Stanley reached inside his suit jacket, withdrawing a Beretta M9 semi-automatic pistol from a discreet shoulder holster, flicking off the safety catch and cocking the hammer in one fluid motion. He glanced to Jolene and she nodded, indicating that he should enter first as she bobbed down to retrieve a small revolver from an ankle holster.
Jolene fell in behind Stanley, the pair moving along the corridor in textbook fashion, covering each other as they crept along, pressing into the walls. They passed a number of doors and carefully opened each one, ensuring that the rooms beyond were unoccupied, gradually moving through the whole ground floor to the front of the building where Oliver was guarding the entrance from outside. As they passed a stairwell leading to the apartment above, they had to lurch over a scattered pile of books that had been carelessly discarded at the bottom step.
They moved forward into the front shop area, the aromatic scent of tanned leather and musty paper growing stronger as they approached. Bursting in and securing the whole room in a well rehearsed entry move, all they could see was a large heavy wooden counter and walls that were literally covered with the spines of countless old books. After ensuring that the counter was not providing cover for a hidden protagonist, Stanley moved back into the corridor and took up a position at the bottom of the stairwell.
Jolene had noticed a key sitting in the open but empty tray of the cash register and an educated guess as to its purpose allowed her to unlock the front door without requiring the application of Stanley's brute strength; she slid back the top and bottom bolts and quickly opened the door to the street.
A signal from Jolene gave Oliver the go-ahead to enter swiftly and he immediately moved to backup Stanley, the pair ascending the narrow stairwell to the apartment above. Jolene closed and bolted the door, walking back into the corridor to the books littering the floor, squatting down to examine them more closely.
She looked up and saw another couple of books on the steps above her, the cover boards splayed open and the pages creased and bent. It was probable that the pile had been dropped from the small landing where the stairs turned perpendicular to the wall, no doubt bouncing down from stair to stair to the floor below. This did not look good. She wondered whether anything else - or anybody - had tumbled down with them.
Presently, she heard Oliver call down that it was all clear and replaced her weapon in her ankle holster before standing up and exhaling sharply. She climbed the stairs and fully expected to see the dead body of Johann Janssens somewhere upstairs.
'All clear ma'am,' Stanley nodded as she arrived at the top of the stairs.
'Did you find Janssens?'
'There is no body here but there are signs of a struggle, in the living room. A small table has been overturned and a coffee cup is smashed on the floor along with a half-eaten sandwich. The coffee has soaked into the carpet and feels cold to the touch so it is difficult to tell when it actually happened, although it's clearly not in the last ten minutes. What do you want us to do?'
Jolene frowned harshly and looked around.
'The girl, we need to get back to the girl. If somebody has taken out Janssens then Verker might be next on their list. Let's get down to the car and get back to her apartment, I'll call Dale on the way and warn him.'
She turned and hurriedly started down the stairs, calling back over her shoulder.
'This isn't going to be a boondoggle gentlemen; this is getting real!'
Stanley and Oliver caught each other's glance and nodded at the use of the Marine vernacular for a 'waste of time', tramping after Jolene and heading for the car.
Oliver was depressing the accelerator harshly, pushing the big Audi through the Saturday morning traffic at a breakneck pace and ignoring a couple of stop lights that changed to red even though they were still three or four cars' length from the junctions. As they entered the road of Gertrude's apartment they could already see a white
Politie
car parked about halfway along it, the blue lights flashing and indicating that some sort of incident had recently occurred there.
Oliver sped up to it, braking hard as they drew level, Jolene and Stanley hardly waiting for the car to stop rolling before bursting out. The first thing that Jolene saw was Dale, sitting on the kerb in spite of the freezing cold weather with a police officer standing next to him. Dale's face was bloodied and looking slightly the worse for wear.
Jolene rushed up to him, the policeman turning to face her and about to object but then remaining silent as she quickly crouched down in front of Dale and started speaking.
'What happened?'
'They took the girl, just after you'd left -'
Jolene looked up at Stanley and Oliver who had just joined them.
'Who?'
Dale shook his head.
'White male, six feet tall, late thirties or early forties, heavily built, shaven headed,' he looked into Jolene's eyes with an abashed glance, 'and a black woman, mid to late twenties, bleached blonde shaven hair and blue eyes, probably contact lenses.'
He pointed to his nose.
'She's the one that did this - and this.'
Dale limply lifted his arm, displaying a huge lump that had developed just above his wrist, the clear indentation of teeth scoring the bruised swelling.
A cheerful voice spoke up from behind them.
'Perfect! We can trace the dentistry with that!'
