by Karen Guyler
“You saved a lot of people; we recovered a lot of target stickers.”
“But not the weapon again.” It weighed on her. If she’d got away before Sean Finch arrived on the scene, the Lynx Assassin would be in MI6’s hands, not whoever was taking over Rubin’s business.
“Now we know what we’re looking for, we have a start.” The helplessness in the COBR meeting felt far worse to Eva than being on the ground trying to stop Rubin. If Lily had been in danger in either scenario, Eva could only have done something to save her in one.
“Have you considered that in the room you stopped an all-out war in that region?”
“For the moment.”
He nodded. “That’s all we can do.”
They sat in the heavy silence of being two people united in a common goal surrounded by the others in Gordon’s unit, those in MI6 in Vauxhall Cross a short walk away, those in MI5 at Thames House further along the river, a set up mirrored all over the world to hold back the darkness and destruction of the agendas of the coldly brutal.
“You know it’s not up to me, whether you can come back.” Gordon said.
Eva nodded. “So where do I go for my review?”
50
“Well?” Luke was waiting for Eva when she walked down St George’s Grove on her way back to the unit. “As bad as you thought?”
“Worse. Markham does not like me, he wasn’t even supposed to be there, it was supposed to be Mo Banerjee, the Foreign Secretary.”
“You’re in good company, Markham doesn’t like anyone.”
Despite herself, Eva smiled. “You know that doesn’t make me feel much better.”
“Don’t sweat it, he’s been busy quoting you in the media all week.”
She couldn’t help thinking that was precisely why he might want her out of the picture.
“How’s the shoulder?”
“Getting there, I’m only wearing this for the sympathy.” He went to gesture with his sling, changed his mind.
“I see that.”
“Iago’s got something for us. Mission end, it’ll cheer you up.”
The atmosphere in the meeting room felt like a party. One of Gordon’s bottles of whisky was on the table with an empty glass beside it, Nora, Iago, Sadie, and a woman Eva hadn’t met yet—tiny, thin blonde hair, big glasses with ornate frames that drowned her face—all had one each.
“Perfect timing, Eva.” Iago said. “Grab a shot, we’re toasting any minute now.”
“Eva, this is Jackie.” Nora made the introductions.
“Watchya, Eva.” Jackie’s voice was loud and Cockney.
“Jackie’s one of our forensic accountants, she’s been doing her magic behind the scenes.” Nora explained.
“Nice to meet you.” Eva said, frowning at the whisky. “Why’s there never gin?” She stage-whispered to Nora.
“If we get the result we want with your review,” Gordon chipped in, “I’ll get you a bottle of gin for my office.”
“And tonic.” Eva poured the smallest swallow into the empty glass.
“We’re celebrating.” Luke upended the bottom of the bottle so it glugged into her glass and she had half a tumbler full.
“We’re up, people,” Iago shushed the laughing.
The screens around them burst into life with a bald man peering at them. “It’s his webcam I’ve activated. He can’t see or hear us.” Iago clarified.
“Where?” Eva mouthed at Luke.
“Watch.” He grinned back.
The man’s expression changed, flitting from boredom to all Eva could think of was a ‘holy shit’ moment. A phone appeared against his ear and he said something she didn’t understand.
It took a few minutes of the man pacing in his bland office, sitting back at the screen, pacing again before a knock reached through his PC speakers into the room.
He stood up and his body blocked the webcam for a few seconds, talking to the woman who’d come into the room. He barked instructions at her, then moved away from the monitor and Eva was surprised it was Agnetha Rubin who sat in front of the PC. Her hair was tied back from her make-up less face.
She moved her right hand, probably using the mouse, and looked up in front of her, above the screen, then down at it.
“She’s reading our email.” Iago said, depositing it on one of the screens.
‘The job you assigned to us has been carried out as per your instructions.’ Eva read. ‘Click on the link for proof. The Society.’
Agnetha’s eyes grew wider.
Her expression changed to complete astonishment. “She’s looking at one of the photos you took of Rubin when he was shot. We got lucky, in one of them he had his eyes open just right. I doctored it a little and voilà. She doesn’t look pleased, you’d think she’d be grateful, it’s what she wanted.”
Agnetha actually looked furious. She tapped at the keyboard, a rapid succession of keystrokes, until a man in a navy uniform shot around the desk and grabbed her hands. She head butted him and hit the keyboard again.
“Probably didn’t envisage it happening like this. Hard to spend all that money when you’re in prison.” Nora pointed out.
Iago swiped at his tablet. “There we go, reply from her says ‘Get me out. Sean Finch will pay.’”
Agnetha was hauled out of the room screaming “it’s mine, it should be mine”. The link went black.
