Out of the Shadows (Akira and Deane Thriller Series Book 1) (8 page)

‘I’d tell you
if I could, you know I can’t, that official secrets act kind of
spoils things, huh?’ Burton paused and looked for that twinkle in
his wife’s eyes that showed no sign of appearing. ‘Ok Kate, ok,
let’s sit down and I’ll give you the latest, alright?’

The young woman
looked intensely worried. ‘I want everything, Hal, all the details,
don’t leave anything out. We’re a family, remember; all of us in
the same boat.’

Burton rose
from the sofa. ‘I could do with a drink before we start, actually.’
The drinks cabinet appeared further away than before as a hand
pulled him back.

‘Just tell me
Hal, for goodness sake! Tell me!’

‘Ok, fine!’ He
placed his hands on his legs and lowered his head. ‘First, we’re
six months behind on the mortgage. Our bank accounts don’t have
hardly anything in them, we’re behind on the electric and phone
bill, together with payments on the car, the furniture and the home
video set-up.’ Burton gave a big sigh and continued to keep his
head bowed.

Kate sat on the
sofa with her arms crossed, not moving. Her eyes intensified their
focus on her husband’s face. Several years ago, the man she loved
and had been married to for nine years had confessed a gambling
addiction. They had gotten out of trouble back then. Kate thought
hard about whether her husband would make the same mistake again,
would place her and Oscar in danger. ‘That’s everything? I’ll only
ask you this one time Hal, don’t you lie to me about it. I’m your
wife and you’re my husband. Our young son is upstairs sleeping. You
stand there right now and tell me that’s all our financial
problems.’ For the first time her voice broke, filled with emotion
and an undercurrent of anger, for being placed in this position
again. ‘TELL ME!’

Burton jumped
slightly and got up to close the door. ‘You might wake Oscar, ease
up!’ Kate could be seen sitting on the edge of the sofa shaking her
head, tears welling up in her hazel coloured eyes. His mind
continued to sweep through numerous scenarios,
What can I say? I’m a gambler, I’m weak, I’m pathetic, and
we’re up to our ears in debt!
Outside, rain
continued to fall from the sky. Burton felt dizzy with the weight
of the situation pounding on his very soul. The advice of his
colleague surfaced in his thoughts.
‘Surely your so-called pride isn’t worth more than your
family?’
He sat down on the sofa and tried
to say the words.
I’ve been gambling to
help us
. His mouth felt dry, his tongue fat
and swollen. Burton never thought he would be about to say the
words again but he loved his wife and son with all his heart and
would do anything to keep them. Before he could begin, the doorbell
interrupted the silence with several rings. Kate placed her head in
her hands as Burton made his way to the door. ‘Better not be those
bloody Latter-day Saints, I’ll give ’em a conversion they’ll never
forget!’ The colour drained instantly from his face, as standing
before him was one of the so called ‘finance managers’ from the
casino. He locked eyes with the visitor, who had obviously come to
collect the debt he owed. From the living room, his wife’s confused
voice could be heard.

‘Hal? Who is that at the
door?’

Chapter 6

Friday, March 2
^nd
19:50,

Draycott Avenue, South Kensington,
London.

A look of concern spread over Burton’s
features. ‘Don’t do this now, ok mate? I’ll come and see you some
time later today, I just can’t do this now, you got that?’ Burton’s
grip on his front door was broken as the large, heavyset visitor
pushed by and stood at the bottom of the stairs.

‘My boss tells
me your first instalment of the money you owe us is way overdue.
I’ve come here to make sure you honour that agreement.’ Both men
looked round as a woman’s voice filtered through the
hallway.

Kate was
standing by the entrance to the living room, her eyes focussed on
her husband. ‘Who is this man, Hal?’

Burton looked
away almost immediately, unable to meet his wife’s look, let alone
manage a reply. After several seconds, he mumbled weakly. ‘Why
don’t you go and see how Oscar is doing, hon, yeah? I’ll sort this
out and be right up.’

Kate raised her
arms and put both hands in her hair, not wanting to face her worst
fears. ‘NO! You tell me who this man is and what he’s doing in our
house, now. RIGHT NOW!’

