The Deadly Game (18 page)

The next thing he knew, John had died, and Jake hadn’t had a chance to see him and tell him how much he and Mary had meant to him. Because of that, Jake was even angrier at the authorities. He’d had to find private places where he could cry his grief for John and Mary without anyone seeing him.

Never again, he’d told himself. Never again will I let myself get so attached to anyone.

And that had been how it was until he’d met Lauren, and fallen in love with her. All he wanted to do now was get Lauren back. Which meant getting the book to the lab so Michelle could verify it, and publish her article.

He took out the phone he’d taken from the thugs, and dialled Michelle’s number. She answered straight away.

‘It’s Jake,’ he said.

‘Where have you been?!’ demanded Michelle, not even trying to disguise the anger in her voice. ‘I’ve got everything set up! You promised you’d be here with the book!’

‘I got held up,’ said Jake.

There was a pause, and Jake was sure that Michelle had just realised that something bad must have happened to him.

‘Serious?’ she asked.

‘Very serious,’ confirmed Jake.

‘OK,’ she said. ‘The thing is, you’re ready now, right?’

‘Yes,’ said Jake. ‘Only the last time I came to your office I got grabbed. I don’t know who else may be watching there.’

‘So we need to meet up somewhere else.’

‘Yes, but I’m pretty sure this conversation is being listened to, so we can’t say where.’

There was a pause, then Michelle said: ‘Where we first met.’

Of course, realised Jake: the timber yard where Michelle had found him.

‘OK,’ he said.

‘How soon can you be there?’ asked Michelle.

Jake thought it over. Getting to Euston, collecting the book, then out to Holloway Road and the timber yard would take about an hour, providing nothing went wrong again. But something was always going wrong. People were still out there, looking for him. People who would kill him. He needed help. He needed someone to watch his back.

‘I’ll call you,’ he said.

As he stood up, the gun in his pocket banged against his side.

I don’t need this, he thought. I’m not a killer. If I carry this, it could go wrong for me. I’m the one who could end up being shot.

He walked over to the edge of the towpath and looked down into the dark swirling waters. Even with all the clean-up of London’s rivers that had been going on, here the water was so thick with sludge and silt, and muck from the boats, it was like soup. He looked around to make sure that no one was watching, then lifted the gun from his pocket and tossed it into the water.

OK, he told himself. Time to play the final card. But first, I need to get me some back-up.

Chapter 27

Jake stood on the balcony outside Benjy’s flat. The music from next door was still pounding, although not as loudly as it had been the last time Jake had been here. He pressed the doorbell. After what seemed like ages, the door opened a crack and an eye peered out. Then the door opened a bit wider and Benjy looked out enquiringly at Jake. Jake noticed the security chain stayed in place.

‘Hi,’ said Jake, and he smiled.

‘You’re the guy who was here with Jez and Ronnie,’ said Benjy warily.

‘Right.’ Jake nodded. ‘Are they here?’

Benjy looked at him in surprise.

‘Why would they be here?’ he asked. ‘They don’t live here.’ He grinned. ‘They don’t live anywhere. They fly by night.’

‘Yes, well, is it possible for you to get in touch with them for me?’

Benjy regarded Jake suspiciously.

‘Why would I do that?’ he asked.

‘Because I need to talk to them urgently.’

The look of suspicion remained on Benjy’s face.

‘You’re accusing them of something?’ he demanded.

Jake stared at him, indignant.

‘No!’ he said firmly. ‘Why would I do that? They saved me! I owe them!’

Benjy stayed studying Jake, the suspicious look still on his face, then he said, ‘Stay there.’ With that he went into the flat and shut the door.

Jake looked around the balcony nervously. He didn’t like staying exposed in one place for too long. After what seemed like an eternity, the door opened again and Benjy held out a mobile phone.

‘Jez wants to talk to you,’ he said.

Jake took the phone.

‘Jez,’ he said, relieved.

