The Lethal Target (18 page)

‘They may,’ said Lauren. ‘It’s a chance we have to take. If we don’t, they’ll die for certain. And, who knows, Lemski might even keep his word and let us all go.’

Stewart shook his head.

‘You’re being naive,’ he said. ‘You’ve just told me that you’re the evidence that they were behind the death of Dougie MacClain. Which means they also killed John Gordon. They have to kill you to shut you up.’

‘Possibly,’ admitted Jake. ‘But we can’t let Alec and Rona die. We have to do something. We’ve got just over an hour before the deadline. At the moment, with this EMP operating and this whole business about diplomatic immunity and international incidents stopping any kind of official intervention, we’re the only chance Alec and Rona have.’

Stewart fell silent, thinking about it. Finally, reluctantly, he said, ‘I suppose so. But we’ll be your back-up. Me and Constable Frierson. I can handle a rifle. I’ve done the training course.’ He turned to Frierson. ‘How about you, Constable?’

Frierson nodded.

‘I’m not officially qualified, but I shot rabbits for the table when I was younger.’

‘Good enough,’ said Stewart. ‘We’ll both be there, ready to fire if things go wrong.’

‘From a distance,’ said Jake. ‘If Lemski spots you, he might kill Alec and Rona straight away.’

‘Of course from a distance,’ snapped Stewart.

‘How good are you with a rifle, Sergeant?’ Jake asked.

‘I don’t like to boast, but I did well on the police range. Top score.’

‘Could you disable a helicopter? Shoot out the rear rotor or something?’

Stewart frowned thoughtfully.

‘Possibly,’ he said.

‘OK,’ said Jake. ‘Here’s the plan. We go and carry out the exchange and get Alec and Rona free. If Lauren’s right, a helicopter will be landing immediately after, once they’ve switched off the EMP machine.’

‘Who’s Lauren?’ asked Stewart sharply.

‘I am,’ said Lauren.

‘So . . .’ began Stewart, growling.

‘Can we talk about that later?’ pressed Jake. ‘My guess is they plan to take us with them on the chopper.’

‘Not necessarily,’ said Lauren. ‘They might plan to use us as guinea pigs again. Inject that stuff into us.’

And she shuddered at the memory of the hypodermic syringe, and seeing the Russian burst into flames.

‘I doubt it,’ said Jake. ‘I reckon they’ll keep that for later. Right now the main priority for Lemski is to get off this island.’

‘They might just kill you,’ said Stewart.

Jake shook his head.

‘My hope is they’ll take us as hostages,’ he said. ‘To make sure their helicopter is given free passage and not shot down mid-flight.’

‘So you end up spending the rest of your lives in captivity in Russia?’ asked Stewart.

‘Or they kill us during the flight and throw us out somewhere over the North Sea, weighted down so our bodies don’t come back to the surface,’ said Lauren. ‘All evidence neatly vanished.’

‘Whichever, it’s important that helicopter doesn’t leave the ground,’ said Jake. ‘It’ll give time for your reinforcements to arrive. And we can get the book back.’

‘I’ve already told you, we’ve got a diplomatic situation here,’ Stewart reminded them. ‘We can’t charge in and arrest them.’

‘No, but you can free us,’ said Lauren.

‘And if they start firing, surely you’re allowed to fire back,’ added Jake.

Stewart fell silent.

‘OK,’ he said. ‘It’s a plan.’ He looked at his watch. ‘It’s just gone ten. We’ve got less than an hour. We need to get you kitted up.’

‘Kitted up?’ echoed Jake, puzzled.

‘Just in case they change their mind and shoot you while you’re standing here, waiting for the exchange to happen,’ explained Stewart. ‘Have we got any Kevlar body armour?’ he asked Frierson.

‘Just two jackets,’ said Frierson.

‘OK, then that’s what you two will be wearing,’ Stewart told Jake and Lauren. ‘Wear them under your own clothes
.
It won’t stop a head shot, or if they shoot you in the arms or legs, but it’ll protect you if they go for the heart or chest. And most of these snipers do. It’s a bigger target, easier to make sure of hitting. After all, they missed when they tried shooting you in the head.’

