Scorpion's Vengeance

by Lawrence Hebb

  “Took yer time didn’t yer” Jacko joked with them as they climbed out of the vehicle, “How’s the ‘pax’?” his only concern was that Gromatski was alive, that was the deal with the Ukrainians.

  “Sleeping like a wee one” Mac replied cheerfully, “I think I got the dose slightly wrong, not that it’s gonna harm him any, it’s not lethal, just means he’ll sleep a little longer, should be out for most of your flight” he turned to the two stood with Jacko.

  “We could just get ‘em to kill him here!” Joey suggested, “None of us would say anything” it just didn’t feel right.

  “Nah, Killing’s too good for this one” Jacko replied, “besides, this way families in the Ukraine get real closure for what was done to them, and besides, we need this creep gone, what better way than to make sure he’s never found” he turned to the two men, “Right?”

  The one nearest Jacko smiled, a sickening, almost glazed-eyed smile, it said volumes, “Da, and we have a special room in the ‘Hotel’ Litvanska in Kiev specially prepared for him, please, don’t disappoint us!”

  “Oh no,” Jacko replied, “that's not going to happen,” he motioned Mac to open the door so they could get the sleeping giant out of the car, “all we ask is if you do decide he should learn to fly without a parachute, please wait until you’re outside British airspace”

  “Da” the Ukrainian replied almost laughing, “you don’t want the mess, da?”

  “Nah” Joey butted in, “personally I’d waste this arsehole with a smile on my face, but we’ve got bigger fish to fry, and if he shows up, it’ll screw everything up”

  By now they had Gromatski out of the car, the other Ukrainian picked the Russian up in a fireman's lift and headed up the stairs towards the door of the plane, he wasn't being gentle, the loud crack as he smacked Gromatski’s head against the doorpost made everyone cringe.

  “Careful” a voice from inside the plane shouted, “you’ll damage the plane”

  “Shut up, and let's get going” the first Ukrainian shouted back as he released Jacko’s hand from the handshake they’d given each other, as soon as they were in the plane Jacko descended the steps and pulled them away.

  As soon as the steps were clear the pilot opened the throttle, the engine noise began to rise.

  “Let’s get outta here” Sandy headed for the vehicle, “we’ve got work to do.”

  Chapter 27

  “This place is so boring” Paul was at it again, he was driving Hene crazy, “are you sure I’ve got to stay here”

  “Yep” was the simple answer, and Hene was the one said it. They were around the kitchen table, Sam had gone for groceries down to the local village, she’d been gone about half an hour.

  “Where are we anyway?” Paul asked for the tenth time that morning, “you can tell me, it's not like I can tell anyone!”

  That part was true, the place didn’t have a phone, and the only access to the internet was through their devices that ‘Mildred’ had supplied at the start of the mission, even with those there were restrictions, both phones had ‘fingerprint’ identification, so Paul wouldn’t be able to use them, unless he hacked his way past them, anything was possible, later on they were counting on him doing it, not that he knew that.

  Hene had his phone on the table, he was cleaning the pistol he’d been given. Joey and the team had literally hammered it home how important keeping weapons in good working order was, yeah he’d learned how to clean them with the Police, but working with the team, even the couple of days he’d spent getting to know them had really ‘rubbed off’ on him, it also gave him the excuse to have the phone where Paul could see it without making it obvious what he was doing, laying the bait for part of the plan.

  Paul noticed the phone was a mid-range Chinese brand, Huawei, pretty good, but not ‘top of the range’ and it had fingerprint ID, ‘that wouldn’t be too hard’ he thought to himself, ‘if I can just get the phone for a couple of minutes, I can let people know I’m alive’ was all he could think of.

  “You aren’t English are you?” he asked Hene, “where are you from?”

