Assassin 3 - The Wrong Man (Assassin Series)

by Bryan Murray

  “What the hell d’you mean you lost him?”

  “He avoided our man in pursuit, sir, this guy is like a will-o-the-wisp!” the Officer replied.

  Hargreaves was already looking at a map of Fishguard on his screen. “So, have you checked the small airfield?” he asked.

  The Officer replied. “No sir, a squad car is on the way up to the flying school now.”

  “Call me as soon as you get feedback and keep looking!” Hargreaves slammed the phone down and looked at Strickland. “Doesn’t anyone know how to corner a suspect anymore?” he stormed out of the office.

  * * *

  In the control tower, Fred was so engrossed in the loud soccer game that he didn’t even see or hear as the Cessna accelerated up the runway. He was more engrossed in the penalty kick that had just been awarded to his favorite team on the TV screen.

  After a shaky take-off, Jake was getting the feel of the controls as the small plane was gaining altitude, his previous lessons in covert flying from the CIA were kicking back in. Sarah even seemed to be relaxing a little as he turned to her and smiled. “Welcome to Harrigan Air,” he began. “Can you check if there’s any food or drink, flashlights, you name it?” he asked.

  She nodded, unfastened her seat belt and scrambled into the double seat behind them. She looked over her shoulder. “I suppose we can now add grand theft aero to our long list of accomplishments?”

  He laughed. “There you go!”

  She came back shortly with a fifth of rum, a flashlight and a rather dilapidated, half-open bag of potato chips.

  He shrugged when he saw what she had found. “Man, what would I do for some more fish and chips?” Sarah was in agreement and found two paper cups that she filled with a tot of rum for each of them.

  They had been running for a while and Jake was constantly checking the GPS and the gauges on the Cessna. Over to the right, he could now see the twinkling lights of what he assumed was the Isle of Man as they continued to head towards the coast of Northern Ireland.

  The one thing that was worrying him, was that the fuel gauge was now looking considerably lower than when they had first taken off, Maybe this Cessna was a gas guzzler and it made him nervous. He decided not to mention the matter to Sarah.

  CHAPTER 36

  Back in Fishguard, the police vehicles at the port had now re-deployed further afield while still leaving a couple of officers on duty in case Jake decided to double back. With still a few tourist and locally-owned motor launches in the harbor, they were still concerned that he may try and commandeer one, to go to who knows where?

  Up by the flying club, a police cruiser was moving along the perimeter road when the young officer Tim at the wheel suddenly spotted the pick-up parked under the trees. He turned on his intercom. “Twenty Two to base, over?”

  The same voice heard earlier came on the line. “Base to twenty two, go ahead?”

  Tim quickly explained that he had found the abandoned pick up and his superior told him to drive up to the control tower and speak to Fred, to check if he had heard or seen anything unusual.

  The young officer did as he was told and after he rushed over to the control tower and busted in on Fred, the latter almost dropped his sixth beer in shock.

  “My God, Tim!” he yelled. “You almost gave me a heart attack! What’s up?”

  Tim explained to the wide-eyed Fred about all the excitement that had been going on in the town and he asked him if he had seen any aircraft taking off. Fred nodded negatively, but when the young cop saw all the empty beer cans, he asked Fred to show him the log of planes on the airfield that night.

  Fred checked his log. “There was eight planes tethered last time I looked, Tim.” he answered. Tim took the list which showed the type of plane and the name of the owner member of the flying club. He headed for the door, the list in his hand. He turned to Fred who was now looking a little sheepish. “Not to worry, Fred,” he explained. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

  Outside, the resourceful, young cop climbed in his car and drove quickly down to the far end of the runway, where all the planes were lined up in the enveloping mist and rain. He grabbed his flashlight and moved quickly down the line, very quickly realizing that there were only seven planes there. He quickly cross checked each plane to his list to see that is was the Cessna Skyhawk of the club member Peter Dunallen that was missing.

  He ran quickly back to his car, grabbed his intercom and explained the situation to his boss Superintendent Jones.