‘You gotta be in trouble, Jake,’ said Jez.

‘I am,’ admitted Jake.

‘Get in the flat. I’ll be along.’

With that, the phone went dead.

Jake handed the phone back to Benjy.

‘He said . . .’ he began.

‘I heard,’ said Benjy. He held the door open. ‘You better come in.’

He let Jake in, and pointed to the kitchen.

‘Make yourself at home,’ he said. ‘Only, you eat anything, put some money in the jar by the fridge. OK?’

‘OK. Thanks.’

But Benjy had already gone into his room, and shut the door.

Jez arrived half an hour later. He took a look at Jake’s bruised face and let out a low whistle.

‘Someone messed you up,’ he observed.

‘Yep,’ said Jake. ‘They were going to kill me, but luckily I got away.’

Jez studied Jake, and Jake knew he was weighing up whether to ask him for details.

Instead, Jez said, ‘I told you you should’ve had back-up.’

‘You were right,’ admitted Jake.

‘So now, what’s happening?’

‘I need to pick up the book and get it to a lab so it can be tested,’ said Jake. ‘The book’s in the Left Luggage office at Euston Station. The problem is, everyone who’s after it seems to know what I’m about to do next.’

‘If it’s MI5 and them, they’ll be using them CCTV cameras they got,’ said Jez. ‘They’re all over every main station.’

Jake reflected that Jez was right.

‘In which case they’ll know I was at Euston, and maybe picked up that I left the book there in a rucksack.’

‘And you’re thinking they might have someone waiting there for you,’ said Jez.

‘Yes. My guess is it won’t be a big stake-out, just one or two people at most, watching out for me; but when they see me, they’ll give a call.’

Jez remained thoughtful.

‘Where you got to get this book to?’

‘A timber yard off Holloway Road,’ said Jake.

‘A timber yard?’ echoed Jez in surprise.

‘That’s where I’ m meeting the person who’s going to take it to the lab.’

Jez was silent for a bit longer, then finally he nodded.

‘OK,’ he said. ‘Here’s what you do. Do you know the Ibis Hotel beside Euston?’

‘No,’ said Jake, ‘but I can find it.’

‘On the corner of Drummond Street and Cardington Street. Right opposite the western side entrance to Euston. You can’t miss it. Go in there and wait in the reception area. There’s tables and chairs and stuff, so you’ll be OK. You’ll just be someone waiting.’

‘And then what?’ asked Jake.

Jez thought it over.

‘Give me two hours,’ he said. ‘Then things will happen.’

‘What things?’ asked Jake.

Jez smiled.

‘That depends what I can fix up in the next two hours,’ he said.

Chapter 28

Jake sat in the reception area of the Ibis Hotel, his eyes fixed on the glass double doors of the entrance. He’d been sitting here for half an hour, and so far there had been no sign of anyone he recognised from the flat. No Jez, no Benjy, no Ronnie, no one. Luckily, the reception area was full of other people waiting, most sitting with a tea or a coffee, or a newspaper, and all scanning every new face that appeared in case it was the person they were waiting for. Jake knew the bruises on his face made him conspicuous, but he hoped they’d help to make sure that people gave him a wide berth. No one wanted to get too close to someone whose face was marked by cuts and bruises. Luckily, he’d been able to damp his clothes down using the basins in the hotel toilet and get some of the stains off them.

He wondered what Jez was planning. Jake was sure that Euston would be watched, people waiting there for Jake to appear and collect the rucksack from the Left Luggage office. The big question was: by who? Gareth’s MI5 spooks? Pierce Randall’s people? Or the ones who’d sent those two thugs to find him and torture him, the ones who’d attacked Robert and left him near to death? Jake shuddered.

Suddenly he sat up, alert. The small figure of Ronnie had just walked into the entrance.

Jake stood up as she approached.

‘OK,’ she said. ‘We’re go.’ And she held out something to Jake. At first he couldn’t work out what it was, then he realised it was a crash helmet.