  “True bro” Hene replied dropping into Kiwi slang, “I’m a long way from home” he was cleaning the barrel of the 9 millimetre with a piece of linen threaded through a small rod, called a ‘pull through’, he worked it through the barrel half a dozen times before he was satisfied it was clean enough, then he got another piece of the linen, dipped it in a little Gun oil and threaded that through the slot where the first one had been, this time he only sent the linen through once, he only wanted the barrel lightly oiled, “Too much creates smoke” he heard Joey saying in his mind, “and smoke blinds you”

  “Where is home then? And why are you in England, are you some kind of ‘Hit man’?”

  Hene started laughing, he was laughing so hard he was nearly crying, “Nah bro” he replied, “Just the opposite, I’m actually a copper back in my home country, or at least I was”

  “And what’s with the Tattoos?” Paul asked pointing to the Maori art on Hene’s forearms, “what are they about?”

  “Full of questions aren’t you” Hene replied, “the Tattoos are Maori art, and that should tell you a bit about me and where I’m from.” he tried to close the subject.

  “Australia?” Paul asked genuinely not knowing what Hene was talking about.

  “Aotearoa” Hene said with pride, he also knew Paul would have no idea where he was talking about, leaving him even more confused, “Land of the long white cloud”.

  “Where?” Paul probably looked as confused as he sounded, “where’s that?”

  “A long way from here” Hene chuckled.

  “How come you’re over here then?”

  “Truth?” Hene asked. Paul, nodded, “we owe your friends big time” he replied.

  “Oh?” Paul didn't realize it came out as a question. “How’s that?” the whole time he was trying not to look at the phone, but thinking of a way he could get hold of it, bypass the fingerprint ID and just send a text to a couple of mates, ‘just to let them know I’m okay’ or at least that’s how he reasoned with himself, hiding the fact he was addicted to social media.

  Hene finished cleaning the weapon and began re-assembling it, it took him about fifteen seconds, all the time he was trying not to seem as if he’d noticed the attention that Paul had been giving the phone, the last thing they needed was to ‘rattle’ the man, they were ‘playing him’ but really needed for it to seem like he was coming up with the ideas, they just had to control ‘when’ he got the chance to send the message.

  “Everything will be monitored” Sandy had told them, “Every phone call in England is picked up by GCHQ in Cheltenham, we’ll be off the grid, and ‘six’ will be looking for us, you can guarantee they’ll be looking for us, so it’s important he gets the access when we want to, not when he wants!”

  “What’s with the questions?” Hene asked, trying not to sound too intimidating, but wanting to guide the conversation away from where it had been.

  “Can’t help it” Paul was truthful, “I’m curious, I’m a hacker, we always want to know things, it’s why we do what we do!” he smiled as he replied, it was true, but not totally the truth, he had to get his hands on the phone.

  Chapter 28

  “Alexei, Alexei, it's me, Sasha, pick up the phone” the voice sounded hysterical, not that he cared that much, “please Alexei, if you can’t pick it up, then call when you get the message, something terrible has happened.” he heard the click as she hung up.

  ‘What’s she done now, the stupid cow’ he thought to himself, ‘what kind of trouble is she in?’ Sasha seemed to have a habit of getting into trouble, speeding tickets, abusing shop staff, he just hoped she hadn’t done anything stupid.

  “Da” was all he said, she knew straight away who it was, and what he wanted. ‘Da’ is Russian for ‘yes’ but when barked like a command, it's more like “WHAT DO YOU WANT?” except more unpleasant.

  “Alexei” she whimpered,
“I’m so sorry, I didn't know what to do” she was crying.

  “What is problem woman” he didn’t have the time or the patience for dealing with Sasha’s little problems, that’s why Igor was there. “Can’t Igor deal with it?”

  “Alexei,” she replied still sniffling, “its Pietr, he’s been taken!”

  “WHAT?” he’d been slouching in the huge leather office chair that had pride of place in his office, he jumped up so fast that the Oak desk went flying back six inches, the vase that had sat at the end of the desk went crashing onto the floor, his criminal brain immediately kicked into overdrive trying to work out who might do something like this, was it the first blow in trying to take him down? And if so, then who was behind it? “What do you mean taken?” he asked in a slightly softer voice, trying hard to both calm Sasha down, and working through the issues.

