The Double Tap (Stephen Leather Thrillers)

by Stephen Leather

  Lynch walked past her and back into the sitting room. He stood at the side of the window and looked down. The policeman was peering through the rear window of the car, the policewoman was talking into her radio as the woman with the dog stood behind her, looking at her wristwatch. He wasn’t sure how much to tell Marie. She’d offered to help and she knew that he was an IRA volunteer, but he didn’t know how she’d react to the news that he’d killed five men and that one of them was in the boot of the Ford Sierra. ‘Yeah, it’s stolen. And my prints are all over it.’ He pounded the wall with the flat of his hand. ‘Hell, I shouldn’t have left the car there. I shouldn’t have hung around here, I should have legged it.’

  ‘Thanks, Dermott. Thanks a bunch.’

  Lynch turned and went over to Marie and put his arms around her. ‘Hey now, love, that’s not what I meant. I’m just angry at myself, that’s all.’ He rested his chin on top of her head, his mind racing. The Russian gun was also in the boot of the car, next to Foley’s body. How could he have been so bloody stupid? He’d left the clean gun in the car and was carrying just about the hottest weapon in the country shoved down the back of his pants. The police would match the bullet that killed Foley to the bullets that had killed the IRA hit team. Then they’d go through Foley’s place and his own prints would be all over the back bedroom. ‘I’m going to have to go,’ he said.

  ‘I’ll come with you.’ She said the words urgently, and she held him close as if afraid that he’d push her away.

  ‘This is going to get really messy, love,’ he said.

  ‘Are you still going after Cramer?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Let me come with you.’

  Lynch closed his eyes. He could smell the apple fragrance of her shampoo and something that reminded him of a field in summer. She was so fresh, so young. She didn’t realise what she was asking. ‘No, love. I can’t. It’s too dangerous.’ He unpeeled her arms from around his waist and went back to the window. The policeman was down on his knees, sniffing at the boot. Lynch wondered if he’d try to force it open or if they’d call out a locksmith. Either way, he didn’t have long. ‘I have to go,’ he repeated. He patted down his pockets, checking that he had the two wallets and the money that Marie had given him.

  ‘You won’t stand a chance on your own,’ she said. ‘They’ll be looking for you. But if I was with you …’

  ‘They’d miss you at work.’

  ‘I can call in sick.’

  ‘They’ll be starting a house-to-house search soon.’

  ‘All the more reason for me not to be here. We can use my car.’

  ‘You’re crazy.’

  ‘No, I’m not crazy, Dermott. This man Cramer destroyed my family, and I’ll do anything I can to help you get him.’ She stood before him, her hands defiantly on her hips, her chin up like a boxer at a weighin.

  Lynch smiled.

  ‘Damn you, Dermott, what are you grinning at?’

  ‘I was just thinking how like your mother you are.’

  ‘Don’t try to sweet talk me.’

  Lynch held up his hands as if trying to ward her off. ‘I’m not.’

  ‘We can use my car. I can help, Dermott. And I want to.’

  Lynch narrowed his eyes as he looked at her. He genuinely didn’t want to get her involved, but she did have a point: the police would be looking for a man travelling alone. And there was another advantage in having her with him, for a while at least. It wouldn’t be long before details of the Maida Vale killings and the body in the car boot were made public, and it would be useful to see how Marie reacted to the news. It was one thing to offer her help, quite another for her to accept that she was tied in to five murders. ‘Okay,’ he said. ‘But just until I’m safely out of London. Then we split up.’

  Marie grinned. ‘Deal,’ she said. She took a battered sheepskin jacket from a closet and disappeared into her bedroom. Lynch paced up and down nervously until she reappeared with a large Harrods carrier bag.

  Lynch raised an eyebrow. ‘Marie, love, I said you’re driving me out of London. That’s all.’

  ‘Relax, Dermott. It’s cover. It’s far less suspicious if I’m carrying something.’ She opened the front door and ushered him out.

  ‘Where’s the car?’ he asked, as they walked downstairs.

  ‘Around the corner,’ she said. She opened the front door. As they stepped onto the pavement a second police car went by and Lynch turned away so that the occupants wouldn’t see his face. Marie looked over her shoulder. ‘Don’t look,’ hissed Lynch.

  She jerked her head around. ‘Sorry,’ she whispered.

