Flight Path: A Wright & Tran Novel

by Ian Andrew

  “Well, if you ignore the word and line breaks and run everything together in a continuous loop, then extract every second letter, you get this,” Tien said and flipped to the next page.

  MtIiNoDnEwRaSrEmVcElRiYmWaHtEeRsEa

  DfEePhAoRuTsTeOsNeIcGuHrTi

  TtHyReExEtFrLeImGeHfTiSr

  LsOtCmAoTnItOhNs

  UdNeKcNiOsWiNo

  EnVmEaRdYeSpTrOoPc

  MeOeNdIiTnOgRdEaDr

  DkEhSeTaIrNtAs

  minders everywhere depart tonight three flights

  location unknown every stop monitored destination

  warm climate safe house security extreme first months

  decision made proceeding dark hearts

  “There’s no way we let him leave to go somewhere we have no idea about, without any communications and with no way to back him up,” Tien said.

  Kara was surprised by Tien’s tone. The calm and relaxed manner that normally ruled her every word and action seemed strained. “Okay,” she said, somewhat hesitantly. “Chaz what do you think?”

  Chaz sat down on the bed and looked up at Kara, “It’s a high risk proposition. If they’re going to fly him here, there and everywhere, then we’ll have no idea where he ends up. We can’t hope to just follow him to the airport and buy a ticket for the flight he checks-in for. It’s unlikely to work and we’d be relying on luck to get close enough. We could easily lose him at the first hurdle. Then add another two flights and he could be in deepest Mongolia. We won’t know and like Tien says, he won’t have comms. If things go bad he’ll be completely alone.”

  “Granted,” Kara agreed. “But he must have a concept of how he’s going to get in touch with us. He wouldn’t just launch into the unknown, not from what I’ve seen today. He was switched on and a good, smart operator. I th-”

  “That’s as maybe,” Tien interrupted. “But what we’re contemplating is on a different level. He knew we were nearby today. This is different. He’ll be completely on his own,”

  Kara wasn’t too sure how to respond. She was aware that Tien was still holding the pencil, but in a clenched fist. As Kara considered how to continue, Tien did it for her.

  “Sammi, what are your thoughts?” she said towards the radio mic.

  “I’ll be honest, if it was one of us, or the O’Neill brothers making the call, I wouldn’t question it. But you all know we haven’t had the depth of experience with Jacob, or you Toby. No offence, but is he up to it?”

  Sammi’s question caused Kara, Chaz and Tien to turn towards Toby who sat in a chair next to the bed. He looked relaxed. “I’m naturally biased,” he said, “but yes, he’s capable. What you saw today is my brother doing what he does best. Adapting, learning on the job, becoming capable in techniques he’s only just been shown. I know we haven’t done much in-depth stuff with you guys previously, and it’s good that you’re looking out for him, but the conversation’s wasted.”

  “Why’s that?” Tien said before anyone else could respond.

  “He wrote dark hearts, didn’t he?”

  “Yes,” Tien confirmed, looking back at the notepad.

  “Then it’s a done deal. He’s going to do it and us wondering if we think it’s a good idea doesn’t matter.”

  Tien glanced at Kara but she just shrugged back at her, “I don’t understand. Isn’t he just meaning the men he’s with are bad men, with dark hearts?” Tien asked.

  Toby shook his head, “Nope. Dark hearts means something specific to Jacob.”

  “What?” Tien said, her obvious frustration more than apparent in her tone.

  “There’s a bit of a story to it.”

  “Probably best we hear it,” Kara said.

  Toby sat forward, “You’ve all done basic training in the military and you all know how seemingly pointless it is. But then, when you graduate and look back, you see the reason for the running and marching and cleaning. Especially the cleaning. What seems completely useless for military training is actually all about team work, attention to detail and building moral character.”

  “Yeah, but how is this relevant?” Tien said, not attempting to mask her growing agitation.

  Unseen by her, Chaz and Kara swapped a look.

  “Well, after basic I got sent to RAF Honington for the Trainee Gunner’s course. Chaz, Sammi and Kara know about it Tien, but the closest I can put it for someone who was army, like you; well, the TG has a reputation. Not as bad as P-company, but it’s still known for being a hard course. Physical, tough.”

