He jumped as a door further along the ship crashed open. A man backed out of the doorway, stooped over as he dragged a heavy load after him.
Brogan broke out in a cold sweat as he realised what was happening. He leaned against the railing enclosing the deck. The hijacker caught the movement from the corner of his eye. He turned and grinned maliciously at Brogan. A shout from behind the door made him look back and continue to drag the body out. A second man came through the door after it. Once the hijackers had dragged the body across the deck, they kicked at it until it rolled over the side.
‘Six to go,’ said one, then they disappeared back through the door, closing it behind them.
Brogan turned away from them and closed his eyes. His hands gripped the rail. He couldn’t think straight. A shout from behind him made him open his eyes. Brogan stared at the man walking towards him. The man’s face was a mess. One side of it was torn, with blotchy pink new skin poking out from behind old scars. Brogan shivered. A malevolent glint shone in the man’s tawny eyes. Like he knew the world owed him.
The man stopped in front of Brogan. He grinned and held up a mobile phone, the screen pointing at Brogan. ‘Watch carefully,’ he said, then hit a button.
Brogan felt the tears rolling down his cheeks as he watched the recording. It didn’t have sound. It didn’t need it. His wife, his poor wife.
The man lowered the phone and placed it in his pocket. ‘If you refuse to cooperate, we’ll pay a visit to your daughter next,’ he said. ‘Understand?’
Brogan closed his eyes and nodded.
‘Good,’ said the man. ‘Now show me where the car is parked.’
Singapore
Dan rubbed his abdomen. Nothing broken, just wounded pride. He grunted to himself.
‘OK?’ asked Sarah.
Dan shrugged. ‘I’ll live.’ He turned and walked along the dock. The noise from the quay had grown quieter in between shifts. A slight breeze ruffled his hair. Further along, bright arc lights enveloped a large container ship being unloaded, the containers being craned onto waiting trucks for their onward journeys. He leaned against the railing, and then turned his back on the activity. He gazed up at the warehouse.
Sarah walked slowly towards him, rubbing her elbow.
Dan glanced at her. ‘Did you get hurt?’
She shook her head and smiled sheepishly. ‘My own fault. When Philippa pulled a gun on me, I was so scared I literally jumped. I knocked myself on the side of one of the cars. They’re surprisingly hard.’
‘I should’ve known we wouldn’t be the only ones trying to work out what Delaney’s plans are,’ said Dan.
Sarah shrugged. ‘At least they’re on our side. Bit of a coincidence though, them being here at the same time as us…’ She trailed off, eyeing him accusingly.
He grimaced. ‘Yeah, I know – we were followed. Chances are, they’ve been watching us for a while to see what we’d do.’ Dan rubbed his chin, thinking.
‘It does make me think they were struggling to find any information,’ Sarah continued. ‘I mean, if their only lead was to follow us.’
Dan nodded. ‘I got the distinct impression they know, or have a pretty good idea, what Delaney’s up to. They just haven’t been able to work out how he’s going to do it.’
‘Until now,’ added Sarah. She leaned against the railing and looked along the dock. She could just see their car parked in the gloom. ‘Come on. Let’s get out of here.’
Dan eased himself off the railing and looked at his watch. Almost four o’clock. Dawn. ‘Okay. Breakfast on the way back?’
‘Sounds good to me.’
They walked back to the car. Dan slid in behind the wheel and started the engine. Sarah climbed into the passenger seat. The engine coughed once. Dan felt his heart beat. Hard. Then he pushed Sarah out of the passenger door as he opened his.
‘Run! Get away from the car – it’s wired!’
He leapt out of the car, ran round to the passenger side and took hold of Sarah’s hand. She looked stunned. He pulled her with him, away down the dock side as fast as he could.
‘Keep up!’ he yelled.
They sprinted away from the vehicle. Dan glanced at the buildings to their left until he saw what he was looking for.
‘Here!’
He pulled Sarah into a narrow alleyway then leaned against the wall of the warehouse, panting.