“Email deleted.” Iago confirmed.
“That’s good news. Yer face.” Jackie grinned at Eva. “You’ll learn. It’s good news ‘cos she ain’t made the connection between ‘er being locked up and The Society. Damn, I’m good. Fifteen years for ‘er for fraud plus whatever the Norwegians throw at ‘er for the bodies that made the lynxes’ dinner table.”
“And for killing Ralph?” Eva asked.
“Nuffink doing there, can’t give the authorities squat without compromising you. But she’s paying.”
She held her glass up and everyone toasted her.
Eva shuddered as she sipped the whisky. “What happened to Sean Finch?”
“In the wind.” Luke said. “He hasn’t done anything illegal that we can prove.”
“Apart from holding us at gunpoint against our will?” Eva said.
“Apart from that.” He agreed.
“And Rubin’s business?”
“His legal ones are being sorted out by the Norwegian and Danish authorities as per his will. The arms dealing, we’ll see. Nature abhors a vacuum; someone will step into it. We’re watching.”
“That was her motive,” Eva realised. “It’s not an exciting life unless you’re leading it, when she said that she wasn’t talking about green energy. She wanted to take over the arms business, that’s why she wanted Rubin killed.”
“Having met her, I’d say that’s bang on.” Luke agreed.
“In the meantime, we did empty a store he had in Copenhagen, the weapons are on their way here, where they’ll be kept in deep storage until it can be decided who is best placed to take them.” Gordon said.
“Until someone has the bright idea to use them.” Nora added.
“Until then.” Gordon agreed. He raised his glass. “I’d say this mission was an outstanding success. I’ve persuaded the PM to start elsewhere with his audits and I think his attention has diverted away from SIS completely.”
“We live to fight another day.” Luke joked.
“Just watch out for those dangerous pavements, mate.” Iago said.
Everyone laughed, an easy camaraderie that Eva hoped she’d still be part of once the outcome of her review was decided.
She stopped Iago when the meeting broke up. “Question for you.”
“Shoot,” he grinned, “or maybe don’t, I hear you’ve improved.”
“What’s the protocol for me asking you for something very specific and how we could keep something like that just between us?”
Iago grinned. “Now I’m intrigued, walk with me, tell me what you have in mind.”
“What do you kno
w about the Kobayashi Maru?”
51
Eva waved her S temporary access pass at the guard in the security booth.
“What’s your business here?” he asked.
She couldn’t imagine they kept regular hours, but she played the game. She needed to get in.
“SIS, here to oversee the installation of a delivery. It should be here within the next half hour.” She tried to look bored, as if she did this all the time.
“You missed it.”
“What?”
“Only one delivery tonight. Got in about twenty minutes ago.”
“Seriously?” She ran her hand through her hair. “My boss is going to kill me, I’m supposed to watch it being checked in, sign to say it’s all as it should be. I was having such a good day.”
“Warehouse 17B, that side on the right.”
“Thanks.”
As part of refitting the former light industrial park into an SIS facility, all the signposts had been removed. Eva had to hope the numbers on the end of the units were chronological, otherwise she’d miss her chance completely, thanks to the delay on the train. Now would be an excellent time to be able to drive.
She jogged towards where the guard had gestured. Only at 15A? She dug in and ran, holding her access card on its lanyard with one hand so it didn’t fly up and hit her in the face. 15B, 16, 16A. The busyness of unloading a delivery reached her in shouts and calls, the whirring sound of a forklift.
The bright lights of an open roll-up door showed her the way. She rushed into the building.
“Hold up, love, this here’s a restricted area.” One of the men greeted her.
“I know,” she panted, holding up the access card around her neck. “SIS, here to oversee.”
“You’re late.”
She nodded. “Train trouble. Where’s the delivery? Is it all in?”
“They didn’t tell us to expect anyone.”
“They’re not going to warn you. It’s not you that’s being checked, it’s the other side.” Eva waffled.
“Last crate’s going in now. Aisle twenty-three, far side. Do we have to wait for you to do your thing?”
Eva nodded. “I’ll be quick. I want to get home too.”
“Chop, chop then.”
Power walking towards aisle twenty-three, Eva saw the two hi-vis vested, hard-hatted men, one driving a forklift, the other directing him backwards. The crate on the prongs was bigger than she’d expected it to be. Three, Iago had told her, had been offloaded at Farnborough airfield. Rubin’s store in Copenhagen had held a lot of weaponry.
“SIS,” Eva identified herself, “I have to monitor the locking away of these crates. That the last one?”
The forklift driver nodded. “You should have the safety gear on.”
Eva smiled, “I won’t tell if you won’t. You have to wait for me to do this so I want to be quick, then we can all go home. It’s been a long day.”
