Out of the Shadows (Akira and Deane Thriller Series Book 1) (13 page)

As the crowd
began to move closer, Olsen spoke quietly to the pack of locals,
informing them they would have to stay where they were. ‘Law
samaHT, intidherni!’ He gave a nod to the agent who would wait with
the locals as Olsen resumed his place on the left side of the
Prince. Another sweeping look was given around the harbour side,
noticing the looks of joy on all the faces of the men, women and
children, especially. At the same time, one man caught his
attention. Something in Olsen’s mind was activated as his senses
became keenly alert. The individual at the corner of the harbour
side walkway seemed familiar to him. Not in a friendly way, he did
not know the man but his features sent a warning sign to
him
. I recognise him…from where?
He looked back to see the Prince inspecting a
harbour boat and then returned his gaze to the man who had now
moved off but had retained his unyielding glare at the British
Royal party. Unlike the rest of the locals, there was no sign of
joy on this man’s face, only a glare that appeared to be taking in
facts and information.
Information on the
number of agents in the security contingent, perhaps?
He thought to himself. Olsen’s mind scrutinised
and remembered every detail about him. The target was wearing dark
brown trousers, together with a grey shirt. His black hair was in a
ponytail, with his dark green eyes still refusing to leave the
Prince, in particular.

Deane walked
alongside and made sure his partner was still to the left. He
looked back at Prince David and stopped a harbour man from getting
too close, before resuming his position.

Olsen racked
his brain for where he had seen the target before. Despite his best
efforts, the face couldn’t be placed. Behind him, the Prince was
continuing to look at the harbour boat. Olsen made his decision.
His instincts were screaming at him that the target was known and
dangerous. He touched the arm of the nearest member of the Royals
security personnel. ‘Cover this position. I’ll be back in 1 minute
tops.’ Before any protests could be made, Olsen moved away from the
party and quickly made his way up a small flight of stairs that led
to the harbour side walkway. He kept hold of his light brown
jacket, so not to alarm the crowd by revealing his weapon and moved
through the locals with the sight of the pony-tailed target some
metres ahead. As several families got in his way, Olsen quietly
excused himself as they moved. ‘Lo tsimiHun…Lo tsimiHun.’ He called
out to the groups. At the end of the walkway, the target was
nowhere in sight. Olsen scrutinised every individual nearby.
Despite moving back towards the main street, there was still no
sign of the target.

Deane looked
out to the harbour and could see many boats approaching, all of
them visibly containing perishable stock that would end up on the
market before the day was out. Deane did a double take as he
checked the left side and saw no sign of his partner. He glanced
around sharply, taking in every face, every person.
Where’s Sam? Why isn’t he following my orders? I
can’t protect him unless he listens to me!
He continued his search, becoming more concerned with every
passing moment.

Olsen returned to his post and
relieved the other agent. Straight away, a glare from his partner
caught his eye. Over the radio, Deane’s voice could be heard. ‘Stay
with the party! Don’t wander off!’ Olsen nodded back at him,
choosing to explain his actions when any possibility of a threat
had passed. He looked around the area for the last time but could
still see no sign of the target that had completely vanished from
the crowd. Olsen furrowed his brow, still unable to remember where
he had seen that face before.

Burton signed
the confidential operation sheet, placed it back in the folder and
threw it roughly in the direction of his ‘Out’ tray at the far side
of his desk. Burton released a heavy sigh, got up and looked out of
his window. Once again, another rainy day had presented itself to
London. As the window held off another torrent, Burton made a
decision to take a long lunch hour and surprise his wife at home.
Despite the news that the money was now in his private account, he
had yet to feel like a man who had gotten his life and family back
from the brink. A sleepless night had not helped matters either.
Burton took his faded trench coat off the hook and closed the door
to his office. His assistant looked up from her lunch. ‘Just
popping out Dawn, going to stop off at home for a while and come
back this afternoon, yeah?’

The young woman
put down her yoghurt and gave her boss a confused look. ‘You ok,
sir? You don’t seem yourself at all. By the way, don’t forget you
have that meeting this afternoon. You didn’t forget, did
you?’

