Shades of Loyalty

by Paul Stretton-Stephens

  Jago was half in the water. His gun arm rested on a tuft of a plant that had somehow grown on a listing maritime corpse. It provided adequate support during the wait. To his front and sides was sufficient foliage to provide good camouflage. The sun was going down behind him, helping his concealment.

  The radio crackled into life.

  “Hello, all call signs on op Big Ben. This is NCIS Support 92 Charlie calling. Over.”

  Jago responded, “Go ahead, 92 Charlie.”

  “We have recovered your two team members from north of your position. Sit-rep: one down and one wounded. Over.”

  Jago hung his head low upon receiving the news and paused before replying, knowing that Chris and Lauren were also absorbing the information.

  “Roger that, 92 Charlie. Thanks for letting us know. Over.”

  “We thought that you’d like to know ASAP. We have two teams converging from your partner’s position in the north. Where do you want them? Over.”

  “Keep one on the shoreline and one in the north-east of the woodland. Hold the second team on the rise of the hill. Over.”

  “Will do. Out.”

  Jago reached into his small daypack and checked his pocket-sized underwater breathing apparatus. He knew that it would last for about five minutes and thought that it might come in useful. He kept it close and at the ready.

  Suddenly there was movement. It was slow and deliberate along the tree line. For a moment, the movement was out of view. Jago had expected this as there was a natural dip inwards from the shoreline to the tree line, just before the rocky outcrop. Jago knew that Slater would reappear at any moment.

  “Get ready, Lauren. Keep your nerve … ready … ready …”

  Slater turned the corner and spotted who he thought to be the professor.

  “Now, Lauren! Now!”

  He watched as Lauren turned at lightning speed and put down fire in Slater’s direction. He seemed surprised, which was precisely what Jago had planned for. Just a momentary lapse was enough for Lauren to fire and take cover.

  Slater retreated along the path from where he came. He had no way of knowing how many agents were ahead of him with Lauren, and cover was virtually non-existent. He knelt, gun at the ready, evaluating his position.

  Jago had seen that Slater was wearing American military camouflage, black boots, possibly also US issue, and a well-stocked camouflage tactical vest. Slater’s retreat had provided enough time for Jago to slip into the water with his breathing apparatus. He manoeuvred himself into a position to a point where he was about forty feet away but at a too acute an angle to fully see Slater’s location. Jago was just under the surface with his eyes above the waterline, and on his head he wore a camouflage hat with added natural plant life. He initially settled, with substantial cover, beside a protruding piece of ship’s iron enveloped by tall grass.

  He then moved to more open water, the surface of which was covered in vegetation. From here he had a suitable vantage point, just enough to see that Slater was preparing an assault. He was extracting grenades from his pouches, all the time looking front and rear, with the occasional glance upwards to the top of the boulders that hung above him.

  “Lauren, this is Jago. Fall back to the point now and get prone! Over.”

  “Roger that. Moving now.”

  Lauren did not need telling twice, falling back about thirty feet as the rocks rounded at the point. No sooner had she adopted the prone position when a flash-bang erupted close to her last location, rapidly followed by two explosions from detonated grenades.

  Slater started his advance, firing into the smoke as he moved. Lauren kept a vigil, but this was Jago’s moment to strike. Slater’s half-turned body was ready to round the bend and follow through on his assault of Lauren’s position when he was fired upon in a short burst. Slater spun around, not knowing from where the shots were coming. He hit the ground facing outwards, swivelling from left to centre and right.

  “Hello, Lauren, put down four short bursts on my mark. Wait …”

  Jago waited until Slater was momentarily looking the other way and fired another short burst at him. Slater’s head turned, and he put down fire on Jago’s first position from where he was inside the hull of the old rotting ship. “Now Lauren, fire!”

  Lauren broke cover and let rip, pinning Slater back towards the boulder wall behind him. Jago applied more pressure on Slater with intermittent short bursts. Slater began to fire randomly in all directions, and Jago advanced upon his position, stopping every few feet to fire another volley. Lauren’s firing had ceased, and Jago saw that Slater was struggling to get to his feet. He’d been hit but remained active. Jago steadied his aim and fired.

  Slater reeled backwards into the grey lichen-covered boulder and finally came to rest in a half-sitting position, gun still in hand but seemingly unable to use it. Jago advanced, slowly, cautiously. He knew that this was a Special Forces-trained opponent whose capabilities should not be underestimated, and who had nothing to lose.

  “Hold your position, Lauren. Remain alert but hold. Over.”

  “Roger that. Out.”

