BlindFire (11 page)

  “
What’s going on? My lot doesn’t
tell me shit.”

  "Well in that case I’ll fill you in.  Firstly  we  are  looking  for  a  woman  named  Elizabeth  Kaelin.  Secondly  and  more importantly  we  are  looking  for  what  we  believe  to  be  a  serial  killer, a  very  clever  killer."

  "He isn’t necessarily connected with the
British
Army."

  Gunter put the bag back in his pocket.  "But that is were you’re wrong.  Elizabeth  was  raped  by  the  killer  and  her  brother  was murdered  by  him."

  "Jack McKay..."   Muttered John.  "But how do you know?"

  "When  we  found  the brothers  body  on  the  Autobahn  it  was  in  a terrible  state,  he  was  identified  by  dental  records  as  one  Andreas Kaelin.  Tests  showed  that  before  he  died  an  unknown  male  had entered  into  sexual  intercourse  with  him."

  "Jesus...."

  “No. I don’t think it was him.” Gunter decided not to laugh at his own joke. "There's  a  rapist,  and  a  killer  on  the  loose  and  my Government  want  him  put  down."

  "I still don’t see the connection."

  "They took samples
from the dead man
.  What  they  found  was  semen  and  it  matched  ex
actly  the  semen  found  in the bodies of the murdered women
."

  The  Major  sat  for  a  few  seconds  taking  in  the  horror.  All  these years  he  had  spent  chasing  a  terrorist  and  now  he  turns  out  to  be  a  serial  killer  as  well.   "Those poor girls."

 
"My Government doesn’t want him in our goals.”

   "What are you saying?"

   "Have you ever seen one of those old westerns where the bad guy is wanted dead or alive?
"

  Jonathon Rothschild nodded. “Of course.”

  “Well we’re not so interested in the alive part if you catch my drift.”

  The  Major  walked  into  the  bathroom  and  peered  into  the  mirror. After splashing  some  cold  water  onto  his  face  he  took  a  second  and  watched  the  drips  as  they  fell  back  to  the  sink.

  "What  about  this  Elizabeth,  I've  been  looking  for  her  for  years  it's like  she  disappeared."

  "She didn’t disappear; she is living in
Duisburg
with your man Stone
."

  The Major put his hands on his hips and laughed. "All this time and you knew where
he was."  Grabbing his jacket
he made for the door.  "Let’s go and get the little shit then."

  "No wait."  Pleaded Gunter and gripped his arm.  "If you take them in we may never get the killer."

  The Major tried to break the Germans grip but failed.

  "John,
Elizabeth
has stolen some very important documents from the German Government; it would be a disaster if they were to be made public." His tone was threatening to the point of deadly.

  Realisation, a dish served best cold.  "I see
,
there is no kill
er as far as you're concerned.
You only want those papers...  Don't you?"

  Gunter walked to the nearest chair and sat down. "If  this  information gets  out,  the  present  Government  will  fall  and  w
ith  it  the  security our  two
nations  have  enjoyed  these  past  decades."

  "So what does this secret document contain then?"

  "I don’t know, I really have no idea."  He sighed heavily
.
"She stole  the  information  from  the  computer  of  an  high  ranking  politician  whilst  raiding  his  home.  She  made  the  mistake  of  taking  off  her  gloves  to  operate  the  keyboard.  The  prints  we  lifted  matched  one  found  at  the  house  where  her  brother  died ...So  on  and  so  forth."

  "And  now  you're  here   pretending  to  be  looking  for  a  serial  killer,  I  should  have  known."

  "Murderers."  Gunter spat the word.  "This Jack McKay is a serial killer of the worst kind. He is veiling his activities behind terrorism. I will take car
e of him and retrieve the stolen information
.”

***

61

BlindFire

                                           
CHAPTER 6

"Merry Christmas!"  Danny
shouted in a feigned Santa’s voice.    Then  balancing  a  tray  of  food  in  one  hand  he  opened  the door  with  the  other.

  Beth was already awake and sitting up.  "Oh it’s you."  She sighed dejectedly.

  He placed the tray on the
bed beside her and turned to leave. “I
hope you choke on it and die
."

  "Oh come back."  She purred.  "I’ve got you a present."  And
then she
produced
a long box from
under
the
bed.

  Danny blushed.
"
Sorry but I didn’t think to get you
anything."

  "That’s alright."  She patted the bed.  "Come, sit here and open it."

 
"
The biggest
gun I could find."  She laughed. "That is what you as
ked for wasn’t
it?
It’s a French made SPAS-12 shot gun.
"

  "Yes but...  But this is amazing."   The barrel was chromed along with the trigger and housing.  The  butt  and  stock  seemed  to  be made  from  ivory  or  something  similar.

