
he studied this fascinating girl before him. All his tensions
relaxed as he took in her features. The slightly pert nose, defiant
twinkling eyes and perfect white teeth, as her smile grew
warmer.

“Christ, ” he thought, “She is so
sweet, so young and innocent looking, ” he just wanted to hold her
tight and protect her. His whole body was relaxing as he came under
her spell, her scent reached him, so delicate and understated.

“Who the hell do you think you are?”
shouted Teal, “Lara Croft”

“She’s just fiction, I’m the real
thing!” she quipped.

More shouting from the operative
demanding she lay on the ground, snapped Teal back to reality, he
raised his gun to cover her.

“OK! OK! I have her,” he said as the
operative backed off. “I take it; you are on our side, “smiled
Teal.

“Yes Agent Teal” she said as though she
had known him for a long time. He was taken aback that she appeared
to know him.

“So you are the mysterious girl who
phoned me about the friend and his son, being held prisoner by
Gregor Yeltsin!”

Carla just smiled as a reply.

Just as quickly, her face was serious,
“I can’t find my friend, but I suspect he is in that thing,” she
said pointing to the cylinder drifting across the water.

Teal barked orders, “Get that container
back here, there may be someone inside it, watch out for surprises
and possibly booby-traps.”

The ship’s crew were mainly working in
the warehouse, so only four were on board when Teal’s men boarded
her. As yet, no one had got round to warning anyone in Yeltsin’s
organisation.

As the eight divers surfaced, they were
arrested and taken away with all the others, except Gregor and
John.

Teal’s helicopter was used to tow the
cylinder back to the dock, it being quicker than finding a motor
launch that early in the morning.

Minutes later, FBI men undid the cover
plate and released Max. Teal was rather jealous when he saw Max and
Carla together, the warmth and devotion that shone in their faces,
for each other, as they hugged.

Teal interrupted them and was about to
arrest them when Max forestalled him.

“The warehouse is full of missiles and
nuclear weapons,” he said,

“Buyers are due here today, so if you
get organised, you will probably catch them, as well. I also know
who is who,” Max lied.

Teal only took a couple of seconds to
weigh up the situation and deferred their arrest until later.

“I have some welcome news for you as
well” beamed Teal “Your son is safe. The police arrived just in
time and had to shoot the man called Nikolai, he had a gun to
James’s head and was about to pull the trigger.

“I heard two shots over the phone,”
said Max.

“Yes, that was from two of the armed
police, one shot through the base of the neck to paralyse him and
one through the head.

Teal’s team took Gregor’s men’s clothes
as a disguise, and beavered about the warehouse looking busy, while
Max and Carla, Gregor and John were kept under close scrutiny.

“The trick will be to make the early
buyers feel at ease while the others arrive,” said Max to Teal.
“Gregor and John must be clearly visible, but unavailable,
apparently preoccupied with some business problem.”

“I will organise a doctor to give them
a drug so we can question them and it will also allow us to speak
to them when the buyers arrive, but they won’t be able to warn
them,” commented Teal.

“You two will stay here as well, so we
can keep an eye on you.”

According to an informant, Teal had a
good idea of how business should go and briefed everyone. A
computer expert worked on Gregor’s office computer, and with the
information Gregor and John gave when drugged, they printed off the
list of armaments for sale. Each buyer was to be given a list, they
would indicate what they wanted, and a secret bid would be made.
The highest bidder got the goods.

Money would be transferred from their
account to that of Gregor’s using the computer, and then the goods
would be loaded.

The FBI created an account of their own
in the Cayman Islands to receive the buyer’s money.

Tracking devices would be fitted to
each crate so the loads could be followed to the final destination
and teams of Agents were standing by to follow the weapons.

“I want you two,” he said to Max and
Carla “To check the loading. You will be told what each buyer is to
take from the computer operator, this way we can keep an eye on you
at the same time.”

They looked at each other knowingly;
escape was not going to be easy this time.

As preparations were being made for the
buyers’ arrival, Max watched the computer technician familiarise
himself with the system. There was no doubt the man was brilliant
at what he did, in no time at all, he worked out all he needed to
run the programs. It looked like the FBI would pull this trick off,
and no one would be the wiser.

Max asked the man how the money
transfer worked. The man saw no reason not to explain, in layman’s
terms at least.

“I set up the account numbers and log
onto the banks involved. The buyer types in his details, account
number, amount, passwords and so on, then I press the transfer
button here,” he said, pointing to the screen “And wait for my bank
to confirm the cash has been received. Pretty fool proof really,”
he said smugly.

“Yes, ” agreed Max, “Very impressive”
and suggested he had better check where all the various crates
were, so loading would be trouble free.

He and Carla went over to Teal, to tell
him what they had decided to do, but anticipating their desire to
escape somehow, he said “Only one of you can leave the office at a
time, for the moment. By the way,” he added, “Tell the computer
technician to set up a dummy run with a consignment list and you
find the items ready to load.”

