Three Faces of West (2013) (23 page)

“Take a look at this.” He called over to Jack,

“What is it?”

“Take a look, this cabinet is slightly away, do you see?” Replied John, West moved closer, there definitely something not right about it,

“Come on, let’s pull it away, see if there’s anything behind.”

The two men gripped the wooden bookcase and heaved it away. The lesser amount of books meant that it was lighter to shift. Pulling it out by one side, it revealed a small door with something attached to it,

“Well,” Said John, “A secret room, but what’s that on the door?”

“Looks like some kind of electronic lock.” Replied West. On the heavy silver door was an electronic panel; Jack noticed its complexity,

“Quite sophisticated.” He said. Both men noted that there were three key lock’s on the lower side of the panel, but the centre one was of interest,

“Look at that one,” Said West, “It’s square.”

“That key from the desk over there…”

“Exactly.” West took the chunky key from the table behind them and inserted it in the lock. The shape fitted perfectly, and it turned. The electronic lock suddenly came to life, two screens lit up along with a coloured numerical keypad of some sorts,

“Here take one of these keys.” Said West as he handed one of the matching gold keys they found downstairs to his partner. John took it promptly in his hand,

“Is it a simultaneous lock? You put one key in and I’ll put the other one and we turn it the same time.”

West agreed, “Let’s do it.” Inserting the keys in at the same time both were poised to activate the mechanism,

“Ready? 3…2…1…now!” He shouted as Jack and John turned the keys a quarter of a turn clockwise at the same time. It worked, both keys activated, signalled by the flickering of the screens and he quiet hum of the electronics inside, the keypad beeped in activation,

“What now?” Asked John,

“The keypad has to be the next step. But why is it in colours?”

John thought back for a second, remembering the photos downstairs and in the other room, something triggered his memory,

“The Marines!” He blurted out,

“What?”

“The photos downstairs! The Marines! What are their colours?”

Jack thought for a second, “Dark blue and white.”

John was not satisfied with that; lateral thinking got him suspecting it was something else,

“No, no not the uniform colour, the regimental colours! The colours associated with the US Marines on that photograph downstairs…the flag on the photo of Bruenstein!”

“Scarlett and gold.” West replied. Then it dawned on them, no more words were spoken as Jack immediately punched in the scarlet and golden keys on the keypad, it had to be these two. The pad beeped as he keyed in each colour, only beeping a total of three times once the second colour had been inputted,

“What now?” West asked himself. There wasn’t time for Hudson to answer, the screens burst into life. One displayed a figure, four zeros; the other showed the number 30 on it. It was obvious the four zeros were where a four digit code had to be inserted, but what was it?

“Oh crap!!” Said John, “It’s a countdown!! 30 seconds.”

Panic began to set in as a beeping started, “How the hell are we supposed to find a code in 30 seconds?!!” Said West,

“Don’t know, but this thing is probably alarmed or booby trapped if we don’t!!” The figure started to count down, 28 seconds left now,

“Think! A four figure number.” Said West,

“Oh that narrows it down!!” Replied Hudson, 25 seconds left, “Wait!! The US Marines!!”

“What about the Marines?”

“The photos on the walls!! Must relate to the US Marines somehow!! Think, err…oh God come on!! Think…history!! What year was they founded?”

Jack couldn’t answer, 20 seconds left,

“How the bloody hell do I know?”

Instinctively John got his phone out and rapidly dialled Thames House,

“It’s me…I need assistance, run a check on the US Marines, tell me the year they were founded…thanks.”

West observed the timer, “15 seconds John.”

John himself still on the phone, was still waiting for the answer as Jack became increasingly frustrated,

“John I’m going to do it. I’m going to key in an American date; something significant…I know their independence, 1776.”

“WAIT!!!” Shouted John putting his arm across Jack to stop him. The phone still glued to his ear…Yes OK coming through now!!”

Jack looked up again, “5 seconds!! John, do it now!!!”

“1775!! OK Cheers!!! Jack key in 1…7…7…5!!!!”