‘I suppose that’s a comfort,’ admitted Lauren. ‘But not much of one.’

‘I’ve got another way to stop them shooting at us!’ said Jake, as an idea struck him.

The others looked at him, quizzically.

‘How?’ asked Stewart.

‘It’s a long shot, but I thought we’d try fighting fire with fire,’ said Jake. He forced what he hoped was a confident smile. ‘Can you get your hands on a metal bucket and an asbestos glove?’

Chapter 27

Jake and Lauren rounded the small hillock and stopped. Directly in front of them, about a hundred metres away, was the cottage which Lemski and his Russians had now turned into a fortress. Jake could see the barrels of rifles poking out of the upstairs windows. The windows, however, hadn’t been boarded up. Lemski wasn’t expecting a long siege. Jake looked at his watch. Five minutes to eleven.

Jake looked down at the metal bucket he held in his asbestos-gloved right hand. Two pieces of coal at the bottom of it glowed red, sending smoke spiralling up. Not enough hot coal to make the bucket too hot to handle, but enough to produce smoke that could be seen from the cottage. In his left hand, Jake clutched the ancient book, the cause of all this death and mayhem. The Kevlar body armour felt bulky, as if he was wearing a life jacket beneath his coat.

‘Stay here,’ Jake whispered to Lauren.

‘Lemski said he wanted us both.’

‘It’ll buy us some time if you don’t come out at once,’ said Jake. ‘It’s the book he’s really after.’

Secretly, he was planning on leaving Lauren out of this; out of the final exchange. Leave her here, behind the protection of the small grassy hillock with DS Stewart and PC Frierson. He looked back at the two police officers, crouched down in the ditch-like area behind the long earth mound.

‘If they start shooting, drop to the ground and lie flat,’ Stewart instructed. ‘I’ll fire back and I don’t want to shoot you.’

Jake nodded.

He looked towards the cottage. His mouth felt dry.

‘I’m coming with you,’ said Lauren.

‘Please, Lauren, wait here at first,’ pleaded Jake. Without turning round, he appealed to Stewart: ‘Tell her.’

‘He’s right,’ came Stewart’s voice from the police officer’s hiding place. ‘Let’s see if we can get away with just one of you going in. If we can mount a rescue, it’ll make that rescue easier.’

Lauren hesitated, then nodded.

‘I’m not going to let them kill you,’ she whispered to Jake fiercely. ‘Or take you to Russia.’

‘I hope they don’t,’ said Jake, forcing a grin and doing his best to put on an air of bravado. ‘We’ve still got a lot of catching up to do.’

Jake took a deep breath, then moved forward along the track towards the wall that fronted the cottage. As he did so, he saw the rifle barrels at the upper windows move; and he stopped.

‘Professor Lemski!’ he called. ‘I have the book!’ And Jake brandished the book in the air. Then he moved the book so that it was directly above the metal bucket. ‘If you look carefully, you will see smoke coming from this bucket I’m holding. That’s because there are red hot coals in it! If you shoot me, the book will drop from my hand into the bucket and burn! It’ll be turned to ashes before you can reach it! Release the MacClains first, and I’ll hand it over to you.’

For a moment there was silence from the cottage, and then the distorted amplified voice of Lemski was heard calling back. He’s using an old-fashioned megaphone, realised Jake.

‘Very clever, Mr Wells! But we have no intention of shooting you! As I said in the message I left, all we want is the book back, and we will release the MacClains!’

‘That’s what you said, but do you really think I would trust you after all that’s happened? You asked me to bring the book. Here it is. Now release the MacClains!’

There was another pause, then Lemski’s distorted mechanised voice called out, ‘How do we know you’ll keep your part of the bargain?’

‘Because if I don’t, I know you’ll shoot me dead.’

There was a further pause, then Lemski called out: ‘You will remain standing where you are, where we can see you!’

And where your sniper has got a clear shot at me, thought Jake.