Burton raised
his eyebrows; he had forgotten. To his surprise, it didn’t bother
him at all, almost as if it didn’t matter. ‘Yeah, the meeting,
right. I’ll be back for that, no problem.’ He noticed the miniscule
lunch his assistant had and wondered how she could make it through
a day on such small meals. ‘Don’t go bingeing now, Dawn, see you in
a bit.’

The assistant broke out in a
smile and thanked her lucky stars she had been assigned to the
likeable Burton rather than the more formal senior agents.

In the lift, he
pressed the button for the basement and leaned against one of the
mirrored walls. For the hundredth time, he tried to erase his act
of betrayal to the service from his memory. More than anything he
wanted to pay off his debts and prove to his wife and son that he
wasn’t the failure they had been led to believe. Ever since the
schedule of the Royal visit had been sold, however, Burton had been
thinking of the consequences that would come very soon. Even though
he was still convinced that he’d done the right thing, the guilt
had proven to be unbearable.
Was it really
the only option, or was I just too bone idle to find an
alternative?
He thought to himself. Burton
reached his car, got in and pulled out of the dreary basement. As
he moved into second gear, the mobile phone in his chest pocket
began to vibrate. He flipped it open with his other hand loosely on
the wheel. ‘Yeah, Burton. Who’s this?’

‘It’s Harry.
How’s it going, mate? Booked any luxury holidays yet?’

‘Hiya, Harry
mate, I’m riddled with debts remember? Listen, thanks again, I owe
you one big time. There’s no problem is there?’ He pulled the car
into a nearby garage and purchased some flowers for his
wife.

‘No…of course
not. Something has come up though. If you think that money was
something useful then this will blow you away. You
ready?’

Burton got back
in his car and waited for a gap in the traffic. So far, he didn’t
like where the conversation was going. ‘What you are talking about,
Harry?’

‘It’s simple. My clients are
very interested in you working for them on a more full time basis.
You know, just little things here and there, we’re not talking
trade secrets, just useful bits of…shall we say confidential
information. You get me?’

‘Jesus, Harry,
don’t you remember what I said? It was a one off, that’s it. I’m
never doing it again, to tell you the truth I’m having second
thoughts about it all anyway. Either way, I got the money but it
came with a price, I’ll never do it again, believe me!’

Harry’s voice
turned vicious in a heartbeat. ‘Don’t you get it, Hal? This was
never going to be a one off. If you really believed that then
you’re a bigger fool then I thought you were.’

‘What you
saying?’ Burton gripped the steering wheel tightly as the stress
built up inside him.

‘You don’t say
no to these people, Hal! I’ll make it real clear for you. Either
you help them again, or I’ll have no choice but to disclose your
details to them. No way am I taking the fall for you,
mate.’

Burton smashed
his free hand on the steering wheel. ‘You son of a bitch, Harry! I
won’t be bullied by anyone, least of all you! I’m loyal to my job
and my family. If you want to sell me out then go right ahead,
you’ll just have to live with it!’ Burton snapped the phone shut
and threw it violently away,; several pieces of plastic broke off
as they flew around the front seats. ‘Shit!’ He wiped his brow,
which was sweating profusely and shook his head. The fact that
Harry was willing to sell him out was no surprise. Burton was
furious with himself though; clearly, he had misjudged the
situation and was now in way over his head. He caught sight of the
speedometer and pushed hard on the brake as the turning for his
road appeared through the heavy rain. The car swerved in the wet
conditions, just missed a neighbour’s car, slowed and then turned
into the driveway. Burton moved back and forth, as the vehicle came
to a halt. He took the keys out of the ignition and sensed his
chest was feeling tighter by the second.
Was Harry just bluffing or are his clients going to come
after me?
Burton thought of the
consequences but immediately shook his head, as if to empty them
from his mind. He got out of the car and slammed the door shut,
forgetting the flowers that were now half in the car and half out.
‘Oh for god’s sake, gimme a break.’ He mumbled to himself, trying
to shake some life back into the flowers at the same
time.

