ACV's 1 Operation Black Gold (44 page)

‘I know, but they are only letting off a little steam.’

I found myself falling into those lovely eyes and pulled myself back.  ‘OK, OK.’  The anger was going away.  ‘How do you know all this anyway?’

‘Buff told me.’

‘So who won?’

‘Davie Whitton, I think, the rest had you down for under the hour.’

‘Really.’  I sat down feeling a bit of a cringe coming on.

‘Personally, I would have put a bet on her taking the trousers off you.’

‘Think she had the hot’s for me like?’

‘If she’d gotten any hotter she would have burst into flames, the slut.’

‘Now, now Samantha, do I detect a little jealousy creeping in here.’

She looked down her nose at me, I was waiting for a biter of a reply, but in the end, she just shrugged.  ‘If I am that’s my business isn’t it, why you still interested?’

I stood grinning, ‘this is a conversation I am not going to get in to.  Besides your side-tracking me.’

‘From what?’

‘I’ve got to see our Mr. Whitton about something.’

‘About Amanda; I’ll go get him.’  She pushed me back down and went to fetch him.

He didn’t seem all that happy to be summoned.

‘Could you leave us be for a moment?’

‘No, I already know what it’s about.’

‘Would someone like to tell Me.?’

‘Your girlfriend--.’

‘Told Sylvia what happened here.’  She interrupted.

‘Thank you little Miss Physic.’  She grinned cheekily at me.

‘Fucks sake!  How did she find out?  I never told her.’

‘She typed up the report for the MPs.’ Samantha butted in again, smirking from ear to ear.  I think for a moment we were both frightened to say anything else.

‘So what are you going to do about it Jim?’

‘Me she’s your girlfriend, you shut her up.’

‘Oh no, she’ll just fall out with me and dump me.  You do it, you’re good at it.  I’ll go along with anything you say.  I’ll just tell her you’ve threatened to charge me if I don’t.’

‘Great so Jimmy’s the bad bastard again.’

He stood grinning.  ‘But you do it so well.  By the way she’ll be here any minute.’

‘Brilliant.’

‘You look like you could do with a coffee.’  Samantha offered.

‘Half a dozen.’

She dragged me off my chair and pushed me out the door.  ‘Go get a shower and I’ll put the percolator on.’

I spent my time in the shower thinking about Samantha.  There was something really strange about that lassie today.

When I got out Amanda was already there.  Davie was standing with a medical kit in his hand.

‘I’ll need to dress your wounds Jim.’

‘Let me put on a pair of trousers on first.  Go through to the office, I’ll be with you in a minute.’

‘Right.’

Amanda’s eyes had light up at his deliberate use of the words wounds.  He dressed my feet first.  ‘There looking fine, any discomfort after your run?’

‘They feel a little tight, apart from that their fine.’

‘Let’s have a look at that bullet wound then.’

Amanda gasped.  He had forced my hand.  ‘Well now you know the truth Amanda.’

‘Samantha told me you did it on exercise.’  She looked dead chuffed with herself.

‘That’s what she was told to say and if I ever hear of you saying anything different to that, I’ll have you locked up until you’re a very old woman.’

‘What I…‘

‘I’m talking about Sylvia.’

‘But it was only Sylvia.’

‘It’s only Sylvia who happens to be a civilian; it’s only Sylvia who happens to be responsible for one of the biggest archaeological finds of the century and just happens to be surrounded by the worlds press all day long.  One slip of her tongue and the consequences to this country could be disastrous.’

‘Don’t be silly.’

‘Have you any idea whom those men I killed were.’

‘No.’

‘Would you like to know?’

‘You can’t Jim...’  Samantha protested.

‘Shut up Samantha,’ I snapped, ‘If this silly little bitch doesn’t understand the full implications of her actions before she leaves this room, I’ll have her locked up, end of story.’

‘Sorry Jim.’

‘Sorry…what are you talking about Sammy?  He can’t talk to me like this.’

‘You either talk to me or you talk to Andrew take your pick.’  That made her stop and think.  ‘The men I killed were American espionage agents.’

