One Last Time

by James Hampson

  'Just hold one second Sir' John said and handed the phone over to Lawrence who then spoke to the Colonel.

  'Hello Colonel my name is Lawrence Sharif and I work for the Foreign Office, I am sorry Colonel it was a last-minute thing, your Major will be returned to you in a couple of days.’

  'I see, well next time tell him to inform me, goodbye' The Colonel replied.

  Lawrence ended the call and handed the phone back to John Shaw.

  'Thanks for that, got me off the hook with that moaning bastard' John said.

  Delinda and Ally were an hour away from Malaga, the train they were on had just left a station called Bobadilla. Their conversation had turned to the subject of James Shaw and Lawrence Sharif.

  'So, what about you and Lawrence?' Delinda asked.

  'We are just having a bit of fun, no strings, how about you and James? You guys seem pretty serious huh.'

  'Yes, I just don’t know what will happen in the future with me just finishing college and trying to start with a firm in New York.’

  'Would you not move to England and maybe work there?'

  'I could do I guess, it is something I could look at, if James wanted me to move to England then I would I guess' Delinda said.

  Delinda took her phone out and searched the process for working in England with a law degree from the USA. The train passed through the mountains, tunnel after tunnel going the opposite way to which Lyndon Powell and his men had travelled the day before.

  James Shaw had finished his beer and lit a cigarette, he sorted through his cash and left twenty euros under his empty glass, it was enough to cover the three drinks and for a tip for the waiter.

  'Come on then, let's go and do some shopping.’ James said.

  They headed off in the direction of the main shopping street, Calle de Velazquez with its narrow passageway and high buildings either side, it provided some nice relief from the searing sun overhead. Lawrence led them in to a shop that sold formal wear, he said something in Spanish to a man who had a tape measure around his neck, he motioned James over to him and the man began to measure him up. After they had all been measured and after some fittings, they left the shop nearly five hundred euros lighter, each. They each had purchased a stone coloured linen suit, shirt, shoes and belt and James a tie. The three of them slowly walked towards the Hotel Alfonso Xiii, they sauntered past the cathedral, cafes and restaurants on Avenida de la Constitución. James's phone buzzed and he reached in to his pocket to get it whilst juggling the bags with his new purchases, he put all the bags in one hand and held the phone in the other. It was a text message from Delinda.

  Hey, we have just arrived in Malaga, can't wait for you to get here. Love you.

  After reading the message James put his phone back in to his pocket and carried on walking with Lawrence and his brother John.

  James Shaw felt fatigued, for he had not rested properly since his injury and the hot sun was not helping, he was glad once he arrived at the hotel so that he could take a seat in the lobby. Lawrence Sharif checked them in at the desk, he asked John if he wanted a room but he said that he was ok where he was.

  ‘I will see you two later. I am going to have a walk around, see some sights’ John said.

  ‘OK mate, have fun. I will call you later.’

  ‘Yes, see you later’ Lawrence said.

  John left the lobby and exited the hotel. Lawrence handed a key card to James and they got in the lift to the top floor.

  ‘Have you got the car key?’

  ‘Yes, here you go’ James said as he handed over the keys.

  ‘I will be back shortly with our luggage.’

  ‘OK, I will check my room out’ James said.

  James opened his room door and stepped over the threshold to see a king size bed with too many cushions, a plush rug and a desk area, he hung his new suit and shirt up in the wardrobe and put the shoes at the bottom, he walked over to the window and opened the glass doors to the small balcony an looked out across the city. He turned back in to the room and in to the bathroom, turning the tap on to fill the free-standing bath. James used the complimentary bubble bath and undressed. There was a knock at the door. James put the complimentary robe on and answered the door to Lawrence Sharif, he handed him his luggage and a bag with weapons in.

  'I am going to take a long hot soak, I will let you know when I have finished'

  'OK, take as long as you need, I might do the same, see you soon’ Lawrence said.

