Out of the Shadows (Akira and Deane Thriller Series Book 1) (19 page)

Bedford
continued to watch Jozef inspect the stained glass window. As yet,
the MI6 agent had yet to decide exactly what the man was
doing.
Waiting for someone perhaps?
He thought to himself. Bedford furrowed his brow
and casually turned his head slightly. The reflection of his face
in a nearby silver ornament caught his attention and sent a quick
shiver down his spine. It was not the twisted and disjointed
representation that made him feel so startled but the sign of
someone moving towards his position very slowly. Bedford didn’t
waste a moment and began to walk up the nearby staircase that led
to what appeared to be offices and storage rooms above. His senses
became heightened and quickly registered other footsteps on the
staircase. Bedford’s breathing quickened as he reached the top, and
looked around for an exit.
If I can just
get to the outside, I could lose them in the crowd…

Ferec gave a
nod to Jozef and both men rushed up the stairs and saw a door close
at the far end of the corridor. The blonde haired Ferec gave a
smile to his friend, knowing there was no escape from that room.
‘This will be over in seconds. Wait here.’

Upon entrance
into the room, which was a small office, Bedford glanced quickly
around every corner but realised with dread that there was no hope
of escape. Footsteps could be heard approaching, as he pushed open
the nearest window and looked outside. A thin ledge ran across the
red brickwork and Bedford took a deep breath, stepped out back
first and gripped onto whatever presented itself. The window
snapped shut as his blonde hair rustled in the wind. He edged along
as quickly as he could and slowly gripped the window of the next
room with his fingernails. It flipped open, nearly knocking him off
balance, as Bedford climbed into a storage room and slumped on the
floor. He took a few seconds to control his ever-quickening
heartbeat, and pulled out his Browning 9mm semi-automatic pistol.
The door opened slowly, enough for him to see Jozef standing
outside the office he had just left. Bedford knew there was no time
to lose…

Ferec remained
in his aggressive stance, with his pistol out in front of him at
all times, as he scanned every corner of the room. A nearby
wardrobe, big enough for a man to hide, shuddered under several
bullets as they exploded out of the chamber of his silenced pistol.
Ferec slowly opened the doors, expecting to find a body but instead
found several robes filled with holes. Utter confusion took over
him as he approached the window and began to survey the view of the
market place. His head suddenly whirled around at the sound of a
commotion coming from outside the door. His athletic frame leapt
over the nearby desk and opened the door, revealing Jozef lying
motionless on the carpeted floor. Ferec’s eyes widened, his mind
working overtime, as he attempted to calculate whether other
Government agents were now in the church. He slowly moved out of
the doorframe but could see no sign of anyone. The sound of a door
slamming behind caused him to spin around and immediately sprint
toward the door at the far end of the corridor, firing occasionally
as he caught sight of his target. Ferec remembered the church
layout and knew the roof was the only destination from that exit.
He burst into the room and quickly began to climb the first ladder,
still confident he could finish the resistance quickly.

Bedford watched
for a moment from his position and then stepped out from the large
wooden beam in the corner of the room and aimed his Browning pistol
at the tall blonde terrorist on the ladder. His thunderous voice
pierced the silence. ‘Don’t make any sudden moves! Drop your weapon
onto the floor.’ Bedford’s senses were ready for any sudden
developments as he stood with his knees bent, and both hands on his
pistol. ‘Do it now!’

Ferec cursed himself in his
mind ten times over. For the first time in years, he realised he
had underestimated his opponent, as he dropped his pistol to the
floor. Despite his predicament, the arrogance of a near
impenetrable man still boiled away inside of Ferec.

Bedford watched his target
slowly step down the ladder, one rung at a time. ‘Keep your hands
where I can see them!’ Finally the man turned around and stared
hard at him, with his hands in the air. He noticed almost an
insulted look on his face. Bedford ignored it, and stepped forward,
aligning himself with the doorway. His eyes quickly shifted towards
the corridor on his right, and back to his target. Jozef could
still be seen lying motionless outside the office not far away.
‘Get down on your knee’s! DOWN! Now, who the hell are you huh? I
want a name!’