Sarah bent over with her hands on her knees, gasping for breath. She slowly raised her head until she was staring at Dan. ‘Are you sure?’
He nodded. ‘I think…’
His words were lost in the noise of the explosion. Sarah screamed as the impact blast swept by the narrow alleyway. Dan pulled her close to him and turned his back to the dock, trying to shelter them from the debris and shrapnel as it blew past on a hot wind.
As the roar of the explosion died away, Dan heard a ringing in his ears. It took a few seconds for him to realise it wasn’t tinnitus but a mobile phone. He looked down at Sarah and raised an eyebrow.
She held up her bag. ‘It’s mine.’
Dan looked at her incredulously. ‘We just out-ran a bomb and you remembered your handbag?’
Sarah shrugged. ‘I couldn’t leave it behind – it’s got all Peter’s notes in it. Hang on.’
Dan waited while Sarah reached into her bag and brought out her phone. She held it up to Dan.
‘Should I?’
It continued to ring. Dan took it from her and answered it. ‘Hello?’
‘Lucky escape,’ the voice said. Then the line went dead.
Dan spun round to face the containers stacked opposite the warehouse as the sound of screeching tyres sounded across the complex. A large sedan powered its way through the arc lights and sped away along an exit road, its tail lights shining in the distance. Dan handed the phone back to Sarah.
‘It was the guy with the glasses, wasn’t it?’ she asked.
He nodded.
Sarah put the phone back in her bag. ‘I think I’ll skip breakfast.’
‘It’s okay, we’ll get something to eat at the airport,’ said Dan.
‘Airport?’ asked Sarah
He looked down at her and nodded. ‘It’s time to get you home. This has become too dangerous here. Let David and his team deal with it.’
She shook her head. ‘Unbelievable. You really think after all I’ve been through, I’m just going to walk away?’
Dan pulled her out of the alleyway and pointed at the burning wreck of the car.
‘You very nearly didn’t get the chance.’
Sarah felt her knees weaken. The car wasn’t recognisable. It looked like a wrecking ball had landed on it, sending the doors, windows and wheels in all directions. Debris littered the dockside. She looked behind them – the blast had sent broken pieces of metal and shards of glass several metres down the road past them. Splinters of metal protruded from the front of the warehouse.
Sirens sounded in the distance. Voices could be heard from the dock, figures pointing at the wreckage. Across the harbour, a motor boat was being launched and started to make its way towards them, a blue light flashing on its stern.
Sarah turned to Dan. ‘Get me out of here.’
He nodded. ‘Let’s go.’
They walked for several miles, exhausted, before Dan deemed it safe enough to stop and flag down a taxi without arousing suspicion. When they reached the hotel, Dan paid the driver and then ushered Sarah through the foyer to the elevators, ignoring the receptionist. As they rode up to their room, Dan issued instructions.
‘Pack everything. We’ll leave immediately. Don’t phone anyone. Don’t answer the phone. We’ll sort out flights at the airport – just tell them there’s been a family emergency and we’re going back early.’
Sarah nodded, not saying anything.
The elevator doors opened.
‘Give me the room key,’ said Dan.
Sarah watched as he unlocked the door and checked the room. She stepped in after him. Dan walked
into the bathroom then out again. ‘Okay. All clear. You pack first.’
Sarah began throwing clothes into her suitcase. She tore shirts off hangars, swept cosmetics off the bathroom shelf and piled them into the suitcase. No time to fold anything. She glanced around the room, checked she hadn’t left anything then locked the case.
‘Got everything?’ asked Dan, leaning against the door.
Sarah nodded. ‘Yes.’
Dan straightened up. ‘Okay – my turn.’
Same procedure. He threw his clothes into his bag. They checked the room one last time and closed the door behind them. They carried their bags to the elevators and rode a car back down to reception.
Sarah paid the bill while Dan used the receptionist’s phone to order a taxi. Ten minutes later, they were on the kerb, a blue taxi pulling up next to them.