Jolene spun around as she stood up, Dale's head sinking to his chest as he managed to grin to himself and exhale a guttural laugh of exasperation.
'Inspector van Riel!'
The Inspector smiled benignly.
'Hallo again Mr. Mallory, I see that you have brought a friend along with you.'
He looked at Jolene and his face creased pleasantly into a wide smile.
She already knew the name from the reports that she had read during the night, before she had even met Dale and Jackson. She thrust out a hand in greeting.
'Hi, Jacqueline Lillard, FBI, I understand that you've been helping us with our investigation into the theft of antiquities from our museums?'
Pieter smiled and chuckled slightly as he took her offered hand and shook it firmly.
'Of course, we always do our best to help our partners in law enforcement and we like to play our part in maintaining international relations.'
Jolene smiled back and glanced down at Dale.
'It seems that the gang responsible for the thefts has moved up to kidnapping.'
Pieter looked up at the apartment and rasped in some air between his lips, shaking his head and assuming a dramatically dejected expression.
'Yes, a terrible thing. I suppose that you do not have any leads on the gang?'
'Nothing yet.'
'No, I thought you might say that. Do you have a description of the kidnappers who took Miss Verker?'
Jolene paused, making a guess that Dale had been somewhat obtuse when questioned by the police.
'A vague description, Dale was knocked about a bit and he's still shaky at the moment, as I'm sure he told your officers.'
Pieter pressed his lips together and nodded.
'Yes, so I've been told. I understand that he was checking up on some basic details concerning the trade of your stolen book, as I had suggested to him only yesterday?'
He shook his head again.
'A terrible thing, but luckily for us we have a complete description of the two people responsible for this incident.'
He beamed at Jolene and then turned, pointing up to a second floor window in the building behind them.
'A lady in the apartment opposite saw it all happen, right here in the road. She had a very clear view of the kidnappers and has already provided an excellent description. We're already looking for them, including the car that they used.'
Jolene's jaw tensed.
'Excellent, well, I'm sure you understand that we just want to get back to the embassy right now, we have to file some reports and, of course, if we can organise further help for you from the FBI then we also need to organise that.'
'Yes, I understand, I'm so glad that this has not become a diplomatic incident and we can work together.'
Jolene's tight smile betrayed the seething reality of her assessment of the situation.
'Alright, well, we'd better get going, I'm sure we will be in touch.'
Pieter's expression became overly earnest.
'Of course, and Mr. Mallory, please make sure to get those injuries checked out, you would not want any skull fractures to go unnoticed.'
Dale slowly scrabbled to his feet, dusting himself down and slapping the seat of his trousers, feeling the damp that had seeped in from the frozen pavement.
'Thanks, I'll be sure to do that!'
Jolene caught Stanley's eye and jerked her head toward their car.
'Thank-you Inspector!'
She nodded pleasantly and started to walk away, Dale limping after her.
'Oh, there is just one more thing!' Pieter called after them, clicking his fingers at an officer who had a camera slung about his neck and who immediately moved in and snapped a shot of Dale's bloated wrist.
'That is perfect! I am sure we can find our kidnappers with an imprint of their teeth!'
He grinned and raised a hand in farewell as Dale shook his head and turned to walk to the car.
Watching the world go by -
Rey dialled Frans' phone as Akosua drove the VW south, keeping to the coastal strip and staying off the main roads. Gertrude had slumped back into her seat, occasionally lolling against Rey who simply nudged her upright again with his shoulder, talking to her soothingly when she occasionally babbled incoherently.
'How much did you give her?' he asked rhetorically as he listened to the ringing tone purring in his ear.
'She'll be fine, it was the good stuff that we gave her, she won't remember a thing after she wakes up.'
Rey was shaking his head dubiously as Frans suddenly picked up.
'Uncle! We need your help immediately!'
There was a slight pause.
'- and hallo to you nephew, I thought you were supposed to be resting up, maybe a bit of shopping or some sight seeing? What's up?'
Blinking slowly as he thought of the situation they were know faced with, Rey looked at Gertrude as she started to smile and even giggle in her drug induced dreams.
'I took my sister to see the girl I was supposed to meet next week, just in case there was anything interesting happening. Early this morning some visitors arrived, it turns out that she was having a big party with lots of new friends, also some old friends that have a big house in town.'
Rey let the information sink in.
Frans' tone was calm.
'I see, let me guess, you gate-crashed their party?'
'You could say that, we managed to persuade my date to come away with us when some of the others went out for more beer, we managed to get her to sleep and now we're looking for somewhere to spend the day. Can you help us?'
Frans was a professional and would deal with any situation appropriately, no matter how or why it had happened. It was clear that Rey and Akosua had abducted Gertrude Verker and that she was subdued if not completely unconscious, they needed a safe house and fast.