  Jago emerged from the water, finger poised on the trigger, with Slater continually in his sights. He closed in, and Slater was wincing and rolling from side to side, still gripping his gun. Jago halted about fifteen feet away, knelt and called out to him.

  “Jed! Time’s up. Toss your weapons into the water.”

  Slater eyed Jago, raised his gun arm and started to point the barrel in Jago’s direction. Jago fired twice in the dirt beside Slater as a warning.

  “I said to toss the weapons.”

  Slater recognised Jago from their brief encounter and spluttered, “Oh, it’s you. You’re going to kill me anyway so why should I?”

  “Because your brother and your father don’t want you dead.”

  “You have a point, but I guess it’s too late. Is Marti okay?”

  “Yes, he’s fine, unharmed. Why did you do it, Jed? Why all the bad acts and feelings?”

  “Those toffee-nosed merciless politicians don’t give a toss about us, you know that? We’re just numbers and money to them. They made us leave the only life we knew, the only life we wanted. Hundreds, no thousands of us. Dumped on the scrap heap.”

  “I can understand your reasoning, but why bring Marti into it? He had a promising future.”

  “Marti was dumped too. He only had a bright future because he is bright, but he was forced like the rest of us. He wanted his revenge too.”

  “You’re wrong Jed. So wrong. You see, Marti volunteered but didn’t dare to tell you. You, on the other hand, assumed that he’d been pushed.”

  Slater tried to sit up and angrily replied, “You’re lying! Of course, he was pushed.”

  “No, Jed, he wasn’t. Toss the guns away, and I’ll prove it to you.”

  Jed lay there thinking, then tossed the carbine towards the water. It fell short but was well out of his reach.

  “And the sidearm.”

  Jed half smiled before unholstering the Glock on his thigh and throwing it into the water. He started to cough and dribble blood from his mouth. Jago opened a water-resistant pouch from around his neck. He began a video on the mobile phone and tossed it to Jed.

  “If you don’t believe me, see for yourself.”

  Slater’s eyes darted from Jago to the phone. He focused, coughed and watched the video of Marti’s interview.

  “He didn’t want to disappoint his older brother, didn’t want to let him down. He knew that you were suffering and thought that joining you was the best way to help you.”

  Slater tossed the phone aside on the dusty ground. He tried to move, to get up and couldn’t. He coughed and held his torso, grimacing in pain.

  Jago took advantage of the moment. He could see the front and left side of Slater and that there were no grenades on his vest. But he couldn’t see the other side or the back. He moved to Slater’s left, all the while maintaining his distance and keeping his weapon trai
ned on Slater.

  “I need you to remove the vest, Jed. Can you do that?”

  Jed moved his hand to undo the vest but then lunged his hand under it, producing a pistol. Spotting the movement and the pistol grip, Jago’s finger instinctively reacted, leaving Slater with two holes in his face and a blood-smattered boulder behind him, the stain radiating like a vibrant, claret-coloured aura around his body.

  Chapter 34 – The Windfall

  Jago and his team gathered back at The Ranch for the 10:00 hours debrief and Jago calmly conveyed the events that took place in the US.

  “Bernie, what has happened to young Marti?”

  “The powers that be have sent him to a military prison for the time being, just while they decide what to do with him. He’s already been told about Jed, and his father has been to visit him.”

  “Have we managed to retrieve any of the funding? And do we now understand the significance of the dates 24th and 25th, and the figure 24.25?”

  “Okay, Boss. Let’s answer your first question. Yes, we have managed to retrieve some of the funding. We are set to gain a windfall of £2.9 million for our charitable fund. They’d basically spent and distributed a large sum via offshore accounts in multiple countries. And Orenid Finance’s insurers are trying to recover some of that. When I explained to Marti what we do, he seemed quite happy to pass us the details to transfer the interest, plus some. He realised he wasn’t going to be out to do anything with it for a long time.”

  “That kind of money will help a lot of people for many years to come. At least some good has come out of all this.”

  He turned to Abi. “Abi, when we get back after a break, our main priority is to divert funds and look at some new additional distribution.”

  “Sounds good to me, Boss.”

  Jago continued. “Well, Bernie, what about the dates and the amount of money?”

  “It’s as simple as this: if they had both received the pension they thought they were entitled to, Jed would have received his on the 24th of the month and Marti would have received his on the 25th. There’s no more to it than that. It seemed that Jed was obsessed with what could have been and determined the dates of attack this way.”

  “I suppose some of the most perplexing issues can have the simplest answers.”

  “What about those officers who have suffered as a result of the Slaters’ misinformation, like the officer with the son and the planted drugs?”

  “We’ve informed all the relevant agencies and everything will be put right for them,” reported Bernie.