While she watched him slide it into place in the gap alongside the other two, she pulled on gloves that she withdrew from inside a thick bag in her handbag. He reversed and drove towards the entrance.
“What do we have here then?” Eva laid a hand on the crate they’d just placed. “You can go help your colleague if you like. I won’t be a minute. Just have to detail it.”
He half-shrugged, began walking after the forklift.
Eva pressed her gloved hands over all the sides of the crate she could reach. She dipped her hands back into the bag filled with the shimmery powder Rubin had wiped on her face. Considerate of him to have left containers of it in the outbuildings at his cabin for them to find and bring back. She pressed her fingertips over the next crate and the third. Re-dipped her hands and paid special attention to the areas where the crate lids met the sides.
That ought to do it.
Eva peeled off the gloves carefully and put them back inside a separate bag hidden in her handbag.
She walked towards the entrance of the warehouse where the men were waiting.
“All good. Thanks for that. You can lock up now.”
She watched them. It was a secure building, even if the twenty-four-hour security hadn’t been as hard to pass as she’d thought it would be. No one was going to get past the laser sights inside the warehouse that Iago had told her would trigger a direct armed response if they were interrupted. But it wasn’t an opportune burglar breaking into the warehouse that worried her.
“We’re good to go, offer you a lift?” One man asked.
“I’ve got it covered, thanks.”
She waited until they accelerated away.
From her handbag she withdrew the tiny devices Iago had given her and leaning against the pillar return that made up the entrance, checked her watch in a grandiose gesture for the benefit of the camera while the hand behind her pressed the device against the brick.
Walking across the door, she looked down at her boot and bent to fiddle with the zip, pressing the other device against the pillar on that side. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust this place, it’s that she didn’t trust whoever would ever find out and whoever already knew what was in there. Some things needed to stay buried.
“Thanks, Carl Rubin, for the idea.” she whispered.
She called Iago on her way to the security booth. “In place.”
“And operational. What a team.” he said. “I’ll add them to my running in the background things to keep an eye on.”
“I put enough RFID tags on the crates that if anyone opens them to take just one thing out, the sensors will pick it up when they leave.”
“Knew I liked you. See you tomorrow.”
She hoped so.
Out through security, Eva walked back to the train station. Outside it a man leant on the side of a sleek dark car that gleamed in the streetlight. He pushed himself up to standing, nonchalant to something dangerous until she recognised him and her fight or flight dissipated.
“Luke? What’re you doing here?”
“Might have come up in a chat with Iago where you were going but I’ve got no idea what you’re doing out here, didn’t ask. Sometimes it’s better to not know.”
“Should you be driving?” She gestured at his sling-less arm.
“Yeah, I’m good. Automatic, easy one-handed. Gordon’s heard from the review panel.”
“So what did they say?” She tried to make her question nonchalant, scrutinising his tone and body language for any clue about her future.
“I’ve got no idea.”
“For an agent, you’re suddenly remarkably clueless.”
He laughed. “Want to go find out? Looks like I can give you another lift.”
THE END
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Also by Karen Guyler
Have you read them all?
In the ‘The Society’ Series
Dare You, book 0
You instructed the a
ssassins, but you didn't obey the contract. Now they're after you.
Trevor Young's money is gone but he knows who took it.
Instructing The Society to take out his embezzling, cheating business partner is easy. But Trevor didn't realise they're not just a gun for hire, that you mustn't break their rules.
So he did.
Now, The Society are in control. And his life is on the line.
Can he get the target off his back?
Free to download: https://books2read.com/u/baZzoP
The Society, book 1
If they know your name, you’re already dead.
How did it come to this? It started with a slice of chocolate cake yesterday when Eva Janssen’s life was normal, and she and her family were as safe as you. But today they have invisible targets on their backs. Has something from Eva’s past come back for revenge? Or is it the secrets her husband’s been hiding that will get them killed?
The faceless, nameless assassins of The Society don’t care. All that matters to them is completing their mission - taking out those targets.
But they don’t know Eva.
Buy it https://books2read.com/u/bpzp8l
The Lynx Assassin, book 2
What chance do you have against a weapon that’s smarter than you?
Eva Janssen wants to be accepted back at MI6 so of course she accepts the trial mission she’s offered. A quick trip to Norway and home to London before her daughter Lily has even missed her.
Her first mistake is thinking it’s an easy test; her second is assuming she knows who she’s fighting.
But she hasn’t understood what it means to be part of The Society.
And, when she finds herself on the wrong end of the Lynx Assassin, a next-gen weapon deadlier than the sharpest human, can she even survive?
Buy it here: https://books2read.com/u/b6O2zx