  James closed the door and put his luggage bag on the floor and the weapons at the bottom of the wardrobe. After hanging his robe on the back of the bathroom door he climbed in to the bath and the hot water soothed his wound, he reached down for his phone and typed a text message to Delinda in reply to her earlier message.

  That is good, how is it? Love you too.

  THIRTY-THREE

  In the eastern suburbs of the city, Javier Ramos had finished giving his long-suffering wife her latest beating for not making his coffee correctly. She could not understand why; he had seemed much happier over the last few days. As she went off to make another coffee for her husband, wiping the blood from her nose, she said to herself.

  I need to leave this bastard; I am better than this.

  Meanwhile Javier Ramos was speaking on the phone to the President of Argentina, he was explaining that he would have the permits tomorrow and that the military would be able to send as many people as possible to the floating platforms in the South Atlantic. They only had a handful of men there now so as not to attract to much attention from the British. The President said that he had wrote to the Prime Minister of the UK asking for a dialogue regarding the Falklands, he informed Ramos that until they had received a response, they would hold off on building troops up on the platforms so as not to provoke the British in to action before they were ready. Ramos was not happy but he could see the point that the President was making and he agreed that he would inform the President as soon as he had received the permits from Lyndon Powell the next day. He ended the call as his wife brought him a fresh cup of coffee, Ramos told her to get out of his sight and to leave him alone as he was busy.

  THIRTY-FOUR

  Soaking in the bath in his room at the Alfonso Xiii Hotel James Shaw appeared very relaxed, his pain had subsided and e convinced himself that he would not allow the thoughts of getting revenge for his friend Will Ramsey get in the way of the task at hand. Lawrence Sharif had text him earlier to say that he was down at the swimming pool.

  James decided to go and join him. He got out of the bath, towelled himself dry and put his swimming shorts on. He headed down to the pool area at the rear of the hotel. James found Lawrence relaxing on his sun lounger with a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other.

  'I saved you a sunbed, the waiter will be here in a minute to get you a drink.’

  'Thanks, I feel much better now, I am a bit nervous about tomorrow though.’

  'Don't be, everything is in order. The only thing that can go wrong is everything, you know what humans are like.’

  James laughed and said 'You are not wrong; I have just been reading on BBC news that the Argentine president has reached out to the PM about talking about the Falklands.’

  'Yes, it is all a ruse to throw everybody off whilst Ramos rides off in to the sunset with his permits that allow for drilling within the exclusion zone, which in turn gives them a platform to stage an invasion. We are here to stop that happening.’

  James took a cigarette from his pack and lit it and took a long drag.

  'It would be better if we all just got along, wouldn’t it?’

  ‘It would, however we would then be out of a job’ Lawrence said.

  A waiter came over and asked James if he would like a drink, he ordered a beer and Lawrence ordered another for himself.

  The two of them lay by the pool relaxing, drinking and smoking.

  'Are you looking forward to taking command at RAF Waddington?' Lawrence asked.

  'Yes and no.
Yes, because it is a new challenge for me and it is most likely the highest rank I will achieve in the RAF. No, because I have never been in command of so many people and all the paper work that goes with it, I never imagined myself to be a full-time desk jockey. My Dad said that about being a Captain, even though he was in charge of a ship the amount of time he spent behind a desk doing paperwork he could never have imagined.'

  Lawrence smiled at James and said 'How do you think I feel, apart from when I have been with you in the field, I spend ninety percent of my time behind a desk doing paperwork, why does the world need so much paperwork? You will do well with that scrambled egg on your hat, you will be the man other officers want to be and a man the NCO's and junior ranks respect and admire.’

  James laughed and said 'Thanks, I will do my best.’

  'You are not the best officer; however, you are a great man and in a way that makes you a great officer, you will do well and don’t forget you will never be alone you will always have Wing Commanders, Squadron Leaders, Warrant Officers and Sergeants to ask for advice.’

  'Your right, I cannot be that bad if I have got this far. Fancy a swim?'