  Lynch forced himself to walk slowly, trying to make it look as if they were nothing more sinister than a married couple going shopping. ‘Give me the keys,’ he said. ‘I’ll drive.’

  She did as he asked. The keys were on a keyring with a tiny teddy bear attached. ‘Down here,’ she said, leading him into a side road. Lynch relaxed a little as they turned the corner, out of sight of the policemen.

  Marie’s car was a red Golf GTI convertible. She climbed in and sat next to Lynch. ‘Where are we going?’ she asked as Lynch started the engine.

  ‘Wales,’ he said. He looked over his shoulder and drove away from the kerb.

  Cramer, Allan and Martin stood behind a long table as they checked their weapons: Cramer his Walther PPK, Allan his Glock 18 and Martin his Heckler & Koch VP70. ‘Okay?’ Allan asked and the two other men nodded. They turned as one, raised their guns and fired at the line of cardboard targets, emptying their clips as quickly as possible. Cramer finished first because the much smaller PPK only held seven cartridges. Martin was the last to stop firing as his weapon held eighteen.

  Cramer’s ears were ringing as they walked forward to check their accuracy. Allan had refused ear plugs or protectors so that they would get used to being under fire. It was hell on his eardrums, but Cramer knew that Allan was right; unless he was used to the sound of gunfire, his first reaction would be to flinch and to close his eyes and, with the assassin moving towards him, the slightest delay would be fatal. All of Cramer’s shots were dead centre.

  Allan slapped him on the back. ‘Good shooting, Mike.’ He looked across at Martin’s target and pulled a face. ‘Fuck me, Martin, is your blood sugar low or something?’

  Martin sniffed. ‘It’s not so bad,’ he said.

  ‘Bad? It’s crap.’

  ‘Yeah, well I’m not going to be firing at paper terrorists, am I? I was never that hot on the range.’

  ‘You can say that again.’ Allan began to stick small black paper circles over the holes made by the bullets.

  ‘Yeah, but I was shit hot in the Killing House, wasn’t I?’

  ‘You did okay,’ said Allan begrudgingly. He gave a handful of the paper circles to Cramer. ‘Martin came over to Hereford with a group from the Ranger Wing of the Irish Army to brush up on his counter-terrorist tactics,’ he explained.

  ‘Great crack,’ said Martin.

  ‘Was this in the old days, live targets and all?’ asked Cramer.

  ‘Nah. Shit, I forgot, you did the single room system, didn’t you?’ asked Martin. ‘That must have been something.’

  ‘Yeah. It was. The good old days.’ During Cramer’s time with the SAS, the close-quarter battle building had a single room where the troopers perfected their hostage-release technique, with dummies as terrorists and the SAS men taking it in turn to play hostages. Live ammunition was used and the room was often in near or total darkness, to make the exercise as real as possible. Eventually it became too real and in 1986 a sergeant playing the role of hostage was shot and killed. The fatal accident put an end to the single room system, and the Killing House was replaced with two rooms connected by a highly sophisticated camera and screen system. The terrorists and hostages were in one room, the SAS stormed another, shooting at life-size wrap-around screens. It wasn’t one hundred per cent realistic but it meant that there were no further accidents. As Martin said, it had been so
mething in the old days.

  The three men finished covering the holes and went back to the table. ‘What do you make of Su-ming?’ asked Martin.

  Cramer shrugged. ‘Inscrutable,’ he said.

  ‘Yeah. That’s it exactly. Inscrutable. What’s her story?’

  Cramer began slotting fresh cartridges into the PPK’s clip. ‘She’s the target’s assistant,’ he said.

  Martin grinned lecherously. ‘Assistant my arse. He’s giving her one. Bound to be.’

  ‘What makes you say that?’

  Martin raised his eyebrows. ‘Wouldn’t you?’

  Cramer shook his head, smiling to himself. ‘You’re an animal, Martin.’

  ‘She keeps herself to herself,’ said Allan. ‘I wanted her to go through a few rehearsals with me, just so she’d get a feel for what’s going on. She wouldn’t.’

  ‘She’s unhappy about the whole business,’ said Cramer. ‘She might even be a Buddhist or something.’

  ‘I thought Buddhists shaved their heads?’ asked Martin.

  ‘Only the monks,’ said Allan.

  ‘Yeah? Well, just so long as she shaves her armpits. That’s one thing I can’t stand, you know? Hairy armpits.’