Forty minutes later, they walked into the international terminal and arranged flights back to the UK.
***
Dan rested his elbows on his knees, trying to get comfortable on the hard airport lounge seat. He looked up as Sarah approached and gratefully took one of the takeaway coffee cups from her.
She sat down next to him. ‘Only an hour to wait.’
He grunted in reply. He hated being dependent on schedules and timetables and was eager to be in the air as soon as possible.
Sarah shifted in her seat and turned to look at him. ‘Dan, was it the right thing to do, to go to Brisbane? I mean, we put Hayley in danger didn’t we?’
Dan eased back in his seat, and stretched his legs before answering. ‘We wouldn’t have found out half as much as we have if we’d stayed in England. Hayley knew what she was doing, same as you. I’m sorry she’s gone, really I am, but without her help, we’d have achieved nothing.’ He paused, sipped the coffee and grimaced before he continued. ‘Besides, we might not have found Mitch – he was the last person I would have thought to have asked for help – I just wouldn’t have known where to start looking for him.’
Sarah didn’t say anything. She watched the crowd changing before them, people rushing to last-minute flight calls, pacifying children, checking departure information for boarding gates and times. Dan watched her out of the corner of his eye.
‘Don’t feel guilty, Sarah. Everyone has a choice. You’d have done the same for her. If you want someone to blame, then blame Delaney.’
Sarah stood and dropped her coffee cup into a nearby trash can. Turning back to Dan, she shrugged. ‘You’re right, I know. I just wish I’d realised sooner how real a threat Delaney is. I mean, until that point, it was still conjecture he’d been responsible for Peter’s death. It’s a shock to find out there really are people out there who would go to such lengths to protect themselves.’
‘Nothing surprises me about anyone any more,’ said Dan, draining his coffee.
Sarah smiled. ‘Are you really that jaded about the world?’
‘Yep.’ He stood up, threw his coffee cup away and stretched, looking around the airport crowd, instinctively checking the faces at random, looking for any familiar ones in case they were being followed.
Sarah followed his gaze. ‘Do you think they’d follow us?’
Dan shrugged, watching the constant stream of human traffic. ‘Honestly? No. No – I think Delaney’s running an extremely low-key operation. The less people that know about his plans, the better – it means he has more control over it. As long as our friend in the glasses doesn’t appear, I think we can assume that Delaney believes that he’s frightened us off.’
Sarah stood up, shouldered her bag and handed the other to Dan. ‘Come on – show time. Let’s get this flight over and done with.’
They wandered through the vast airport towards their boarding gate, the early morning sun glinting through the windows as it created a haze over the airport and across Singapore city in the background.
As the aircraft eased itself off the runway, Dan peered out the window at the steady stream of freighters lining up to enter and leave the busy port below them.
And wondered how on earth he would find Delaney’s car.
London, England
Dan threw Sarah’s suitcase and his battered old kit bag onto the back seat of the taxi next to Sarah then climbed into the passenger seat.
‘Where to?’ asked the driver.
Good question, thought Dan.
‘Willesden Green,’ said Sarah.
Dan turned and glanced over his shoulder at her. She smiled. ‘Pete and I never sold our apartment in London,’ she explained. ‘I use it when I know I’m not going to be leaving the office on time or have to work weekends.’
Dan nodded and relaxed. Neither of them felt like filling the silence of the journey with idle chatter for the benefit of the taxi driver.
Sarah spent the journey staring out the window and Dan closed his eyes. Old habits died hard. Sleep whenever you get the chance.
The journey was uneventful. After half an hour of fighting through the north circular’s usual traffic queues, the taxi driver turned right off the main road and began to thread his way to the northern suburb of Willesden Green.
Sarah leaned forward, told the taxi driver where to stop and paid the fare while Dan climbed out, stretched and then bent down to lift out the bags. He put them on the pavement next to his feet and looked up at the building.