‘We will release the MacClains. They will be coming out accompanied by some of my people. They will be armed. You will remain standing where you are until the MacClains have gone past you. If you attempt to move from that spot, we will shoot you and the MacClains. My men are expert shots. They will not miss.’

‘Don’t worry, I’ll stay here!’ Jake shouted back.

‘And we want to see Ms Graham standing next to you!’ called Lemski.

‘No!’ called back Jake.

‘Yes,’ said Lauren’s voice. Jake swung round and saw that Lauren had joined him.

‘Go away!’ he hissed.

‘No,’ she said. ‘We’re in this together. I’m not leaving without you.’

‘They’re going to kill me!’ Jake told her angrily.

Lauren forced a smile.

‘Then they might as well kill both of us,’ she said.

The sound of the front door of the cottage opening made them both turn their attention in that direction. Alec and Rona stepped forward, slowly, their hands on top of their heads. Behind them came three men holding automatic rifles. As Alec and Rona moved slowly forward, the three men made sure they kept behind the pair, using the MacClains as human shields. The party of five, with the MacClains at the front, came nearer and nearer. The men held their guns trained directly on Jake and Lauren the whole time. Finally, when they were about twenty metres away from Jake and Lauren, the three men stopped and let Alec and Rona walk on, still with their hands clasped on the tops of their heads.

‘Reckon we can make a run for it?’ asked Lauren.

‘Not with them that close,’ said Jake. ‘As soon as we turn to run, they’ll shoot us. And, if they want to keep us alive to act as their hostages, they’ll shoot us in the legs.’

‘Pity we haven’t got body armour leggings too,’ muttered Lauren.

Alec and Rona drew level with them. Jake could see the strain etched on both their faces.

‘Thank you,’ whispered Alec.

‘Later,’ said Jake.

‘Robbie and your wife are at Dr Patel’s,’ said Lauren.

‘Is he OK?’

‘He was hurt, but he’s in safe hands,’ said Lauren.

‘Keep moving!’ came Lemski’s shout from the cottage.

Alec and Rona walked on, passing Jake and Lauren.

‘Now, Mr Wells, bring the book to me!’ called Lemski. ‘You too, Ms Graham!’

‘Not until the MacClains are out of the way!’ called back Jake,

‘You are wasting time!’ snapped Lemski impatiently.

‘I’m making sure our bargain is kept!’ Jake called back.

He turned, and saw that Alec and Rona had speeded up, and had now taken refuge behind a rocky outcrop.

‘Time to go,’ said Jake.

He was just about to move forward, when there was the sound of a metallic click from behind the mound of earth where DS Stewart and PC Frierson were hiding. At once, one of the Russians turned and fired a burst from his automatic rifle into that direction, which ripped into and through the earth. There was a gurgling moan from behind the hillock, and then a deadly silence.

Jake and Lauren exchanged horrified, sickened looks. Stewart and Frierson were dead. Their back-up had gone.

Chapter 28

‘Put the bucket down on the ground, Mr Wells! Slowly! Or you will be next!’

Lemski’s voice rang out, echoing across the heath.

Jake put the metal bucket down.

‘Now walk towards my men!’

Jake looked at Lauren and gave her a rueful smile.

‘You should have stayed out of this. Now I’m going to have to rescue you all over again,’ he told her.

‘Move now!’ called Lemski, his voice more urgent this time. ‘And keep your hands in the air where we can see them! And hold the book up high the whole time!’

Jake and Lauren moved forward, hands and the book in the air. They reached the three armed Russians. One Russian grabbed Jake by the arm, while another took hold of Lauren’s shoulder. Then they hurried them towards the cottage while the third followed them at speed, moving backwards, rifle sweeping from side to side, ready to fire.

Once inside the cottage, the door slammed shut and was locked. Jake and Lauren found themselves face to face with Muir, who held a pistol and glowered at them.

‘You put us to a lot of trouble!’ he snarled.

‘But that trouble is over now, Mr Muir,’ said Lemski as he appeared from the stairs.

He walked over to Jake and took the book from his hand; then opened it to make sure Jake had brought the real book with him.