  Jones was immediately angry. “My God! So, the bastard could be anywhere!” he growled. “Right, get me the full spec, ID number the whole nine yards on this plane and get back to me fast, I need to contact MI5!”

  “Yes, sir.” Tim replied as he quickly drove back to the control tower.

  CHAPTER 37

  Up in the Cessna, it was an eerie kind of evening as they kept drifting in and out of low cloud and in the clearer moments they could see the lights of the coast of Ireland twinkling below.

  Jake was still watching the valiant GPS, his constant companion over the past few days and so far it was still working well together with the other gauges on the Cessna. The fuel gauge was now looking dangerously low, a situation that Sarah had already spotted. Suddenly, the engine started to run roughly and vibrated a little, indicating that they would shortly be running out of fuel.

  Sarah grabbed Jake’s arm. “My God! What was that?”

  He tried to calm her. “Just letting us know that we’re about to run out of fuel,” he replied. “Relax, these things can glide almost 10 miles from this altitude before they come down.”

  Sarah’s mind was in turmoil. “Oh great, and what if dry land is eleven miles away?”

  His voice was calm, belying his concern. “Don’t worry, you’re with a guy trained by Navy Seals, I’m not gonna let you drown, but just to be on the safe side put that life jacket on.”

  She was still wide-eyed. “Why am I not convinced?” she replied as she was scrambling into her life jacket, passing one to Jake just as the engine finally stopped with a shudder and they started to glide in total silence.

  Jake grabbed the controls firmly. “Fasten it tight,” he was trying to scramble into his life jacket. “This could get a little bumpy!”

  Sarah looked out of the window in fear. “Now he tells me!”

  They were losing altitude fast and Jake was keeping an eye on the GPS and the altimeter and even though he had run out of fuel, all his gauges were still illuminated.

  Once below the higher cloud elevations, the coastline of what Jake assumed was still Ireland, could now be seen twinkling below and he thanked his lucky stars that it was a moonlit night.

  Still struggling to hold the controls, Jake was controlling their descent the best he could and as he got lower, he realized that there was another problem. In the moonlight, he could see that most of the coastline below, looked to be bordered by rocky cliffs with white surf breaking at the shoreline with very few signs of a beach to try and attempt a landing.

  Suddenly, a stretch of beach opened up as they were now down to one thousand feet and the altimeter was falling fast. He turned to Sarah. “Okay, we’re going in, there’s a beach down there, put your head between your knees and say your prayers. By the way I love you!”

  She smiled. “Me too, be careful, Jake!”

  He concentrated again on the line of approach, his eyes trying to pierce the spray and mist as finally the beach seemed to come rushing up at them as the plane touched down, bounced, touched down again and finally bounced along with one wheel in the surf and the other on the hard beach until the drag of the water on the submerged wheel spun the plane into the waves at the water’s edge and it nose-dived into the surf.

  Jake was immediately in action. He looked at Sarah. “You okay?”

  She nodded groggily. “I think so.”

  He was already unfastening his seat belt and working on hers. “Okay, let’s get out of here!” he yelled over the sound o
f the surf.

  She followed him quickly as he kicked the door open and they literally fell into the shallow surf, quickly staggering to the beach. Once they were on dry land, Sarah stopped and looked at him, love in her eyes. “Now, you’re definitely a boy scout again,” she smiled. “That was incredible!”

  He hugged her to him. “Okay, let’s see if we can find out where the hell we are. Did you grab the GPS?”

  She reached in her pocket and handed it to him.

  “Great!” he stood and pointed it up the beach and zoomed out as he looked at the screen before turning to her. “So, do you want the good news or the not so good news?”

  “I’m listening?” she replied.

  “We’ve crossed the border into Northern Ireland, that’s the good news,” he began. “But it’s still a good way to Belfast, that’s the not so good news. The nearest town looks to be a place called Newcastle. We’ve got to find a road and if there’s one up at the top of the beach, that should be the A24 that goes directly north towards Belfast.”

