Sure Fire (16 page)

“So, are you just going to abandon us here or what?” Jade asked.

“I could not do that. I said I cannot be
seen
to help, but I will do what I can.”

“Which is what?” Rich said.

“Another car will be here soon. The driver will have certain things for you that Mr Halford has suggested may be useful, and the car will take you close to the main KOS pumping station. It is Vishinsky's base of operations, though he has his own castle in the foothills of the mountains to the north. But it is at the pumping station he is keeping your father.”

“How do you know?” Rich asked

“Because he bribes soldiers to take him there and to keep quiet. I bribe soldiers again to tell me everything that Vishinsky wants them to keep quiet about. Probably he bribes them a third time to let
him know what they have told me, but I really can't afford to bribe them a fourth time to find out.”

“And Dad's definitely there?” Jade said.

“He was taken there. He nearly escaped, which amused the soldier who told me. He has not been taken away and I have asked where he is being held – it is a big facility. If we have news, the driver will tell you when he comes. It will not be long. I did consider bribing soldiers to bring your father to me, but I am afraid there is no profit in it, and Vishinsky would not be pleased. By all the accounts I am getting, your father is very important to him.”

“It's what he has that's important,” Rich said.

“Or rather, what he has hidden,” Jade added.

“Oh?” Ralph's eyes were shining with curiosity. But before either of them could answer he laughed. “Better you do not tell me that either. Better that I don't know.”

His smile faded. “Better you get into the habit of trusting no one, however friendly they may seem. You were lucky to find Halford – he is a rare breed. But in this world you have fallen into, this dark and dangerous world, no one is what they seem and no one has any interest in anything other than themselves.”

“Including you?” Rich asked.

Ralph smiled again. “Especially me. I have been in this business a long time now, and you know what I have learned?”

“What?” Jade prompted.

“Survival – that is all there is. The money is easy. The money is cheap. The money doesn't matter.” He patted Jade on the shoulder. “Look after yourselves. Both of you.” He reached out to shake hands with Rich. “I have to leave now.”

“Can we see Halford?” Jade asked. “Before you go?”

Halford was conscious, but obviously woozy from an injection to ease the pain. He lay along the back seats, his shoulder bandaged, blood already seeping through.

“We take him to a hospital. Do good job there,” the doctor assured them. “He be all right. Tough as old shoes, this one.”

“Just leave me,” Halford whispered. He struggled to sit up. “Thanks, but leave me. I'll be fine with Ralph. And I'll put in a call to Ardman. Vishinsky won't be looking for me anyway. You find your dad.”

“You're a grown-up,” Jade told him. “You're supposed to tell us not to be so stupid, not to go it
alone, not to do anything dangerous but to wait for proper help and the professionals.”

“And would you listen?” Halford asked.

“Course not,” Rich told him.

“Didn't reckon you would, either of you,” Halford said. His speech was slurring. “I'll be fine,” he said slowly and weakly. “You can tell who your father is all right.” The door closed and the car turned out on to the road.

“He'll be OK,” Rich told Jade. He hoped that just saying it would help make it true.

“I know,” she said. “And we have to find Dad.”

Another car was turning in. It parked under the broken awning and flashed its lights at them.

“Let's find Dad then,” Rich said, walking with Jade to the car. “At least we have the element of surprise. They might be looking for us, but they won't expect us to come after them.”

“We'll find them,” Stabb promised. “I think I winged the man Halford.”

“They can hardly hide a tank,” Magda agreed. “It won't take long.”

“Don't even bother,” Vishinsky said. “Don't waste
your time.” They were all three sitting in the back of a replacement limousine, heading through the evening to the main KOS installation. The first limousine was a write-off, and they had left the driver still out cold over the wheel. Stabb's jeep had to be towed off for a new engine and tyres.

“What do you mean?” Magda asked.

“They think they are so clever,” Vishinsky said. “But we have something they want very badly.”

“Chance,” Stabb said, amused. “They'll try to find Chance.”

“And I have made sure that it is well known where we are holding him. They will come to the main plant,” Vishinsky agreed. “And when they do, we shall be waiting for them.”

On the journey across town, they went through the stuff in the rucksack and holdall that the driver had brought. He had also given them bulky, padded coats which they put on to ward off the increasing cold of the night.

Some of the other stuff was obviously useful – like wire-cutters, and a map of the KOS installation with security cameras marked and a large red arrow pointing at one small building in the middle where Chance was being held.