  Also  in  the  box  he  noticed  a  knife  fashioned  in  the  same  style  as the  Spas  twelve  and  encased  in  a  black  shoulder  harness.

  Beth pointed.  "See that?"

  "What is it?"

  She was  pointing  to  a  kind  of  pivoting  mechanism  on  the  right  hand  side  of  the  harness.

  "Hook  the  bu
tt  of the  Spas  in there
and  you  can conceal the weapon  under  a  coat  and  have  full  use  of  both  your  hands incase you  need  them  for  something  else."

  She  slowly  ran  her  finger  up  and  down his  chest  and  then  tenderly kissed  him  on  the  lips.

  Danny
  immediately  pulled  away  and  handed  the  box  back  to  Beth.

  She noticed tears welling in his eyes as he turned away to hide them.
"What’s wrong?"  She asked.

  "Christmas."  He choked.  ".... I just spoke to Danny on the phone.”

  "Come here."

He shook his head. “I wish I could see them.”

  "Shus
h, you will one day."

He began to dry his eyes.  "I
’ve decided
to go today."

  "I don’t think that’s a good idea....” She replied. “Not today anyway."

  "No. I  must  go  today, I  want  to  get  it  over  and  done  with."

  Beth climbed out of
the bed and began
to dress.  "You  can’t  use  your  passport  and  the  police  are  probably  looking  for  you. How are you going to get there?"

  “I’ll find a boat,
maybe I’ll hitch
a
lift on a
fishing boat.”

  She laughed.
“Don’t be ridiculous!”

  “If not, I’ll swim
if I have to
.”

  The laughter stopped, she could see he was serious. “Then you will need money.”

  "I’ll
get
pack
ing
."

  "
Don’t you w
ant this?"  She tossed him the box.  "If  you  bump  into the  crew  of
  the  Regina  they  are  all  t
errorists. Be careful and try not to leave a mess."

  "Are you coming with me?" He hoped she would.

  "No I get sea sick. I'll meet you one week from today at the Harlequin Hotel in
Belfast
."

  "Wh
at if I’m late?"  Asked Danny
.

  "Then I’ll be there every day until you show up."

***

  He  could  smell  the  rotten  odors  of  dead  fish  and  hear  the seagulls  squealing.  A  few  of  them  were  brave  enough  to  approach him,  hoping  for  a  titbit  or  morsel  of  food.

  "Not today." 
Danny
r
eplied to their cries of hunger.

  She  had  dropped  him  off  close  enough  to  the  dockside  for  him  to  walk  down  to  the  waters  edge. He had plenty of money, weapons and ammunition
. One
way or another he’d commission a boat.

  He  scanned the  immediate  area  but  it  seemed  deserted  apart  from  a couple of fishermen  coming  towards  him probably heading for the nearest whorehouse
or bar
. It  was  getting  on  for  midnight  and  the chances  of  finding  a  boat  were  slim.

  “
Do y
ou speak English?”
He asked.

  “Oui...  I mean yes I do, just a little.”

  “I’m looking for my boat. They’ve moved the thing without telling me.”

  “What is this boat
called?”

  “It’s the
Regina
, a fishing boat?”

  The  man  turned  to  face  the  way  he  had  just  come. “Oui... I think maybe.....  Right at the bottom. I know because you cut across our bow this morning.”

  He  thanked  the  two  men  and  waited  until  they  were  out  of  site, then  headed  for  the  Regina. What  he  was  going  to  do  once  he  got  there, he  didn’t  know. Suddenly he heard a scuffling sound.

"I hope you’re going to help me."  Said  a  woman  with  a  broad  Irish  accent
. The voice was coming from
  the  shadows  behind  some  old  fish  crates.

  "Who’s there?"
He said and froze.
 

  "Just wait a minute Ok?" She sounded like she was struggling with something.

  "Mi
ster I’m stuck, come and
help me will you?"

  Perhaps  it  was  a  trick,  maybe  they  just  wanted him over  there  in  the  darkness.

  "
Are you going to
help me or not?"

  "I’m coming."
He said and placed one hand on his pistol.

  As  he  rounded  the  crates  and  saw  the  girl  he  noticed  her  jumper was  half  off  and  her  jeans  unbuttoned.

  "Well come here and help me then."

  "What‘s up?"  He laughed.

  "I was taking a piss
. Don’t
laugh at me."

  "Ok calm down, let me see."

  When  he  moved  closer  he  couldn't  help  but  notice  the  girl  wore no bra  and  with  her  jumper  up  around her neck and the cold ni
ght air, she had  nipples like sawn off
stiletto  heels.
He didn’t want to stare but couldn’t help it.

  "Ah, here we are."  The girl’s jumper had snagged on a nail.  With a twist and a tug she was free.

