BlindFire (4 page)

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13

BlindFire

Chapter   3

British  
Military
Hospital
,   Rinteln.

  Bloody inconvenient the  tall  man thought  as  he  hurried  down the  busy  Hospital  corridor  and  through  the  swirling  chattering crowds.  He  could  almost  taste  the  excitement  of  the  reporters  and news  crews  as  they  hung  around  in  small  groups  giving  birth  to fresh  rumours.

  "My first day off in six
bloody
months and what happens?”  He
said angrily to no one in particular
. "Murder, Bloody murder."

  "Pardon me Sir."  Said a Nurse.

  "Sorry,   I was just thinking aloud."   He replied without breaking step and headed for reception.  “Major Rothschild
SIB
."  He announced and produced his ID card which he handed to the Nurse sat behind a reception desk.

  She looked at it closely.  "We’ve been expecting you Sir."  She said brightly and handed it back. "Could you go straight to casualty...?  It's down...."

  "That’s fine; I know where it is thanks."

  The  Major  hated  hospitals  almost  as  much  as  he  did  Terrorists,  but  not  quite  in  the  same  way.  Several  years  previous  he  had  been shot  whilst  on  special  duties  in  Northern  Ireland.  Even  the  slightest smell  of  anything  clinical  gave  him  the  shivers  and  reminded  him  of a  night  he  would  much  rather  forget.

  What  the  Colonel  had  told  him  back  at  HQ passed  through  his  mind.  "This ones bad. Be very  gentle  with him  oh  and  by  the  way  you  have  got  a  German  Liaison  Officer  on  this  one.  A man named Gunter nolte."

  "Why a German?"  He had asked.

  "They have a big interest, the murdered woman was German.  And with what’s happening in
Europe
at the moment they want to be seen to be doing something."

  "You know all of my partners have been bullet catchers."

  The Colonel had laughed.  "This one seems to enjoy it!  He's  been shot  seven  times  in  three  tours  with  GSG9,  and  he's  something  of  a martial  artist."

  "Great, now I have Bruce Lee as a partner."

  "
Well a
lmost, European heavy weight kick boxing champion for the past four years." The  colonel  had  stopped  for  effect  and  took  a  deep  draw  on  his cigar.  "Last opponent refused to fight him."

  "I get the drift
."  He had said.  "But I’d rather
work alone
if it’s all the same with you?
"

  "Time for a change then, don’t you think?"  With  that  parting  shot he  had  left  for  an  important  meeting  at  Whitehall.

  "Hello
John."   Said a familiar voice and Major Jonathon Rothschild jumped from his daydreaming.

  "Oh my god." The Major cried as he recognized the man behind the voice.

  "Thought you were long dead!"

  "Sorry
to disappoint
Doc, 
but
I’m working on it
if that means anything to you
."

  "So how are the old war wounds then?"   He a
sked eagerly clasping the hands of a life he had once fought to save
.

  "Fine thanks...  I would l
ike to see Staff sergeant Stone
if that’s possible."

  "I'm  afraid  he’s  still  unconscious,  but  you  can  go  in  and  wait  for a  while
.  He could wake up anytime now,
I'll have some coffee sent in."

  "Thank you."  He  said  and  entered  the  room  which  the  Doctor  had motioned  him  to  before quickly  leaving
on some other emergency
.

  He  picked  up  the  clinical  chart,  but  couldn
't  make  head  nor  tale  of the Doctors scribblings
.  His gaze was now drawn
to the soldiers face, even in that hospital bed with his head on a pillow there was an unmistakable toughness about him
. How  would  he  take  the  news  John  wondered,  'Be  gentle'   the colonel  had  said.   How  could  he  be  gentle  and  gain  the  much needed  information  at  the  same  time?

  Six  hours  passed  before  the  Doctor  walked  in  carrying  a  tray. "Good morning Major."  He said in hushed ton
es.  "I’m going to give him a shot
to wake him up."

  "I’m already awake!"  Danny s
aid sluggishly.  "I have been awake for hours."

   D
eafening
silence filled the room as the three men simply stared at each other,
n
one knowing quite what to say
next
.

  “R
elax you
don’t have to tell me…  I know!
I know everything,
” He said.

  "I’m so very sorry."   Said  the  Docto
r  as  he  gently  grabbed the injured soldiers wrist
  and  began  taking  his  pulse.  "We couldn’t do anything for your wife but your son is now stable.  I can’t even
begin to imagine how you must
be feeling right now."

  The  Major  butted  in,   he  didn't  have  the  time  for the Doctors bedside chit  chat.  "We are trying to catch your wife’s killers
Staff
Sergeant, but we have little to go on."

  "Usual  story  with  you  bastards  you're  everywhere  on  a  Saturday night  when  the  lads  are
down town and
  trying  to  have  a  good  time.  The  first  time we  really  need  you,  you're  on  a  different  planet  aren't  you?  So where were your AMP
patrols or your MP patrols?
  I'll  tell  you where,  locking  up  some  poor  sod  for  walking  on  the  grass  or having  his  hands  in  his  pockets."

  "
There’s no need for any of that." The Major said firmly.  "Now
if you’re feeling up to it
let’s try and
remember what happened shall we, or I can come back later when the trail is somewhat cooler.”

  There was a
nother
long silence and then
Danny took a deep breath.  "Alright....  Alright I’ll
try..."