  “He had some kind of fit” she started saying, “right on the street outside my apartment, luckily there was a doctor near, he said it was a heart attack, they took him.”

  “Where?” he didn’t bother asking if she was okay, Pietr Gromatski was one of the fittest men Alexei had ever come across, he was virtually a fanatic on fitness and health, with the one tiny exception that he liked to smoke, but there was no way he would have a heart attack, it just didn’t sound right.

  “Outside my apartment, like I just said” she replied.

  “Not that you idiot” he shot back, “where did they take him?”

  “Hospital”

  “Which one?” he was getting angry, he began pacing up and down his office, “Which Hospital you stupid woman” he shouted down the phone. “Did they take him in an ambulance?”

  “No” she replied, they said an ambulance would be too slow, they put him into a car and took him, one called Chelsea and Westminster I think”

  “Where are you now?” he barked as he made his way to the office door, two rather confused and apprehensive henchmen were just outside, he signalled for them to give him a piece of paper and a pen, they did so promptly, he wrote ‘trace this call’ in Cyrillic, pointing to the one on the left he made it clear that’s what he wanted to happen, and now, the guard took off, there was no need to get the number, every call that came into the building was intercepted and monitored downstairs where Alexei’s bodyguards were stationed, within seconds he was in the small office and kicking the operator into action, Sasha wouldn’t need to tell them, they would find her within seconds, but it would go better for her if she was honest.

  “I panicked” she began, “as soon as they said the Hospital I thought the Police might arrive, I took off, I’m North of London”

  The other guard came back with a beaming smile, they’d found her location, he had the information on a piece of stationery, he passed it to Alexei.

  “You’re at the Services on the M1 motorway, at Watford Gap” he replied, “stay there, I’m sending people to meet up with you” he waived to the two guards, the meaning clear, “Move your arses, what are you waiting for, GO” they ran out of the building not wanting to anger the boss.

  As soon as he pressed the speed dial for another number on his phone, two seconds later it was answered, but before the other person could say anything he barked an order, “I want you round to Chelsea and Westminster hospital now, find out if Pietr is in there, NOW!”

  It just didn’t sound right, that right outside Sasha’s apartment, the man he sent to ‘protect’ the woman had a heart attack? Something wasn’t right, but he couldn’t be sure.

  He felt groggy, and had a thumping headache, the constant noise didn’t help, it wasn’t loud, but the whine was constant, and when you've got a sore head anyway, even the smallest whine is magnified a hundred times.

  “He’s coming round” the voice didn’t sound concerned, and it spoke a language he hadn’t heard for a very long time, he started to move, except he couldn’t. His arms had some kind of restraint on them, he slowly opened his eyes, man they hurt like he’d been on the Vodka all night, the eyelids felt like sandpaper being dragged across the soft eyeballs.

  He began to recognise things, he was in restraints, at least his arms were,he couldn’t feel his legs yet, ‘some kind of drug’ he thought to himself, he didn’t ask why, there were at least a hundred reasons why, and most of them very unpleasant to think about, the real question was who?

  The whine he worked out was engine noise, a jet engine.

  He opened his eyes, at least he tried to open them, something prevented him, he tried to take whatever it was off, except his arms couldn't move.

  ‘Restraints’ he thought, “Wass ist dass?” he shouted as he tried ripping them off, “What, get them off!!” he screamed.

  “Shut up” a voice replied in a long disused language, one that instilled fear as a fist ploughed into his face, slowly it dawned on him what was happening, the language, blindfold, restraints and the noise of the engine meant something that would pump fear into the heart of even the hardest criminal, it was an ‘Extraordinary rendition’ of the worst kind. He was being taken to a place you don’t come back from, Pietr Gromatski no longer existed.

  Chapter 29

  “Holy Shh” she couldn't finish the phrase, she was too dumbstruck. “How many of us are still on this case?” Billie turned and asked Jimmy, being in hospital meant she was out of touch with where things are at.

