The Gilgamesh Conspiracy (41 page)

‘Can you just explain that briefly to me ma’am?’ he asked. He listened to her explanation and then looked at Dan. ‘And who are you sir?’

‘This is my husband,’ Gerry declared, grabbing Dan by the arm. ‘We’ve only been married a couple of weeks which is why we have different names.’

‘And what do you do then?’

‘I’m a graphic designer and an artist,’ said Dan in his best British accent. The cacophony of car horns from outside grew louder.

‘Ok, you can go through I guess,’ said the officer. ‘You know it’s dangerous.’

‘Of course!’ said Gerry and gave him a huge devil-may-care grin as she hurried back outside.

‘Five hundred and fifty kilometres; that’s about erm…two hundred, no three hundred and fifty miles,’ Brad announced as they passed a road sign that showed that they were on their way to Baghdad. He inspected the map. ‘We follow the A1 highway and go past a place called Rutba. Then it’s a long way until the next town Ramadi. That’s only about seventy miles west of Baghdad. Next there’s Habbaniyah then Fallujah and after that it’s Baghdad airport out to the west of the city. If the road stays as a good as this and we keep this speed up we can be there in about five hours!’

‘I don’t know if this highway goes the whole way,’ said Gerry, or if stretches were blown up in the war and not repaired yet. I don’t think we can make it as far as Ramadi. We may need to get some petrol in Rutba,’ said Gerry, and apparently there are still US army people there.’

Dan stared out over the barren sun-baked desert strewn with rocks and occasional patches of stunted desert plants. ‘It’s a bit of a wasteland out here.’ He turned to Gerry who was frowning at the vehicle in front. ‘What is it? You’re very quiet.’

‘I just thought it was a little strange how they let us across the border like that.’

‘Hey; that’s the first break we’ve had…let’s run with it shall we?’ said Dan. ‘I wish we had some weapons, though.’

‘There’s a gun under your seat.’

‘What?’ he fumbled underneath and found a Browning 9mm pistol.

‘Where the hell did that come from? I had a search earlier.’

‘It was hidden in the back inside the spare wheel.’

‘That was a lucky find!’

‘Not really; I’ve known Adnan a long time.’

Dan nodded and subjected the weapon to a careful inspection before replacing it.

‘General! We may have caught a break. Two people travelling under UK passports crossed the border into Iraq from Jordan. One of them was using the name Emily Stevens, and that’s a known alias used by Geraldine Tate.’

‘How were they travelling?’

‘In an SUV, but they don’t have a record of the licence plate.’

Bruckner frowned but did not express his annoyance aloud. ‘Ok, good work. Pass the details on to my team. And can we get a drone up to take a look for their vehicle. He was about to call Hugh Fielding with the news when he had a sudden thought. ‘Do we have the vehicle details of that guy Adnan Marafi?’

‘Hold on sir…yes, we have that.’

‘Good! Pass that on as a strong possible.’

‘Yessir. Do you want the drone armed?’

Bruckner pursed his lips, and then shook his head. ‘No, I want to see where they go.’

The convoy pulled off the highway and took the local road towards Ar Rutba. The town was entirely surrounded by a high fence and American military personnel were manning the gateway.

‘They’ve obviously had a lot of security problems here,’ said Gerry.  ‘I really didn’t want to go through another ID check, but we…’

‘Benzine, benzine!’ shouted a teenage boy, struggling towards their vehicle under the weight of two twenty litre jerry cans of fuel.

‘Great!’ said Gerry, ‘just what we need!’ She began to negotiate a price in Arabic with the lad while Dan ran over some puns on the name Gerry and jerry can which he wisely kept to himself. After the refuelling operation was complete she paid the agreed sum and then pulled an old canvas sheet out of the back of the car and then opened a rear door. ‘Hold this up like that would you?’

‘Whatever for?’ he asked as he took it from her.

‘So I can take a piss behind it, since you ask. I might be a highly trained agent but remember I’m also a girl so I need to squat down. And don’t watch me!’ 

The convoy set off again after about half an hour. Dan took over the driving and Gerry stared out as they passed a herd of goats grazing incongruously beside a wrecked Iraqi armoured personnel carrier and shortly afterwards a few men leading some camels. Gerry watched them as they passed them by and then said ‘Next stop Baghdad.’

They had no way of knowing that as the convoy had pulled away a jeep without any military markings but manned by three US army rangers had pulled out and was now trailing the convoy. One of the men was talking to Neil Samms on a satellite telephone as he and Vince Parker flew towards Baghdad airport.

