BlindFire (9 page)

  Even  though  his  eyes  were  closed  he  could  feel  her  staring  at  him.

  "Haven’t I seen you on television or something?  Are
n’t
you an actor?"

  Danny
continued to ignore her
, still pretending
to be asleep.

  Soon he really was asleep dreaming his strange sometimes terrifying dreams. Suddenly the alarm bells deep in his subconscious sounded. Some thing was being forced over his mouth. His waking struggle subsided almost immediately.

  That smell, so familiar, he knew it from somewhere
, it was like the chlorine at the swimming baths
.  Now he could feel a hand in his pocket then it went to his other pocket. His mind raced. What was that smell and why couldn't he move? A voice seemed to come from nowhere and yet it was everywhere.

  "I know who you really are Danny Stone!
"

  Then the darkness.

***

The building was quiet except for the sound
of
his
shoes clicking on the highly polished corridor
. The Major knocked on
what was quickly becoming a very familiar door.

  "Come."

  "Sir, here is a
note
from
the Brigadier; my and may I add your superior
." He handed the aging Commanding Officer a large brown envelope. "Would you be as kind as to hand over
any information concerning Staff Sergeant Stone
? 
His personnel
file will do nicely for starters."

  The
Col
on
el opened the note and seemed to take an inordinate time to read it.

  "Sir, with all due respect please don’t waste my time.  If  you  have any  objections  put  it  in  writi
ng  and  send  it  to  Brigade Headquarters
."

  "That's..."

  "Yes."  The Major said at once.  "Please Sir.  I have little time for idle chit chat
. I need a
co
py of Cpl Pikes statement and of course the
Taxi driver."

  "But I
can't possibly... I have an engagement I simply must attend."

  "Then go
Sir
, you're not required here...." 
T
he Major
s
aid
as
politely
as he could
and
smiled.

***

  That  smell,  there  i
t  was  again  his subconscious
aroused he stirred, but  he  was  handcuffed  and  couldn't  move.  There was a powerful light which seemed to be swaying in front of his eyes and making them burn.

  "
Get
that
light out of my face?" He mumbled
incoherently, his
muscles still loath to function
correctly
. The light continued its swaying motion
.
"Turn that thing off."

  "It’s me you idiot."  Came the
now
familiar voice from behind the light.

  He recognised the woman from the train.
"What do you want?"  He asked.

  There was a long eerie silence and then
.
"Where were you going?"

  "
I don’t know what you mean
."

  “I’ll ask you again
....
Where were you going?"

  "On holiday."

  "You’re lying."

  The light danced on the walls as if she was moving something around and   then a
picture appeared
on a television
.

  "Do you
recognise this face
?" 
She asked and pointed to the screen.

  Of course he
recognised the face. It was him, the man who had killed his
w
ife.  "What the hell do you want
?
"

  "
That’s the man who shot
your wife....  Isn’t it?"

  Danny
shifted nervously on the bed. “Who are you?” The cuffs bit hard into his wrists. “How did you get me here?”

  “You want to kill him? Want to put a bullet in his head?”

  He’d  had  enough, if  she  was  going  to  kill  him  she  was  taking  her  time, and  would  prob
ably have done so by
now. “That’s right;
I’m going to blow his
head off.”

  There was silence again for what seemed like ages.

  “Then we are on the same side!
”

  “Release me!” He said as calmly as he could muster. 

  “No… How do I know you just won’t walk out of the door?”

  Danny railed against his restraints. “Let me go!” He demanded.

  “Look I think we can really help each other. I too want that monster dead, but I can’t find him on my own. I need your help… We could work together!”

***

45

BlindFire

CHAPTER    5

It was a
bout ten in the morning when Danny
was awakened from his sleep.
The handcuffs had been removed and been replaced with a banging headache. An  ever growing aroma
  of  frying  bacon
and
smell of coffee
 
pulled  him  toward  the  kitchen.

  "You’re awake!"  Exclaimed the woman.

  “You took my chains off!” He said rubbing his wrists.
"What did you say your name was again?"

  "I didn’t."  She replied.  "My name is
Elizabeth
."

  "I’m Danny,
but you know that
already! Where am I?”

  Elizabeth  was  dressed  in  what  looked  like  a  kimono  she  certai
nly wore  nothing  underneath
as  the 
belt  was  loosely tied and he
could   see  every  bit  of  her  slim  figure.

  "Did you sleep well?"  She enquired.

  "W
hat the hell was that shit you put in my face last night?"

  "Chlor
oform.  Isn’t quite
a knockout
isn’t it
?"
She said brightly.

  He  tried  not  to  look  at  her  for  a  while  but  then  gave  up.
“What’s to stop me walking out of here right now?”

