Luc: A Spy Thriller (6 page)

‘I’m beginning to believe it.’

Frank insisted on paying for all the drinks, no matter how much I protested, and we walked down to the jetty where Lucia and Frank’s boat was berthed. The front was less busy, now that no water taxi was on the horizon.

Frank tried to get the engine going as we stepped aboard. Three, four times, each time misfiring. I started to feel queasy. The water taxi was already almost out of sight. It just needed this boat to break down on us and I could kiss goodbye to following the clients.

On the ninth attempt the engine coughed into life. It spluttered and then gave the steady roar.

Relief flooded through me.

‘Well done, Frank,’ I said.

‘Just needed the right touch,’ he said.

I sat back alongside Lucia and we roared off.

‘Lucia was telling me you married a local girl, Frank,’ I said a little while later.

Frank nodded. ‘Oh yeah. The sweetest. Marigold Hartley, as was. Forty-eight years in June. She doesn’t like fishing, does she?’ he said, looking at Lucia.

Lucia shook her head and smiled. ‘Gran doesn’t like the fish wriggling on the hooks. She doesn’t like the lures wriggling on the hooks, either.’

‘But she’s strong in other ways.’

‘Oh yes,’ Lucia agreed.

‘Were you angling for being invited for a meal?’ Frank asked me.

‘Was I what?’ I said, almost laughing.

We were slowly gaining on the water taxi. I thought I could see the thug, sitting at the back of the boat with the clients. In the far distance, Belize City was just becoming visible.

‘Would you like Mr Philip to come to dinner, Lucia?’

Lucia looked at her granddad and smiled with defiance. ‘That’s up to you and Gran, isn’t it?’

We all suddenly looked to the front at the same time.

In the far distance, on land, a huge cloud of what looked like dust or smoke, spread up and outwards.

About six seconds later we heard the sound of an almighty explosion.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Lucia and Frank’s eyes were wide. They stared straight ahead, the colour draining from their faces.

I could hear gasps coming from the water taxi. People were now rushing to the front of the boat to see what had happened. Curiously, though, not Toledo or the clients. They seemed to be taking it calmly. Only ambling slowly to the middle of the boat.

Lucia, her mouth open in shock, looked between me and Frank. ‘What was that?’ she asked.

‘Some sort of explosion,’ Frank said.

I thought I could see Lucia beginning to shake. I put my arm around her. Tried to comfort her as best I could.

Belize City was their home. And it just looked as if a massive bomb had gone off in it.

My mobile vibrated and I pulled it from my shirt pocket. It was Charlie.

‘I saw it,’ I said into the phone.

‘The explosion? Yes, we’re assessing that. But this is about something else. It’s Steenhoek. He found the device.’

I went cold.

I looked across to the water taxi. I could see the client with the close-cropped hair had also taken a call on his mobile. His back suddenly straightened. He started looking around. He said something to the other two. He looked around again. Looked out at the water. Scanned the horizon. His gaze continued round. I lowered my head. I saw him catch sight of our little boat. I lowered my head still further, so my whole face was obscured by my hat.

I stared down at my shoes for a full minute.

When I looked up, the client was still looking at us.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

The water taxi was pulling into harbour. The wiry man lowered the boarding ramp and the passengers began to disembark. There was a lot of shouting. People were being told to stay close to the marina for now. A middle-aged woman was speaking into a walkie-talkie and waving her hands to gain the attention of the passengers.

Our boat had still to reach the marina. I watched as Toledo and the clients stepped off the water taxi. They ignored the middle-aged woman and walked around to where our boat would pull in. They stopped and looked out at us.

‘We can’t stop here,’ I said, motioning Frank away from the controls.

‘What?’ he said. ‘Of course we can.’

‘We have to see if we can help,’ Lucia said.

I slowed the boat. The clients were still looking at us.

‘Okay, you two get out of sight,’ I said.

‘What?’ Lucia.

‘Just trust me, please. You need to get out of sight.’

I steered the boat away to the right. Accelerated parallel to the harbour.

‘Is there another marina we can go to?’ I asked.

‘Would you kindly tell me what’s going on?’ Frank asked.

‘Later, Frank. I will. For now, we need to move.’

‘Well you’re going in the wrong direction,’ he said. ‘You want to head down the coast.’

I swung the boat round, one eighty degrees, spraying wash as we turned, and accelerated back down the coast. I brought my mobile phone out as we approached the marina again. Toledo and the client with the close-cropped hair were now walking up the front, Toledo on his mobile phone, probably talking to Steenhoek. The other client, the dark-skinned man with the red pocket handkerchief, was still where he had been, looking out at us. Although now he too was talking to someone on his mobile phone. His eyes bored into us, bored into me.

We passed the marina and the water taxi and continued south. I called the number for Charlie.

‘Where?’ I asked Frank.

‘It’s about three or four miles.’

‘Sounds good. Keep your head down. Charlie,’ I said into the phone. ‘I’ll need the car. I’ve got two friends.’

‘It’s a small jetty,’ Frank said. ‘Hasn’t been in use for a while. Are you anything to do with the bomb?’

‘Bomb?’ Lucia looked startled.

‘It looked like a bomb to me,’ Frank said, keeping his eyes on me.

‘A small jetty, three or four miles south of the Swing Bridge,’ I said to Charlie.

‘Got it.’

I hung up. ‘I had nothing to do with that explosion,’ I said. ‘But I believe those men on the bank who were looking at us may have had something to do with it. That’s why I don’t want them to see you.’

‘Who are they?’ Frank asked.

‘I don’t know.’

‘They seem to know you.’

‘I work in a security capacity. I believe they murdered one of my colleagues.’

‘You said you worked in sales.’

‘Look, I’m sorry.’

‘And you decided to get my granddaughter involved in all this?’