'Where are you now?'
'We're not far from my date's apartment.'
'Alright, alright. Let me make some calls and I'll organise some friends to pick you up, take in some sea air while you wait, I will call you back in five minutes.'
'Thanks uncle, appreciated!'
As soon as the line went dead, Frans started dialling an operational support number to organise an extraction; this type of event was always a possibility no matter how simple a field operation was supposed to be and support teams were on call twenty-four hours a day and every day of the year, throughout the continent. In preparation for their short weekend in The Hague, Frans had specifically put a team on alert locally and was thankful that help was now very close at hand.
Akosua had parked the VW near the beach in a car-park that was practically empty, the cold wind whipping off the North Sea in icy blasts and keeping most visitors well away. There were only two other cars nearby and they had drawn up within a few minutes of each other, both drivers releasing a dog from the rear of their cars and wandering off over the dunes for some canine exercise in the bracing fresh air.
After Frans had called back to confirm their extraction and they had driven to their rendezvous point, they had waited for another half an hour before a yellow Renault van turned up and parked next to them, three men and a woman swiftly hopping out and approaching their car. Rey immediately recognised the short figure of Frans and looked into his beaming face as he walked to the driver's door and knocked on the glass. Akosua buzzed down the window and Frans poked his head through, looking around the interior and taking in the sight of Gertrude who was now snoring slightly, leaning against Rey's shoulder with a blanket thrown across her to keep her warm.
'Did somebody order a take-away?' he chuckled.
Rey looked over at the van and saw the livery of an entirely fictitious oriental company, but named so that it could conceivably be anything from a sushi-bar restaurant to a rug importer.
The other team members bustled about their car, securely clipping valid but fake number plates to the front and rear and passing through an apparently real taxation disc to place in the front windscreen of the car, reflecting the newly assumed identity of the VW which had simply been lifted from an identical model that belonged to a completely unaware member of the public, as indeed the original vehicle identity had. As Rey replaced the disc in the screen holder, he heard the side door of the Renault sliding open.
'Let's get the girl in the van; we can talk on the way,' Frans suggested.
After a quick scout around to ensure that they were unobserved, Rey and Akosua bundled Gertrude into the cargo bay of the delivery van, manhandling her as she flopped about and groaned irritably in her sleep, using the blanket to wrap her tightly and keep her arms from spilling about.
Frans hopped in behind them and slid the door shut as two of the support team jumped into the VW, driving off with no further hesitation, intent on getting the car out of the city and spiriting it away to another place, even an entirely different neighbouring country. The remaining team mate scooted into the van and started the diesel engine, quickly notching into gear and pulling away to leave the dunes and the sea air far behind them. The first half of the extraction was complete, now they just had to get to a safe zone.
Jolene had dialled ahead for a staff medical officer and shortly after passing through the security gate of the embassy Dale had found himself hustled up to the small medical room for treatment on his injuries.
He found himself surprisingly good humoured about his recent street fight and held his arm aloft as the medic applied a small butterfly suture to a cut across his temple.
'So will you want a plaster cast of the bite?' he asked Jolene as she leaned against a wall, arms folded somewhat defensively. 'You wouldn't want Inspector van Riel to find our kidnappers first.'
Jolene smiled, taking the wry comment in her stride.
'That will take forever and anyway, I think that there are better ways of identifying them and the sooner you're stitched up the sooner we can get started.'
The medic spoke up.
'We're basically done here and he just has a few cuts and bruises anyway, nothing broken.'
He turned to Dale and looked closely into his face.
'You were lucky, from the way you described it your attacker was just playing with you. If the punch to your nose was meant to hurt you it would have easily broken your nasal bone. Some people have had to have complete reconstructive surgery after a punch like that; she was just having a little fun!'
Dale grunted.
'It didn't feel that way at the time.'
Jolene stood up properly and adjusted her suit jacket.
'Alright, well, I'll go and make a couple of calls while you finish up here. When you're through, go and see Jackson, he could probably do with some coffee if he's had his head buried in that book for the morning.'
She turned and started out of the door before stopping and leaning back in.
'Oh, and if your throat is still sore from when they choked you, maybe I'll buy you an ice-cream later!'
She started laughing to herself as she disappeared back into the corridor.
The medic gave a guttural chuckle as the sound of Jolene's heels scuffing the carpet gradually receded.
'Everything will be plenty sore enough over the next couple of days, especially that knee. Be careful as you walk on it; try not to do anything too strenuous until it settles down. As for your head, I think that you're alright but you really ought to get it checked out properly, an elbow to the temple and a kick to the head can be quite serious.'