  “Absolutely nothing.” She replied. “You’re bag is by the front door and it isn’t locked.”

  Danny watched her cooking as he thought and then said. “I need fake ID and a fake passport, weapons and money..! Can you get any of that?”

  She turned to face him and smiled.

  “And is there any chance you c
an you get dressed or something
?” He pointed in the general direction of her body. “It’s all very distracting!
"

  She continued cooking as the kimono slid from her shoulders and floated to the floor
.
"Why
, don’t you like
?"

  "We have work to do! Get dressed
."
He ordered and picked up the kimono then draped it around her shoulders
again
. "Why do you want him dead?”

  “My  brother  and  I  were  thieves, we robbed  the  wrong  house  and  got  caught.”

  “Go on.”

  “It was some sort of safe house. We  were  told  that  it  was  full  of  money  and  drugs. They saw us coming
a mile away
.”

  Danny
thought for a second. “So how did you get away?”

  “I didn’t, they killed me.”

  He laughed. “Right
!
Of
course they did.”

  “
Those men..! Those monsters were drunk and out of their heads on drugs..!
They toyed with us, they beat us...... They raped me. When  they  tired  of  that  they  put  a  gun  to  my  brothers  head  and  tried  to  make  him  rape  me.” She faltered momentarily remembering. “....He  refused  so  that  man, Jack  Mckay  shot  him  twice  in  the  head.” She  was  quiet  again  for  a  long  time  and  then  suddenly  finished  the  tale. “They  beat  me  unconscious  and  then  dropped  me  off  on  the  autobahn.”

  “At least they let you go.”

  “
At the time t
hey  were  doing  about  seventy  miles  an  hour,
believe  me  I  was  meant  to
die.”

   
This
  woman  obviously  had  access  to  weapons  and  maybe  even  a  way  of  getting  across  the  water
. Danny realized very quickly that she may come in useful
. “
He killed my wife and took my daughter!” He said. “No one touches him until I get her back! That’s my deal! “

  “
I’ve got money,
weapons
and friends.
The problem is where to start looking for him.”

  “Where exactly was this safe house
you were telling about
?”

***

"What do you mean 
we lost track of him’?  Screamed the Major. The  Sergeant  who  stood  to  attention  in  front  of  him  had  been expecting  a  telling  off  but  not  a  full  scale  bollocking.

  "We   found   a   ticket   collector   on   a   train   who   remembers   him. 
According to him Staff Sergeant Stone
was drunk.  When the train stopped in
Duisburg
a man and a woman were seen to bundle him into a car." The Sergeant was nervous; he could feel a trickle of sweat start its journey from his armpit. It seemed to circumnavigate his stomach and join up with other beads of sweat before soaking into his shirt. He suddenly wondered if he smelled
of body odor
. "Si...Sir we can get a good description of the woman."

  "What  do  you  mean  'we  can  get',  why  hasn't  it  been  got
already
?"

  "Infact it
’
s
better tha
n a description
. There was an art
student on the platform that got a good look at her
.
He says
she stuck in his mind because he says she was very beautiful,
he will paint her for us."

  "So  you're  standing there stinking my office out and trying to tell me that  I'm  going  to have  a wanted  poster  out  with  Minnie  the  fucking Mouse  on  it."   The Major was really losing it now.

  "No Sir.  I saw some of his
guys
work, it’s really very good."

  "Fine
, when will this
masterpiece be ready then?"

  "Well that’s the problem you see. The student says that he is committed  to  passing  his  exams  and hasn't got time to paint our woman,  unless  she  becomes  part  of his exhibition which I agreed to. We can have her afterwards."

  "Are you completely stupid?  Get down there with a camera and
take a bloody
photo
graph
."

  "Oh yeah
.
Why didn’t I think of that?"

  "Because you’re a bloody moron
." 
The  Major muttered
  after  the  Non  commissioned 
officer  had  left  his  office

   An hour later Major Rothschild picked up the telephone
.  "
Do we have our picture yet? Good...  Oh  one  other  thing,  I  want  my  computer terminal  fitted  in  this  office  today
, as soon as possible
."

  After  replacing  the  receiver  he  doodled  for  a  few  seconds  with  an old  chewed  pencil,  then  made  himself  a  coffee.

  "Christmas eve and I’m working....."   He said aloud as he gazed out the steamed windows at the white clouds. Then  made  a  mental  note  that  it  would  be  snowing  soon.

***

  "We watch and wait until the time is right."   Said Beth.  "Only God knows what we will find."

  "Answers I hope."

  "What if..?
  I mean...  What if they catch us?  They could kill us or even worse."

