by Bryan Murray
Jake turned to Sarah as they discussed the latest news bulletin. “So, now we need to ditch the Jag. Question is, do we do it before or after we get rid of Hansel and Gretel up the road?”
“Good question,” Sarah began. “I just saw some more movement on the balcony of the room next to the one we saw before.”
“Probably Jane taking a look,” Jake replied. “So, maybe we can turn this to our advantage?”
Sarah looked interested. “I’m listening?”
Jake explained. “It would involve using you as bait, I’m afraid.”
“Bait?” she looked confused.
“Yes,” he continued. “Like I said earlier, you sit in the car and make it look to anyone watching that we are both in here.”
She was already ahead of him. “And when they come down to check us out?”
He finished the sentence for her. “I pop them from the trees!”
She smiled. “At least it’s a plan.”
“Right, and if they don’t come down to check us out, we’ll just stay on their tail in the morning.”
She looked a little nervous. “Works for me.”
“Good,” he replied. “Just one minor problem?”
“Problem?”
“Yes,” Jake replied. “This gun isn’t my Glock and I’ve only got 6 bullets left.”
She smiled. “So, you’d better make them count, my love!”
CHAPTER 26
Jake was eternally grateful that it was a mild evening and he kept moving to stop from getting a cramp in his vantage point up in the tree above the car. It had taken a while to select the ideal spot, where he wouldn’t show up in any headlights of passing traffic going in either direction, but also give him an unrestricted shot guaranteed to hit the two CIA assassins if indeed they had spotted the car and had something planned.
He had scoped out the terrain and with the country inn being slightly uphill, on the other side of the road above them, with tall, tight trees along that side of the road and due to the fact that on Jake’s side of the road, the ground fell quickly away down to a brook below, with dangerous rocks in the dark, then anyone approaching from the country inn would have to almost walk in sight, down the road towards the Jaguar.
He glanced at his watch by the light of the harvest moon and it was 2.30am. Once again he massaged his trigger finger, his eyes stinging from staring intently at the only door on the front of the inn up the road.
And then he saw them, two silent shadows that left the inn and flitted across the road to avoid being silhouetted by the light of the lone street lamp some fifty yards up the road.
Jake said a silent prayer to the man in the moon as he added at least a little light to what was shortly to become a battle zone.
As the two shadows moved closer, Jake could see exactly where they would approach the car, hopefully to stay in the shadows as much as possible as they got closer.
He could also see that the two CIA assassins were armed as they moved towards the Jaguar. He was willing them closer until they were ideally in range, his loaded gun in one hand and his I-phone in the other. He was also saying a silent prayer that Sarah was watching for his signal.
At the exact moment that he pressed the light button on his phone light, Sarah saw it, switched on the car headlights and as the two assassins were momentarily blinded, it only took two head shots from Jake and the two CIA operatives dropped like a stone.
He dropped from the tree, rushed over to check they were both dead and dragged them to the Jaguar as Sarah had once again turned off the headlights. Jake heaved Steve into the front seat and Jane into the back seat of the car on the road side, while Sarah was already taking their weapons from the two bodies and grabbing the GPS system.
Jake had already gone through Steve’s pockets, relieved to find the keys for the red VW. He then reached in the dash panel of the Jag and removed the note on the sheet of paper and laid it across Steve’s chest in the front seat as the blood was now oozing down Steve’s face. The note read, ‘These are two CIA assassins sent to try and terminate the innocent suspected assassins of Her Majesty. Just another example of CIA treachery!’
They quietly closed the doors on the Jag and moved silently up the street to the parking lot of the Inn. Jake unlocked the red VW and with Sarah at the wheel, with the brake off, Jake pushed the car silently out onto the road as they rolled away down the hill to where Sarah could stop, letting Jake take over the driving. He turned on the ignition and they drove away into the night.
Sarah looked at Jake and smiled. “Nice shootin’, Sherlock!”
He grinned. “Thank you, thank you,” he pointed to the two CIA Glocks in his waistband. “And now we have a little more up to date firepower, still may not be enough to take on the RIRA, but at least it’s an improvement.”
She looked at him lovingly. “D’you have any idea how close I was to falling asleep and missing your signal?”
He nodded. “And do you know how close I was to getting rigor mortis in my trigger finger?” he reached over and grabbed a candy bar that he munched on hungrily. “Boy, did we leave a sweet can of worms back there. When the hotel are ready to clean the room and find Hansel and Gretel gone as well as their car and then someone finds them dead in a Jag just yards away, MI5 will have a shit fit!”
She smiled. “Especially when they see the note advising that they are two CIA ‘black-ops’ assassins sent over by Director Rathbone to terminate me and you! Senator Johnson and the Bureau will be giving them hell as well as our friends in CLU, not to mention other governments around the world.”
Jake looked serious. “That’ll teach them to ignore my warnings about retaliation!” he looked at her lovingly. “So, now we need to find a quiet spot and get some sleep.”
“Amen to that!” she sighed.
CHAPTER 27
As soon as Hargreaves arrived in his office the following morning, Strickland was waiting for him, an urgent look on his face.