  “You’re English?” She said accusingly then softer. “Thanks mister.”

  “Yeah.”

  “What you doing out here, at this time of night?”

  He  had  a  story  prepared  and  the  chances  of  it  working  were  slim  to  none. She  had  an  Irish  accent  so  he  might  be  in  luck  after all. “I’m looking for the
Regina
, an old fishing boat
.

  “Why
?
You hoping to get some place?
”

  “
Ireland
I hope.” Another lie.

  “Well you helped me. Let me return the favor.”

  The  girl  led  him  to  a  small  boat  where  a  welcoming  committee  awaited  them.  Including the girl there were two men and another women.

  One of  the  men  was  an  overweight  forty  year  old  who  hadn't  shaven  for a  couple  of  days  and  wore  a  blue  bobble  hat.  He stepped forward.

  "
Where the feck have
you been? We’ve b
een waiting ages, and who the fe
ck is he? "

  Danny
stepped forward. “The  names  Duncan  Fraser, I  was  told  by  a  friend  of  a  friend  that  you’d  take  me  to  Ireland.”

  “He told you wrong.” Said  the  big  man  and  turned  to  walk  back  up  the  ramp. The others turned to follow.

  “I’ll pay good money.”

  They all seemed to stop together at the same moment.

  “And how much would that be then?”

   Moving
to the bottom of the ramp
Danny spoke
. “One Thousand pounds each.” By now he was half way up the ramp.

  “
This is my boat and that makes me the captain so s
how me what you got in the bag wee man?”

  "No,  I'm  taking  this  hardware  to  Belfast  on  a  need  to  see  basis and 
I don’t think that you
need  to  see."

  "Get him
off my boat."   The Captain growled and spat a globule of phlegm into the sea
.

  "Ok, ok have it your way."

  In  one
  fluid  movement  he  drew  the  Spas  from  the  bag,  cocked  it and  fired  at  the  night  sky.  There  followed  a  flash  and  an  ear shattering  bang,  then  a  thud.  One of the girls started screaming.

  "He shot me, I’m bleeding!"  She cried hysterically.

  "Shut her up?"

  Danny
returned the weapon to its bag. "I just wiped out a flock of seagulls.  Imagine  what 
I  could  do  with  this  baby
in  a  riot  situation."

  The  girl  was  still  burbling  hysterically  about  the  blood  on  her  face.

  "
Unless those sea gulls had toxic blood
you’ve got nothing to worry about."

  "Well  I  didn't  really  see  very  much  'cept  a  flash  and  a  few feathers,  but  I  think  my  people  will  be  very  interested. Put  the  Artillery  piece  in  the  safe,  then  we can  eat."

  "The bag stays with me
." Ordered Danny
.

  "Fine, just get below out of sight."

  He  waited  in silence for  the  boat  to  put to sea,  refusing the disgusting
looking
  food  which  one  of  the  girls  offered  him.
A fortuitous decision as it turned out because the pitching and rolling of the boat soon made him feel sick
.

   He lay quietly on his bunk for several hours until his gut settled down.
One they were in open water he decided it was time
to have a closer look at the
Regina
. Putting his ear to the cabin  door  he  listened  for a f
ull five minutes,
detecting  nothing  out  of the  ordinary  he  slowly  opened  the thin wooden door. The short corridor was dark enough to
enable Danny
to skip between doorways undetected in silence.  Every  cabin  he  tried  was  locked
and
he  was  about to  curse  aloud
when  he  heard  a  shuffling
sound  from  further down the  hallway,  then  his  attention  was  drawn  to  a  shred  of  light  on the floor  which  had  escaped  from  a  cabin  nearby.  He  covered  the short  distance  in  seconds  and  put  his  eye  to  the  hole.  He  could  just  see  the  girl  who  had  hurt  herself  on  the  nail.  She  was  sat  on her  bed,  shakily  trying  to  administer  some
sort  of  drug  into  her lower  arm.  He
  stared  as  he had  never  seen  an
ything  like  this  before. Suddenly the girl
gas
ped
with  pleasure  as  she  dropped  the  syringe  and   lay 
back  on  the  bed  then  sleepily removed
what  few  items  she  was wearing.

  She didn’t seem to
mind or even notice when he
entered the room.

  "Are you alright?
"  He asked loudly.

  "Oh it’s you
!
  Come here... 
let’s play
."  She laughed.

  Danny
  felt  the  syringe  under  his  foot  and  picked  it  up.  On closer examination he realised it was still half full.

  "
You wanna Screw
me.
.!
"   She moaned and spread her legs wide apart.

  "What’s in those other cabins down the hallway?"

  "Guns.... 
Lots of big fecking
guns."
She said

  "
What about the peace treaty
?"