Ferec bowed his head and said
nothing, feeling more than happy to wait for an opportunity that,
in his mind, would inevitably come. Several other questions were
fired at him but still he gave no response. His smug looking eyes
noticed his pistol at the far corner of the room. Ferec began to
think of how to reach it.

Bedford swallowed hard and
shook his head. The terror inside him of being alone threatened to
take hold with every passing second. He glanced to his right again
to check on Jozef and gasped at what he saw. His eyes went wide
with horror, his pupils got larger and the empty corridor ahead
made him shudder. Nobody was there. ‘Oh god…get up, move yourself!’
He grabbed his hostage and pushed him up against the wall, his
Browning pistol now pressed up hard against his head. ‘Where’s he
gone huh?’ Bedford continued to look around in all directions,
attempting to catch a sign of where Jozef had disappeared. Silence
filled the room until laughter broke through. His hostage suddenly
began to laugh uncontrollably. Bedford realised his breathing and
heart rate had gotten out of control and pushed the barrel of his
pistol firmly into the man’s skull. ‘You son of a bitch, tell me
where he’s gone. Now!!’

Ferec continued to laugh,
almost feeding off his captor’s obvious terror of what was to come.
‘Calm yourself little one, it will soon be over.’ Another sick
laugh took over him.

Bedford blew out his cheeks
frequently, now unable to control himself or his rapid heartbeat.
Sheer dread began to fill every part of his body and mind. He
pushed his hostage out of the doorframe and slowly began to walk
down the corridor; with no sign of the ambush that was almost
definitely going to come.

Chapter 14

Thursday, March 8
^th
12:45,

Vauxhall, London.

Rachel fiddled with her dark brown hair
and stepped off the number 36 bus, narrowly avoiding a group of
school kids who were waiting with their teacher. A cold wind had
come in and what had been a predominant blue sky had now turned
heavily overcast. Wearing a long sleeved light blue top, black
jeans and a long warm looking grey jacket, she walked briskly along
the street, trying to find the umbrella in her bag.

Pushing her folded nurses
uniform out of the way, she found it, and had it open just in time
as the first droplets began to fall from a now dismal looking sky.
Just seeing the uniform again made her recall the last eight hours.
It had been another difficult shift at Guys Hospital. But then
again, working in the Casualty unit of any hospital was never going
to be routine. Of late though she had struggled to treat the
constant flow of patients without getting emotionally involved in
each case, and that constant drain of energy had left her feeling
drawn and very tired.

Just the other day she had been
talking with another nurse as to why she had been reacting this
way. Rachel had been a nurse for eight years now, and at twenty
nine years of age she couldn’t remember the last time it had all
become such a struggle. For weeks now she had been unable to put
her finger on what was the cause and then a DOA had come into
Casualty and for the scariest moment she could have sworn it was
her fiancée, Sam Olsen, and that had terrified her. She’d felt
physically sick for hours and had been unable to shake the image of
her future husband lying helpless on a trolley. After all, just how
hard had she tried over the years to make him see the risks? Had
she done enough? Did he know just how much she wanted him to leave
the service?

That was it and
she knew why. Only a few days before she had found some paperwork
at Olsen’s flat and just finding something that clarified who he
worked for and what was involved had disturbed her. Not that the
paperwork gave away anything at all, it was just so formal and it
could be read in so many ways, it was obvious the jargon and
general innuendo was hiding something dangerous, information they
didn’t want people to know. That was her husband’s job, not nine to
five, or pushing paper around, he worked for the Government on the
most dangerous form of work there was.

Truth be told,
she didn’t exactly know what he did and that didn’t help. Not that
he could tell her, the Official Secrets Act put paid to that. He
was a Government agent, there was no doubt about it, which was bad
enough, but what exactly did he do? Protect people? Work in the
background or on the front line? Every time or had things
changed?