“Yes, Hugh?” Hargreaves inquired.
“New development, sir.” Strickland began.
“I’m listening?”
“We’ve now found the blue Jag and this time Harrigan left us a couple of presents!”
“He did?”
“Yes, sir, are you ready for this, a couple of dead CIA assassins, a man and a woman!”
Hargreaves was in shock. “How do we know?” he asked.
“Because Harrigan left us a note. He also left the two bodies in the Jag he stole earlier and it also appears that he took the weapons of the two assassins in addition to their rental car.”
Hargreaves was thinking out loud. “Check the passports of the two stiffs, see what date they entered, presumably it was Heathrow and then check all rental agencies for a name match. Then we’ll know exactly what Harrigan is driving today!”
“Yes, sir.” Strickland was making notes.
Hargreaves sat down trying to absorb the impact of what his assistant had just told him. “What exactly did the note say that he left?”
“It said ‘These are two CIA assassins sent over to terminate the innocent suspected assassins of Her Majesty. Just another example of CIA treachery’!”
“My God, Hugh,” Hargreaves began. “Let me get this straight. This chap Harrigan is really something else. Not only is he staying ahead of our manhunt, but he also took the time, if we can believe him, to eliminate a hired assassin of the terrorists who killed his grandmother. He was even able to spot two CIA assassins on his tail and he even had the presence of mind to track them down without them knowing and take them out!”
“Looks like it, sir. Maybe he’s trying to tell us something.”
“Like what?”
Strickland was choosing his words carefully. “With what’s been going on, I’ve been thinking.”
“Thinking what?”
“What the heck are the CIA playing at? If Harrigan is right and these two people were sent to take him and the woman out, the fact that he left us a note telling
us who they were, may be a way of him trying to tell us he didn’t do the attempted hit on H.R.H.”
“But he was videotaped with the attack weapon in his hand, with the Queen’s limo only feet away!” Hargreaves insisted.
Strickland thought for a moment. “Either him or someone like him, sir?”
Hargreaves dismissed the idea. “I’m sorry, Hugh, but I just don’t buy that. However, what is worrying me is why the CIA are trying to get rid of a former operative. Dig a little deeper will you?”
Yes, sir.” Strickland left his boss to go over the other counter-terrorism material in his in-tray.
* * *
An hour or so later, Strickland was sitting at his desk when his senior researcher Ted came up with a file in his hand. Strickland looked up. “Find anything, Ted?”
The young researcher, slim and dark, nodded affirmatively. “Quite a lot, sir.”
“I’m listening?” Strickland stopped what he was doing.
“In addition to what we already had at the time of the assassination attempt, I dug a little deeper and apparently this guy Harrigan is one of the good guys, you know how secretive the Americans are about their operatives?”
“Go on?” Strickland was intrigued.
“He was instrumental with his partner, this woman he is with, in stopping an illegal arms shipment by rogue CIA officers to terrorists in Dubai, after his wife had died under suspicious circumstances while he was on a job in the Emirates!”
Strickland was making notes as Ted continued.
“And on his last assignment, do you remember all the attacks on the Israeli economy by those Neo-Nazis?”
Strickland nodded that he was familiar with the story. “Go on?”
“Well, sir, it was also Harrigan and the woman who hunted down the bad guys who had also assassinated her uncle the former Israeli Defense Minister, Ari Golchen. The Mossad team they were working with as well as both the Israeli and US Governments were apparently very impressed!”
Strickland looked at his assistant. “Well, that certainly doesn’t sound like a man who would then turn around and take a shot at the Queen?”
Ted nodded in agreement. “I agree, sir.”
Strickland had a knowing look on his face. “You said that he took down some rogue CIA agents who may have killed his wife?”
“Yes, sir.” Ted replied
“H’mm that could certainly have embarrassed the CIA. Didn’t the Director at the time resign?”
Ted nodded in confirmation. “Yes, sir.”
Strickland continued his hypothesis. “Maybe this was their opportunity at reprisal, under the radar of every cop in the UK being out to shoot the guy down on sight?”
“Could be, sir, will that be all?” Ted inquired.
Strickland’s mind was made up. “No, I’m not totally convinced that this guy Harrigan was the intended assassin in the attempt on the Queen, but the Head of Counter-Terrorism won’t hear of it, He’s convinced it was Harrigan, particularly since he was also seen at the bank robbery.”
Ted looked at him. “What are you thinking, sir?”
Strickland started to explain. “Well, if it wasn’t Harrigan, it had to be someone who looked just like him, so, having ruled out that he doesn’t have an identical twin, then the guy who really did it was made to look like Harrigan, so much so that it fooled the TV camera and the world media.”
Ted thought a moment. “You mean wearing a mask?”
“Exactly!” Strickland replied.
Ted was familiar with current technology. “It can definitely be done, sir with the latest 3D camera technology. All they need to make a lifelike, full size facial mask with full color tones, is a good color photograph. What would you like me to do?”
Strickland was still thinking out loud. “This is an assignment just for me, you understand. There can’t be too many people doing this type of work, so check them out and ask if they have recently made any masks looking like Harrigan and more important still, if they did, who did they make them for? I know it’s a long shot, but it’s worth a try.”