  ‘Yes, come on’ Lawrence answered.

  They left their sunbeds and jumped into the warm pool, other guests looked at them as if they should not be enjoying themselves, it was that kind of hotel. Mostly rich snobs who wouldn’t know a good time if it hit them in the face.

  'It would be nice if we stayed in hotels like this all the time wouldn’t it?' James said.

  'We used to until all the budget cuts came in, if James Bond was based on real life he would be staying in Motels, buying his suits in high street stores and fifty pounds expenses for the casino and he would need to keep the receipts, wait till you see the palaver I will have to go through when I get back to claim for the flights for coming out here.’

  'I thought this was all off the books?'

  'It is, but I can still claim expenses, those MP's claim for everything so I should be able to, at least mine is legitimate.’

  James laughed and replied 'Won't you have to answer to those MP's soon, when you get promoted?'

  'Unfortunately, yes.’

  James swam up to the edge of the pool and rested his arms on the tiled area and Lawrence joined him.

  'I have just had an interesting thought.’

  'Go on' Lawrence said.

  James paused for a moment.

  'We arrived here Thursday, Ramos's men have more or less followed us everywhere around the city, in fact you could probably bet your last euro someone is staking us out right now.’

  Lawrence cut in 'That’s how this job works, you have done it long enough to know the score now, they follow us and we follow them.'

  'Yes, I know that. I just don’t think they expected us to be who we are, I think they thought we would stay in the shadows just to oversee the deal.'

  'They obviously had not done their homework on us; don’t poke a sleeping Bear I think the saying is' Lawrence said.

  'Yes, I know I know. But what happened on Thursday that changed the course of the last few days, which has led to me being stabbed, Will Ramsey being killed and not to mention what we have done to them. Thursday night, ever since then we have had nothing but trouble.'

  Lawrence looked at James with a seriously puzzled look.

  'What is it you are getting at?' He asked.

  'Think about it, ever since we met Delinda and Ally we have had nothing but trouble and what happened to the other girls? I think they are holed up with Ramos now and not in Valencia, Delinda seems too keen, what if they asked us to America so that Ramos or his men can finally get rid of us, think how easy it is to buy weapons over there, we get to New York then take a stroll through central park then bang, the press will say “tourists killed in a robbery gone bad”.’

  Lawrence put his hand on James’s arm and asked.

  'What have you taken?'

  He answered 'A couple of pain killers why?’

  'No more beer for you, I have seen plenty of Femme Fatales and Delinda is not one, she has got it bad for you, it is genuine.’

  Lawrence climbed out of the pool and returned to his sunbed; James followed.

  'We will see when we set off for Malaga, I have a plan.’

  'Ok, but I think they have nothing to do with this, anyway forget that now, just rest, have some water and clear your head before tomorrow.’

  James agreed and asked the waiter for some water which he duly brought over in a bucket of ice, setting it down on the little table next to his sun lounger.

  THIRTY-FIVE

  The sun dropped lower in the sky as evening set in and James Shaw received a text from Delinda as he was dozing off on his sun lounger.

  Hey, how y'all doin' are you checked in at the hotel, we are just chilling and emailing home before we go get some dinner. Kisses.

  'It's a text from Delinda asking if we have checked in to the hotel.’

  'Throw away the key' Lawrence said with a smirk.

  'That reminds me, I forgot to call Dad back about going on holiday.’

  ‘How did that remind you of that?’ Lawrence asked.

  ‘I was supposed to meet them with the keys, I was going to pick them up from the airport and go to the villa.’

  ‘Your mind works in mysterious ways.’

  ‘And yours doesn’t? I will call him in a minute.’

  First off, he replied to Delinda’s text message.

  Yes, we have checked in to the hotel, see you soon xx.

  James dialled his parents' home number and after four rings his Father answered.

  'Shaw residence.’

  James laughed and said 'Hello Dad, why do you answer the phone like that, you are not the butler? Did you get the message I left the other day?'