They had talked about it on few
occasions, but each time he had visibly clammed up and though she
had found out details important to her, it had never been enough
but she had learnt to deal with it. Until now. Maybe it was the
passing of time, it was hard to say, but she knew one thing, living
with the knowledge that her husband may never return time and time
again would be too much for her in the long run. Despite being
besotted with Olsen, it was getting harder and harder. With every
goodbye at the airport, the painful moment when he disappeared
seemed to hurt her more each time and all she longed for was a
normal life. Not necessarily nine to five, but knowing at least
that she wasn’t going to lose the man she loved at any given moment
years before their time.

As she came
around the corner she saw Sam waiting dutifully outside Café Uno
Restaurant. Even from a distance it looked like he was guarding the
place rather than waiting for her.
My Sam.
Always the protector.

Rachel saw her man visually
brighten as she came into view and they hugged tightly, and then
kissed softly. She searched his dark brown eyes and his features.
He was happy to see her, that was obvious, but straight away she
knew he had bad news, she had seen it many times before and even
though she tried not to look, it was all helpless. It could only
mean one thing.

He was going away again.

Rachel’s heart fluttered as
they went inside and her appetite vanished in a flash. She was
already preparing herself for that heart wrenching goodbye where
they would both kid themselves it was going to be ok, when in
reality it was all out of control and for Rachel, there was nothing
worse.

Burton leant forward and placed
his elbows on the desk in his office. A radiant smile spread across
his features, and his eyes suddenly filled with life at the sight
of his wife and child walking towards him. All the raw pain and
darkness just faded away as he got up and walked towards the love
of his life. Before he could hold her, a noise emanated from
behind, one that wouldn’t go away. Burton tried to dismiss it and
took another step forward but something pulled him back. To his
dismay, the image of his family dissolved and he awoke with a grunt
and the sight of his assistant shaking him, as he lay back in his
chair fast asleep.

‘Sir, wake up, please!!’

Burton rubbed his temples, and
leant forward. His head was spinning, and his whole body felt like
a ten-ton weight. ‘Ok…ok, I’m here! Ugh…’ He caught sight of a look
from his assistant, which was full of pity. ‘Hey…I’m not as bad as
I look ok? I’ve just got that Monday feeling again you know
Dawn?’

The young assistant raised her
eyes to the ceiling and walked out of the room, silently talking to
herself as she went. ‘Every single week…’

Burton opened
his bloodshot eyes and waited for the room to stop spinning before
answering. ‘I heard that Dawn!’ He took a deep breath and struggled
out of the chair before leaning against the window. Only in the
last few hours had the realisation that his family had left him
sunk in. Sleep had been impossible; eating had been out of the
question. Burton was convinced that if he could just talk to her
one more time they could patch things up. Finding her though had
proven to be the problem. During the early hours of the morning,
Burton had driven to his wife’s sisters and forced his way inside
the house. His family were nowhere to be seen. All of his wife’s
friends had not heard from her, there appeared to be no trail
leading to them.
I won’t give up, I’ll
find them eventually, and then we’ll be together again.

The view from the window held
his concentration as a single boat passed under Vauxhall Bridge
along the River Thames. Once again, his mind began to float away as
the hypnotic waves took him away to a place where his family was
with him again. He gave a shake of the head and opened the large
filling cabinet, removed a folder, but winced hard as the words on
the pages failed to come into focus. He looked up slowly to the
powerful florescent lights above him and glanced away immediately.
Seconds later, he poked his head around the corner to see his
assistant pounding away on her keyboard. ‘Hey Dawn, do me a favour
and get maintenance up here to look at the lights in my office
yeah?’

The young assistant swivelled
around in her chair and turned her head to one side, clearly not
understanding the reasoning behind the request. ‘The lights? But
yours are the same as the rest of the office aren’t they sir?’ Her
eyes focussed on her superior as she got up from her chair. ‘Are
you feeling alright today?’