BlindFire (19 page)

  "I don't believe it."  Spat the Major. "Let’s get him to his room before he spurts anything else out.

***

A lone dark figure was watching from an upper window, when the

Metallic
blue
car came in to view on the valley road. He had a very good idea why his second cousin was paying him a visit so late at night.

  He loved confrontations, and the loss of the
Regina
had meant huge loss of revenue from arms and drug sales, not to mention other business in
Europe
.

  He was the secret head of the
Real
Provision Irish Republican Army. It had taken him decades
of blood and guts to rise to that
position, few of his officers showed any disrespect. After all he was just about to celebrate his Sixtieth birthday and had spent most of his adult life at war with the British.

  But his cousin, who seemed to love the stench of death, showed no man respect especially this one. Soon there was a single knock on the door.  Charles McCaughey entered and was immediately searched by two security guards.

  "He's clean."
T
he younger of the two
announced
.

  "Of course I am.
.! Dick heads..!"
McCaughey
barked
. "I've just had a bath.... so I have." He laughed, and then turned to face his cousin.

  "Sit down Charles." He motioned to the security to leave. "I take it you know about the
Regina
."

  "Yes... What happened?"

  "I don't know.... Sabot
age..! Maybe the coastguard or the Navy had something to do with it
."

  "If we include the price of the boat with the other totals, we stand to loose seven million over the next two years.... And that's a lot of bullets."

  "What's money when you're trying to free your country..?"

  Charles felt sick to the gut thinking about a
ll that money lost to the sea.
Trying to free your country, he thought, he was trying to free his bank

account.

  "What would you do if this war of ours ended, Charles?"

  "Why, I'd emigrate to
Afghanistan
of course."

  The old man slowly shook his head in disgust. "Well the meeting goes ahead as planned. See about inviting..."  He suddenly smiled. "See about inviting a few more money men."

  "What about Jack?"

  "Jack's a dead man; you just can’t
go around strangling women
... It’s simply not on.... I want you to arrange a hit. He's in
America
right now.... I want him dead, soon.
Send Patrick Riley, he’ll be able to get close enough to do the job.
"

  Charles nodded eagerly. With Jack McKay out of the way, he was one more step closer to controlling not only the arms and drugs, but also the entire war.

  When their man in
Whitehall
tipped them off in his weekly report no one could believe it. Jack McKay a serial killer, the hero of
Northern Ireland
and Butcher of Belfast a murderer of women
. "Don't worry yourself."  Charles
said
. "He's a dead man. See you at the party."  With this he got up and left.

  "....Better send a couple or even three men."  The boss shouted after him, and then to himself: "But don't expect them to come back."

***

         In the morning Gunter couldn't remember spilling the beans about his real mission and was clearly embarrassed about the whole thing.

  "But really."  He complained. "I don't know what it is she's got, but my orders were to retrieve anything I could find and eliminate her."

  Beth wasn't surprised at all.  "I know exactly what it is you're afte
r. I no longer have it, so you m
ight as well kill me now."

  "I c
ouldn't do that."  He replied.
"
…a
nd anyway, what is so important you should die for it?"

  Beth sat down. "OK
, I will tell you.... Your precious
motherland is on the prowl again."

  "What is that supposed to mean?" Danny a
sked.

  "I broke in to a house last year and stole some documents from a computer disk. I didn't know what they meant at first..."

  Gunter interrupted. "Get on with it, my head is hurting."

"The German Government is hatching
a plan to sideline the
United Kingdoms
role in
Europe
..! They want more power… No, they want all the power.”

  The Major shrugged.
“So..! That’s just European politics. Everyone wants to be
America
’s special friend. They’re like kids in a playground wanting to be friends with the school bully.”

  "No, you don’t get it." Beth said. "Once the wall came down,
Germany
was a
huge
country once more. There
are
certain sections of the establishment
with ambitions. They are
planning to rearm to a size, which would make the entire American Army look like a football team."

  "They can’t
do that.”
Gunter
demanded
. "Our Armies are restricted to a certain size."

  "Someone made a similar stat
ement in Nineteen thirty six."  Danny quipped
.

  Beth conti
nued. "Through the
European Monetary Union
treaty
to be in place by
t
wo thousand
and twelve
,
Germany
will control all
or most
of
Europe
. The files I retrieved contained all of this information and more...."

  "What?"

  "....It contained the names and addresses of every minister involved in

this operation...
And not all of them were German some were British
."

  "Where is this information now?"  Gunter
said and glared at Beth
.

  Beth laughed mockingly. "Well out of your reach.... I sent it to the only people who can stop them. I sent it to
Israel
, to
Mossad."

  "They can’t do this. It must be stopped immediately."  Then he got up and walked out.