The visitor
focussed his dark, cold eyes on the woman and took two steps
towards her. ‘Listen lady, your husband’s a gambler and he owes us
over a hundred grand! Now shut the hell up and-’

The S.U.C.O.
commander couldn’t stand it anymore. At the sight of his wife
pushing past and running up the stairs, he lashed out quickly,
ramming the side of his hand into the visitor’s throat who
immediately slumped over and gasped for breath. Burton took hold of
his collar and dragged him into the nearby dining room and slammed
the door shut. He knelt down and spoke into the visitor’s right ear
quickly, with a decisive tone. ‘Now, you listen and listen good.
Now is not a good time for me, understand? I want you to go back to
your boss and tell him that he’ll get his money. Not today, but
he’ll get it. That was never in doubt. If you ever come round to my
house and talk to my wife again, you’ll be worrying about yourself
far more than my account.’ With that, he dragged the visitor to his
feet, opened the front door and hurled him out onto the path.
Burton tried to regain control and rushed up the stairs, into their
bedroom. Out of breath, he stopped in his tracks at the sight of
two suitcases spread out on the bed. Next to the wardrobe, Kate
could be seen sobbing uncontrollably. Burton dropped to his knees
as his wife refused to look at him. ‘Kate……I……believe me. I was
just about to tell you everything when that guy showed up. You have
to believe me! Kate?!’

Kate looked
round sharply, tears streaming from her eyes. ‘How could you do
that to me Hal? Huh? I’m your wife and I have to hear your secret
from some thug who comes into our house! This is our home!’ Kate
wiped away the tears and pushed her husband back as he tried to
move closer. ‘You lied to me, Hal! You did it again; you’ve been
gambling with our lives! Look, where it’s got us, we’re in debt; we
have criminals coming here and threatening us. Where will it end?’
The emotion took hold of her as she got up and began to lash out at
her husband, striking him whichever way she could. ‘How could you
do this to us! How……’ The tears came again as a mixture of hurt and
fear took hold of her.

Burton felt
sick to his stomach.
How could I do this
do my wife and son?
That was the one
question revolving in his mind. More than anything, Burton wanted
to hold his wife and somehow comfort her through the pain, in an
attempt to cover over what had just happened. He sat on the bed,
unable to think of the right words to say. ‘I wish I could turn the
clock back believe me, but I can’t. All I can do is sort out this
mess and we’ll be back on track, you hear me?’

At the sound of
her husband’s voice, something took hold of Kate, who forced
herself to her feet, wiped her eyes quickly and continued to pack
the suitcases. ‘It’s too late, Hal. I just can’t believe you did
this. It’s not just me this time around but Oscar as well! No, we
have to go, I can’t allow you to do this to him as
well.’

Burton felt
physically winded at the thought of his wife and child leaving him
for good. His mind went into overdrive, desperately trying to think
of something that could turn the tide. Then it came to him. ‘No,
wait! I didn’t tell you about the advance in pay!’ His wife looked
up from the suitcase. ‘Yeah, I went to Ramsey and got an advance in
pay. You’ve gotta believe me here, Kate, this is the god’s honest
truth; I spoke to Ramsey today and got some money for us, enough to
get these people off our backs. I’ll do whatever it takes; I’ll get
everything back under control here. Please……..just give me another
chance.’ His voice broke as he continued to beg his wife for a
second chance. ‘Don’t do this…….don’t go.’

The
long-suffering Kate dropped a pile of clothes on the bed and looked
into the eyes of her husband, the man she had once implicitly
trusted. ‘Don’t make me walk away, Hal, the last thing I want is
for our son to grow up without his Daddy. I don’t want to do this
but I won’t stand by and let you hurt our Oscar; he’s just a baby!’
Her husband was standing next to the bed, with his eyes shut,
nodding his head. ‘How much money did you get in this pay advance,
Hal?’