  “Townsend reassigned everyone” Jimmy replied, “except me, he wanted me to finish the paper trail, then put everything into storage, you know, the cold case” he shrugged, “why?”

  “Because I needed to let you, and anyone else on the team know what we’ve got here” she tapped the laptop's screen, “now I know it's only us two we can go grab a coffee” she stood up and headed for the door, grabbing her coat she came back, switched the laptop off and put it in the holdall they’d bought for it.

  “Okay boss,” Jimmy said, “spill the beans”

  “Not here” BJ replied, “walls have ears!”

  “Eh?” Jimmy didn't know what to make of what she just said, “what you mean boss?”

  “All will be revealed, in time that is” She replied as she reached for her phone, flicking through to the number pad she punched in a number, two seconds later it was ringing, five rings and a female voice answered, “Jo, Jimmy and I are heading out to the Duke, I’d love for you to join us if you’ve got the time” she hung up the phone and headed for the door, “leave the car Jimmy” she headed for the door, she stopped at the door, turned and said, “By the way, you’re buying, and mine’s a Carlsberg”

  ‘The Duke’ is on the corner of Portobello Road and Elgin Crescent, a traditional English pub that doesn’t bother to try and cater to the almighty tourist dollar, the pub would only have locals in, and most of them knew her, not that she was a regular, she was a copper, and seeing a copper having a ‘liquid lunch’ wasn’t all that unusual, though with BJ it usually ended with her still being sober, today would be no different, the beer was just to not look out of place as they put things together.

  The pub was half full, a couple of the locals gave Billie a wave as she walked in, no one really paid much notice, then again, in a London pub, it pays to not take too much notice of what’s going on. Not that it matters, it’s the kind of place that’s got its own code for things, and even it’s own language that was specially invented in the 19th century to keep the local ‘Bobbies’ (as the police were known back then) guessing what the hell was going on. Jimmy went up to the bar to order the drinks while Bille found a table and waited for Joanne to show up, she’d sent a text saying she was on the way.

  “Kay boss” Jimmy started as soon as Joanne got there, he’d already ordered drinks for the three of them, Carlsberg for both him and BJ and a Heineken for Jo, “what’s the big secret? Whatcha got?”

  Billie put the laptop onto the table in front of them, she began opening the machine up, but not turning it on yet, “How long have we been trying to find out the name of the guy in the river?” she asked, “Ten days
?”

  “Yeah” Joanne replied, “Body went in the water last Tuesday, actually probably Monday night, but we found out about it Tuesday, that was ten days ago” Joanne had been part of the team as well, and she was someone BJ had known from previous investigations, she was good at what she did, damn good.

  “Ten days” BJ began, “and we got nowhere, not even a name, in the financial capital of the world, and right next to the seat of power, that seem strange to you?” she stopped for a moment, observing the two, their looks said a big fat YES.

  “It was a bit strange” Jimmy acknowledged, “But I’ve seen stranger things!” he shrugged, “But yeah, I’d say someone didn’t want us finding out”

  “And I think I know why” Billie replied, she leaned forward and activated the screen on the laptop, “Don’t say anything,” she warned them, “Just read the file”

  The file had the initials M.I.6 stamped right across the top, and a red seal saying ‘Top Secret’ right in the next line. Next came a picture, and a name, followed by the personal details of the person in the picture.

  NameFarid Akbari

  Country of originEgypt

  Age30

  NationalityBritish (Naturalised)

  Languages spokenArabic (Mother tongue) Coptic, Hebrew, English and German (fluent in all these) French, Italian and Spanish (conversational)

  SkillsPhd in Computer science (Oxford University), degrees in Political science and sociology.

  Further information.Farid’s parents came to Britain in the late 1980s to escape persecution in their home country. His father was a Muslim and his Mother was a Christian. This wasn’t a problem in Egypt as the child would be raised in the faith of the father, but his father was a secret Christian who didn’t want this, so they came to Britain to escape the persecution and death threats.