Some of the things were probably useful, but Rich and Jade agreed they would not take them – including handguns. Other stuff they had no idea what it was – like metal canisters with levers held by
pins attached. They might be grenades or they might be fizzy drinks, Rich and Jade couldn't tell – and didn't try to open them to find out. There was also a small black box with a switch on it next to a small blank display screen. Rich was careful not to touch the switch. The box, and anything else he wasn't sure about, Rich stuffed back into the rucksack.

“Dad'll probably know what to do with it,” he said.

“Gonna take him a gun as well?”

Rich considered this. “I'd rather not.”

“Good.” She rummaged through the small rucksack she had managed to keep with her throughout and pulled out a packet of cigarettes. “His mobile's gone, but I've still got these.”

Rich took the packet and opened it. There were six cigarettes left, and Chance's lighter was pushed inside the packet too. He closed it and handed it back to Jade. “You took them. You should give them back.”

“OK.”

The driver seemed to speak no English. He dropped them beside a narrow service road apparently in the middle of nowhere. But in the distance, they could see the huge KOS facility
outlined in black against the deep grey of the night sky.

Before leaving them, the driver took the map from Rich, opened it on the bonnet of the car and jabbed a finger at a point on the edge of the installation.

“Good place to break in?” Rich said. “Thanks.”

The driver indicated another point on the perimeter. He gave an exaggerated shrug. Evidently, each place was as good – or bad – as the first.

“So where are we now?” Jade asked. She pointed down at the ground. “Here. Where?” She pointed at the edge of the map, outside the installation and mimicked the driver's exaggerated shrug.

He nodded to show he understood and indicated a point on a narrow road leading past the back of the complex.

Jade stared. “But that's miles away.”

“I thought you liked exercise,” Rich said. “And anyway – it's a nice night for a walk.”

It seemed to take for ever to get across the undulating barren landscape to the KOS installation. As they approached they could hear clanking and hissing and the flare of burning oil. They could see
plumes of fire and smoke from various points of the facility. And they could taste the fuel in the air, acrid and oily.

“You realise we'll never get past all those cameras,” Rich said. “Not without some massive distraction.”

“I do,” Jade said. “And I've been thinking about that.”

“Got a plan?”

“Got an idea. You help me make it into a plan.”

Rich listened. He liked the idea, but he didn't like what it meant for Jade. They spent the rest of the journey to the facility talking about how to make it work.

Two figures approached the perimeter fence, silhouetted in black against the grey of the outer buildings and the puddles of security lighting. They were both the same shape and size, padded out in the bulky coats the driver had given them. Even in the glow of the security lights as they reached the fence, they were barely indistinguishable with the same fair hair, similar features and identical expressions – grim and determined. Only the longer hair of one of them, hanging past her shoulders, marked Jade out as different from her brother.

“Good luck,” Rich said quietly.

“You too.”

Jade hugged her brother tightly for a moment. “Right, me first with the wire-cutters,” she said. “Then I'll give you ten minutes. That enough?”

Rich nodded. “See you soon.”

Vishinsky was drinking vodka in the boardroom right in the heart of the office section of the KOS facility. A large, polished antique wooden table dominated the room, and Vishinsky was sitting at the head of it. He was alone. Along one side of the room was a set of cupboards and filing cabinets. On top of this was a tray of decanters and glasses. Vishinsky got up and went to refill his shot glass. He sniffed appreciatively at the last drops in the glass before pouring another drink.

He was just taking his seat again when Stabb came in.

“We have visitors,” Stabb said, smiling.

“I hope you have rolled out the red carpet,” Vishinsky said.

Stabb picked up a remote control from the table and worked the buttons. A wooden panel at the end
of the room slid open, opposite Vishinsky. “I thought we'd let them get a little bit further. Not just to get their hopes up, but so there really is no chance of escape.”

Behind the wooden panel was a large screen. It flickered into life as Stabb pressed another button. “I've had the security feed patched through,” he said. “Magda is keeping an eye on things at Security Control, and she's sending the relevant pictures through to us here.”

The grainy, black-and-white image on the screen was clear enough. It showed a large storage container. Beside the container, something moved and the camera zoomed in to show a figure. As she turned it was obviously Jade, her fair hair pale in the monochrome image, falling about her shoulders. She seemed to talk to someone out of sight behind the tank. Then, in a burst of speed, she was running round the tank.

The camera struggled to follow her. Then it let her go, moving back to its previous position.

“We want to make sure we have them both,” Stabb said.

Sure enough several moments later another figure
appeared where the girl had been. A figure dressed in an identical coat, but with the hood pulled up so the face was in shadow. The figure was a similar size and shape, but for the moment that the face was clearly visible inside the hood of the coat, Stabb and Vishinsky could see that the hair was away from the face, apparently shorter.