  “Where’s this going Toby?” Tien interrupted.

  “Tien,” Kara said.

  “Yes.”

  Kara walked over and knelt beside Tien’s chair. She reached out and took the pencil from her friend’s still clenched fist, “Let Toby finish his story, eh?”

  Tien looked down and blushed. “Oh. Yes. Sorry. Sorry Toby.”

  “No problem,” he said, before continuing, “Anyway, as well as the physical stuff we did all the normal crap, including a bull-night every week. You know, cleaning everything and getting ready for an inspection the next morning.”

  They all nodded, Tien included.

  “The block I was in had white tiles in its ablution areas. They had to be spotless, but in the middle of a set of six washbasins, one tile had a series of dark smudges in the shape of three small hearts. They were rough, raised up on the surface and felt like tar or rubber had been melted onto the tile. The guy who was on that section of the block got torn a new arsehole on the first inspection. We were all made to do extra physical training that day and the next. All the blame was put on to him and everyone was left in no doubt that if he fucked up again there’d be hell to pay the next week.” Toby paused and smiled around at them. Kara was pleased to see Tien reciprocate his expression as they all recalled similar experiences.

  “Needless to say, on the next bull-night we all pitched in to try to get those damn marks off the tile. We failed and we went for more long runs. It went on like that for the first six weeks. Every week, another inspection, every week, more long runs. I think we must have used every chemical under the sun, but all to no avail. Then, we moved accommodation blocks and the dark smudges were a distant memory.”

  “I want to know who comes up with shit like that. There must be a secret school where military instructors lie around thinking up things to clean,” Chaz said.

  Tien leaned forward as if she was going to interrupt, but Kara put her hand on her knee and she relaxed back into the chair. “Go on Toby,” Kara said.

  “Jacob joined up a good while after me, but the training was much the same. He phoned one night, early on in his course, and somewhere in the midst of the call he asked if I had any good tips for getting dirt off a tile. I asked him why and he told me about the dark smudges. Obviously I remembered them, laughed a lot and told him my story. He said exactly the same was happening to his course. Then I told him what the instructors had told us at the end of our Passing Out Parade. Back when the block was being built a box of tiles had turned up with a design flaw in them. Just one box, but every tile had three little heart shaped smudges that looked like a stain. Some bastard thought it’d be a great idea to put one in each ablution area in the new recruit’s block. The rest as they say was history.”

  Kara, Chaz and even Sammi on the other end of the radio laughed along with Toby. Tien merely said, “So?”

  This time Kara watched Toby look at Tien. She wondered if he’d seen the obvious.

  “So, I told Jacob and said that he and his mates could save a lot of time by not trying to get the marks out. He’d be a hero. There was a long pause on the line and then my kid brother, who had just turned eighteen said, ‘Nah. I don’t think I will.’ I asked him why not and he said that those dark hearts were making a loose bunch of kids into a team. He knew, even then, at that age, that it was way more than cleaning. He ended the call by saying, ‘Those tiles will help us help each other, even when things seem bleak.’ I was pretty proud of him that night. Still
am.”

  Kara looked to Tien. She had bowed her head and was smiling.

  “Good on him,” Chaz said.

  “Yeah, it was good,” Toby agreed. “But the reason he still uses the phrase with me is because of what he did next.” Toby’s face had broken into a broad grin.

  Tien looked up and tilted her head just enough to prompt Toby to continue.

  “On the morning of the last inspection of his Phase One training, their CO walked into the ablutions with the Sergeant in tow, ready to deliver the reaming that was to be expected, but the tile was a glistening, unblemished white. There were a lot of double takes and stuttered umms and aahs, but they couldn’t say anything. Jacob and his mates had chiselled out the flawed tile and replaced it.”

  Chaz gave a cheer, “Ha, brilliant, I love it.”