Already on the case Jack’s finders raced across the key pad, 1…7…7…5. Suddenly stopping bleeping, with John still on the phone and looking up they could see the timer had frozen on 2 seconds,

“Thanks.” Said John as he hung up. Both breathing a sigh of relief as they realised the lock had been broken,

“A good job you know your history.” Commented a relieved West as the door which had by now become noticeably slackened. Cautiously they opened the door, not too wide, just enough to enter. Peering through, they were faced with a small box room lined with shelves and filled with papers, documents and files. Opening the door fully showed off the extent of the collection; Hudson entered first pausing in the middle of the room. West kept himself in the doorway, almost afraid to enter, his eyes darting round the room almost as if he was looking for something specific. John himself, also scanning around noticed something very peculiar, all the files, some encased in folders, others clipped together and of various sizes all had something in common,

“All these dossiers, Jack they look familiar.” He said while reaching over to browse through a few random, ones, “Jack all these files seem to relate to MI5 movements past cases, personality traits, methodology, the lot.” He turned round to face his partner who was standing on the threshold motionless. The lack of body language he displayed was disturbing, but John probed further,

“Why the hell are there classified intelligence files here?…Do you know something?…Come on Jack what’s the bloody connection?”

Jack just stood there looking, but John was not going to budge, picking up more files he quickly began to see another pattern emerge,

“Not only do these files track security agency movements but they…yes they…they’re relating to you!!”

West still said nothing. Now he was beginning to act like a guilty party caught red-handed. With his suspicion fuelled, John had enough; he had been kept in the dark for too long. Slamming the file down he wanted answers,

“Why all the bloody secrets Jack!!! What the hell is that package over there?!! What’s the deal with breaking Grey out of the prison?!!” Then is struck him, “You knew didn’t you? You bloody knew there were files here! What, is this some kind of setup or are you involved in something else we don’t know about?!!”

West was still tight lipped. The guilt seemed to ooze from him but he wasn’t giving anything away

“I’m struggling to get my head around this.” Said John as he turned away, noticing a small strongbox placed in the corner in doing so,

“What’s this?.” He growled while bending down, he could see it wasn’t locked so he flung it open without angrily without any sort of hesitation. Inside was another, thicker file with bundles of paper inside a brown cover, standing up John opened it. What he saw struck him instantly,

“These are personnel files, dossiers on all MI5 section staff, you, me, Harvey, everyone within the section.” He could see they were clearly marked CIA and had Bruenstein’s name all over them. Turning round to face Jack the accusation was clear,

“This is it isn’t it? This is what you really came here for, not to find Bruenstein, just to secure this! What’s going on Jack? Why is this so important that you want to steal it?!!”

Not raising the tone to match Hudson’s, West replied in a calm but firm manner,

“You don’t understand…”

“Too right I don’t understand!! What the hell is going on!!”

“We have to leave now…”

John wasn’t going to take this lightly, “What do you mean leave? Now that I’ve found something out you want to sweep it under the carpet? Oh no, you aren’t getting away with that!! We are not leaving!!”

Jack knew that the standoff wasn’t going to be solved by dialogue. He knew the clock was ticking, even if John didn’t. He decided to take action into his own hands,

“Fine, stay here then, but I have to go.” He said as he turned away. He paced out of the room showing no hesitation at all, leaving Hudson in his wake,

“Jack, come back here!!!” He shouted, but to no avail.

The shining sun provided a refreshing atmosphere with the cool breeze that permeated through the air. West who by now had climbed back out of the kitchen window and had made his way onto the street; Pacing only a few yards before he heard footsteps behind him,

“Jack what the hell is going on? I still want answers!! Jack!!”

