And, most importantly, he would still have a father … if it wasn’t for Equilibrium!
Everything came back to Equilibrium. They were the root cause of all his hardship and sorrow. And, according to the countless files on the flash drive, they were the cause of hundreds of thousands of people’s suffering across the world. And to what aim? What reason could they have to wreak such misery and devastation?
Zhen came up to him quietly with a steaming cup. ‘Lăolao says you should drink this.’
‘What is it?’ asked Connor, the ferocity of his glare making her flinch away.
‘Green tea with chamomile,’ she replied, her hand trembling slightly as she held out the tea. ‘To soothe your nerves and calm your qi.’
‘I don’t want soothing,’ snapped Connor.
Zhen turned away, her cheeks smarting red. ‘I was only trying to help …’
Connor reached out to her. ‘Sorry,’ he said, realizing he was taking his anger out on the wrong person. ‘I’ve just discovered –’ he swallowed hard – ‘who killed my father.’
Zhen’s hand went to her mouth, her eyes pools of pity. ‘Oh, I’m so sorry.’
‘That’s why –’ Connor fought his rising tide of grief and fury – ‘I need a few moments to myself.’
‘Of course,’ said Zhen, bowing her head.
He now took the proffered tea and thanked her. Zhen retreated and joined Amir at the breakfast table where he was poring over the files from the decrypted flash drive. Amir too had tried to comfort him, but had understood that he needed his own space to absorb the bombshell about his father. So, after a heartfelt hug, Amir had focused on the task in hand: studying the files to discover who or what Equilibrium was.
Connor sipped his tea and resumed staring at the water town’s reflection in the canal. Equilibrium had to be stopped – destroyed, obliterated. Now more than ever, he was determined to get the files out of China and into the hands of the Deputy Director at MI6. Only by doing so could he bring down this evil organization and exact justice for his father’s murder.
Whether it was the water’s gentle lapping or the herbal power of the tea, Connor’s storm of emotions began to ease and he rejoined his friends at the breakfast table. ‘What have you found out?’ he asked.
‘The more I read, the more terrified I become,’ Amir replied, a shell-shocked expression on his face. ‘Equilibrium appears to be involved in every major terrorist attack, assassination, military coup and civil war for the past twenty or more years. You name it, they’ve had a hand in it.’ He opened up some of the operation files. ‘Look familiar?’
Connor swept his eyes over the headers:
Location: Washington DC, United States of America
Target: Alicia Rosa Mendez
Purpose: Undermine American balance of power by kidnapping First Daughter.
Location: Indian Ocean
Target: Maddox Sterling
Purpose: Kill media investigation into Equilibrium.
Location: Ruvubu National Park, Burundi
Target: President Bagaza
Purpose: Install puppet leader by military coup and acquire mining rights to diamond fields.
Location: Moscow, Russia
Target: Russian President
Purpose: Place agent Viktor Malkov in position of power within Presidential Executive Office. Gain control over country’s vast natural resources.
‘These all match my assignments!’ said Connor, aghast.
Amir nodded. ‘You stopped – or seriously hampered – many of their recent operations. I’ve found a few others that coincide with successful Buddyguard assignments too. This confirms Mr Grey’s conversation with you in the insect market. Buddyguard disrupted Equilibrium’s plans once too often and, when Bugsy began to investigate them, this triggered their decision to target Buddyguard and stop any further interference –’
A mobile phone rang, echoing round the courtyard. Its ringtone unfamiliar, Connor looked to the others. Zhen shook her head. ‘Lăolao doesn’t have a phone, and mine’s in my pocket.’
Hunting around, Amir pinpointed the source of the sound in Connor’s Go-bag. ‘It’s your phone, Connor.’
Connor frowned. ‘But no one has my number apart from you.’
Dashing over to his bag, he pulled out the phone and immediately recognized the caller’s number on the screen. He stared at Amir in shock.
‘It’s Charley!’
‘You can’t answer it,’ Amir warned as the phone continued to blare out its jaunty ringtone.
‘But I have to,’ said Connor, his thumb hovering over the Accept icon. ‘It’s Charley.’
‘She’s betrayed us for Equilibrium, remember?’