‘It’s escalated. I’m sorry about that. I will try to get you to safety. I just need you to do what I say.’

‘You’re the one who got us involved in this.’

‘I didn’t plant the bomb. I’m not the one who’s a threat to you or your country. But currently, and for some reason I’ve yet to find out, some people are. Help me out here, Frank.’

We bounced through the water for a while, none of us speaking. The only sounds being the crash of waves as we sped along. Then Frank stood. He pointed over to the right. ‘Beyond those trees,’ he said. ‘You’ll see the jetty. We can go in there.’

I slowed the boat and steered it in towards the dilapidated jetty. Overhanging branches rested onto the broken wooden slats.

Lucia jumped out onto the jetty and threw the rope over a wooden stump, tying it securely.

‘A car’s going to pick us up,’ I told them. ‘It’ll take us to a safe house.’

We didn’t have long to wait. Charlie would’ve used the GPS from my phone for the precise location.

We heard an approaching engine. When I could see it was definitely our vehicle, we stepped out of the trees. I recognised Ned driving. A short pit bull of a man, with dark curly hair. I’d heard about Ned. Heard he was a supremely skilled driver who could get a car out of any situation. I was glad to see him.

He swiftly turned the car, a black Nissan X-trail, around and reversed back to us. He got out and opened the back door. I ushered Lucia and Frank inside.

‘How’s the traffic?’ I asked Ned.

‘Fire engines and BERT’s because of the explosion. Don’t worry.’ Meaning he knew the quick way.

He turned to get back in the driver’s seat as I turned to go behind the car.

I suddenly heard another engine, it was nearby and getting closer, and Ned pulled the Glock 9mm from his holster and he shouted out, ‘Company.’ I called out to Lucia and Frank to get down. They hugged each other and cowered as low as they could go and then Ned smashed the back of his head on the metal door frame. His body spasmed; then again; and again. His body slumped forward to the ground and I raced around the car and saw the four exit wounds in his head and back and I heard some screams and realised they were coming from Lucia and I told Lucia and Frank to stay down as a mud-splattered red Jeep tore towards us.

I picked up Ned’s fallen Glock and with one knee in the mud I returned fire and the Jeep swerved away to the side.

I leaped over Ned’s body and got in the driver’s seat. I slammed the door shut, the engine was still running and I depressed the clutch and put it in first and pressed down on the accelerator and the tyres bit into the wet ground. They eventually got proper traction and more bullets now slammed into the windscreen, shattering it, glass spraying the inside of the car and I snapped my head away to protect my eyes and we tore off, leaving Ned’s body behind. There were two dark-skinned men inside the Jeep firing semi-automatics at us and I thrust the Glock out of the driver’s window and fired two rounds. I shouted behind me: ‘Get your seat belts on, now.
Now
.’ I accelerated hard and swung the wheel around, pointing the car straight at the Jeep, and the two men’s faces immediately opened in surprise and I fired the Glock through the now open windscreen. Tore the flesh out of one of the men’s shoulders. The next shot got him in the cheek and his head slammed backwards and I shouted, ‘Brace yourselves,’ and I did just that as it was going to be a massive impact. Our vehicle smashed directly into the front of the Jeep and we bolted forward, jammed against the seatbelts, the shockwaves going right through us, the sound loud and crunching, and I saw both men in the other vehicle flung back like dolls. I punched the seatbelt button and I was out of the car, striding round to the Jeep’s driver’s door, gun pointing in front of me. One of them was dead, I knew that.

I could see through the passenger window the other man trying to push the dead man off him. I flung the passenger door open and pointed the Glock at him.

‘Don’t move,’ I said.

He looked warily up at me. Then he went for his gun. I grabbed his hand, shot a bullet through his palm. After a couple of seconds he let out a few screams.

‘Listen to what I say. Do not move.’

I grabbed both of their guns. They both had Browning 9mms, and I shoved one down my belt and threw the other into the undergrowth.

I looked back at him. He was doing his best to control the pain he must be feeling. Blood was pouring from the wound, making little slapping sounds on the carpeted floor of the Jeep.

‘Who are you?’ I asked him.

He stared straight ahead of him, the sides of his mouth curved downward and he was breathing heavily through his nose, sucking up the pain.

‘Who are you? Who is it you are working for? Tell me and I’ll see to the hand.’

He said nothing, stared straight ahead. For him, I didn’t exist. I wasn’t there.

With the Glock pointing at his head I began rifling through his pockets. He did not like this and started lashing out at me. I’d had enough and I brought the butt of the gun down on his head. He slumped to his right, over the crumpled body of the dead man.

I went through his pockets again. Found a brown leather wallet.

I glanced up through the shattered windscreen. Saw the Nissan X-Trail rammed up against us, like some dreadful, destructive kiss. Saw Lucia and Frank huddled together in the back, Lucia sobbing. I had to get this done quickly. Get them back to a safe place.

I grabbed the unconscious man’s shirt and pulled him back to an upright position. I leaned over him and went through the pockets of the dead man. The smell of these two men’s sweat was strong. The dead man had a mobile phone in his shirt pocket, which I took. I opened the glove box. It was empty apart from a rag and a warm can of unopened Pepsi. I looked in the back of the Jeep. Nothing.

I got back in the Nissan.

‘Everyone okay?’ I asked. I threw the mobile phone and wallet onto the passenger seat. I didn’t get a reply so I looked behind me and two pairs of scared, angry, shocked eyes stared back at me. This was no time to get into a discussion, so I started the Nissan up and reversed back, got out and opened the boot.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

We threaded through dusty chalk roads until we got into Belize City proper. The Nissan X-trail’s front end was a mess, but despite some handling issues, it still sort of went forwards and backwards and round corners, and that was all it needed to do.