‘What America…‘

‘Shut up.  The why you don’t need to know, but if the story leaks out they’ll miraculously turn into innocent tourists and Scotland will have a trade embargo slapped on her so fucking fast it will make your head spin.’

‘But …‘

‘No fucking buts Amanda use your head for once.  You must have seen the news lately and the pressure the Americans are putting on the government.’

Her head dropped.  ‘Yes.’

‘At last.  You realise your literally handing them an international incident on a plate.’

‘I’m sorry I just didn’t realise.’

‘Didn’t those documents have top secret written on them?’

‘No.’

‘Well they will have now and you will rectify the mistake.’

‘How?’

‘The next time you see Sylvia you can tell her what a tit you’ve made of yourself and tell her the cover story that would help.’

‘About the MP exercise?’

‘That’s the one.’

‘I can try.’

‘Maybe a little incentive will help.  Davie no sex with Amanda for a week.’

‘OK Jim.’

‘You can’t do that; you can’t stop Davie having sex.’

‘Oh, I’m not stopping him having sex; it’s only you he’s no allowed to have sex with.’  Now that was a point that hit home hard.  When Davie had finished dressing my wounds he left with a very worried looking Amanda, but it was my turn to get a fright next.

‘We found your trigger,’ announced Samantha casually closing the door gently.  ‘Want to hear a story?’

‘Only if you feel up to it.’  I had badly underestimated the depth of my feelings for this woman and was totally unprepared for what happened next.  I suddenly found myself trapped inside the mind of a terrified six-year-old girl.  I desperately tried to fight off the images that avalanched upon my conscience mind, but it was too late.

*

As Samantha told her story, she began to feel a pulling in her mind.  The turmoil of emotions inside her began to leak away.  Slowly at first then faster as the story was told, like air being sucked out into the vacuum of space.  When the telling was done, she sat for a moment feeling more than a little bewildered.  It was gone, not the memory, but the pressure cooker of pain and shame that went with it, at least for the moment anyway.  Something wasn’t quite right with Jim though.  Beads of sweat stood out on his forehead and a kaleidoscope of emotions swept across his face, a superstitious chill thrilled her.

*

I thought I was going to puke.  Images raced round and around in my head building up fear and panic at a tremendous rate until I felt my head was going to explode.  Then the circuit breakers were thrown and they were gone.  I was left shaken.

‘Jim are you alright?’

I could hear the concern in her voice and my eyes focused.  ‘Eh, aye, I’m fine.’  She reached out to touch me and I jumped involuntarily.  She snatched her hand back halfway.

‘What happened Jim?’

I couldn’t answer her because I didn’t understand myself.  I was still getting rudimentary flashes, but forced my mind to rip through them and bury them.  I knew from experience though that from time to time, those images would return to haunt me but dissipating in force each time until eventually it was just a story someone once told me.  I felt myself come back down and return to normal.  She still held a hand half stretched out to me.  I took it in both of mine, my fingers tingled at the touch and a flood of warmth swept through me.  ‘Are you OK?’

She nodded.  ‘Yes, yes I’m fine.’

I couldn’t stop myself smiling at her.

*

He took her hand into his and she felt her fingers come alive and begin to tingle.  The feeling ran up her arm and infused her whole body with the sensation.  His hands became hot, almost burning.

‘Are you OK?’

She had to search to find her voice.  ‘Yes, yes I’m fine.’  Then he smiled and something tore inside her and the heat washed through.  For a brief moment, they lived outside time and she knew in that moment their souls had touched and at a time and place of her choosing he would be hers eternally.

*

Buff came stomping through to the office; he stood on the threshold enjoying a good scratch.  ‘Fit are ye doing the day Murison?’

‘Nay idea never thought about it yet, you?’

He shrugged.  ‘Don’t know.’

‘Well I’m going shopping, fancy coming along.’  Samantha suggested.

I shrugged, Buff shrugged.  It was something to do. 

As soon as we mentioned what we were going to do everybody jumped on the bandwagon.  So we decided to make a day of it.  We let the chef off, planning to eat out and left the place in the good hands of the guard.  We divided ourselves up between Nommy’s Range Rover and my Frontera.