  “I went to his Passing Out Parade and at the end of it, when the students were all together for their final photograph with the instructors, and all the friends and families were looking on, Jacob presented his CO with a small parcel. He said it was the flawed tile and it needed to go back on the wall to help the next guys coming through. Then he said, what he and his mates had done on the final inspection was proof that however difficult a task, however bleak the prospect of success, hard work, a dose of ingenuity and a good team would always prevail over dark hearts. It became his personal motto when things got tough. ‘Dark hearts’ for Jacob means he won’t give up. Ever.”

  The room was quiet for a few moments. Kara looked sideways to Tien and saw the sadness in her eyes.

  Sammi, at the far end of the street and not witness to the room said, “Well, if that’s what he thinks then I don’t see we can do anything but back his decision.”

  “Agreed,” said Chaz.

  “Agreed,” Kara said. “Tien?”

  Tien just nodded and got up. “I’ll be back in a minute.” She lifted the smartcard to her hotel room and left.

  When the door shut, Toby asked, “Is Tien okay?”

  “Yep,” Kara answered. “She’s fine. I just think, ah, never mind. Yeah she’s good. Right,” Kara said, rising from her kneeling position, “If we’re going to support this mad dash into the unknown, what do we need to do?”

  The next fifteen minutes passed with the four of them throwing ideas around with regards to how they could best help Jacob, when he finally figured out a way to let them know where he had ended up.

  As they were agreeing on a course of action, there was a knock at the door. Chaz answered it and let Tien in. She had a single sheet of paper in her hand.

  “Ah, Tien, good timing,” Kara said. “We reckon Chaz is right. The chances of getting on the same flight as Jacob is unlikely, so we’re going to trail him to the airport and try, but if that doesn’t work out we’ll head back to London. Wait until he contacts us, then go straight to Heathrow and take the first available flight to wherever he is. What do you think?”

  “Shit no!”

  Kara saw Chaz’s head whip round so fast she thought it might detach. She heard Sammi let out a small gasp, audible enough to be picked up by her voice-activated mic. Even Toby, who hadn’t worked with Tien for as long as the others, looked surprised. ‘You should be’ Kara thought. ‘I’ve worked with this girl for almost a decade, she lost her hand in a firefight that she pulled me out of and I’ve never once heard her swear. Shit is huge’. What she managed to say was, “Oh, okay. Umm, what do you suggest?”

  “If we do what you said it could be hours, maybe even a day or more before we get a plane to the right part of the world. He’ll have disappeared again. We need to be in a position to track him when he gets off at his final stop. I think we use some of that precious money we have and charter this.” Tien handed the piece of paper to Kara.

  “Wow, nice. Umm, yeah, okay by me. How much?”

  “To have it on standby for five days and for it to go anywhere on the planet and back again, that much,” she pointed to the six figures scribbled at the foot of the page.

  “Oh. Okay. Is that in pounds?”

  “Yes, is that a problem? It’s not like we can’t aff-”

  Kara held her hands up and Tien stopped. “I’m not arguing Tien. I think it’s a great idea. Have you already booked it?”

  “No,” she said and looked shocked at Kara’s assumption. “We need to agree on it.”

  Kara stepped forward and gave Tien a tight hug. She gently whispered, so the men didn’t hear her, “Of course I agree. It doesn’t matter how much it costs. We’ll be there for him.”

  Tien squeezed her back, “Thanks.”

  Sammi’s disembodied voice asked, “Umm, someone want to tell me what’s going on?”

  Kara let Tien go and referred to the sheet of paper in her hand, “We’re going to stay in Paris Sammi, and hire a corporate jet. It means we can leave at short notice and get to wherever we need to quickly. I think it’s a great idea and by the look of what Tien’s just handed me, it’s going to be way nicer than commercial cattle-class and definitely better than the back of a C-130.”

  “Good. Glad to hear it. Always thought I should join the jet set. So what else do we need to do?”

  Kara sat down at the desk and picked up the notepad Tien had written on. “He doesn’t know the final location but he does say it’s going to be a warm climate. I’ve looked at the countries that don’t have an extradition treaty with the UK. Apart from Belarus and a few others, the majority fit that criteria. They range from desert to jungle so we’ll need some different gear. If we’re going to stay in Paris I’ll get Dinger to bring what’s useful from Camden and he can go shopping for the rest.”