“Yes, sir, I’ll get right on it.” Ted left and Strickland looked out of the window pensively.
“What the hell, we’re clutching at straws here!”
Strickland would have been most encouraged to know that he was following a solid hunch, but he would have been equally discouraged to know that the owner of the small web site, ‘Faces to Go.com’, where Quinn bought the face mask of Jake Harrigan, was currently in the middle of a two-week camping holiday with his family in Northern Alberta with no phone, TV or newspaper connections. Consequently, he had no idea that his one-time creation was about to make him millions in spin off revenues, once the world realized that his mask had fooled everyone, including Senior Civil Servant Hargreaves!
CHAPTER 28
It was the sound of cows mooing that awoke Jake with a start and a stiff neck after sleeping in the car, parked behind a hedge in a field, out of view from the road. He opened one eye and looked at Sarah. She was just opening her eyes and she suddenly recoiled at the huge face of a black and white cow staring at her through the window, stupidly chewing its cud.
“My God!” she jumped back in shock.
Jake smiled. “How’s this for a five star hotel, fresh milk delivered to our room!”
She gave a tired smile. “I dreamed I was being chased all night, how’s that for par for the course?”
“I don’t even remember closing my eyes,” Jake whispered, his throat still dry from snoring. “But at least we’re still alive, which is more than we can say for those two bastards who were coming after us!”
“Amen to that,” she replied. “I don’t know about you, but I need a restroom, a shower and some food in that order!”
Jake thought back to the night before. “Well, the restroom could be possible since we passed a municipal park just down the road as we came in last night. Food may also be a possibility since they usually have vending machines, so, let’s take a closer look.”
She looked at him lovingly. “Don’t ever let it be said you weren’t a good provider!”
He turned on the engine and the cows started to move away as they headed along, behind the hedgerow until they came to a gate to the main road. Jake jumped out, opened the gate, jumped back in and drove out onto the road, got back out, closed the gate and they drove off in the direction they came.
Minutes later, after a welcome restroom stop for both of them, they sat in the car eating a chocolate bar each and discussing the plans for the day.
Sarah began the discussion. “So, I suppose we’re going to try and get to Belfast, now that last night’s two obstacles are out of the way?”
Jake nodded affirmatively. “I guess. I can just imagine the scene this morning in Langley when MI5 have to tell them they found the bodies of two of their assassins in the stolen car of the man they have been trying to apprehend for the attempted assassination of the Queen. Rathbone will be spitting feathers awaiting the call from the White House asking for an explanation and Agent Decker will be seriously pissed that two of his best assassins are terminated!”
He squeezed her hand tenderly. “And in answer to your question, I think heading for Northern Ireland is our only option before some trigger-happy cop puts a bullet through either one of us!”
“So, how do we go about it?”
He thought for a moment. “Well, if I know our friends in MI5, they will already have tracked the info on this rental car down and there will be a dragnet out for this vehicle before we know it.”
“I agree.”
Jake continued. “We’re about a two hour drive from the nearest coastal town in Wales where we could perhaps commandeer a boat across to Northern Ireland.”
She smiled. “I see, so we’re about to add piracy to grand theft auto?”
He grinned. “Exactly, now you’re getting into the spirit of things. But in the meantime we need to lie low until dark when I can touch base with Gramps again. He’s
watching everything on TV for us in case we need to know.”
Sarah was now wide awake, the candy bar had given her the boost she needed and she made a mental note to check her weight after all the junk food they had been consuming.
“So, in view of the fact that it’s at least ten hours since we stole a car, don’t you think we’re getting a bit lazy?”
“I was just thinking the same thing,” he replied as they continued to drive along, looking for the ideal opportunity.
CHAPTER 29
It was only 9.00 am in Rathbone’s office in Langley, but already the CIA Director was fit to be tied. News had been received from the seriously angry Home Secretary in the UK concerning the bodies of Bessemer and Oxley, who had been found dead in a vehicle stolen by Jake.
Rathbone was no fool and he was clearly reading the message delivered by Jake, in other words, ‘Don’t fuck with me’ and now the wrath of the spin doctors and even the President himself was about to come tumbling down on him.
He was cursing himself for listening to Agent Decker and authorizing the termination mission for Harrigan and the woman. His deputy Jim Handforth entered and Rathbone looked up dejectedly. “If it’s more bad news, I don’t want to hear.” he snarled.
“I’m afraid so, David.” Handforth began. “World reaction at the CIA sending out hit men is rampant. I’ve had Senator Johnson on the line and the CLU and it’s only a matter of time before you know who comes on the line!”
Rathbone had a lost look in his eye. “My God, this Harrigan is one tough sonofabitch!”
His secretary walked in and he looked at her and barked. “Yes, what is it?”
The girl almost jumped in shock. “It’s the White House on the line, Director Rathbone!”
He nodded. “Put them through,” he looked at Handforth. “Goddammit, here we go!”
Handforth nodded sympathetically, leaving discreetly as his angry boss faced the incoming inquisition alone.