“Right, ” said Max willingly and they
both walked back to the office.

“What are those two up to now?”
muttered Teal and returned his concentration to the task in
hand.

Max walked back into the little office
and told the technician Teal wanted him; he wants you to do a dummy
run or something. The man got up and walked across the warehouse
and spoke to Teal. When he got there, both men turned to see Max
and Carla were still in the office. “Those two are up to
something,” snapped Teal to the technician, “Don’t trust them an
inch.” then he repeated his instruction given to Max, about the
trial run.

With everything in place, the buyers
started to arrive. There were ten altogether, and they wanted to
speak to Gregor. They could see him, and he could see them, but
were told, he was busy, and would be out to see them as soon as
possible.

The lists were issued, and some crates
were opened, to let the buyers check the weapons were intact and
worth buying. Fortunately, Gregor’s reputation as a trusted dealer
went a long way to speed up the checking process.

Bids were made, and with a bit of
manipulation of figures by the FBI technician, no one would be
leaving empty handed.

The computer technician showed each
buyer what to type in and then he made the transfer. When the funds
were confirmed, he issued Max or Carla a list for loading.

Teal was surprised at how well they
worked together, though their air of confidence nagged at him.
Surely they knew they would be arrested, when the sale was
over.

Max and Carla were feeling a little
smug, but it was nothing to do with escape. As yet, they had no
plan and could see a remarkably little chance of getting away, so
far, Teal and his men were watching them extremely closely.

The last few crates were about to be
loaded when Max said “Hop into an empty crate, and I will load you
on this last lorry.” Carla would have argued, but it was probably
the only chance for her to escape, Max might find an opportunity
later.

As she walked over to the dark corner
of the warehouse, Teal spotted her and called her back. “Go to the
office and tell the technician to lock you in. Your partner will be
finished in a minute, and he will join you. If you get bored, you
can talk to Gregor, he will tell you all about himself.”

For the moment, Carla did as she was
told, and left Teal chuckling to himself.

The technician stepped out of the
office and locked the door; it was time for a well-earned smoke he
thought.

With the last crate loaded, the
forklift trucks were parked and switched off.

The men started a systematic search of
the few remaining crates in the warehouse and Wilcox told Max to go
and wait in the office.

As Max walked across the open floor the
soft explosion of a large glass vessel high above in the roof made
him look up as shards of glass fell around him. A rapidly expanding
grey mist descended and quickly filled the warehouse.

Before it could reach him, Max dashed
to the office door, unlocked it and ran in, slamming the door
closed behind him. Max sank to the floor, gasping, white as a sheet
with shock and terror at what happened.

Carla had heard the explosion and
tinkling glass and watched in horror as the mist reached the FBI
men. One breath and their faces contorted in agony, they fell
writhing soundlessly for a few seconds then lay still. She was
close enough to see the blood run out of their nose, mouth, eyes
and ears and drip in shiny crimson pools on the dirty concrete
floor.

Shocked to her very soul, at what she
had just witnessed, she refused to comprehend that the bloodied
faces belonged to the FBI men she had been working with. She backed
away from the door, her eyes fixed on the dense white death mist
pressing on the glass. She knew it must be all around the outside
of the room, searching for a hole or gap in the structure to reach
its next victim.

She bumped into the table where Gregor
and John sat quietly, still in a drugged state.

Whirling round, she screamed at Gregor,
“You bastard, what is this white mist that’s killing everyone?
“

He looked dazed, not understanding the
question without context. She asked again in a calmer voice. “You
set a booby trap in the roof of the warehouse, a white mist or
smoke came from it making people bleed to death.”

Gregor replied in a monotone and a
matter-of-fact way. “It is a binary chemical weapon. Massive
haemorrhage results in seconds and the victim drowns in their own
blood when it gets into the lungs.”

Carla’s blood turned to ice water, and
she felt dizzy, blackness was closing in on her vision.

“It’s got me” flashed through her brain
and a flood of adrenaline poured into her system. In fright mode
now, her symptoms disappeared as the faint, for that is all it was,
vanished.

Her lightning quick brain understood
the problem, the solution was obvious, but the implementation
seemed impossible. How to get from the confines of this isolated
room, across the warehouse through the deadly mist into the fresh
air outside, without it touching her or Max in any way. A spacesuit
would be handy, or a special outfit the chemical and germ warfare
scientists’ use, but nothing like this would be found here.

The synapse continued to explode in her
brain like a public firework display as she furiously searched
everywhere in the room for an answer.

Max got up and tried to focus on the
problem, like Carla, he knew they had to get out somehow. The walls
of the office were very solid, no way out that way. There were
certainly no protective clothes here, just the usual things you
would find it in an office. Paper, pens and paper clips.