Alpha Force: Untouchable

by Chris Ryan

  In the short, wiry grass was a small pile of pink and red matter. Alex’s heart started pounding like a steam hammer. He heard Hex’s voice as if from a long way off. ‘Alex, they’re deer entrails. Something’s had a go at them, but they’re from a deer.’

  Hex was worried. Alex was clenching his fists, the knuckles white, his forehead grinding into the stone wall. Was he having a flashback? Hex reached out and touched him gently on the shoulder. ‘Alex?’

  Alex looked down at the little pile on the ground. He breathed out slowly to calm himself. Look at what’s actually there, he said to himself. He’d seen animal entrails enough times not to be shocked by them. There were the intestines – a greyish pink curl with kinks like unravelled knitting. Those were the snakes. There was the heart – half eaten, and definitely not beating. There was a corner of the liver – most of it had gone but enough of its shiny lobes remained to show him why he had thought it was lips. And the kidneys, surrounded by white fat. That was what he’d thought was eyes.

  ‘The people you saw were probably just gamekeepers gutting a deer.’

  Alex ran a hand wearily through his hair. ‘No, there was something else.’ He sighed. ‘I just can’t remember it.’

  Hex pressed his face to the window and cupped his hands around his eyes. ‘Quite cosy in here.’

  Alex looked too. Once again he was transported back to the previous night. There were things he’d seen but not particularly noticed: the fireplace, dusted with the remains of old fires; the pile of wood to the left-hand side of it; the oil lamp on the simple wooden table; the rough low benches; the washing line stretched across the room for drying wet clothes.

  Hex moved to the door. ‘Might as well have a look inside.’ He tried the latch but the door wouldn’t move. He looked down at the latch. Underneath it was a keyhole. ‘It’s got a lock.’

  Alex joined him. ‘It shouldn’t have. The door’s probably reclaimed from another building.’ He put his thumb on the latch and pushed but the door didn’t budge. He frowned and looked at Hex. ‘These are supposed to be open so that anyone can use them.’

  Hex stepped back and looked at the building. ‘Maybe it’s private property.’ He walked round. Perhaps there was a sign or a notice they’d missed.

  Around the other side, they found one:

  GLAICKVULLIN ESTATE

  THIS BOTHY IS ALWAYS UNLOCKED AND CAN BE USED

  BY ANY PASSING TRAVELLER

  PLEASE LEAVE IT AS YOU FIND IT

  Alex looked at Hex. ‘Then why is it locked?’ A thought occurred to him and he gripped Hex’s arm. ‘Hex, I saw something weird last night and I can’t quite remember it. It’s like a radio station that’s just out of tune – I can’t get it but I know it’s there. What if it was a murder? A dead body being cut up? There was definitely blood. And now they’ve locked the bothy so no one can get in and look around.’

  ‘Alex, think,’ said Hex. ‘Do you really believe you saw a murder? If so, we’d better go to the police.’

  Alex kicked the wall in frustration. ‘I saw something. I just can’t remember what.’

  Hex led him round to the window again. ‘Look in there. See if there’s any sign of a murder. Personally, I think there would be a hell of a mess: they’d have to hose the place down. But there’s dust on the windowsill and ash and mud all over the floor. No one’s cleaned that place up for a long time.’ He looked at Alex. ‘I think all you saw was a couple of gamekeepers working late.’

  Alex sighed. ‘I suppose so.’

  Hex got out his palmtop. ‘Let’s see where Tiff’s taken the others.’

  ‘I’m lost,’ said Tiff, and stopped, as though she had run out of steam.

  They had been walking for two hours. Paulo had thought it would be good to let Tiff do the navigation. If she found walking boring, maybe she needed a mental challenge. So he, Li and Amber had followed her, patiently going where she took them, letting her make the decisions. Normally on an orienteering exercise they would stop frequently and check the map and the compass. But for the last twenty minutes Tiff hadn’t looked at the map at all.

  Now she stopped and said she was lost. The map in its waterproof see-through cover swung around her neck. She made no attempt to look at it.

  For heaven’s sake, thought Amber, she couldn’t be lost. All she had to do was look around. Behind was a river, crossed by a solid stone bridge. Beyond was a steep hillside of purple heather. It should be easy to spot such a distinctive combination of features on the map.

