The Spanish Helmet (34 page)

Hemi tried to hear what was being said around him but couldn’t make out any words. He couldn’t even tell whose voice belonged to whom. There was just that muffled drone. He concentrated on his pain. Why did he only feel the one wound? Did Warren shoot him twice in the same spot or did the second bullet miss? He knew he felt the first one as it ripped into his chest near the shoulder. ‘Drew?’ Hemi’s father said to him. ‘Drew?’

That was it. Hemi knew he was dead. It felt terrible. He punched his thoughts to his father, because he couldn’t speak.
I’m sorry Dad. I couldn’t get justice for you. I failed you.

His head thumped. At first it was a gentle thump, but in the minutes that followed the thump got louder and harder. The sleep came on stronger now. The thumping was so present he could feel it on the outside of his body. The world around him trembled and the warmth of the sun disappeared from his face. He started to feel cold. The wind had picked up considerably. Hemi lay listening to the thumping, the only thing he could hear now. His father’s voice was gone. He was alone, again. Thump, thump, thump. He tried to open his eyes, but the sleep came instead. 

They came up the path in a steady flow. There was a mixture of uniformed police and men in coveralls that had NISO printed in large writing on them. Leading the pack was the hard, unsmiling and familiar Colin Wolfe, whom Matt had met at Warren’s dig site. He nodded at Aimee and offered Matt his hand, as two of the NISO team ran to look over Hemi and another two set up abseiling gear to climb down to Warren. Matt didn’t know who the enemy was any more, so he took Wolfe’s hand and shook it.

‘Hello again, Dr. Cameron.
Are you alright?’

‘I guess I am.’ Matt said, half-heartedly. ‘But I’d love to know what’s going on.’

‘And you, Aimee?’ Wolfe continued, practically shouting now, to be heard over the noise of the rescue helicopter that thumped the air above them.

‘I’m fine Hank, thanks.’ Aimee shouted through a smile.

Matt watched the exchange with interest and distrust. How can he have been
so
blind and stupid as to let Aimee come along with him? He didn’t know her, and now she turned out to be working for the DCI, the very people who had tried to hinder their research. First Warren, now her... how could he trust again?

‘OK, Dr. Cameron,’ Wolfe said, turning to Matt. ‘Let’s go with Agent Peters from the NISO for a chat. He can debrief you on the case.’

Matt followed Wolfe a few paces away to a group of men that stood around the body of Hemi, guiding his stretcher upwards towards the helicopter which winched him up. Wolfe put a hand on the shoulder of one of the men. The handsomely featured Maori turned and smiled reassuringly as the helicopter veered and thumped away over the hillside, the two bodies now both on board.

‘Will he live, Peters?’ Wolfe asked the man.

‘I hope so,’ Peters responded, his face showing signs of emotion blended with determination, ‘He’s a strong man.’

Matt saw what looked like a real glint of respect in Peters’ eyes when he spoke about Drew.

‘And Rennie?’

‘No, we shot to kill.’

Matt thought he might throw up again. Wolfe turned to Matt.

‘Dr. Matthew Cameron, this is Agent Peters, Deputy Director of the NISO.’

‘Pleased to meet you Dr. Cameron,’ Peters said, extending his hand.

Matt wasn’t sure if the pleasure would be shared, but he took Peters’ hand anyway.

‘And this is Aimee Kingsbridge,’ Wolfe continued. ‘She’s one of ours.’

Peters faced Aimee to shake her hand, but Aimee didn’t take it. She stared at him, horrified.

‘Are you OK?’ Peters asked.

‘You’re Constable King!’ Aimee said. ‘Drew’s father, you’re supposed to be dead.’

Matt watched, bewildered, as a look of sorrow mixed with frustration dressed Peter’s face. Agent Wolfe looked confused.

‘I guess we have some explaining to do,’ Peters said. ‘Let’s go down here to the bay and I’ll fill you in what has been going on.’ He led the way down the path.

Matt glanced across at Aimee. She looked as confused as he felt but it didn’t soften his hurt. She had betrayed him. Was this all a game to her? Did she care about him at all, or was that just part of her cover? They followed Peters, or King, whatever his name was today, down to the beach. When they got down to solid ground again, Matt turned to Peters and waited to be ‘filled in.’

‘The first thing you need to know.’ Peters said, ‘is that Warren Rennie was not what he seemed. We’ve been watching him for over eight years now, waiting for him to make a mistake. He made it today.’

‘But why were you watching him?
Just because you don’t want to have to rewrite New Zealand’s history?’

‘No, no.’ Wolfe jumped in. ‘
This
has nothing to do with rewriting history. I know Warren Rennie pedalled that crackpot conspiracy theory, but believe me, the DCI is just as ready to rewrite history as the next man, if plausible evidence comes to light.’

‘It’s true, Matt, I kept trying to tell you but I couldn’t tell you how I knew,’ Aimee said.

‘Warren believed he had plausible evidence,’ Matt said, not wanting to give too much away about the Spanish Helmet, if his findings weren’t already common knowledge. Aimee had surely seen to that though.

‘And therein lies the problem with Warren Rennie,’ Peters said, rejoining the conversation.

‘How so?’
Matt asked.

‘The mirror.’