  'No, the machine doesn’t say anything' his Dad replied.

  'Just press the play button, anyway I called to say I won't be able to go away with you and Mum, I am caught up with work.'

  'OK son, I will let your mum know, see you soon.'

  ‘Bye Dad.’

  James put his phone down and said to Lawrence 'John must of called them too, he didn’t sound happy, oh well plenty of time for holidays when I get back from America.'

  'Exactly' replied Lawrence.

  'The only way to find out what Delinda's game is, is to go over there and see what happens.' 'Oh, will you give it a rest, you were not complaining the other day when you were both all over each other.'

  'Maybe, like I said we will see when we get to America what their real intentions are.’

  James lay back on his lounger with his sunglasses hiding his closed eyes as he rested. Lawrence Sharif scrolled through his phone, all was peaceful around them, the faint sound of traffic in the background was the only sound they could hear, until James Shaw received a text message which jolted him from his relaxed state.

  I am so looking forward to seeing you, it feels like I have known you for so long, roll on Wednesday read the text message from Delinda.

  'Delinda is looking forward to seeing us, I bet she is.'

  'She probably is mate, what do you feel like for dinner?'

  James sat up and put his sunglasses on his head turning to Lawrence.

  'You know what? I feel like something fatty and greasy like a big cheese burger and chips, then come back here and have a good sleep before tomorrow.’

  'Sounds good, let's do it, I will find somewhere for us to go.' Lawrence searched on his phone for somewhere to eat.

  ‘How about the hard rock café, it is just opposite the hotel?’

  ‘OK, do we need to book a table?’ James asked.

  ‘I have just done it for eight o’clock.’

  ‘Another half an hour in the sun then we can go and get ready’ replied James.

  James picked up his phone and sent a text to his brother.

  We are going to the hard rock café for our evening meal if you want to join us.

  James put his phone down a
nd closed his eyes and went over the last few days in his head, from the moment he left RAF Akrotiri up until now, he could not come up with any reasonable explanation for how Delinda and Ally would be involved with setting them up with the Argentines, yet the nagging thoughts would not go away, he was falling for Delinda and he did not want to believe that she could be involved but could not think of any other way the Argentines would know of their presence in Seville.

  Fortunately, Lawrence had not been taking pain killers and was thinking straight. He sent a text to Peter Bernard at DGSE asking if Javier Ramos had access to the Police passport log which was used by Hotels and Hostels to register guests. Lawrence had requested passports with alternate names for him and James but his request had been denied as the Foreign Office wanted plausible deniability, this meant they had to travel with their official passports. A few minutes later Peter Bernard replied to Lawrence confirming that Javier Ramos did have access to the Passport log. Lawrence thanked him for his help and gathered his things together as did James and they went up to their rooms to get ready.

  THIRTY-SIX

  Dressed in lightweight trousers and cotton shirts Lyndon, Mike, Chris and Jack left their hotel and crossed the road to get a bus to Plaza Del Duque. They had a table booked at the same rooftop restaurant James Shaw and Delinda Saint Germain had eaten at the previous night. They had chosen it based on recommendations from trip advisor and planned to have a night of relaxation and fun with no mention of what lay ahead tomorrow for them. Lyndon often used this tactic before big jobs to relax everybody, not too much that they would sleep in the next morning and either miss the meeting or vital preparation time.

  Despite turning down the wrong street three times and ending up back where they started Lyndon found the restaurant and on time. They were seated at a rectangular table along the edge of the rooftop overlooking the Cathedral and the La Giralda bell tower. The waiter took their order for starters, main course and wine. Jack Reuben who was not used to seeing so much sun was enjoying himself in the heat of Seville. He vowed to get more active when he returned back to Britain, as even after a day, he felt a lot healthier and happier. ‘Good to hear Jack, twenty years to late mind, all those years of being the indoors man and now you want to come out’ Lyndon said.