  She looked at him. “Okay, let’s go find a road, have you got the two G’s?”

  He looked at her. “Two G’s?”

  “Yes,” she replied. “The two Glocks!”

  He smiled and lifted his jacket to show the two Glocks, fully loaded sticking in his waistband.

  They continued to walk up the deserted beach and she turned to him. “So, now we can add illegal entry to our long list of accomplishments!” He nodded in agreement as they reached the main road running alongside the beach.

  Jake got his bearings and pointed to the right. The countryside ahead was almost pitch black, but in the moonlight, they could see that the beach was a popular spot with an empty parking area with restrooms and the one thing that Jake was looking for, a telephone booth. He looked at his watch. “I’ll try and give Gramps a call to see what’s going on over there. Keep an eye out for a possible ride while I make the call.”

  “Will do!”

  After a few minutes of explaining that he would like to make a collect call, the operator finally got through to the Cherry Tree Pub and the bartender agreed to accept the charges after Jake Sr. agreed to reimburse him.

  Jake Sr. finally came on the line. “Hello, son where are you? It was getting later than usual!”

  “You’re not gonna believe this, Gramps, but we just crash landed a stolen Cessna Skyhawk on a beach in Northern Ireland, just south of Belfast!”

  Jake Sr. smiled. “My God, son! What a quiet life you lead!”

  “Tell me about it,” Jake replied. “Any news your end?”

  “I’m afraid I’ve got some sad news, Jake.” his grandfather began.

  Jake was instantly concerned. “What happened?”

  “It’s your Aunt Winnie,” Jake Sr. replied. “She’s been rushed to the hospital with a heart attack!”

  “Oh, my God! Is she okay?” Jake asked.

  “I think so,” his grandfather replied. “They seem to have got her stabilized. It was that blasted reporter whose been hassling her that got her so stressed out. Everywhere she went he was waiting to bug her about you, she wasn’t sleeping bless her.”

  Jake was furious. “What’s this reporter’s name?” he growled.

  “Benny Sutterman!” his grandfather answered.

  “Okay, don’t worry about him anymore, Gramps, I’ll find him when this is over and we’ll have a little chat!”

  “If you say so, son and there’s some other news you may not know about.”

  “I’m listening?”

  “I was watching the news before I left the house and they’re still looking for the pick up you were driving, but now you’re in Northern Ireland, MI5 will not be able to operate as smoothly until they get their people over there organized.”

  Jake was pleased. “Well, that’s good news, Gramps, perhaps it will give us time to get to Belfast and sort these bastards out.” he looked up to see Sarah waving at him as the lights of a vehicle could be seen approaching from the south on the coast road.

  “Gotta go, Gramps, I’ll call you same time tomorrow, a ride could be coming. Which pub?”

  “Dog and Duck.” Jake Sr. answered before ringing off.

  Jake rushed over to Sarah who was flagging the vehicle down for a ride. As it got closer, he could see that it was an old cross-country bus. The Driver spotted them and ground to a halt opening the door. There were a few sleepy passengers on board as they climbed in. Jake smiled at him and the Driver smiled back. “Get lost did yer then?”

  Jake nodded affirmatively. “Car broke down, way back in the hills. Are you going towards Belfast by any chance?”

  The Driver waved them to a seat. “That I am, take us about two and a half hours!”

  Jake nodded that they would like a ride. “Great, how much do I owe you?”

  The Driver shook his head. “De passengers is all prepaid at de bus station an’ I don’t do tickets. Not to worry!”

  Sarah was impressed. She smiled sweetly at the driver. “How sweet! Thank you so much!”

  The Driver smiled. “Not at all, not at all!” Clearly he hadn’t recognized them as they quickly found a seat in the darkened area near the back as the old bus rolled off into the night.

  When they sat down, Sarah immediately put her head on Jake’s shoulder and relaxed. She was completely exhausted. She whispered to him. “This is just another day at the office for you isn’t it?”