'Will I need a rabies shot for this?' Dale asked, holding up his arm again and displaying the swollen lump of indented flesh, 'I don't want to start barking at the moon and foaming at the mouth.'
'Awww,' the medic scoffed, 'she hardly nibbled you, I've seen army grunts with love-bites worse than that after a weekend pass, it isn't half as bad as it looks or undoubtedly felt; the skin isn't even broken, just severely bruised.'
He ran a finger around the edge of the lump, pressing gently as he assessed it.
'The swelling will go down in a week but you may have some teeth marks showing for a couple of weeks longer after that. They can take a while to fade.'
He chuckled again.
'People will just guess that you have an energetic love life!'
'Sergeant Stanley? Oliver?'
The two men stiffened as Jolene walked into the guard room where they were preparing some extra armaments and field gear, packing it into a couple of large aluminium suitcases and organising the equipment between layers of foam rubber.
'Yes Ma'am.'
'After you've stowed your gear, get a change of clothing, dress for cold but casual. We need to be ready to mix with the locals and your suits are a little conspicuous.'
'Yes Ma'am!'
'Oh, and make sure we have a full field communications pack for each of us, I'm going to call in a Special Forces strike team from Germany for backup but until they are ready we'll be team Alpha to Omega so we need to be A J Squared Away gentlemen and you can expect to be working your bolts!
Private Oliver nodded enthusiastically.
'Yut!'
There was a pause as Jolene looked at him.
'Carry on gentleman!'
She turned on her heel and walked out.
Knowing that the Private clearly found Jolene attractive, Sergeant Stanley shook his head at Oliver.
'Keep your mind on the right bolt action leatherneck,' he admonished dourly, 'she'd eat you for breakfast and use your ribs for toothpicks!'
Hunched in the back of the van as it trundled along, Rey had explained the situation to Frans; that they had gone back to the old man Johann Janssens' shop and how he had gauged that the white haired antiquarian book seller could now be considered as missing in action. They had followed up their visit to the bookshop with a sojourn to Gertrude's apartment where they had seen the arrival of the same man that Akosua had followed to and from the US Embassy in the company of three other obvious US Intelligence operatives.
Rey was somewhat aggressive in making his point.
'With the girl gone, they will have no other lead to follow! Our concern must be for
Merkur
, we've worked too hard for the last few months to compromise what we've achieved, let alone the preparation work which I know must have been undertaken to set it all up, regardless of whether I was directly involved. We have a tight schedule and I am not fucking up my primary objective for the sake of a book and some jewellery. I'm just not doing it!'
Understanding Rey's frustration, Frans nodded.
'Alright, sure, but you are directly implicated; they probably have your descriptions and will almost certainly be looking for the car. You now have to keep a very low profile. How are you going to return to England? Or Akosua for that matter? Since the US is involved they will probably have notified the UK and you'll be picked up as soon as you try to enter. I appreciate what you tried to do by grabbing the girl and understand that you had to make a quick decision but, this throws everything up in the air!'
'That was the point!' Rey exclaimed, rubbing his hand over his closely cropped hair.
'Look, Frans, with the US looking directly for me and Akosua, it gives us an insight into what direction their investigation will take, we can predict what they'll be interested in and where they'll be looking for us; we can contain them. We can now be one step ahead, we can lay a false trail that we didn't have before, especially since they must have had something going on anyway to become interested in
Dirigo Lux
in the first place! Who predicted that?'
Frans rolled his eyes and shrugged, blowing a weak raspberry as he exhaled in exasperation.
'Yes, I admit, that is strange. I cannot think how they connected it to us so quickly or why they even thought it was relevant.'
'Right, exactly, that is what I said yesterday!'
Akosua shifted her position and leaned back against the side of the van.
'Frans, don't forget that our team in England will be moving into their start position right now. It isn't critical yet as we still have a month before we go into action but, the equipment should be on its way to Scotland as we speak.'
Both men looked to her, Rey pausing to consider the next stage of the orders he had issued prior to his departure. His team would head to the border of England and Scotland and then swap transport, moving their equipment to ex-army vehicles before continuing their drive up to the West Coast of Scotland for deployment. The official looking vehicles and uniforms they had procured would provide suitable cover against public suspicion, presenting the illusion of an army exercise.
Rey nodded as he reached his own conclusion, 'Right, I want to be back in the UK and I'll parachute in if I have to! The US won't find us in Scotland, especially where we'll be camping out and MI5 will hardly be looking for a bunch of squaddies since they'll think we're still in Europe.'
Frans leaned back and sighed, staring up at the roof of the van as he thought.