Buff and Samantha argued over possession of the front seat.  In the end, they shared it and the seat belt, risking us getting stopped by the police.  Samantha dragged us from shop to shop but she got a damn sight more than she bargained for, we wouldn’t let her buy anything.  Eventually, after an impressive temper tantrum we let her buy us a cup of coffee and a sandwich.  We arrived back with the motors knee deep in packages, arranged some taxis and headed back out.  We ended the evening at a nightclub partying until the wee hours; even I got well oiled.

CHAPTER 47

‘I believe you’re looking for some missing tourists, would this be them?’

The head of the agency in the American Embassy picked up the folder Andrew had slapped onto his desk and opened it to reveal some very gruesome photographs.  The American’s face grew crimson with rage.  ‘What’s the meaning of this?’  He demanded.

‘Well you tell me old boy; they were caught breaking into a military installation by a roving guard.  When challenged they opened fire wounding one of our soldiers.  They returned fire killing these two.  The other was killed while trying to escape; he crashed into a lamppost and was killed outright.  Pity really.’

‘I know nothing about it.’

‘Of course not.’  Andrew took some triangular objects from his pocket and threw them onto the table.  ‘I’m quite sure you’ll never have seen these either, standard agency espionage equipment.  You can have these; I’ve still got the one that fell off an army vehicle killing three people.

‘I know nothing about that either.’

‘Of course not, why would the American Government want to knock off some of our top military men, doesn’t seem quite right somehow.’

‘This is a set up; you’ve picked three innocent tourists off the street and executed them.  I demand the immediate return of their bodies to the American Embassy today, so a full post mortem can be carried out.’

‘Why certainly old boy.’  Andrew delved into his briefcase and produced three bags of ashes.  The American’s blood ran cold.  The bags were labelled with the operative’s real names and agency serial numbers.  ‘There you go; we wouldn’t like you to get them mixed up would we.’  The American was still stuck for words as Andrew got up to leave.  ‘As a result of American covert activities within Scotland, I am sending a recommendation to my Prime Minister advising him to keep on the new army for a few months more.’  He hesitated at the door.  ‘Tell me, why is the agency interested in a bunch of rich kids and their toys?’

‘Rich kids?’

‘Yes old boy, rich kids.’  The man was obviously stumped.  ‘Oh never mind, you’ll hardly squash the morale of the masses by bumping them off.  Good day.’  Andrew left hoping he’d done enough.

The American console sat and mulled the problem over for a while, trying to decide the best course of action.  He picked up one of the bags and fingered the label, knowing when this broke back in Washington the shit was really going to hit the fan.  He touched the intercom.  ‘Sparks get in here.’

‘Yes sir.’

The door opened immediately, he waved him over.  ‘I want you to take everything here, get photographs of these bags, label side up, and photocopy the contents of this folder.  The copies I want returned to me.  The originals I want sent to Washington in the next bag.  Have each bag boxed up properly, no hash jobs.  Everything goes to the agency labs.  First, I’ll give you a memo to type out to send with them and a list of those I want to receive a copy of it.  Go, come straight back when you’re finished that.’

‘Yes sir.’

A couple of hours later they sat at a terminal, checking the agent’s last task.  ‘That’s the vehicles there sir.’

‘Yes I see them, but it’s not those I’m interested in this time, I’m looking for their private vehicles.’

‘OK.’  Sparks dutifully found the proper picture and zoomed in on them.  He whistled.

‘Do you recognise any of these?’

‘Most of them, I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many classics outside a museum or a classics meeting.’

‘Money?’

‘A shit load of it sir, if you’ll excuse the expression.’

‘Do you think these men would be capable of modernising their own army vehicles?’

‘It has been my experience sir, that men with that kind of money to spend, tend to be addicted to their creature comforts and we know what kind of scrap the Scottish army has been running around in for the last thirty years.’

‘Little rich boys and their toys.’

‘I would say so sir, yes.’

‘Damn it why didn’t we notice this before.’  He got up and paced a while.  ‘OK Sparks, I think we’re finally on the right track but I want these men checked out, get on it.’

‘Yes sir.’