  He whispered back. “A day at the office was usually sitting listening to CIA bullshit!”

  She smiled and continued to whisper. “So, here we are, accused of trying to kill the Queen, robbing a bank vicariously, stealing multiple cars and a plane and now heading after a group of terrorists across international borders without a passport, with only two pistols to take on the whole RIRA. Speaks volumes for our generation!”

  He smiled. “One thing’s for sure.”

  “What’s that?”

  “You are nowhere as timid as you were!”

  “Hard to do when you’re tagging on behind Evel Knievel!”

  The old bus continued on into the night as they both finally fell asleep, their heads together.

  * * *

  Back in the MI5 office, Hargreaves was getting tired of working eighteen hour days, being chewed out by the DDG and the PM, when all the time he seemed to be getting further and further away from bringing Harrigan and the woman in.

  He looked up and when he saw the look on Strickland’s face, he could already tell the news wasn’t good. “So, what now, Hugh?” he asked.

  “We’ve just had Fishguard on the line. They found Harrigan’s pick up abandoned alongside a private flying club, just out of town!”

  Hargreaves was immediately incensed. “And at the flying club?”

  Strickland continued. “You’re quite right, sir, after checking they found a Cessna Skyhawk was missing!”

  Hargreaves finished the sentence. “And now we don’t know where the hell they are?”

  “I’m afraid so, sir,” Strickland looked at his boss, a man with major worries on his mind. “Why don’t you get some rest, I’ll update you in the morning?”

  Hargreaves grabbed his coat. “I suppose you’re right. Call me in the night if anything breaks, okay?”

  “Will do.” Strickland replied

  CHAPTER 38

  On a street corner in Belfast the old bus pulled up in the early hours of the morning to let some of the passengers off. Sarah waved her thanks to the Driver as she and Jake climbed down stiffly, The Driver waved back as he drove on towards the central bus station.

  Jake and Sarah looked around to get their bearings with the GPS switched on. Jake was silently praying that the battery wouldn’t run out before they found the place they were looking for.

  Sarah looked at him. “I’m starving, how about you?”

  He nodded. “Me too, let’s go and find some breakfast.” they walked across the street to a small café with tables in the window and just as they were abo
ut to go inside, Jake noticed that one of the guests sitting in the window, drinking a coffee, was reading the newspaper. Right there on the front page, as the man held the paper up, was a big picture of himself and Sarah under the headline ‘Assassins still at large!’

  He then guided Sarah across to a half-asleep street vendor at the curb, where they both ordered a coffee and a muffin before going into the deserted park across the street to eat and drink.

  Sarah looked at Jake. “So, what’s the game plan?”

  He looked at her and smiled. “Yes, you’re right, we always have to have a game plan. Somehow my damned brain doesn’t seem to be interested!”

  She had an understanding look in her eye. “I know what you mean. So much has happened in the past twenty four hours, it’s like my brain is saying ‘No more, give me a rest’!”

  He could see they were both on the same wavelength. “That’s what I’m talking about, but I suppose we’d better concentrate. Okay, first, we need to figure out how to get to this pub where those bastards hang out.”

  “What is it, the Soggy something?” she asked.

  “Soggy Shamrock,” he added. “So, what we need is a street address so the GPS can figure it out for us.”

  At the entrance to the park was a phone box and Jake popped inside, found the address of the pub in the phone book and entered it into the GPS. By the time he got back to Sarah he had the information. “According to this, it’s about 3 miles away, not far from the docks.”

  “And how do we get there?” she asked.

  He grinned. “I guess we need to get creative again!”

  She was now into the spirit of things. “I agree, but we’ve got plenty of time before lunch, assuming they will even go there for lunch and if they don’t, I guess we continue to watch the place until tonight, to see if they come then?”

  “Correct,” he added. “Oh, by the way, I also picked up another little trinket while we were on the plane.”

  “Like what?”

  He reached in the pocket of his jacket and pulled out a small pair of binoculars.