  “So he’s coming back on the op?” Sammi asked.

  “No reason why not. We’ll relocate nearer to,” Kara paused and looked again at the details of the aircraft charter, “Le Bourget airfield. That’s where the charter company operates from. We won’t be exposed to the same people from then on so it’ll be okay.”

  “Are we going to need weapons?” Chaz asked.

  “I hope not, ‘cos even in a private jet, I don’t think they’re going to allow us to bring them,” Toby said.

  Kara thought Chaz had made an interesting point. She was about to ask Tien her thoughts when Sammi came on the air again.

  “We might have to answer that later. Black Peugeot, three male occupants, just pulled-up, rear entrance to restaurant. Two passengers have gone inside. The driver hasn’t moved and the engine is running. Wait.”

  Kara reached for a small backpack.

  Chapter 23

  Jacob had rung the bell to the rear entrance of the restaurant on his return and been greeted by the small man.

  “Ah Mr London. Welcome back.”

  Jacob frowned in a way that the small man found amusing.

  He gave his deep, discordant laugh, “That’s you Jacob. You’re Mr London. Follow me.” He led Jacob back up to the fourth floor apartment.

  Once inside, the small man took Jacob’s case and backpack. “You don’t mind if I take a look at what you bought?” he asked, handing over a beige envelope.

  “No, not at all,” Jacob said, opening the envelope and finding a New Zealand passport, a collection of bank cards, a UK driving license, a Nectar card and a small photograph of a beautiful looking Asian woman. His heart lurched. He knew instantly it wasn’t Tien, but the woman’s complexion, the shape of her mouth and the long, straight dark hair were so similar as to be disconcerting. He held the photo and felt his heart beginning to race. Thoughts jammed in to his head, ‘Had they seen her at the Métro station? Was his cover blown? Was she alright? Had they gotten to her?’ As this last one occurred to him he felt nauseous.

  “Oh, I see you’ve found her,” the small man said.

  “Uh, what?” Jacob asked, completely numb with the thought she was in harm’s way again.

  “The photo. Beautiful isn’t she?”

  “What the fuck’s this all about?” Jacob was no longer the confused fugitive. His anger was clear and he reali
sed the look on his face alone had startled the small man.

  “Hey, hey, calm down. It’s all okay Jacob. It’s just a photo. It’s like the cards and the driving license. It all adds texture to your wallet. To you. You know?”

  “No, I don’t know,” Jacob said, still angry.

  The small man sat down on the edge of the bed, “When you go through security at airports, you need to appear like the average man. Like your luggage. You need luggage to look normal. You need things in your wallet to look normal. The photo’s just an addition. She’s meant to be a girlfriend. We’ve given her a name and an identity. Even an address. She’s the reason you are travelling to your first stop. You need to fill in arrival documentation and it asks for things like where are you staying and why are you there. Do you see?”

  Jacob nodded, trying to rein his emotions in, “Sorry. It’s just… well, it’s…” he paused and tried to think of a reason he would have become so angry. He fell back on something Chaz had said about mixing lies with lots of truth. “I’m sorry, she just looks like someone. Someone you shouldn’t know about. You said last night you didn’t want to know about why I was running.”

  “Oh! Oh hell! I’m sorry Jacob. It wasn’t meant to give you a shock. I didn’t, I mean, I don’t know. She’s just a random photo we took from a catalogue. I had no idea.”

  “No, you couldn’t have known. I’m sorry. Really, I am. I’m sorry for reacting the way I did,” Jacob sat down on the chair next to the window and looked at the photo again.

  “Are you going to be okay with it?” the small man asked. “It’s just I don’t have any other photos with me that we could use.”

  Jacob decided to try to be as appalling sick as the men he was dealing with, “No. I’ll be fine. I mean, this one is a good bit older in all honesty.” He ended with a laugh that the small man joined in with.

  “Oh, that’s very good. I like it Jacob. Well done.”

  Jacob thought he would enjoy seeing this small, bespectacled, little bastard swinging at the end of a rope. He used the thought to maintain his smile.