A five-storey dark brick structure, it had been subdivided into apartments. A single entryway led into the building, with a series of names and doorbells on the left of the wide double doors. Dan looked down the road. About two hundred metres down the street, a service station did a brisk early evening commuter trade while opposite, an open-air tube train line blinked between houses.
He glanced back as the taxi drove away.
Sarah walked over to him. ‘Okay?’
He nodded. ‘I guess.’
She smiled. ‘Come on. It won’t take long to warm up the place. You’ll feel better after a hot shower.’
Dan picked up the suitcase and kit bag and followed her. He felt completely out of his comfort zone.
‘Oh,’ said Sarah, as she opened the door for him. ‘I forgot to say. There’s no elevator and we’re on the top floor.’
‘No problem,’ Dan grunted as he stumbled through the front door. He grinned, then dropped Sarah’s suitcase at her feet. He hoisted his kit bag over his shoulder and began to climb the stairs.
‘Bastard,’ said Sarah under her breath. She picked up her suitcase and followed him.
Dan reached the top landing several minutes ahead of Sarah. He took in the wide carpeted staircase he’d just climbed, ornate wooden banisters gleaming from a recent polish. He turned and looked out the hallway window over the scene below.
Rain began to lash against the window, the brake lights from cars reflected in the droplets that crawled down the pane. Dan sighed, feeling depressed after spending time under the open blue skies of the southern hemisphere. He wondered if he could move there permanently like Mitch. And then decided he probably could.
His daydream was broken by the sound of Sarah dropping her suitcase on the plush carpet of the landing below him.
‘Okay, I give up. Help,’ she called up.
Dan grinned and walked down the stairs to meet her. ‘You know, you’re the only person I know who would have the top floor apartment in an apartment block with no elevator,’ he said.
Sarah smiled. ‘That’s exactly what Peter said when I told him I wanted us to buy it,’ she said. ‘Come on. I just want to get through the front door and stop travelling for a while.’
When they reached the top floor, Dan picked up his kit bag and followed Sarah to a nondescript front door with a single deadlock. He waited while she pulled out a set of keys from her bag, then he followed her into the apartment.
‘Just put the bags next to the door,’ said Sarah. ‘Relax. I’ll put the kettle on. Make yourself at home.’
Dan watched as she turned right along the narrow corridor and disappeared into a room at the fa
r end which he presumed was the kitchen.
He turned left and found himself in a small living room. It felt bigger due to the floor-to-ceiling windows at the front of the apartment which overlooked the train line below, then out over the cityscape beyond.
Two armchairs faced a small television, a gas fire and a coffee table. Tasteful art prints took up some of the wall space.
Dan wandered back along the hallway, pushing open doors quietly. He found the guest bedroom. It had a single bed, a wardrobe and a small desk with a computer and printer set up on it. He closed the door and made his way along past the bathroom. He hesitated at the next door and checked back along the hallway. He could hear Sarah humming to herself in the kitchen.
He looked at the closed door in front of him, took a deep breath and pushed it open. Obviously Peter hadn’t spent any time at the apartment since the split eighteen months previously. The bedroom was feminine in both decoration and assorted items displayed on a low dressing table.
Dan turned and pulled the door closed behind him and padded towards the kitchen, which was small, but bright and functional. A small gas cooker stood in the far corner and an old-fashioned kettle whistled on the hob.
Sarah turned as he entered the room and smiled. ‘I sent a text message to my neighbour yesterday to let her know I might call in so there’s fresh food,’ she explained. ‘Are you hungry?’
Dan nodded. ‘Absolutely.’
‘Okay,’ said Sarah. ‘Give it half an hour and there’ll be hot water too if you want to freshen up.’
Dan nodded and sat down at the small kitchen table. He suddenly felt very weary. How was he ever going to put any of this right? He looked up as Sarah walked around the table, put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently.
‘It’s okay Dan,’ she said. ‘I mean it. Relax. Give your mind a break. I’ll open a bottle of wine if you prefer?’
White Gold: (A Dan Taylor thriller) Page 16