  ‘That’s a relief to us all, Martin,’ said Cramer.

  ‘Anyway, what’s being a Buddhist got to do with it?’ Martin asked.

  ‘She’s against killing,’ said Cramer.

  ‘Fucking terrific,’ laughed Martin. ‘Some nutter’s going to blow the head off her boss, and she’s worried about the sanctity of life.’

  Allan put his loaded Glock on the table. ‘This guy’s no nutter, Martin. Don’t forget that. He’s not crazy, he’s as highly trained as you are. He knows exactly what he’s doing.’

  Martin raised his hands in mock surrender. ‘Okay. Okay. No more crazy jokes.’

  Cramer clicked the magazine into his PPK and checked that the safety was on. ‘She’ll be okay, won’t she?’

  ‘So long as she doesn’t get in the way,’ Allan replied. ‘Why, are you worried?’

  ‘I’d be happier if she took part in the rehearsals. Like you said, it’d be better if she knew what to expect.’

  Allan shrugged. ‘The killer doesn’t shoot innocent bystanders, or at least he hasn’t so far.’

  ‘There was the doorman at the Harrods delivery entrance,’ Cramer pointed out.

  ‘He was wearing a uniform. And he was part of the security staff.’

  ‘Yeah, but he wasn’t armed.’

  Allan rubbed his nose with the back of his hand. ‘We’ll make sure she stays in the background whenever you’re vulnerable. I wouldn’t worry, Mike. This guy doesn’t care about witnesses. He’s totally focused on the target and any bodyguards. That’s you, me and Martin. I’d be more concerned about yourself than her.’ Allan turned to face the targets.

  Cramer followed his example and flicked the safety off. ‘Yeah, I know you’re right, but I just worry about her.’

  ‘He’s got the hots for her, that’s all,’ said Martin.

  ‘Fuck you,’ said Cramer.

  ‘Whatever turns you on,’ said Martin, grinning.

  ‘When you’re ready, ladies,’ said Allan. The three men began firing and the air was soon full of bitter cordite fumes as streams of empty cartridges rattled onto the floor. Cramer fought to concentrate on the paper targets, but he couldn’t block Su-ming out of his mind. Martin was wrong, Cramer wasn’t in the least bit sexually attracted to Vander Mayer’s assistant. And even if he was, there was nothing he could do about it; setting aside his medical condition, he was embarking on a mission which was more than likely to end in his own death. Romance was the last thing on his mind. His clip emptied a fraction of a second after Allan finished shooting and he stared at the cardboard cutout as Martin continued to fire with his machine pistol. Three of Cramer’s shots had gone wide.

  Dermott Lynch drove down the M4, keeping the GTI below 70mph. He was keen to get as far as possible from London but he knew it would be reckless to exceed the speed limit, especially as he still had a loaded gun tucked into the back of his trousers. They stopped at a petrol station near Windsor and while Lynch topped up the tank, Marie telephoned her office and told them that she had flu and wouldn’t be in for a few days.

  ‘Where in Wales are we going?’ Marie asked as she settled back in her seat.

  ‘Near Swansea,’ said Lynch. ‘Cramer flew by helicopter from a place called Howth, just north of Dublin, and I know where it landed. I’ve got the map reference.’

  ‘How did you manage that?’

  ‘Best you don’t know,’ said Lynch.

  ‘You can trust me, Dermott.’ She patted his leg, then squeezed him just above the knee.

  ‘It’s not a matter of trust. It’s for your own good. The less you know, the safer you’ll be.’ Marie took her hand away from his leg. She looked out of the passenger window and made a soft tutting noise. Lynch smiled. ‘Come on, love. Don’t sulk.’

  ‘I’m not sulking,’ she said, but she still wouldn’t look at him.

  Lynch tapped the steering wheel. A red Audi screamed past in the outside lane. It must have been doing more than a hundred and ten miles an hour. Lynch shook his head. The guy was just asking to be picked up. He looked across as Marie. She pouted and shrugged her shoulders. Lynch chuckled. ‘Marie, love, this is serious.’

  ‘I know that.’

  ‘You’re a civilian. You’re not involved. You’re not a player.’

  Her eyes blazed. ‘I’m here, aren’t I?’

  ‘Against my better judgement.’

  She turned away again. Her breath fogged up the window and she rubbed it with her sleeve.