Connor hesitated. ‘I need to hear that from her before I truly believe it.’
‘No, don’t!’ pleaded Amir, making a grab for the phone. But Connor held it out of reach. Amir glared at him. ‘You answer that, and it’ll give away our location.’
Connor glanced at the screen, the flashing number compelling him to respond. ‘But you bought these new phones so we couldn’t be traced.’
‘Any phone can be traced once the SIM card and IMEI number are identified. Besides, it might not even be Charley. You said her number had been disconnected.’
Zhen and Lăolao looked on with bewildered expressions as the mobile continued to ring in Connor’s hand.
‘I’ve only phoned Charley on this. Who else could it be?’ Despite Amir’s warnings, Connor accepted the call. He knew his heart was ruling his head, but he had to speak to Charley, even if it was for the last time. Laying the phone on the breakfast table, he pressed the speaker icon so Amir could hear too.
‘Hello? Charley?’ he said, hopeful and hesitant.
‘I thought your girlfriend’s number would get your attention,’ replied a cold calculating voice that made Connor’s skin crawl.
‘Kill the call!’ cried Amir, reaching for the phone.
‘NOT if you want Colonel Black to live,’ said Mr Grey quickly.
‘He’s alive?’ gasped Connor, exchanging a stunned look with Amir.
‘Well … he’s still breathing, if that’s what you mean.’ Connor could almost see the cruel smile slicing across the assassin’s anaemic face. ‘And, if you want him to continue breathing, I’d strongly advise you to surrender and hand over the flash drive.’
‘Never!’ said Connor, the word coming out as hard and heavy as a stone. Much as he hated himself for abandoning the colonel in his hour of need, he knew the former SAS soldier would be the first to understand. The flash drive was the only leverage they had over Equilibrium; Colonel Black himself had drilled that fact into him. To give it up now would be to give up everything.
‘You’re as headstrong as he is,’ snorted Mr Grey. ‘Perhaps you need some convincing.’
The phone pinged with a picture message. Fearful of seeing Colonel Black beaten, broken and bloody, Connor and Amir peered reluctantly at the screen. But what they saw gave them a far greater shock. The photo – a green-tinted night-vision shot – showed the grim and claustrophobic interior of a metal shipping container. Packed inside, a cluster of young teenagers and adults huddled together in the almost pitch-darkness. Connor recognized the muscular bulk of Jason, the bleached blond hair of Marc, Richie’s round face and Ling’s black bob among the frightened captives, a haunted look of despair in all their eyes. Jody, Gunner and the other instructors kept watch over the recruits, but their faces were gaunt and their own eyes sunken with fear and exhaustion.
‘Their limited water supply will soon run out,’ Mr Grey explained matter-of-factly. ‘But personally I’d be more concerned about oxygen levels. Shipping containers are notorious for poor ventilation. They may just … suffocate.’
Connor gripped the table so hard his knuckles went white. Amir slumped down on his stool, their team’s predicament hitting him like a punch to the guts. Until that moment they hadn’t known what fate had befallen their friends. Now they knew … Their fr
iends were in a living hell.
‘Let them out!’ he demanded, slamming the table with his fist and causing the phone to jump.
‘That’s a little difficult,’ replied the assassin coolly. ‘They’re in the middle of the ocean. By the time their cargo ship arrives at Shanghai Port, I don’t expect many, if any, to have survived the long journey. Unless someone alerts the captain, of course. But that’s not going to happen until Equilibrium has the flash drive.’
Connor looked to Amir whose face reflected his own horror at the situation. The stakes had changed. He might have been willing to gamble Colonel Black’s life for the drive, but how could he justify sacrificing everyone in Buddyguard? Equilibrium had forced them into an impossible dilemma. If they didn’t surrender the flash drive, they’d be sentencing their friends to certain death. But if they did hand it over, then Equilibrium would remain in the shadows, free to continue its secret reign of terror.
‘Time is of the essence. Tick tock!’ said Mr Grey. ‘Equilibrium expects you to deliver the flash drive in person at their headquarters within twenty-four hours.’