  "Good."

  "I...  Emm."   He cleared his throat. "I went for a run in the morning, when I got back there was nothing in the fridge and we decided to eat out."

  "And then what happened?"

  "We set off; I remember thinking how quiet everything was...  How peaceful… Anyway we, I mean ‘the kids’, decided to eat out."

  The Major skipped through his notes.  "Wait a minute, you said kids."

  "Yes Tommy
and Sahra."

  "So where is Sahra then?"  The Major asked the Doctor.   "My notes only mention one child, a boy."

  The Doctor took out a pen and notebook. “Your son is here, but there’s been no mention of a girl.”

   "My  daughter  was  with  us,  she  was  on  the  back  seat.  Where the hell is my daughter...? What has happened to my Sahra?"

  The Major nervously glanced at
the Doctor and then back at Danny
. "I’ll  make some  phone calls  and  I'm  sure  she  will  be  able  to visit you,  if she's not in my notes the chances are she's alive and well."

  "
But I thought she was dead." Danny
threw back the sheets and tried to lift himself up.  If  this  officer  was unaware even  of  her  existence,  then  where  the  hell  was  she?

  The Major physically had
to push him
back on to the bed. “Get back into
that
bed Soldier! You’re not going anywhere.”

   "So getting back to before. No one followed you?"

  “No... No, just wait one second here. My  wife  is  dea
d, my son is in  a
hospital on a life support machine and now you’re telling me that  my  little  girl  is  missing...... “

  “We’ll find.......”

  “Dam right you’ll find her.”

  The  Major  turned  to  a  fresh  page  in  his  notebook .”Trust me I will find her… I will! But you must first tell me what happened.”

  "You find my girl.....”

  “I promise.”

   Staff Sergeant Danny Stone
stared at the Major for several long seconds and then spoke. “OK... I didn’t see anything on the road. I suppose they must have followed us.  Anyway, I went inside to get the order and
while I was waiting I noticed this guy get out of a car on the other side of the road..!”

  “Can you describe him?” The Major enquired and prepared to make notes.

  “Yes...! He was maybe mid thirties, stocky build with black hair, blue eyes and a scar on his forehead. He was wearing dirty old jeans and wearing a Barbour jacket.”

  Major Rothschild’s immediately ceased writing and his eyes darted at Danny the moment he mentioned the scar. “A Scar! Very interesting. Can you go back and tell me what happened next?”

  “… He walked across the road and went straight up to my car.” Danny said and took a deep breath. “I felt something was wrong and before I knew it I was running towards them…” He paused as the images played across his minds eye

  "And then?"  Asked the Doctor still absentmindedly taking his pulse.

  "Suddenly there was this loud bang and the next thing Tommy was running towards me… It all happened so quickly. Anyway the man aimed at me as I came through the door, I grabbed my boy and the next thing I knew we’d both been shot!”

  The Doctor released his grip on Danny’s wrist. “The bullet that hit you is the same bullet we dug out of your son last night. You saved his life by taking most of the impact.”

  "Was he alone?”

  Danny
cr
adled his bandaged forearm.  "I don’t know
...
I was confused, everything happened so fast.
He..! The man seamed to know me; he
said that I’d murdered his wife.”

  "How come he didn’t get a clear shot at you?
He seemed to have enough time” The
Major asked
and frowned as he turned a page and made more notes in his small black notebook
.

  "
Said he’d changed his mind about killing me and wanted me to suffer like he had!”

  “Then what happened?”

A German policeman showed up and distracted him. I tried to get my boy
behind cover. That's when he took another shot at
me,
he missed and
I  must  have  banged  my  head  when  I  fell because  I  don't  remember anything  else."

   "At least you
can you remember what he looked like
son. That will go a long way towards finding him
” The
Doctor
said
.

  "I don’t think I will ever fo
rget..
.”
Danny said. “But I can go one better than that! He told me something
....”

  The Major closed his notebook. “He told you his name, didn’t he?”

  “How do you know that?”

  The Major  closed
his  eyes  remembering  a  night
  that  he  would  much  rather  forget. “He likes his victims to know
the name of
their killer!”

***

  He  had  been  expecting  another  phone  call  all  day  but  why
hadn't  one  ca
me,  no  car  bombs,   no  shootings  nothing  at  all.  His  mind twisted  and  turned  in  all  directions  as  he  traveled  back  to
  his office. All of this could only be down to one man
,
and
that man was ‘the Butcher of Belfast’. The meanest  depraved  psychopath  in  the  IRA,  wanted  by  countless countries  for  countless  murders.  This  was  a  man  who  hid  his  love of  killing  behind  the  cloak  of  a terrorist.

  Jack Mckay had been apprehended back in the late eighties for an
horrific
attack in
Aldershot
but released as part of the peace treaty. Since then he’d planned and carried out attacks as part of the
so called
real IRA.

  Paul  Ashby  as  the  Major  had  been  known  in  Northern  Ireland  whilst  on  special  duties,   had  been hot on  the  trail  of  Jack  alias   'The Butcher'  McKay  when  the  nice  man  had got a lucky  shot off on him. Landing  the  Major  in  hospital  for  several  months  other  than that  brief  meeti
ng  in a
  dark
ened scrap yard
, the  Butcher  had  proved  himself  to be  extremely  illusive.