As they approached Ramadi the desert plants grew more vigorously and there were clusters of palm trees to relieve the monotony of the landscape. They stopped outside the town where the vehicles were fuelled and the drivers and passengers could stretch their legs. When they passed Habbaniyah the land changed abruptly as they drove through the wetlands on the banks of the Euphrates River. Soon they were passing Fallujah, just over ten miles from Baghdad, where they saw burnt out battle tanks and wrecked buses and trucks. Helicopters swooped overhead inspecting the convoy. ‘I hope they’re not searching for us,’ said Gerry.

‘Just routine patrols,’ said Dan.

A line of tall buildings appeared as they crested a rise in the ground. ‘Look, there’s Baghdad!’ After they passed the airport the traffic began to build up and the convoy split. The city scape was filled with trees, tall buildings, some in good order and others with holes torn through them. Everywhere there were tower cranes hanging over construction or reconstruction sites. Mad traffic came from all directions; drivers hooting, weaving in and out, accelerating, slamming on brakes, shouting and gesturing and showing a reckless disregard for the rules of the road. Dan drove the vehicle to a halt beside a ruined office building with a heap of rubble in front of it and gave a deep sigh. ‘Well here we are. Now we just need to find our way to the house.’

‘I can’t see the street on the map,’ said Gerry, ‘but here’s Khulfalfa Street and here’s Mutannabi Street and the museum, so it must be in this area.’

‘Well if we can’t find it we can always ask for directions.’

‘That will be a blow to your male pride then,’ said Gerry with a grin.

‘Yeah I know! You’ll have to do the talking while I hang my head in shame.’  

‘That’s got to be it!’ said Dan.

‘Where? Which one?’

‘Over there. Remember Rashid said that the wall had been blown down and he had mended it with concrete blocks but could only get blue paint.’

‘You’re right, and that seems to be an Arabic number twelve by that broken bell push.’

They climbed out of the car and walked over to the gate. ‘Give me a boost and I’ll have a look over,’ Gerry suggested.

She grabbed hold of the top of the gate and peered over. ‘The front door’s just as he described. I’m going to climb over.’

‘Are you sure? Maybe we should come back tomo…ok, you’re over.’

‘Ow!’ said Gerry from the other side.

‘What?’

‘I just banged my ankle on something. Hold on, I think I can unbolt it.’ The door creaked open on its hinges. ‘Welcome to the Hamsin’s,’ said Gerry with a grin as Dan walked through and peered about.

‘I don’t know how welcome we are.’ Suddenly he was struck by the fact they were close to their objective. He gave her a big hug. ‘Hey we’re here! So where do we find it?’

She gave him a quick kiss. ‘We just have to measure out the distance from the south west corner and then you just have to dig it up. Simple.’

‘Oh I have to do the digging do I?’

‘Of course; digging is men’s work, but I’ll take over when you get tired.’

‘Thanks. Now which is the south west? The sun’s setting in that direction so it must be that one.’

‘It’s the one closest to the mosque as well. You can see the minaret over that corner.’

‘Ok. Did you remember to bring a shovel?’

‘No, but maybe there’s one around somewhere. After all they had to use one to bury it.’

‘That was years ago Gerry, we’ll be lucky to find…hey look there’s some kind of storage shed there.’

They both ran over towards it and found an old rusty padlock on a clasp. Dan rattled it and pulled at it. ‘It’s locked but the wood looks a bit rotten; maybe…’

‘Mind out the way,’ commanded Gerry, who had picked up a large rock. Dan stepped back while she hammered at the padlock. It fell clear. She pulled open the door and seized hold of a shovel that was propped against the side. She handed it over with a grin. ‘Here you are; you can make yourself useful at last. Hey, here’s a tape measure as well!’ In high spirits she ran over to the corner. ‘Take the end. Now it’s five metres from that corner along the wall to the east.’

‘Yup, that’s here, said Dan.

‘Ok, now it’s one metre at right angles.’

Gerry measured off the distance and picked up a stone and drew in the sandy soil. She looked up at Dan with a smile. ‘There we are; X marks the spot; let’s start digging!’

Dan plunged the blade of the shovel into the soil and levered up some soil. He dug the shovel in again; the handle broke off at the blade. ‘Fuck!’ he said, the wood’s rotted.’

‘Never mind, I remember seeing a building site in the next street,’ said Gerry. ‘I’ll run over and see if I can find a shovel. You wait here and preserve your strength.’