Matt was shocked. How did the DCI and NISO know about the mirror?
Aimee?

‘What about it?’

‘The mirror, that ancient Celtic relic that Warren used to bring you all the way here on his wild goose chase, is a stolen artefact from a museum back on your home turf, England.’

‘It can’t be. You must be mistaken. Warren would never do something like that!’

‘Would Warren pull a gun on you?’

 Matt stood silently in thought. Peters had a point. Matt had no idea what Warren was capable of... had been capable of. Warren Rennie really wasn’t what he had appeared to have been.

‘If you knew he had stolen that mirror, why didn’t you arrest him already?’

‘We didn’t know for sure, not until yesterday when Hemi, I mean Drew, reported in. It was then that he also called us in for backup. He was worried about what Rennie might be capable of and knew you were coming here today.’

‘But Drew, your son, was working for Warren. He told us that.’

‘No, he had to make it look that way, for Warren’s sake. He’s been undercover, investigating Warren. But Agent Davis has also been trying to protect you from him.’

‘Unbelievable, I don’t know what to think anymore. First I discover the man I looked up to as a father for the better part of my life is nothing he appears. Then I learn that the woman I just fell in love with is spying on me for the DCI, and now I find out the guy trying to kill me is actually protecting me from the man I thought I knew and loved. Then to top it off, his dead father is alive and his boss! This day just can’t get any stranger.’

‘This day, anyhow,’ Agent Peters said, with a cheeky smile. ‘But Hemi reported that he had a lot more important information to provide. Trouble is
,
we have to wait until he regains consciousness to find out what that means, and there are going to be a few other things on his mind when he wakes up.’

‘I don’t understand, Mr. Davis,’ Aimee said. ‘You were killed in jail. I was in Hemi’s class at school, we all heard what happened.’

‘Please, call me Agent Peters. You heard a fabricated story. Warren Rennie was responsible for me going to jail for crimes I didn’t commit. Luckily for me, some people in the right places knew I was innocent. It was arranged for me to take the fall and to disappear into our own little underworld. I’ve been with the NISO ever since and worked my way up.’

‘But what about Drew?
Your death, fake death, ruined him.’

‘Did it?’ Agent Peters asked. ‘Would you say that being groomed to become one of the best sleeper agents the NISO has ever seen was a bad thing? Was losing all that weight, getting fit, and serving his country without question, not rewarding? Drew has come out fine. I’ve watched him grow from a boy into a man. My only regret was not being able to share my pride with him.’

‘But he didn’t have his father,’ Aimee said. ‘Without my father I’d be a mess. Everyone needs a father.’

Matt cringed, he had heard enough.

‘Do you think Drew has information about me that he needs to reveal?’ Matt asked, concerned his efforts in the Spanish direction might have been in vain.

‘No, we imagine he just wants to tell us more about what he’s learned from Rennie. It likely has nothing to do with you or your research into the Spanish Helmet or a consequent Spanish discovery of New Zealand.’ Wolfe answered for Peters.

‘You know about my work then?’ Matt felt stupid for asking.

‘Of course we do, both Drew and Aimee saw to that. Not that either of them knew of the other’s agency affiliation. But don’t worry, Dr. Cameron, we’re not going to stand in the way of your father’s work. Of course, we want to know if anything interesting crops up.’

Matt stared at Aimee in disbelief. She had told them everything. He was so angry with himself for trusting her, for loving her. At the same time, he was relieved his research wasn’t jeopardised. ‘Sure,’ he said, ‘as soon as I have anything concrete, I’ll make sure you’re the first to know.’

‘Alright,’ Peters said, handing Matt his and Wolfe’s cards. ‘We’re done here. We’ll be in touch if we need you. Likewise, don’t hesitate to contact either one of us if you need anything.’

Peters turned to Aimee. ‘For your own good, you never saw me. I was killed in prison, just like you always knew. Do you understand?’

‘Of course I understand, but you’ll tell Drew now, right?’

‘Yes, now that Rennie’s dead, it’s safe for Drew to know that I’m alive. If he had known before, chances are it would’ve caused problems with our investigation. Besides, I wanted Drew to hate the man as much as I did.’

‘It seems to have worked. I just hope your son can forgive you. But yes, your secret is safe with me.’

Matt wasn’t sure any secret was safe with Aimee.

With that they parted ways. As Matt walked towards his car, the jar tucked under his arm, he realised that Aimee was still beside him.

‘I guess you’ll be leaving me now?’

‘Is that what you want?’

‘Well, isn’t your work here done?’ Matt asked, hoping the hurt didn’t show in his voice.

Aimee stopped him by gently holding his arm. ‘My work is not my only reason for being here, I want to be here. I’m a part of this, DCI or no DCI. It’s as important to me to get to the bottom of this mystery as it is to you. I also meant everything I said about us. Can’t we continue to work together?’

Matt wanted to believe her. He wanted nothing more than to take her in his arms and hold her. He wanted to tell her he loved her and everything would be alright.

‘I’d like to work with you,’ he said.

Aimee smiled.

‘But I can’t. I’m sorry. You should go with your boss.’

With these last words, Matt turned away from her before his emotions betrayed him and he hurried to the car. He didn’t look back as he turned the key and drove up the track out of that godforsaken bay.