  ‘Remember what I told you,’ said Paulo patiently. ‘First you set the map.’

  ‘What’s that?’ Tiff’s voice was flat, bored.

  ‘Work out which way up the map should be,’ said Li.

  Tiff held the map up. ‘It’s got to be this way up, otherwise the writing will be upside down.’

  Amber would have found it funny, but she was too annoyed at Tiff’s obstructiveness. ‘Look for the point where the bridge crosses the river,’ she muttered.

  Tiff looked at the map, then looked accusingly at Amber. ‘There are two bridges.’

  Li pointed behind them. ‘Look for that hill.’

  ‘There isn’t anything marked “hill”.

  ‘Look for the contour lines,’ said Paulo patiently.

  Amber could see that Tiff was about to ask what those were and couldn’t bear to hear such a stupid question. ‘The red swirly lines,’ she said. ‘If they’re close together, the land is steep. Look for tight contour lines on the north bank of the river, near a bridge.’

  ‘Right,’ said Tiff, her mouth working. She still didn’t look at the map. ‘And?’

  ‘Now tell me the grid reference.’

  Instead of answering, Tiff held out the map to Paulo to do it for her. His face looked like thunder.

  Li wanted to giggle. She was always teasing laid-back Paulo about being lazy, and here he was being wound up by someone whose laziness was truly phenomenal.

  But Paulo didn’t see the funny side. ‘Forget it,’ he snapped. ‘How did you get to the rave if you can’t read a map?’

  Tiff played the innocent. ‘Why? Do you wanna dance?’

  Amber tried to bring her back to the job in hand. ‘Tiff, you said we’re lost. How are you going to find out where we are?’

  Tiff looked around and spotted a couple walking slowly along the riverbank; they were wearing gaiters and walking boots and carrying ski sticks. ‘I’m going to ask those people for directions,’ she said. As she approached them, a white pointer dog came bounding out of the foaming water. It sniffed around Tiff’s feet and leaped on ahead.

  ‘I am so looking forward to handing over to Alex and Hex,’ muttered Paulo. ‘I definitely need a run to get this out of my system.’ They had planned to swap activities at a halfway point.

  Amber watched Tiff show her map to the couple. ‘I have never had to ask for directions anywhere,’ she said through gritted teeth. ‘I want the ground to open up and swallow me.’

  The pointer sniffed at Paulo’s feet and scooted off to the scrubby heather. He watched him, smiling.

  The woman looked up and saw the dog. ‘Pip!’ she called. The dog looked up obediently.

  Then there was a sudden blur of movement and the dog let out a yelp.

  Paulo’s head snapped round. That sounded bad. He dashed towards him, but as he skidded to his knees beside him, the pointer staggered and collapsed. Amber and Li hurried up to see what was going on.

  Paulo had seen the scenario before, on the ranch: the sudden flurry of movement, the agonized cry. ‘He’s been bitten by a snake,’ he told them.

  8

  MERCY MISSION

  The couple ran over to their dog, with Tiff trailing behind them, but Li put her hands out to stop anyone going near the bush. ‘Let the snake get away or it might attack again,’ she told them.

  ‘Snake?’ repeated the middle-aged man, who had a ginger beard and a weathered face.

  As Li watched the bush, she saw a dark shape fla
sh away, curling like a snapping whip. It had a distinct zigzag marking like a tyre tread. ‘It’s an adder. It’s poisonous.’

  The woman clutched her husband’s arm. ‘Poisonous?’

  ‘What do we do?’ said Tiff.

  Paulo had his hand on the dog’s side, feeling the lungs under the smooth white hide. They were pumping hard and his breath rasped in his throat. Paulo looked up at the couple. ‘Do you know where the nearest vet is?’

  The woman shook her head. ‘No, we’re here on holiday.’

  Li was already on her phone. ‘Directory enquiries? I need an emergency vet, near to—’ She grabbed the map hanging around Tiff’s neck. ‘Nearest to Vullin Lane, where it crosses Glaick River.’ She dropped the map and waggled her fingers at Amber, as if dialling on a keypad.

  Amber held up her phone. As Li listened to the number she punched it in on the mobile. Then Amber took over and called the vet.

  ‘Hi, we’ve got an emergency – a dog has been bitten by an adder.’

