Deadly States (Seaforth Files by Nicholas P Clark Book 2) (53 page)
Read Deadly States (Seaforth Files by Nicholas P Clark Book 2) Online
Authors: Nicholas P Clark
With Barry and Alexa behind him, Jack had only
one direction to
concern himself with. If they encountered any trouble he would know
about it and he would run to their rescue—at least that’s what he told
himself. With his focus heightened in that
one direction he was completely taken aback when
Alexa brought her hand down on his shoulder. Jack spun round and pointed his gun in her face for a
moment
before lowering it just as
quickly.
Alexa
brought her hands
down to
her waist as she adopted the pose of an angry housewife. Instinctively,
Jack took up a defensive position.
“What is it?” Jack snarled, in a low tone of voice. “Tell
him,” said Alexa.
She was looking at Jack when she spoke but her words were directed towards Barry, who was standing behind her. She stood to one
side so that the two men were facing one another.
“Tell me what?” asked Jack, impatiently.
“Jack, I thought that you and Alexa were here to stop Deeley getting his hands on the weapons created as part
of Project Coast,” Barry
began.
“What the hell is Project Coast?” Jack asked, with genuine confusion.
“It is the secret chemical and biochemical weapons program that
the South
African government has been operating since the end of the
Second World War. It has researched all of the normal forms of weapons and it has come up with a lot of new weapons.”
“What kind of weapons are you talking about?”
“Weaponised versions of drugs such as ecstasy and cocaine, as well
as versions of anthrax that can be used against a specific population.”
“I
don’t understand; anthrax is a disease, so how can you train it
to attack
one group
of
people and leave another group alone?” Jack
quizzed.
“Simple.
An effective vaccine is given to those you want to protect
and the others are left to go to hell when the bomb drops. White kids in
South
Africa
have
been
given the vaccine secretly alongside
other
childhood vaccines for more than a decade now.
And the adult white
population,
or at least the important whites,
have also
been vaccinated. If your GP calls you in for an essential medical jab, most people
do what they are told. It is a very simple and very elegant plan. In the
event
of a large scale black uprising the weapons would be deployed.
Aerosols containing the disease attached to missiles that could fly fast
and low
over large urban areas, and so
on. The plan also involved
keeping several thousand blacks alive.”
“Why?” asked Alexa.
Jack looked at her sympathetically.
“To bury the dead,” explained Barry. “And to act as human shields if
the international community tried to intervene.”
“So why haven’t they used it?” Alexa asked.
“The white way
of life as
masters
of this land always
depended
on the
oppression
of the blacks. If the blacks have gone, so has the
lifestyle of the whites. As long as the few powerful white families have
their way
of life protected and maintained they
don’t care who is running the country. That was the price that had to be paid to end whites
only rule. The most profitable part
of Project Coast was handed over
to those few white families. It is the centre of the illegal drugs industry for most ofAfrica, as well as large parts of
Asia, and they are even
making inroads into Europe and North America.
And no one will dare
touch them. Not while they control the chemical and biological weap
229
ons of the Project. How doyou think Deeley got away with organising
this little get together? The black South
African state inherited one of
the best state security services in the world; there is nothing that goes
on in this country that the government
doesn’t know about. That the
families allowed Deeley and the
others to meet here can
mean only
one thing; the families are doing business with these people.
And after
that great speech from your Mr Deeley I have a funny feeling he intends to buy more than a few party drugs.”
“And are the families here?” Jack asked, but in a tone that suggested
that they were not in a position to do anything about this new issue.
“Not bloody likely,” said Barry.
“Then what in the hell is it that you want me to do about all this?”
asked Jack.
“We need to get to Deeley. We need to learn as
much as we can
about where the weapons are being sent. For Christ’s sake Jack, you
should be doing this, not me,” Barry barked.
Jack thought for a moment.
“OK,” Jack said, eventually. “We will try to get to Deeley, but if it
comes to it, I will put a bullet in his head even if it means that we learn
nothing about this network.”
“Stop!”
The aggressive South
African voice came out
of nowhere.
As they
looked in the direction
of its source they saw a large guard in a suit
standing with a
machine gun
pointed at them. Barry and Jack
exchanged knowing looks.
As Barry turned around to face the guard he
threw his gun onto the ground in front
of the large man.
At the same
time Barry
positioned himself in front
of Jack so that the guard could
not see what Jack was
doing. That action gave Jack enough time to
raise his gun and put two rounds in the guard, centre mass. The guard
hit the ground dead. A short burst
of undirected weapons fire accompanied the fall.
“So much for the element of surprise,” Jack said.
“Just like
old times,
mate,” Barry replied.
“Except this time you
aren’t being a treacherous bastard.”
“Or so you hope, Barry,” Jack returned, with a grin.
Barry led the way as they continued down the corridor in the di
rection that Jack had originally been following. As they took a perpendicular bend they ran into resistance in the form of four armed guards,
and Deeley. Deeley was standing in the middle of the corridor and the
guards were on either side of him. The guards didn’t wait for the order
to fire. They immediately started to spray the corridor with bullets.
One lucky shot grazed Jack’s upper left arm. It was painful but it was
not serious. Alexa noticed that Jack was in pain.
“Are you OK?” she asked, with concern.
“Yeah. I’ll live. It is just a graze.”
They took shelter
off the main corridor as the rain
of bullets continued to spray in all directions. Without a word Barry
headed back
the way they had just come. Jack assumed that as he hadn’t said anything Barry was intending to come back. He was probably going to try
to find a way to get to Deeley and the guards from the other end of the
corridor. If he was successful then the fire from the guards would be
divided. If they had enough time the guards would run out
of bullets,
eventually, but as the whole complex was probably aware of the fire
fight it would only be a matter of time before a small army descended
on their position. Jack knew that the best he could hope for from this
encounter was to take Deeley
out. The network
of illegal weapons
would have to be broken a different way.
“Honestly? I
haven’t got a clue. I
can’t let Deeley get away. That
much I do know.”
As Jack finished talking Barry ran past them. He was carrying the
body
of the dead guard
on his back. He ran straight into the hail of
bullets, spinning as he went so that his back, and the guard, were facing the weapons fire. Jack
quickly used the distraction to attack. His
first two shots landed true as they took out two guards.
Alexa quickly
finished
off a third guard and Jack took
out the last guard to leave
Deeley standing alone, and unarmed in the corridor. For a
man who
had just lost the tactical advantage and who was just about to lose his
life, Deeley
did not look terribly concerned. Jack closed in
on Deeley
with his gun pointed at his head all the while.
“Here we are again, Jack,” Deeley said, with a smile.
Jack struck him on the side of the head with his gun and then he