Kate sat at the
dining room table and tried again to write the letter that her
husband would find when he returned from work that day. She had
toyed with the idea of telling him face to face but genuinely
believed she would not be able to carry it through, no doubt
deciding to stay with him once again. She looked at her wedding
ring on her finger, not entirely sure of her actions. A noise at
the door made her look up straight away. To her surprise, her
husband appeared at the doorway holding some flowers that looked
worse than she felt. ‘Hal! What a lovely surprise, I didn’t expect
to see you until later!’

‘Yeah well, it
was quiet at the office so I thought I’d come home and surprise my
lovely wife! Oh, these are for you, love.’

Kate took the
flowers and looked at some of the bulbs that appeared to have been
severed from the rest. ‘You shouldn’t have, Hal…they’re lovely,
really.’

‘No probs. Listen uh…sit down
for a minute.’ He took his wife by the arm as they both sat down,
noticing the writing pad on the table. ‘You started writing letters
again?’

Kate took the
pad and put it away in a nearby drawer. ‘It’s nothing, just sending
a letter to my cousin, that’s all.’ She studied her husband more
closely. ‘It’s not more bad news, is it?’

‘No! Of course
not, I just wanted you to know that I’ve sorted out all our
financial probs, that’s all.’

Kate took her hand away from
his, wondering what her husband had done to achieve this. ‘Just
like that? One minute we’re in the red and on the verge of being
kicked out on the streets and then…what…everything is ok now?’

‘Well…yeah. All
you need to know is that we’re gonna be ok and things will get
better from now on. I promise you I won’t let you and Oscar down
again. You do believe me don’t you, Kate?’

Kate looked at
her husband and barely recognised the man she married years ago.
Whoever sat in front of her now was not the same person. A part of
her wanted to scream at him for thinking things could be fixed so
easily but then she remembered the letter and felt newfound
confidence on what she would write. ‘Of course I believe you, Hal.’
She hugged her husband for the last time, breaking away before he
could kiss her. ‘Anyway, lovely to see you but I promised Oscar I’d
take him for a lunchtime walk, now that it’s stopped raining. Is
that ok?’

Burton smiled back at the wife
he loved, feeling assured things with his family were back on
track. ‘Sure, I’ll grab myself some lunch here.’ He moved to kiss
his wife but she was already walking up the stairs to collect their
son. Burton thought nothing of it and released a long sigh of
relief.

Chapter 10

Sunday, March 4
^th
15:00,

Muscat, Oman.

Olsen sat in the Land Rover as they
followed the British Royal party away from the harbour. The tension
between him and his partner, Deane, had risen to breaking point
since the disagreement. The younger agent looked across. ‘Look, we
may not agree on everything but I recognised that man and I took a
chance. My instinct told me he was a danger.’

Deane didn’t
take his eyes off the traffic ahead. ‘So you decided to leave the
Prince vulnerable on one side and follow a hunch? When are you
going to learn that protocol is the key to this job, you follow the
rules and the team you’re protecting will survive!

Olsen interrupted. ‘I don’t
need another lecture on protocol!’ Old feelings of frustration
surged to the surface as another argument between them began.

Deane looked
across with frustration etched on his face. ‘I taught you the
rules; you still need to listen to me!’ He gripped the steering
wheel harder and continued. ‘Right now it’s your attitude that is
at the heart of the problem! You’re reckless!’

Olsen always
found accepting other people’s opinions difficult. ‘You have your
rules and I have mine! I did what I thought was best, no harm came
to the Prince after all.’ He looked away and out of the window,
wishing he could leave the car and the argument behind.

‘Don’t you
remember what I taught you?’ Deane stopped the car as the traffic
slowed and looked across again. ‘Always make sure you know the
situation fully before making your move. I agree that you should
listen to your instinct but you put the Prince in danger. That was
unacceptable!’ He followed the Royal Party of cars into Al Khuwair
Street and pulled over before they reached the UK Embassy. ‘As I’m
sure you know from the schedule, the Prince is due to dine with
Stuart Laing, the UK Ambassador, here. I want you to remain in the
car and keep watch over things out here, is that
understood?’