‘What’s this for?’ he asked.

‘In case you need it,’ she said. ‘The way people keep bashing you up, you need some protection.’

Jake shook his head.

‘I’m not wearing this,’ he said. ‘I’ll look ridiculous!’

‘Take it,’ she ordered, her voice taking no refusal.

‘No,’ said Jake. ‘I’m not putting that on. I’d feel like a dork.’

Ronnie hissed at him: ‘Listen. Jez says you gotta take it. And I ain’t walkin’ around any more holdin’ it! I felt stupid enough walkin’ around bringin’ it here!’ She thrust it at him. ‘You don’t wanna wear it, fine. But you carry it! And don’t lose it. It cost money.’

Jake took the crash helmet from her. She gestured towards the hotel entrance. ‘Come on, time to go. Look sharp.’

‘Where’s Jez?’ asked Jake.

Ronnie held up a mobile phone.

‘He’s just a call away,’ she said.

Jake wasn’t reassured.

‘No offence, Ronnie, but these are tough people we’re dealing with.’

‘You sayin’ I ain’t tough?’ demanded Ronnie, put out.

‘No, no,’ Jake assured her. ‘You’re one of the toughest people I’ve met, but these guys — or, at least, the ones I’ve met so far — are tough and nasty. They could be armed.’

Ronnie shrugged.

‘We’ll cross that road when we come to it,’ she said.

‘Bridge,’ said Jake automatically.

Ronnie frowned.

‘What?’ she asked.

‘The phrase is “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it” . . .’

Ronnie stared at him, incredulous.

‘People are out there lookin’ to kill you and torture you, and you hung up on the right and wrong
word
?’ She shook her head. ‘No wonder you always in so much trouble, you worry too much about the wrong things.’

She headed out of the Ibis, with Jake following her. At the kerb, she stopped and looked pointedly at Jake.

‘We’ve come to a
road
. We’re gonna cross it. That all right with you?’

‘Fine.’ Jake nodded, feeling sheepish.

They crossed the road and went into the side entrance of the station. All the time, Jake’s eyes were darting left and right, scanning the crowds, trying to identify would-be attackers. But it was impossible to spot if anyone was watching for him, or paying particular attention to the Left Luggage office; the concourse was crowded with people waiting for trains; and the shops around the main concourse, and right up to the Left Luggage office, were filled with a constant traffic of people getting supplies for their journeys: newspapers, sandwiches, drinks.

As they neared the Left Luggage office, with its open counter and hundreds of items of luggage stacked on shelves behind, Ronnie ordered him, ‘OK, put the helmet on.’

‘What?’ asked Jake, puzzled. ‘Why?’

In answer, Ronnie held up her mobile phone. ‘Because Jez says so,’ she told him.

Jake frowned. He could only think that Jez wanted to protect him in case anyone attacked him and tried hitting him over the head. He thought wearing a crash helmet was a bit extreme, but then he remembered Robert’s fractured skull.

‘OK,’ he said, and he pulled on the helmet.

‘Good,’ said Ronnie. ‘Let’s go get the thing.’

They arrived at the large open counter of the Left Luggage office and Jake pulled out his ticket and handed it over. The clerk examined it, then told him how much was due. Jake paid, and the clerk went to the rows of shelves, rummaged through them, and reappeared with the rucksack. As Jake took hold of it, he felt sick with apprehension. He had the book, but who was watching and waiting for him? There had to be someone, he was sure. Were they armed? Would they gun him down, here, in public? Yes, he had no doubt they would, if it meant them getting their hands on the book.

As Jake and Ronnie turned away from the counter, they came face to face with a man and a woman, both dressed in plain smart clothes. MI5? Special Branch? They had that air about them, hard, ruthless, determined.

‘Police. We’ll take that bag, please,’ said the man.

‘Oh no you don’t!’ screeched Ronnie. Suddenly she yelled out, ‘Help! Kidnappers!’