  Paulo didn’t like the look of the dog’s face. It was starting to swell, the flesh starting to balloon off the narrow skull. The dog’s mouth was open, the tongue hanging out in a pink curl.

  ‘Right. Thanks,’ said Amber. She cut the call. ‘Tiff, give me the map. There’s a vet visiting the hunting lodge just down here. His receptionist is warning him we’re on our way.’

  Never taking her eyes off the dog, Tiff pulled the map case over her head and gave it to Amber.

  Paulo scooped up the dog in his arms and staggered to his feet. He was a substantial weight, like a twenty-kilo sack of horse feed.

  Amber inspected the map. ‘Should be five minutes’ walk.’

  Paulo hoped five minutes wouldn’t be too long. The dog was making a rasping noise as he breathed. That meant his airway was swelling already. Paulo set off at a run. The whole group followed, but Tiff and the couple slowed to a walk after twenty seconds, gasping.

  Amber, still jogging alongside Li, turned round to call back to them, ‘Meet us there. Glaickvullin Lodge.’ And she sprinted on ahead of Paulo.

  It was a single-track road, a straightforward route, but uphill. The dog was heavy and Paulo’s biceps were soon on fire, but one look at the swollen head and the look of trust in the dog’s brown eyes gave him the strength to go on. Maybe they could flag down a lift if a car came.

  The dog’s breathing was becoming more ragged. Paulo didn’t know the exact effect of adder venom, but he knew one thing: as the dog’s breathing got louder, his airway was getting smaller. Soon he would suffocate.

  Moments later Amber came back, waving her arms like a semaphore messenger. ‘It’s just around this corner,’ she called.

  Paulo’s thighs and biceps were burning, but Amber’s news gave him the determination he needed. He put on a final spurt and was rewarded with a fairytale apparition: a nineteenth-century baronial castle looking out over a wide expanse of green pasture. Glaickvullin Lodge.

  But Paulo didn’t have time to take in the sights. He saw a drive leading off the road, around the side of the building.

  Amber sprinted away, came back and beckoned. ‘Follow the drive round the back,’ she yelled. ‘There’s a yard with agricultural buildings.’

  Paulo’s feet crunched on fine gravel, slipped, but on he went. He passed a red Land Rover and glimpsed boxes of drugs and dressings in the back. Veterinary equipment. Then a man in a green surgical-looking coat rushed towards him, his arms out. Paulo handed Pip over, then bent over double, recovering. Li came alongside him and rubbed his back while Amber went with the vet in case he had any questions. Were they in time?

  The vet put Pip gently on the ground and shone a pen torch in his eyes and mouth. ‘Are you the owners?’ he asked. In his top pocket were two syringes. He discharged one after the other into the dog’s neck. He was well prepared.

  ‘No, they’ll be here any minute,’ said Amber. Paulo and Li joined her, Paulo still breathing hard.

  The vet felt Pip’s face carefully. ‘Do you know where the bite is?’

  ‘We didn’t see it,’ said Li. ‘He went off into a bush and—’

  ‘Here it is,’ said the vet. His fingers framed two garnets of blood on the side of the dog’s jaw. A double puncture mark.

  Li was looking towards the drive. ‘Here are the owners,’ she said and waved at the three figures approaching.

  For the first time the friends noticed their surroundings. The place smelled comforting, of grain and farmyards. Two men wearing green tweeds were steadily sweeping the concrete yard. They must be gamekeepers; Alpha Force had seen a number of them out on the moors during the previous week.

  Pip’s owners rushed up to the vet. ‘How is he?’ panted the woman.

  The vet got to his feet. ‘He’s stable for now but I need to take him into the clinic and put him on a drip.’

  The woman gasped. Her husband put his arm around her. ‘There is an antidote, isn’t there?’

  Tiff watched with big, horrified eyes.

  The vet went to the back of his Land Rover and threw the discarded syringes in a special container. ‘The poison isn’t the problem. It’s the swelling and the possibility of infection. Plus he’s in shock. But you got him here just in time. Have you got a car here?’

  The man shook his head. ‘No, we were out walking. We’re staying at the B&B in the village.’

  ‘I’ll take him in my Land Rover.’ He looked at the group. ‘But I can only take two passengers.’

  Tiff stepped back from the couple. ‘I’m not with them. I was just helping.’