“The boy as well,” Vishinsky said. He took a last gulp of vodka and slammed down the glass on the table in front of him. “Good. We have them. Take no chances, Mr Stabb. These children have caused me enough trouble already. We know where they are now; take as many guards as you wish from wherever they are no longer needed.”

Stabb nodded. “I'll send Magda to get them.”

On the screen behind Stabb, the image changed to another camera. It showed Jade running across an open space. The image changed again – this time to show another point, just ahead of the previous one. The hooded figure appeared in shot, making its wary way past a pipeline.

“They have no idea, do they?” Stabb said. “They don't even realise there are cameras. That they're starring in a film.”

“It is not a film I have seen before,” Vishinsky said. He rolled his glass in his hand, letting the last drops of the clear, viscous liquid inside coat the sides. “But I can guess exactly how it ends.”

Chance lay on his mattress, staring up at the single naked bulb in the ceiling above, and listened to the sound of running feet and shouted orders. After a while it went quiet. Something was up, some commotion. Whatever it was, it was unlikely to be anything to do with him, Chance decided.

He changed his mind when he heard the scrape of the key turning in the lock. This could be his last chance, he decided – while many of the guards were busy. If he could get out of his prison, the storeroom, then maybe…

Chance was on his feet and across the small room, pressing himself to the wall behind the door as it started to open. He let it open wide enough for whoever was there to see the empty mattress. The door hesitated – and Chance grabbed it and wrenched it fully open, launching himself at the figure standing alone in the doorway.

He knocked the figure to the ground, landed
astride it, raised his fist and prepared to bring it crashing down.

“Er, hello, Dad,” the figure beneath him said. It was Rich.

“What the hell are
you
doing?” Chance demanded in astonishment.

“Rescuing you. Sorry.”

They both got to their feet. Rich was rubbing his ribs where Chance had landed on him.

“No, I'm sorry – you OK?”

“Just winded,” Rich said. “There was a guard, but he went with lots of others just now. We need to get moving. Watch out for the camera, over there,” he warned. “I've got a map with them marked. Lots of other useful stuff too. At least, I hope it's useful.”

“Good man. I hope you're going to tell me your sister had the good sense to stay at home,” Chance said. Rick shrugged. “So where did the guards go – you arrange a diversion?”

“Yeah,” Rich said, following Chance along a narrow walkway between two low concrete buildings. “Only there's a bit of a problem.”

“What's that?” Chance checked the area at the end of the walkway and then they both ran quickly across.

“Jade
is
the diversion,” Rich told him.

Stabb joined Magda beside a massive pipeline. Other pipes fed into it, through a complex arrangement of valves and taps.

“They are just about to come through there,” Magda said, pointing to the gap between an enormous circular storage tank and a stack of pipes that rose like a wall. The gap emerged into an open area between more storage tanks, and guards were already in position with guns aimed ready for the intruders to appear.

“I see you're ready for them,” Stabb said.

Magda spoke quietly into her radio, pushing her long hair away from her ear. “I've sent guards into the other end of the passageway now, so they can't turn round, or go back, or run away. There really is no escape.”

“Good. We don't want any nasty surprises at this stage.”

Magda was listening to her radio. “I think our guests are about to arrive,” she said.

Sure enough, a figure was emerging cautiously from the gap between tank and pipes. Its face was
hidden beneath the raised hood of the bulky coat, but it obviously caught sight of the waiting guards – turned and ran.

A moment later, the figure was back, running out of the gap and into the open area. It skidded to a halt and stuck its hands up.

Behind the figure, half a dozen armed guards appeared from the gap.

Magda laughed. “Like a rat in a trap.”

Stabb laughed too. But then, abruptly, he stopped. “Where's the other one?” he demanded. “Where's the girl?”

“They must have caught her already, in the passageway,” Magda said. She led the way down to where the guards were still aiming their guns at the figure in the hooded coat. As she went she spoke again into her radio, her voice becoming more urgent and angry.

“That's impossible,” Magda said to Stabb. “She was there. Security say they saw her clearly on the camera going in. But now – she isn't there.”

Stabb strode up to the captured youngster. “Where is she?” he demanded. “Where's your sister?”

He reached up and pulled back the hood.

And Jade's blonde hair spilled out of it round her shoulders. “Right here,” she said. “Did you think there was someone else with me?”

On a metal walkway high above, stretched between storage tanks, John and Rich Chance looked down at the scene below. They could see the guards with their guns aimed, and they could see Magda and Stabb shouting at Jade.

“I know how they feel,” Chance said.

“We can't just leave her,” Rich told him.

“Of course not. We're going home. All of us. Together.” Chance took the rucksack from Rich and reached inside. “Just got a couple of things to sort out first.”