  “Thanks, Bernie. Well done. You know, Jed must have been really mixed up. I mean, he’d planned and executed all of those attacks against the powers that be, and then he captures one of the world’s most wanted and doesn’t kill him, although he had every opportunity. And then hands him over to Scotland Yard. The lines of duty and allegiance really did blur for him, didn’t they?”

  “I suppose that you could call it shades of loyalty,” said Abi.

  “Yes, you’re right. That’s exactly what is was: shades of loyalty. That sums it up just right.”

  “Boss, are you going back over to the States for Mark’s funeral?” asked Dom.

  “Yes, I’ll go over at the start of next week. There’s an inevitable delay due to the autopsy. Anyway, you guys deserve a good break after a job well done. Thank you, everybody, I really appreciate your hard work and effort in this operation. Do you know where you’re going for your break?”

  “I think that I’ll hang around the city and see what turns up,” said Dom.

  “More like you’ll see where Irene wants to go,” jibed Fi.

  The team laughed.

  “Fi, I don’t know what you mean?”

  “Yeah, yeah. Sure, Dom, sure.” Fi turned to Jago. “I’m off to see family for a few days and I’m taking a last-minute break in the sun. I don’t know where exactly, just as long as it’s in the sun I don’t care.”

  “Sounds good, Fi, I don’t blame you. I could do with some sun myself.”

  “What about you, Bernie?”

  “There are two tech conferences I wouldn’t mind attending. One’s here in London and there is a choice of others, but I quite fancy Chicago.”

  “Bernie, that’s not time off. When are you going to go somewhere to relax, away from technology?”

  “Away from technology? Never! Anyhow, being away from you guys will be a break, and it will be relaxing.”

  “You have a point. Each to their own, I suppose.” Jago turned to Abi. “What are you going to do, Abi? You can’t stay here all by your lonesome, can you?”

  “Me, well I’m a bit limited when it comes to visiting my folks because their house just isn’t big enough for me to access it. I guess I can stay in a hotel nearby for a few days. And I do have the opportunity of attending an Invictus team training camp that’s taking place in the Canary Islands for ten days. That’ll be good.”

  “But I thought you were waiting to save up for one of those new fancy chairs before you went on to any serious training?”

  “I am, but all the suppliers are at these training camps, and you can try the chairs out. So it’s a really good opportunity to do that as well as get to know the team.”

  “Oh, I see. How much are they?” asked Jago.

  “The ones I’ve been looking at start at £1,000 and can go up to £3,000 depending on what they’re made of: carbon, titanium or whatever. But then, I have to pay to get there and stay as well.”

  “That’s a hefty sum, Abi. Do you think that you’re going to be any good at this racing?”

  “I don’t know, I’ll give it my best shot. Anyway, I’m really enjoying the training and looking forward to being part of the team, and that means more to me than anything.”

  “That’s what we thought.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “We thought that you would say something like that, something like ‘I’m going to give it my all’ and ‘I just want to be part of the team’.”

  He took out an envelope from his back pocket and handed it to her.

  “We’ve all chipped in and here’s a little something to help you get what you need.”

  Stunned, Abi looked around at all of them, making eye contact with each and every one. She opened the envelope and counted out £3,000. She was shocked, shocked to her core, and burst into tears. The team cheered and gathered around Abi, hugging her in turn.

  “But, I don’t how to thank you, I really don’t.”

  Jago replied, “You don’t have to thank us at, Abi, we’re a team and we look out for each other. You just go out there, enjoy yourself and do your best. And then tell us all about it when you come back.”

  Jago concluded the debriefing.

  “Right, team. Let’s get things squared away and I don’t want to see anyone here after midday.”

  Jago made for his office, reached his mobile and called Rebecca.

  “Hi, it’s me. Is there any way you can take some time off starting next weekend?”

  “I don’t know, I can ask. For how long?”

  “Let’s say two weeks. Oh, and you’ll need your passport and something black to wear.”

  THE END

  Thank you

  Thank you for reading Shades of Loyalty. I appreciate you spending time with the characters and events in this the second book in The Jack Jago Thriller Series.

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  About the Author

  Paul Stretton-Stephens is an English author who was born in Robin Hood country, Nottingham, UK, He has served in the Royal Marines, Royal Military Police, and the UK Home Office. He has worked as an International Security Consultant and as a teacher, Paul has also taught Physical Education, and Business Management and before writing full time he held the post of Head Teacher in a secondary school.

  Paul has travelled extensively and has lived abroad for some years. He is happily married and now lives in Devon, UK where he adores living by the sea.

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