  Lynch drove in silence for a while as tight-lipped young men in shirt sleeves whizzed by in company cars. ‘You were never a volunteer, were you?’ he asked eventually.

  ‘Don’t you know?’

  ‘Why would I know?’ She shrugged, but still didn’t look at him. ‘Marie, the IRA isn’t a series of levels like a regular army. It used to be, but the organisation was too vulnerable to infiltration. Now it’s made up of small cells, usually just four people. Of those four, only one will have contact with another cell. The other three only know the members of their own cell. It’s much safer that way. If one of them is caught, it restricts the numbers they can inform on.’

  ‘Why would they talk?’

  Lynch snorted softly. ‘Marie, love, sooner or later virtually everyone talks. Anyway, that’s not my point.’

  ‘I’m not a child, Dermott.’

  ‘I know you’re not a child. I’m just trying to explain why I don’t want to tell you how I know where Cramer went. If I tell you who told me, he becomes twice as vulnerable. When he gave me the information, he put himself at risk and I have to respect that. If I tell you, that risk is doubled. It doesn’t matter how much I trust you, it doesn’t matter how reliable you are, it’s just a matter of minimising risk.’

  Marie nodded thoughtfully. She turned to look at him. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘You’re right.’ She put her hand back on his leg. They drove in silence for a while. Occasionally Marie absent-mindedly scratched Lynch’s leg with a fingernail. ‘This cell system, is that still in operation?’ she asked.

  ‘One hundred per cent,’ said Lynch. ‘Same as it ever was.’

  ‘But I thought that after the ceasefire the IRA was winding down.’

  Lynch snorted dismissively. ‘The ceasefire is temporary, never forget that,’ he said. ‘It lasts only for as long as Sinn Fein makes progress towards its political aims. The organisation is as well-organised and well-armed as it ever was. Don’t let the rhetoric fool you, love. The hard men on the Army Council would love to pick up their guns again.’

  ‘Do you think that will happen?’

  Lynch nodded grimly. ‘Yeah, love. I’m afraid I do. I’m in a minority, but I believe that it’s only a matter of time before the violence starts again.’

  Cramer was in his room, sitting on the bed an
d rereading Jackman’s report, when there was a timid knock on the door. ‘Come in,’ he said, placing the thick plastic-bound file on the pillow.

  It was Su-ming, carrying a tea tray. ‘Mrs Elliott said you didn’t eat lunch,’ she said.

  ‘Yeah, I wasn’t hungry.’

  She put the tray down on the bed next to him. It contained a small bowl of white rice, and another bowl with thin strips of white flesh and bean sprouts. ‘It’s fish,’ she said. ‘Sea bass.’

  ‘Thanks.’ He picked up the chopsticks and held them as best he could. One of them spun out of his hand and she retrieved it from the floor. Cramer pulled a face. ‘It’s not as easy as it looks,’ he said.

  ‘It takes practice,’ she agreed. ‘But you’re getting better.’

  Cramer smiled as he recalled Allan saying pretty much the same thing to him, albeit under different circumstances. He tried again, with more success this time. ‘So you can speak Russian, huh?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘What other languages can you speak?’

  ‘Mandarin Chinese. Cantonese. Thai. Vietnamese. French. German.’ She didn’t appear to take pride in the number of languages she spoke, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

  ‘That’s pretty impressive.’

  She shrugged dismissively. ‘And English, of course.’

  ‘Of course. How did you learn so many languages?’

  ‘Some I learned as a child. Some I studied. Mr Vander Mayer said it would be useful if I spoke Russian. I attended a course in New York.’

  ‘And now you’re fluent?’

  ‘Almost.’

  Su-ming sat down on a chair in front of the dressing table and watched him eat. ‘Why did they choose you?’ she asked.

  Cramer swallowed a mouthful of beansprouts. They were crisp and fresh, with a hint of garlic and something he couldn’t quite identify. ‘Why do you ask?’

  ‘Because you don’t look anything like Mr Vander Mayer. He’s older, he’s not as tall as you, and his face isn’t as …’ She groped for the right word. ‘Sharp,’ she said eventually.

  ‘Sharp?’ said Cramer, grinning.

  She nodded. ‘Sharp. Like a hawk.’

  ‘It’s the nose,’ said Cramer, trying unsuccessfully to pick up some rice.