  "Don't worry." 
T
he Major
said
to Beth. "He's one of the good guys, he'll be back.
”

***

  "That's Giggs farm, right there." He pointed. "I say we go in, kill everyone in sight and then go home."

    "Danny Stone
."  Beth
said and punched his arm
.  "I do believe you're turning into an animal."

  He
looked hurt. "Have you got any better ideas?"

  She looked straight at the Major. "I think this calls for a military mind."

  Somewhat startled by Beths sudden friendliness. "Well, coming from a military family having attended RMA Sand Hurst." He thought for a second. "I say we go in there, kill everyone and then go home."

  "Seriously." She snapped.

  "I am bei
ng serious. Some of t
hese people understand nothing except a bullet. I'm sick and tired of baby-sitting them; it really is time to cut the disease out."

 
"And I suppose you’re the surgeon
." Gunter hadn't been noticed entering the room; everyone was surpris
ed to see him.

  "Oh you’re back then." Said Danny
absentmindedly.
“You move quietly for a big man.”

  "No.... I’m not here, I was never here
."  Then he laughed. "I have just resigned from GSG9."

  "What....?"
T
he Major
cried
. "Are you crazy?"

  "Really I have. Oh and Beth,
I told them
you're dead so could you be a
little
bit quieter?"

  The Major drank the rest of his cold coffee. "Just because
Germany
wants a better Army and a few more guns... Come on, really."

  Gunter plonked himself down beside the Major. "It’s not that simple.... I've just been on the phone to some friends of mine." He picked up the Majors cup and was disappointed to see it empty. "Those documents Beth took were a blueprint for a
Germany
twenty years from now. A considerably larger
Germany
if you catch my drift."

  "There were several high ranking names in those files I..." She was going to say stole, then changed her mind. "...took. The Israelis won’t let them live any longer then is necessary."

  "Are you sure?"  Asked Gunter, gravely aware of the consequences for the world if just one name slipped through the net.

  "I am sure.... Accidents do happen."

  "
Elizabeth
, I really do need those names. Can you get them?"

  She stared at him for a couple of seconds. "You really want to make sure those accidents happen... don't you?"

  He bowed his head. "I must...."

  Danny
rolled the map up. "Can we just kill one person at a time... starting with McKay?"

  "OK. I know this area reasonably well; I suggest I take charge of this operation." 
T
he Major
declared confidently
, none argued. After all he was supposed to be a trained leader of men.

  He unrolled the map again and outlined the problem areas, using a pencil to mark the map.  "I think we should dump the car about a mile north of the target and approach on foot through this copse of trees....
There is very
good cover right up until here." He pointed to the walls about five hundred meters from the farm.

  "No...” Said Gunter. "I think you should drop me here, just west of the target. I can take care of any look-outs."

  "G
ood idea."  Danny mused thoughtfully
.  "But what if we get bumped on the way in? I think Beth should wait by the car. That way she can come and get us at the first sign of trouble."

  "Oh really?"  She snapped. "Would you like me darning socks while I wait for you brave heroes to return?"

  The Major
gave her a look but he ignored her comment
and
continued. "We work our way as close to the buildings as possible before we split up. Hopefully Gunter will have taken care of any problems by then..."

  "What about me? What do you wa
nt me to do?" Asked Danny
.

  "When we split, your single target is McKay. As soon as you see him you shoot him and get out... But make sure he's dead."

  "And if he isn't there?"

  "We
bug out!
"

  One of the queens commissioned officers leading a bunch of vigilante civilians on a raiding party was unthinkable, was also against the rules. The Major knew this, all those years undercover gathering intelligence that was never made use of. Risking his life for nothing, now he had the chance to put in to motion a plan others had laughed at. Everytime a
Provo
leader is killed or dies; he immediately gets replaced by the next man in line.

    Eventually that next man in line is bound to be a deep cover agent. The Major had enough high ranking deep cover agents to fill a small bus. If his tenacious plan worked, he knew the troubles could be over
forever
within a few short years. Now that he had the chance to do something, to make a difference, there was no going back no matter of the consequences. The line of obedience had well and truly been crossed.

  The moon, a ghostly spectre in the cloudy night sky cast a silver shadow over the rolling hillsides. Cover of the trees beckoned around the next corner. Beth cut the headlights and glided to a halt.

  "This is about as close as we can get."  She said.  "I hope Gunter's doing OK."

  He had
already left the car about two minutes
earlier and holed up in a hedgerow
while he waited
for an Army patrol to pass by. Soon he was away again silently working his way toward the bright lights of what could only be Giggs farm. As he got closer, he spotted the first look-out silhouetted against the skyline smoking a cigarette.  He
died, having no idea who piled his head into that
tree.