  Danny
sighed.  "Then  we  kill  them  first,  dead  or alive I really don't give
a  shit  besides  my daughter could be in there
."

  "We’re nearly there
;
it’s the next farm house
."
Beth pulled the car over to the side of the road.  "This is where you get out."

  "What about you
?"
He asked.

  "I go in about two hundred meters up the road
on the far side
.  Don’t worry its good cover
all the way up to
the house."

  Danny
quietly opened the door.  "It had better be!"

  "Remember, stick to the plan and wait for my signal."

  "See you inside."  Danny
  said  and  surprised  both of  them  when  he  gave  her  a kiss on the cheek. Within  a  few  seconds  he  was  out  of  the  car  and  over  the  wall.  He crouched in the shadows close to the wall.  She was right
he thought
there is good cover.  He  began  to  move  forward  as  he  had been  taught  in  basic  training  all  those  years  before.  He  stayed  in  the  darkness  avoiding  open  areas  and  freezing  at  the  slightest movement  or  noise.  No full moon he thought.  Only fifty meters to go.

  Suddenly  a  light  shone  ne
ar  the  house, Danny
dropped to the ground  then  crawled  some  two  meters  to  the  nearest  bracken.  He cl
osed his eyes, did they know? Had
someone told them?  He began to feel butterflies in his stomach.  His hands trembled.  He  opened  his  eyes  the  light  was  gone
and
there was  no  movement  or  sound,  he  was  safe  for  now. A large rat scurried  across  the  old  path  which  led  up  to  the  house  and  stopped by  his  hole.
A rat out in the open told Danny there was no one around.

  "Hi ya ratty."   He whispered
, trying to forget all
of
his fears.

  'Bleep...  Bleep...  Bleeeeeeep.'  The  noise  seemed  to  cut  through  the air  like  a  sword, even  though  it  was  just  loud  enough  for  him  to  hear.  That was the signal he had been waiting for. Slowly  raising  to  his  knees  he  pulled  out  the  nine  millimeter  Browning   Beth had  given  him  and  cocked  it.  If  anyone  got  in  his  way  no
w  they would  simply  die.  He
broke cover and walked up to the house. The  plans  of  the  building  were  perfect,  every  door  window  and missing  brick  was  in  the  place  the  computer  printout  showed  it  to be.

  He  knelt  and  crawled  on  his  hands  and  knees  until  he  found  the small  broken  window  leading  into  the  cellar  which  the  computer  had promised  him.  After  lowering  his  bag  into  the  darkness  he  climbed down  himself,   then  dropped  to  the  floor  and  trained  his  pistol  on the  closed  door.  Listening   for the slightest sign of trouble he located his bag.

  He  could  hear  voices  almost  immediately  but  he  couldn't  make  out what  they  were saying. Feeling nervous again he checked the nine millimeter  to  make  absolutely  sure  he  had  left  the  safety  catch  off. With  every  step  he  took  up  the  concrete  stairs  the  voices  grew louder.

  A  bead  of  sweat  overcame  his  eyebrow  and  trickled  into  his  eye.  "Shit."  He whispered and wiped his eye.  "The safety switch is off... I’ve cocked it...  The safety is off."

  Soon  he  could  see  a  light  coming  from  under  the  door  at  the  top of  the  stairs.  He  could  also  hear  the  voices  perfectly  now,  one German  and  one  English.

   "Two hundred thousand?"   Shouted the German.

   "No
  way,   now  the  gear  I  got  you  is  worth  three times that  much."

  "Then we have no business here."

  "I  didn't  come  all  the  way  out  here  at  t
his  time  of  night  to
  give  you  a  kiss  and  a  cuddle.  It's  either  the  price  we agreed  on  or  I  shoot  you  now  and  just  take  the  lot."

  "JA JA Ok.  Five hundred thousand it is then."

  "Hard drugs cost hard money my little German friend."

  It was now or never
. Danny
flung open the door and stepped into the light.  "Neighborhood
watch, no one move.
"

The   larger   of   the   two   men   instantly   flung 
himself   at Danny
but   was met
by a sharp blow to the side of the head from the base of the pistol grip
.

  "Oh I’m sorry, my manners
a
re terrible, I should have
introduced my friend.  This is Mr.
nine millimeter
Browning."  He held aloft his weapon.  "And
I’m Mister very
unhappy."

  Danny grabbed the man he had just
struck
and placed the barrel
of the gun in his mouth.
"Well say hello then."

  "Who the
hell are you?"
As
ked  the
Englishman  who  up  until  now had  been  stunned  by  the  speed  of  the  black  clad  figu
re. "Are you the Police?
"