What did surprise him was the subject of the call. It was nothing to do with his request for the IMEI and SIM card numbers. Although with Luis sitting on the sofa opposite him, he would have to cancel that request as somewhat surplus to requirements.
“Sean, how are you?”
“I’ve got a new bullet wound!” replied Sean jovially.
“That’s nice,” replied Vincent, uninterested, his mind obviously elsewhere. “I’ve just had the President on the phone!”
Sean looked at the TV screen and the banner. 'Governor calls for death of murderers’. This seriously could not be happening to him. Why had he not just gone to the beach.
“Are you still in Laredo?”
“Yes and just been shot again!”
Vincent only heard the word 'yes’.
“Excellent. I told the President I had a man on location and we’d start hunting down these fuckers straight away!”
“Whoa, you do not have a man on the scene. For you to have a man on the scene would suggest you have an agent on the scene. You know a man at the rough location of the scene,” clarified Sean.
“Whatever,” he really wasn’t taking no for an answer. “Your country needs you Sean. We need to find these fuckers and bring home a world of hurt to them!”
“I have a boy to get back to his Mom and then I am hitting the beach. This is not my fight.”
“Neither is the boy but it’s the right thing to do, Sean. That’s what you do. You do the right thing!” argued Vincent very well.
“I’m sorry V,” replied Sean, the memories of two years earlier played hard on Sean. He would never forgive the man for letting him and his men down.
“I’ll have a team there in four hours. They’ll take over, I just don’t want the trail to go cold. Please Sean, we can’t let these bastards get away with this. We need to find them.”
Sean realized things were about to get seriously out of control. The team Vincent referred to was probably at least a C130 full of ex-Special Forces who would have just one order, do whatever it takes to get the bastards that killed our soldiers. Katie’s son, the son of a drug dealer being in peril would not make the best case for restraint.
“I’ll deal with it,” he said with some conviction.
“Sorry?” replied Vincent, taken aback at the speed of Sean’s U-turn.
“I’ll deal with it! You don’t need to send a team.”
“Did you see what happened?! How on earth are you going to deal with it on your own?”
“Because I already know who did it!”
Between Luis realizing what Sean had just said and Vincent screaming “you what??!!” in his ear, Sean struggled to know who to address first. He held his palm up to Luis. He needed to stop Vincent sending a team. He knew he’d never stop the military coming but at least they would stay within the US, whatever had happened, the US and Mexico would not be going to war. At least not unless Sean failed to calm the situation down. Whereas Vincent’s team could only operate outside the US and as such, Nuevo Laredo would be turned upside down and Katie’s son would be written off as collateral damage.
“I know who did it!”
“Were you there?” asked Vincent incredulous at Sean’s assertion.
“No.”
“So how can you possibly know?”
Sean stopped himself from telling Vincent about Luis and his uncle. Vincent would easily link them all together with the SIM and IMEI number Sean had given him earlier. Sean would not put it past Vincent or the Government to send a few cruise missiles in retaliation, ensuring Katie would most definitely be losing her son.
“Trust me, I’ll deal with it,” replied Sean through gritted teeth.
“The team will be there in four hours,” confirmed Vincent, not willing to move on sending his team.
“They’ll be an hour too late!” replied Sean ending the call.
As Sean lowered the phone Luis exploded. “What the fuck are you doing?”
“Saving the boy!”
“Not by giving them my uncle you’re not!” he spat. “You’re guaran-fucking-teeing his death!” He grabbed his mobile and began to dial.
Between Vincent and Luis putting pressure on an already precarious situation, Sean had had enough.
“Put the phone down!” he said evenly but with such menace that Luis almost dropped the phone. With the bodies of the men he had just killed littering the floor, it was not surprising that Luis took Sean’s change of tone with some concern.
“Sorry!” he offered clumsily, grasping the phone before it fell and making a show of clearing the number he had been dialing.
“I am not going to give them your uncle. I just want her son!” offered Sean. His voice remained an icy steel, as he looked at the devastated Katie. He really was pissed off now. A young boy’s life was in danger and he seemed to be the only person in the world, other than his mother, who gave a shit.
“But how?” asked Luis meekly. He had seen a strength and coldness in Sean that he recognized very well.
“With your help!”
“My help!” replied Luis almost squeaking the words.
“I need you to go to your uncle…”
“Are you out of your fucking mind?” Luis regained some composure as he weighed the balance between the menacing killer and his psychopath uncle. At least if Sean killed him it would be quick and painless.
Sean walked over to Luis and placed a reassuring arm around his shoulders and explained what he needed him to do.
Chapter 32
“I don’t understand?’ offered Borodin shaking his head.
Surkov smiled. “I wouldn’t expect you to.”
With that, Borodin jumped up from the sofa. He had had enough of the smart mouthed obsequious scientist. However, before he could cover the distance between the two sofas, Surkov moved with a speed somewhat belying his age and managed to avoid the mass of the General landing on him.
“You misunderstand me, I was not bating you comrade. I wouldn’t expect you to understand because you do not know what we do here at Grebnevo.”
Borodin picked himself up and looked Surkov in the eye for any sign of mischief. None existed, nor however was there any sign of fear. Borodin was a large man, far larger than the diminutive and aged Surkov. Throughout his career he had instilled fear in all before him, even presidents of Russia feared him and he would never throw himself in anger towards them. The more time Borodin spent with Surkov, the less he understood him and the more Borodin feared him.
“So what do you do here?” asked Borodin, retaking his original seat and mustering all of his composure.
“We will come to that. First, let us finish discussing the details of our Mr Fox.”
“Why is he a risk?”
“Now, General, you are beginning to ask the right question! We don’t know that he is but there’s a chance he may be.”
Borodin began to realize the chance of anything resembling a straight answer or explanation was unlikely.
Surkov could see the frustration building in Borodin and continued. He had already pushed him over the brink and was very close to alienating him. Something which he would rather avoid. The General was, after all, a useful ally but one that he wanted an upper-hand with.
“You were right when you mentioned we train spies here at Grebnevo. It’s just that is not all we do here. However let’s consider Sean Fox.”
“Sean Fox was a star even before he was born, his father’s career ensured Sean Fox would have the world at his feet!”
Surkov stopped talking and looked at Borodin, waiting for a reaction to what he had just said as if he had just solved the answer to life, the universe and pretty much everything that remained unanswered.
Borodin’s head tilted to the side, his mind was racing trying desperately to work out if he had missed something or if that was Surkov’s revelation. Sean Fox was destined to be a star!
“You don’t understand!” scoffed Surkov.