In high spirits Gerry began to run down the road, and then decided she would attract too much attention by running. She pulled her abaya around her and walked around the corner. There was the building site where a house was being repaired. She stepped through a gap in the wall and looked around. She saw a tarpaulin weighted down with rocks and she pulled up a corner. Yes, there was a shovel that seemed to be in good condition. She held it in front of her and gathered the abaya around it and began to shuffle awkwardly along the street. After a few paces she lost patience and decided that she might as well just carry it as if a local woman might handle a shovel as a matter of course and she paced confidently round the corner with the shovel swinging in one hand.

‘Are you back already?’ Dan asked as he heard the gate creak open. The next thing he knew was bright flash, a hideous impact in his chest which made him cry out in agony and he collapsed to the floor. He tried to shout out a warning to Gerry but the effort of drawing breath made him gasp and then he coughed up some blood. He closed his eyes but then told himself he must stay awake and when he opened them again he saw Vince Parker staring down at him, and he felt a bitter regret as he slipped into unconsciousness..

Gerry froze on hearing Dan cry out. Then she ran back to the Hamsin house and saw that the gate was now wide open. With a deepening sense of anguish she ran around the back and saw a dumpster beside the wall. She climbed on top of it as quietly as possible and drew the shovel up after her. Peering carefully over the wall she suppressed a moan of despair as she saw Dan lying motionless on the ground. Then round the corner of the house walked a familiar figure with a silenced gun in one hand. Clenching her teeth to stop herself screaming in anger she waited until he was closer and then in one swift movement she stood on top of the wall and jumped down at him.

Parker caught sight of her as she loomed over him. He whirled round and fired off a shot that tore a gash along her lower ribs before her foot slammed into his chest. Somehow Gerry managed to retain her stance as she landed on one foot. Parker was on the ground in front of her. He tried to bring the gun up but she whacked the spade against his arm and he felt his fingers go numb. Then he saw the savage, merciless rage in her face and the edge of the shovel flashing in the setting sun as she raised it above her head. He closed his eyes as the blade swung down and tried to jerk his head aside.  His final thought was that she would not miss.

‘Oh shit!’ said Neil Samms as he saw the impact of the shovel on Parker’s head. Gerry whirled round and saw him walking around from the other side of the house. She glanced down at Parker’s gun which lay on the ground beside his outstretched fingers and then at the gun in Samms’ hand. ‘My time has come,’ she thought to herself. She wondered if she should make a frantic, hopeless attempt to dive down pick up the gun roll over and come up firing, but she knew that he would be ready for that. Despite the goofy grin he was a professional. His next words brought her intense relief.

‘I’m not going to kill you, so long as you do what I say. First I’m gonna make sure you don’t try anything stupid. Come and lie face down next to Parker with your hands above your head.’ He pointed at the corpse with the smashed skull. She lay down as commanded and then watched him bend down and drag Parker’s body so that it lay on top of her back. ‘Don’t let me see your hands move,’ he said. ‘If I do I’ll use the shovel on them.’

Gerry watched him pick up Parker’s gun, check it was safe and then tuck it in his belt. Then she heard a groan. He was still alive!

‘Dan!’ she called out.

‘Gerry, I’ve been shot,’ he mumbled.

She wanted to push herself up, throw off the corpse and run over to him. Instead she decided to plead. ‘Samms, please, can I take a look at him…please.’

‘Well, whaddya know,’ he replied with his familiar sneer. ‘The bitch is showing some emotion, or at least a fair imitation. Yeah you can take a look at him. But move real slow, or I’ll blow your head off.’

Gerry scrambled out from under the corpse and knelt beside him. ‘Ok Dan, wake up wake up Dan wake up, damn it wake up!’ She saw his eyeballs twitch about under his lids and then he opened his eyes.’

‘Hi Gerry, I’ve been shot; it damn well hurts.’

‘Well there’s nothing wrong with your brain, then. Now you’ve been shot through the chest, but it must’ve missed your heart,’ she said whilst unbuttoning his shirt and tugging it aside. She inspected the entry wound below the collar bone, a small hole surrounded by bruised and bloodied flesh. ‘Can you roll on to your side?’ He bent his leg up and groaned as he pushed himself slowly over until Gerry could see his back. She grimaced as she saw the exit wound, larger and ragged but not as traumatic as a hole torn by an expanding bullet. ‘Ok it’s gone through and if you don’t feel too bad I reckon you’ve just got ribs and lung damage.’

‘Oh fucking hell!’ he said.

‘What?’

‘Is that Parker and Samms? How did they find us?’

‘Samms I need to bandage him, stop the bleeding. I want to use Parker’s shirt.’

‘Ok, you can do that. Get on with it quick.’