‘Err … that’s a little difficult,’ said Connor, echoing the assassin’s own words in an effort to regain the upper hand. ‘We’re already out of the country.’
‘Oh, I doubt that very much,’ said Mr Grey. ‘Your dial tone was local and, according to the network signal trace, you’re in … Zhouzhuang!’
Amir shot Connor a look of I told you so, then buried his head in his hands. Connor cursed his heart’s weakness for answering the phone. He should have heeded his friend’s warning. Now he’d put them both in jeopardy and given Equilibrium back the advantage.
‘How convenient for you,’ continued the assassin. ‘That’s not far from Shanghai. I look forward to welcoming you into the Hive. Perhaps on this occasion, Connor, you’ll stop by long enough to catch up with your girlfriend. Unless you’d like a word with her now …’
There was a muffled sound of the phone exchanging hands.
‘Connor! Is that you?’ said Charley’s voice on the other end of the line, high and panicky.
‘Yes,’ he replied, his own voice tight with emotion.
‘Listen, you have to do what Mr Grey says. Otherwise Equilibrium will kill all the recruits – including me!’
‘Why would Equilibrium want to kill you? You work for them! You betrayed us … didn’t you?’
There was silence on the line. Connor’s heart was thumping so loud in his chest that it was all he heard. He’d had to ask the question, but now dreaded the answer. Then Charley replied, ‘What are you talking about, Connor? Equilibrium kidnapped me. The spinal therapy was just a ruse to get me to China. They tricked me.’
‘What!’ exclaimed Connor in horror. Even after everything he’d read in the operation files, he couldn’t believe the depths to which Equilibrium had sunk – exploiting a young girl’s disability to their own ends. He knew Charley had invested all her hopes and dreams in that one pioneering treatment and he couldn’t even begin to imagine the bitter anguish she was now going through. His heart went out to her.
‘You know I wouldn’t do anything to harm you, Connor,’ she insisted. ‘I love you.’
These were the words Connor wanted to hear and he felt his throat choke with emotion. ‘I love you too, Charley.’
‘Then please save me,’ she implored. ‘By the way, are Amir and Zhen with you too?’
‘Y-yes,’ Connor managed to reply. ‘They’re right by my side.’
‘Good. Now you must –’
The call was suddenly cut off as Amir snatched up the phone. He opened the back, yanked out the battery and prised the SIM card from its slot. Then he snapped it in half, stamped furiously on the phone and threw the broken pieces with all his might over the courtyard wall and into the canal. ‘I told you not to answer that call!’ he shouted, his fists balled up in rage.
‘I-I-I had to,’ Connor stuttered, never having seen his friend so angry.
‘We have to leave, now!’ ordered Amir, taking charge for once and hurriedly gathering up the flash drive, his tablet and Go-bag. ‘Thanks to you, Equilibrium have traced us to our location. But with any luck it’ll only be accurate to fifty metres or so. That gives us a narrow corridor to escape if we leave now. We’ll need to find somewhere else to hide until the truck arrives.’ He glanced irritably over at Connor. ‘Why are you smiling?’
Connor hadn’t realized there was a smile on his lips, but he felt it in his heart. ‘Because Charley didn’t betray us.’
Amir shot him an unexpectedly fierce look. ‘Then tell me this – how did she know about Zhen?’
Connor opened his mouth to answer. But nothing came out. He glanced over at their young guide who stood beside her grandmother, watching the frantic packing with increasing alarm. Amir was right. He’d not mentioned Zhen at all during their brief conversation. Charley couldn’t have known about her.
Amir shook his head in dismay. ‘She even got you to reveal we’re all together. Charley’s certainly a class act! Now grab your Go-bag and –’
A knock at the door caused them all to freeze.
Amir’s eyes flared in panic. ‘They can’t have got to us that quickly!’
Connor spun towards the door. ‘But would Equilibrium bother to knock?’
Zhen ushered Connor and Amir inside the house, while Lăolao hurriedly swept all evidence of their earlier breakfast into the sink and dumped their bedding into a basket.
The knocking became more insistent.
‘Wǒ láile!’ barked Lăolao, shuffling across the courtyard at a snail’s pace.