  The vet called to a gamekeeper, who was walking past with a broom. ‘Rob, do you have an old feed sack I can put him on?’

  The gamekeeper nodded. ‘No problem.’ He went off into a long outbuilding with a row of open doors. Just beyond were high fences of wire netting.

  Now that the emergency was over Paulo had time to be curious. ‘What animals do they have here?’

  ‘Those pens are for pheasants,’ replied the vet. ‘They breed them for release at the start of the shooting season. They’ve got a few Highland cattle in pastures further up the moor.’

  Amber and Li were more interested in the lodge itself. It was magnificent. Fawn-coloured stone walls topped with crenellations, square towers at each end, a small hexagonal folly rising out of the far tower with a flagpole on top.

  ‘Nice place,’ said Amber.

  ‘Very nice,’ agreed the vet. He lowered his voice. ‘Very exclusive. Eight hundred quid a night. Keep your eyes open and you’ll see some A-list celebrities.’

  Well, thought Paulo, that might explain why that other gamekeeper over there has stopped sweeping and is staring at us. He must be checking us out to see if we’re famous. Paulo gave him a wave. The man didn’t respond, but stole a glance at them from time to time as he swept.

  Rob came back and handed a large flattened cardboard box to the vet, who opened the Land Rover and spread it on the back seat. Then he suddenly noticed a label on the box. ‘Rob, where did you get this?’ He held out the cardboard flap so that the gamekeeper could see the label.

  Rob read it out: ‘Ketamine.’ He sounded unfamiliar with the word. He looked at the vet. ‘Pesticides aren’t my department.’

  The vet shook his head. ‘It’s not a pesticide. You have to get it from a vet.’

  Rob shrugged. ‘You’re the only vet we’ve had up here.’

  ‘Your bosses haven’t been getting veterinary drugs from somewhere else, have they?’

  Rob shook his head. ‘No, I don’t think so.’

  ‘Well, don’t,’ said the vet. ‘They may be cheap but they’re illegally imported and sometimes they don’t even contain the drug you think you’re buying.’ Then he noticed the expectant faces around him. ‘Sorry, lecture over. Let’s get the dog in.’

  Paulo realized that the second gamekeeper was still watching them. Still not quite sure, eh? he thought. Who do I look like? Enrique Iglesias?

  Hex and Alex strode up
the drive just as Pip’s owners were putting the dog gently into the Land Rover. Hex had been tracking the other party on his palmtop.

  Paulo went up to Alex. ‘You look a lot better than you did this morning.’

  Alex nodded. ‘All I needed was a good run.’

  Hex peered at the prostrate dog in the back of the Land Rover. The vet was making final checks on his pulse and breathing. ‘What have you been up to here?’

  ‘A bit of lifesaving,’ said Paulo. ‘All part of the entertainment for our guest.’

  The vet started to shut the back door, but the flap of the cardboard box was in the way. Rob went over and tried to tear it but it was too tough, so Alex cut it off with his knife.

  ‘Cheers.’ The vet shut the door and climbed into the driver’s seat; the middle-aged couple got in next to him.

  ‘No problem,’ said Alex, and he and Rob stepped away as the Land Rover’s V8 engine roared into life.

  Across the yard, Alex saw another gamekeeper leaning on a broom and staring at him. That’s strange, he thought. Why is he looking at me like that? Then he told himself not to be so paranoid.

  Li, Amber and Tiff came over. ‘We’d better be going,’ said Amber. ‘More miles to cover.’ They turned and started to walk down the drive.

  Alex heard a voice beside him: ‘Excuse me.’ It was the gamekeeper with the broom. ‘I’ll take that.’

  Alex had forgotten he was holding the piece of cardboard.

  ‘I’m going to make a bonfire,’ said the man. He had pale blue eyes and his face was scarred with acne pockmarks and a line like a neat cut on his cheek.

  There’s definitely something strange about him, thought Alex. He looked at the piece of cardboard, as if sizing it up, then pulled his rucksack off his back. ‘If you’re going to burn it, can I keep it? My quad bike’s got an oil leak and I need to catch the drips.’

  ‘I can get you another,’ said the man. His blue eyes took on a steely glint.

  Now Alex really was determined to keep the cardboard. ‘No, this’ll do fine.’ He put it away.