The XO stared at his Captain. ‘Sir, if we do that we could be in the killing zone too.’
‘Correct’, the Captain grimaced. ‘Let’s get one ready for launch.’
Natasha felt light headed. Her hands shook with fear. She swept her hair back and surveyed the devastation in the room. All the furniture was overturned and two men lay on their backs, hands and feet tied.
Natasha set about straightening the room. The man in the blue ski pants struggled to sit up. Natasha went to the kitchen to retrieve a long wooden rolling pin. She came back and watched as the man in blue ski pants managed to sit upright at last. He looked at Natasha, saw the rolling pin and inclined his head in submission.
Natasha heard a noise from outside. It seemed like a distant shot, possibly coming from the next valley. She went to the door, opened it and looked out into the dark. The night was silent and she shivered. She knew Sean was injured and the shot could be meant for him. Quickly she put her coat on, felt in the pocket and brought out a flashlight. Looking around the cabin one last time she saw that the other man was beginning to stir. Without pausing, she ran out the door.
When Natasha was little, her parents used to take her up to this cabin once every few months. She knew all the footpaths for miles around. She loved the scent of the trees and the breathtaking surprise of coming across a clearing, or emerging from the tree-line to see miles over the intervening countryside.
But the presence of the men changed things. Every step she took she was afraid that a man would leap out from behind a tree and grab her. She began to shake again with fear and thought about returning to the cabin. The flashlight flickered weakly. She cursed herself for not replacing the battery, but she pressed on.
Five minutes later she heard a distant groan. She swung her flashlight around in the direction of the noise. Her pulse quickened and her mouth went dry. She broke out into a run, abandoning the path. Low branches whipped across her face and chest. She stumbled over a fallen log and her flashlight went spinning into the darkness. She managed to retrieve it after a short search. She continued on her way, hands out-thrust to ward off the branches.
She burst upon the group before realising she had arrived. Stopping, she looked around slowly, only then taking in the scene.
The man with the broken jaw sat with his back to a tree, hands tied behind it. His feet were bound together and his bloodied face was wracked in pain. Sean held the man’s hair in one hand and in the other he pressed the point of a large hunting knife into his neck.
Natasha stood transfixed. She was relieved and disgusted at the same time. Relieved that Sean was safe, but disgusted by what he was doing. She could not believe Sean was capable of this.
‘Glad you’ve arrived’ said Sean over his shoulder.
Chapter 24
Lomax hauled DD along the pavement. He could hear the sounds of pursuit behind, but didn’t stop to look. With his free hand Lomax patted his pockets and felt the hard outline of the gun. They hobbled past some scaffolding and a spark flew. A fraction of a second later Lomax heard the sound of the bullet ricocheting off the metal supports. He dived behind a stack of wooden planks, pulling DD with him. The car was parked just metres away. He left DD momentarily while he opened the passenger door. Going back for DD, he bundled him into the back seat.
At that moment he saw a man in a dark uniform appear round the corner. Without thinking Lomax had the gun in his hand and crouched behind the open door. The guard stopped. Lomax saw the arm raised to take aim and the glint from the firearm was unmistakable in the streetlight.
Lomax shot without hesitation. The round tore into the man’s gun hand and he fell. Lomax raced around the car, jumped in, switched on the engine and floored the accelerator. With the tyres screaming, he made a fast u-turn in the street.
In minutes he was on the outskirts of the town. With the tension easing off he began to think about DD’s injuries. DD had done everything asked of him. He was just too slow and had caught a beating from one of the guards. Lomax needed to get him to the safe house fast. How many times had he been in situations like this?
In one of his early missions, Lomax was told to bring out a dissident Chinese. At the last minute he received an order to terminate one of the gang leaders in a local triad. Lomax accomplished both objectives, but the dissident was hurt and never made it to freedom. From then on Lomax became the agent of choice whenever there was a mission requiring a termination.
Lomax became obsessed with eliminating risk from his mission. This eventually landed him in trouble with his masters when he returned from a particularly difficult and violent assignment. A former colleague took him to the pub one evening and told him the Service wanted him out. For an organisation that trained him in the black arts of assignation, he was surprised to find that they took exception to his methods.
He asked to know why and was told with unusual frankness that London could no longer condone his actions. When pressed they told him that his tactics were too brutal and too many non-players were becoming casualties.
Lomax wanted to know why London suddenly felt so morally indignant — was this a case of establishment hypocrisy at work, or had the politics changed? He insisted on knowing the answer. His colleague told him they had no qualms about the targets they had provided. What they couldn’t stomach was the fact that Lomax had begun to like the work too much. Lomax recalled his reaction to being told this harsh truth and the irony that London’s conscience was pricked not because of the people he had killed on their orders, but because London felt that at some point they would no longer be able to control him.
Lomax could not bear to think about the black days that followed. The drinking got out of hand. He was rescued from his own living nightmare by the imminent death of his only surviving relative. His sister lived in Wales and a neighbour had written to say she had cancer. Something shook Lomax out of his stupor enough to make the journey to the place where he had grown up — the small market town of Conway on the north coast of Wales.
He was surprised to find her so weak from the tumour. He went every day, sometimes taking her for short walks and helping around the house where he could. Sometimes he would have to send for the doctor and he would fetch the prescriptions and make sure she took her medicine.
He stayed at the pub above the bar and used to meet some of the locals who worked at a nearby woodland plantation. One or two of the older generation remembered him as a boy.
It was during this time that he began to realise how important his family was. He had a lot of time on his hands and the slow pace of life in the town and the people’s friendliness made a big impression. Lomax was able to re-frame his life against the backdrop of some of the most beautiful scenery in Wales.
He guessed that the Service would come checking if he stayed too long. Being such a small and tight-knit community he would know if any stranger came snooping.
Sure enough, they did. They were quite clever about it, sending a young student and his girlfriend in a beat up car on the pretext of touring the area.
One evening, as the student climbed into his battered mini, he received the biggest shock of his life. Lomax reached out from behind with a fisherman's hook which he embedded in the student's neck to a depth of quarter of an inch — not enough to inflict any real damage, but enough to show that Lomax meant business.
'Don't move and don't look around', Lomax urged the young man in a low voice. 'Go back to your masters and tell them not to send a boy.'