Gerry pulled the shirt and the leather belt off the corpse. ‘Can I sit you up a minute?’

Dan struggled to a seating position and she used the belt to hold the shirt around his chest. He gasped in pain as she secured the belt, mumbled ‘broken rib’ and lay back down.

‘Ok, now we’ve got to get him to a hospital,’ said Gerry.

‘Dream on, bitch!’ Samms replied. ‘I know there’s something hidden in this house; you came to find it. We came here to take it.’

‘But you don’t know what it is?’

‘I’m sure he did.’ He jerked his chin towards Parker, ‘but not me.’

‘Just as well, otherwise you’d probably end up dead, just like everyone else.’ She gazed for a moment at Dan. ‘Are you ok?’

‘Yeah, I’ll be alright. How did you track us down?’ he asked.

‘You were followed from Rutba, and then tracked by drone in Baghdad.’

‘By a drone?’ Gerry asked with a frown. ‘I didn’t know they could do that.’

‘Ok, enough of the chat.’ Samms pointed to the shovel. ‘You just went off to get that, so I guess what we’re looking for is buried out here. That’s why it wasn’t found before.’

‘You mean it was you guys who ransacked the house?’

‘Yeah, I think it was done five years ago. The family’s not lived here since, although they’ve been back from time to time to check on it.’

‘Who in the family?’

‘The wife and daughter. The son’s dead. The father…well you know about him. Ok, you’d better get digging, and who knows if you find it quickly, we might have time to get Hall to the hospital before he croaks.’

Gerry picked up the shovel and then plunged it down, gasping from the pain in her ribs.

‘What’s the matter with you now?’ Samms asked.

‘Flesh wound,’ she said. She untucked her shirt and looked at her side. Blood was oozing from a ragged cut two inches long.

‘Just a graze; you’ll be alright. Sooner you’ve done, sooner you can get a sticking plaster.’  

The ground was hard and took an hour of toil until Gerry reached a depth of about two feet. The shovel clanged on to metal. Ignoring the pain in her side she dug with renewed energy and soon unearthed a black plastic garbage bag with something metal inside. She put down the shovel and heaved the object clear of the soil. She placed it carefully on the ground in front of Dan’s feet.

‘Open up the bag and take out whatever’s inside,’ Samms ordered.

She discovered a corroded metal tin with some Arabic writing and a faded, discoloured picture of a palm tree and a bunch of fruit. ‘Shall I open it?’ she offered.

‘Why not?’

Inside was further plastic wrapping protecting a passport, a sheet of paper written in Arabic script and two small bundles of money, one turned out to be US Dollars and the other the Iraqi currency from years gone by, on which the image of the dead dictator was prominent. She opened up the passport and immediately recognised her companion on the life raft, or a much younger version. ‘This is Lebanese and it looks like Yusuf Ali Hamsin. Do you want to have a look at it?’ She took a pace towards him and he instantly aimed the gun at her.

‘Don’t you come any closer than that!’ he snapped.

Gerry cursed under her breath. Samms had correctly assumed that she had been hoping to get within reach of him.

‘Read out that letter,’ he ordered.

‘My beloved husband,’ she read, ‘as you planned we have left our house. Rashid has returned to England to continue his studies. Tomorrow I am leaving for Amman where I will stay with my brother and there I will see our daughter and tell her what has been happening. I am leaving your passport here and enough money to enable you to make the journey to Amman. I pray that we will meet up there soon and that all this madness will soon be over.

Your loving and dutiful wife Tabitha.’

‘Ok leave the stuff beside Hall and then take up with the shovel.’

Gerry continued digging for another few minutes, then she dropped the shovel and stood up with her hands clutching her aching side. ‘I don’t think we’re going to find anything else,’ she said.

‘Keep digging,’ he insisted.

‘I really don’t see there’s any point. If anything was…’

‘Keep digging you piece of shit,’ he snarled or I’ll blow your fucking brains out and bury you in this hole.’

‘I think she’s right Neil,’ another voice spoke, ‘you’re not gonna find anything.’ Gerry looked up towards the section of the wall over which she had clambered.

‘Hey is that you Colonel?’ Samms asked, just as Gerry identified the speaker.

‘Jasper White,’ she muttered.

White swung his legs over the top of the wall and jumped down into the garden. He glanced at Vincent Parker’s corpse and then knelt down beside Dan Hall. ‘How you doing son?’ he asked.

‘I’ve been…better,’ Dan gasped out.

‘We need to get him to a hospital,’ said Gerry.

‘Quit whining, would you?’ said Samms, ‘you don’t really believe you two are leaving here do you?’