Inside the house, Connor and the others hunkered down in the grandmother’s bedroom, a threadbare space of lime-green walls and brown lino flooring. Apart from a sagging mattress and rickety bedside table, the only other item of solid furniture was a lopsided wardrobe, its front panels missing and replaced by a striped pink tablecloth. The wardrobe not being a realistic option, there was nowhere for them to hide. So, pressing themselves close to the wall, they peered through the small grimy window overlooking the courtyard.
Lăolao was still fumbling with the lock, making a show of her frailty. She glanced over her shoulder to ensure they’d had enough time to conceal themselves, then she opened the door a crack. His heart pounding, Connor braced himself for a forced entry by a unit of armed agents. But the door stayed on its hinges. Through the opening, he spied a plump middle-aged man with a salesman’s smile. In his pudgy hands he held a string of pyramid-shaped green leaves. He waved them in front of Lăolao’s stony face.
Amir looked at Zhen. ‘What are those?’
‘Zòngzi,’ she whispered. ‘Rice dumplings in bamboo leaves.’
Amir ran a hand through his slick of black hair and let out a sigh of relief. ‘Equilibrium doesn’t do food deliveries!’
His hammering pulse slowing several beats, Connor rested his head back against the wall. The man was nothing but a street hawker! Lăolao dismissed him with an irritable wave of her bony hand and went to close the door. But the dumpling seller was keen to make a sale. Wedging his foot in the gap, he offered another string of dumplings and lowered his price. When Lăolao shook her head, he produced a couple of bamboo wicker baskets and tried to sell those instead. As the hawker kept up his sales patter, his booted foot still firmly lodged against the door jamb, Connor noticed that the man’s watchful eyes kept flicking past Lăolao into the courtyard.
Connor’s sixth sense went haywire.
He darted through to the opposite room. In three strides he crossed the drab little lounge, with its rocking chair and antique sideboard, and reached the narrow latticed window that faced out on to the canal. He peeked through the shutter. On first inspection, everything appeared normal: a few boats cruising along the waterway and a handful of people going about their daily business. Then on the far side, down from the bridge, he spotted the round face of the young boy from the previous day. He was tucked into an alley, keenly watching the house.
It was at that moment Connor became aware that the streets were rapidly emptying – and that two boats were silently docking alongside the courtyard wall. Partially obscured by the boats’ awnings, a squad of armed police in black combat gear crouched shoulder to shoulder, their weapons at the ready.
Connor rushed back into the bedroom. ‘The dumpling seller’s a distraction! The house is being surrounded.’
Amir’s eyes flared wider than a startled owl’s. ‘Then it’s over … Equilibrium has us trapped!’
Connor shook his head. ‘It’s not Equilibrium. It’s the police.’
Amir slid down the wall to the floor. ‘Great! I hear the police are very hospitable to terrorist suspects.’
‘We’re not surrendering,’ said Connor, pulling his friend to his feet. ‘We can’t. Not with our friends’ lives at stake. We have to find a way out of this.’ He looked into the courtyard where Lăolao was now remonstrating with the salesman, who refused to leave. Their best chance was to take the man on, but who knew how many police officers lay in wait further along the lane.
‘Follow me,’ said Zhen as she reached behind the wardrobe and pulled out a bamboo ladder bound with twine. Propping it against the wall, she scampered up, pushed open a hatch in the ceiling and disappeared into the loft’s cool darkness. Their Go-bags strapped to their backs, Connor and Amir clambered up after her. The roof space was cluttered with old boxes, cobwebs and birds’ nests. Sunlight leaked in through the patchwork of tiles, but the loft itself was a dead end.
‘We can’t hide up here!’ said Amir, coughing from the dust. ‘They’ll soon find us.’
‘That’s not the plan,’ said Zhen. She prised a tile aside, then another and another until there was a hole large enough to crawl through. ‘This way.’
Connor grabbed her arm. ‘You can’t come with us.’
She stared at him, baffled. ‘Why not?’
‘At the moment you’re innocent. You can claim we forced you to shelter us. But, if you’re seen to be helping, the police will arrest you … maybe even shoot you!’
Bodyguard_Fugitive Page 16