West did not stop to turn round. He knew it was John behind him, but that did not prevent him from putting as much distance between themselves and the building as possible. No matter how much John tried to catch up, Jack was still far ahead, it was almost as if he was leading away,

“Jack!!….” He shouted, however he did not even get a chance to finish his sentence as he was cut off by a blinding flash. Momentarily flinching, John turned round to see what the hell it was just in time to come face to face with a huge explosion. A violent rush filled the vicinity as masonry and mortar flew through the air like shrapnel out of a fireball. A huge bang and the destructive sound of smashing glass accompanied the flying debris. West crouched in a reactionary movement; Hudson flung himself to the ground. As the larger bits settled leaving only the smaller, lighter crumbles flowing through the air like snow, did both men look upwards. Getting to their feet, the scene was clouded by the dirty white smoke of dust and explosives; the smell of burning was everywhere. Initially the scene was hazy, but was clearing slowly, the ringing in the ears of John disguised the true extent of the explosion, but things were becoming clearer. The entire first floor of the building they had only just been in had exploded, the front wall along with the large Georgian windows were gone, scattered all over the road, flames innocently licked out of the huge hole left over. As the muffling and ringing began to subside somewhat, John saw what was left on the street, car alarms blared out in synchronous unison as masonry and other hit and smashed the windscreens. Innocent people were caught in the blast, unacceptable collateral damage, John surveying the scene tried to make sense of what just occurred,

“Oh my god!! Jack, what the hell just happened? The room, just…everything gone, the files, that package…” Then he realised what caused it,

“It wasn’t booby trapped, it was that package!! That package you brought along, it was an explosive device!! You planted it to get rid of the files, and any other evidence!!”

Again West just stood there motionless, if it wasn’t for the screaming of innocent people caught up, John might end up losing all sense of self control,

“OK look we’ll deal with this later. Right now we’ve got to see if there’s anything we can do!! COME ON!!!”

Hudson began to run into the smoke, managing only a few paces before realising he wasn’t being followed. Turning round all he could see was the ever faint outline of his partner,

“Look there’s people hurt over there!! Hurry up!!!”

West’s demeanour did not change. However his did owe his friend an explanation of sorts,

“I can’t help. I have to go.”

“Go? What do you mean go? Go where?!!”

West did not answer as he turned round and began walking. Amongst the sounds of car alarms, people and faint approach of the emergency services, Hudson watched, torn between hid duty to the public and to his partner as Jack walked away, slowly disappearing through the white smoke,

“JACK!!! COME BACK…JACK!!!!” He pleaded, but to no avail, by now all he could see was smoke and dust, which began now to choke him. Putting his hand over his mouth as he coughed, he felt helpless and no nearer to the truth as Jack West totally disappeared from the scene of the bombing he had just perpetrated,

“I’ll find you Jack. And when I do, God help me!” He vowed.

Chapter 15:

Hudson found himself in a corridor, dark in colour, in fact totally black. However there were rounded lampshades in a line on the ceiling, a good job too, for the corridor was so black due to the poor light that the lampshades were the only guide as to the direction of where to go. Flanked by doors either side every few feet, it seemed to go on forever, yet John had a strange compulsion to walk forward. He did so, cautiously at first, then pacing upon gaining a little confidence. Walking onward, passing doors either side, somehow he knew not to try any of them but to just keep walking forward. Passing under each lamp, ensuring he was continuously shrouded in both faint light and total darkness in equal measure.

Around 200 yards from his original position, and he really had no idea how he got here some clue offered itself to John. Cries and screams, echoing eerily around him filled the air, faint at first but getting louder under each step. It was confusing, almost disorientating, John could hear the cries, but somehow he could not determine where they were coming from, just that he wanted to keep walking forward,

“Jack?!!” He called out in response to the screams, “You there?!!…Jack!!”

No reply. This was now getting silly, why was he here? What were the screams? They sounded awfully like the ones he heard in Belgravia once the bomb had gone off, when West had disappeared. It didn’t matter as a door suddenly appeared out of the darkness ahead, larger and different in design to the other doors either side of him he had been passing all the way down. The others ware plain, smooth, but this one was large, dark brown and wood panelled. This door seemed grander than the others, and it was here John wanted to go through.

Pausing outside he steadied himself against whatever he might be faced with on the other side. Gripping the brass doorknob, he found it would not turn, like it was locked; it was all very strange,