Burton’s mind
kicked in as he heard the question. Knowing all too well that five
thousand pounds would make no dent on the debts they owed or his
wife’s frail state of mind, Burton made a decision. ‘I managed to
get twenty thousand in advance, Kate. They were great about it all,
believe me; it’ll help us get back on our feet. You have to believe
me here, I’ll do whatever it takes to fix this!’

‘Promise me
you’ll sort this out Hal. You might think you can keep on hurting
me but I’ll never let you hurt little Oscar, never!’

Burton watched
his wife closely and knew he still had a chance, if only he could
show how much he wanted his family to stay. ‘Listen…Kate, I know
I’ve never been the perfect father or husband, I guess but I’m
getting better; I know I can be the man you want me to be. Just
give me one more chance!’

Kate could feel
the tears welling up in her eyes. More than anything, she wanted to
have her husband by her side. The last thing she would ever want
would be for Oscar to grow up with just one parent.
Can I trust him? Can I really trust him?
She put a hand to her mouth and spoke in a
whisper. ‘It’s different this time, Hal; you have to see that. We
have Oscar now; you can’t afford to keep on gambling with our
security. Do you understand?’

Burton looked
down and pushed the feelings of failure away. ‘I know I messed up…I
know it, you know it but I thought it was for the best.’ He looked
into his wife’s eyes. ‘I was trying to help.’ He held out his hands
in front of him. ‘I screwed up but…look; please don’t take my
family away. Please…I’ll beg, if that’s what you want.’

Kate saw the
wreck of a man in front of her and wondered where her husband had
vanished to over the years. She thought over every possibility in
her mind as clearly as she could.
If I
leave now, I’ll break him for sure. He’s my husband; doesn’t he
deserve one more chance?
Kate closed her
eyes and this time another voice spoke to her.
Do it for Oscar…

Burton felt the solitary tear
run down his left cheek and knew his marriage was on a knife-edge
at that very moment.

Kate placed the
suitcases back on top of the wardrobe and wiped the tear from her
husband’s face. ‘I’m doing this for Oscar; I want him to have his
Daddy around in the years to come. Our son is everything now; he
has to be our priority. Promise me you’ll put him first,
Hal?’

Burton couldn’t
speak at first. He tried to take hold of his wife’s hand but she
had already walked next door, to Oscar’s room. ‘I’ll be a better
Dad, hon and a better husband, I promise.’ His wife was already in
the next room. At the sound of their son crying, Burton dropped
onto the bed and released a woeful sigh. His chest felt tight and
his whole body ached with stress. His mind was racing with
possibilities of how to save his family but only one presented
itself. ‘Kate, I’m going to pop out for a bit. I’ll get us in
something for dinner, make a change, huh?’ Burton walked downstairs
and out the door. In the car, he dialled a number on his mobile
phone. ‘John! Listen mate, you still got that dog track? Yeah, it’s
been a while I know but I’m feeling lucky this evening. Yeah, yeah,
I’ve just come into some cash, reckon I could double my money at
least! I’ll see you in a bit mate. You think of some tips before I
get there!’ He dropped the mobile on the dashboard, swallowed hard
and pulled out of the driveway, feeling confident it was the only
option left open to him.

Olsen dropped
his mug onto the tray and poured himself another drink whilst
watching a news broadcast on one of the monitors in Operations
Command. The running commentary caught his attention as he listened
intently to the revelation that an explosion had taken place in
Moscow, Russia at one of the busiest Underground railway stations.
He watched the screen as the Mayor appeared, stating the explosion
was a terrorist attack. Olsen listened to the full statement and
took the information on board as he went back to his terminal. The
display showed an empty inbox on his email account. It was a
frustrating sight, especially as Olsen was just following protocol
to receive confirmation from his operation partner with the
recently authorised codes. Then he remembered his mentor’s
opinion
. ‘Emails are never secure, don’t
believe all you are told Sam.’
With that,
he gave a quick shake of the head, logged out of the terminal and
made his way towards the large double doors of Operations Command.
He turned his head and watched details of the Moscow explosion on
the main view screen; a man’s face was shown and was then replaced
by a map of the local area. Olsen continued walking, doing his best
to remember the face, knowing that at some point in the future he
might need to recall the image.