Authors: Jim Eldridge
The Last Enemy (20 page)
There
has
to be something here, he thought. There should be at least
one
of the books, and more! But there was nothing. The files labelled ‘Ma . . .’ became files and packets marked ‘Mb . . .’.
Jake turned on Guy, who glared at him grimly.
‘Well?’ demanded Guy, his voice like ice.
‘I don’t know!’ said Jake helplessly. ‘There should be
something
here! I know for sure that Gareth and his people have found some of the hidden books, so they should be here!’
‘But they’re not,’ snapped Guy. He pulled the gun from his pocket. ‘It looks like you tried to con me, Jake. I warned you what would happen if you did that . . .’
‘No!’ burst out Jake, as a sudden realisation hit him. ‘Sigma!’
‘What?’ queried Guy, puzzled.
‘I’ve just remembered, that’s one of the code words they used for stuff like the hidden books. We’re in the wrong place! We should be where the S files are!’
Guy scowled.
‘I get the definite feeling you’re just playing for time,’ he grated. ‘Well, your time has run out!’
And he levelled the gun at Jake.
‘Wait!’ appealed Jake. ‘Follow me!’
And he hurried off towards the aisle with a big ‘S’ above it, all the time expecting to get a bullet in the back. Instead, he heard Guy’s footsteps hurry after him. As Jake ran, he looked again at his watch. Ten past. Twenty minutes.
Jake reached the aisle marked ‘S’ and rushed down it, scanning the shelves hurriedly, aware that if there was nothing here he had no choice but to try and throw himself at Guy and attempt to wrestle the gun off him.
He ran down the aisle, his eye running over the labels as he did, and suddenly he saw them. The familiar leather-wrapped objects, with the Malichea symbol. There were about twenty of them, all different sizes.
‘There!’ he said triumphantly.
Guy joined him.
‘Which one is The Index?’ he asked.
‘I don’t know,’ admitted Jake. ‘My guess is it would look like the
Journal
, that sort of size.’
‘So what are these?’ demanded Guy.
‘Some of them will be the books that have been found and brought here,’ said Jake.
‘OK, start opening them,’ said Guy.
Jake shook his head.
‘That’s too dangerous. Some of the books contain traps to protect the information that’s in them. The only answer is to take all of them with us and find out which one is The Index later.’
Guy looked at the packets suspiciously.
‘Say none of them are The Index?’ he queried. ‘Say these are just books with weird sciences in them?’
‘They’ll still be worth a fortune,’ urged Jake. ‘Each book will contain secrets that could be patented.’
‘I don’t want just a few of the books!’ growled Guy. ‘I want The Index. I want to know where
all
of them are! You promised me The Index, Jake!’ He shook his head. ‘I’ll take these, but that wasn’t our bargain!’
Once again he levelled the gun at Jake, and all Jake could think of was that it had all been in vain. He was going to die. Lauren was going to die.
‘No!’ he begged, and he half turned, flinching away from the bullet he knew would be coming, and as he did so he saw the brown paper package with ‘Malichea — The Index’ written on it in faded letters.
‘It’s here!’ he breathed.
‘What?’ queried Guy, suspicion still in his voice.
‘The Index!’ exclaimed Jake. He pointed a trembling finger at the package. ‘Look! There! They’ve even labelled it!’ He took the package off the shelf and held it out towards Guy, so he could see the lettering on it.
Guy snatched the package from Jake, his eyes lighting up with greed.
‘This is it!’ he said, awed. ‘The Index!’
‘Make the phone call!’ begged Jake. ‘You promised!’
The thought of the phone call jerked Guy back into the present.
‘Once we’re back outside,’ he snapped.
‘That wasn’t part of the deal!’ protested Jake desperately.
‘I’m the one with the gun, Jake,’ said Guy menacingly. ‘I say the terms of the deal.’ He gestured at the leather-bound Malichea books on the shelf. ‘Grab those and bring them with us.’
Jake scooped the Malichea books up in his arms.
‘OK,’ said Guy. ‘Let’s go.’
They ran back to the side door through which they’d come in. All the time, Jake was expecting someone to appear and gun them down, but it seemed there was only the one soldier on duty at a time actually inside the hangar. It made sense; with the high levels of security checking people coming in, it was highly unlikely the wrong people would be able to make it inside. Except today. Today, he and Guy had got in, and they had The Index. Now all they had to do was get out, and Lauren would be saved.
There were no security checks needed to get back out into the open, no ID scanners, no fingerprint checks.
‘OK,’ said Guy once they were outside. ‘Get back into the boot. The guards only saw one of us drive in, we don’t want to raise suspicion by them seeing two of us going out.’
Jake threw the Malichea books on the back seat, then opened the boot, peeled back the carpet, and climbed into the small space. Guy pulled the carpet over him.
Jake heard Guy getting into the car and the engine starting up. Then it began to move forward, stopping shortly afterwards. Jake heard the exchange between the soldiers on duty and Guy, with Guy sounding as relaxed as ever. Again, there were no fingerprint checks needed to get out, just a quick flash of the ID card Guy was carrying; and then there was the sound of mechanics as the gate swung open, and the car drove through.
The car drove for a short way, and pulled up.
Maybe he’s making that phone call? thought Jake desperately. But instead he heard the boot open and the carpet was peeled back. Guy stood there, holding the gun. They were in the same car park where they’d parked before.
‘Right, Jake. Get back in the driving seat. The guards saw you driving me in the main gate, so we’ll let them see the same thing going out. You at the wheel. Me in the back. Again, there’s no sense in having them asking awkward questions about what happened to you, and where you were dropped off.’
‘The phone call to Des,’ said Jake urgently. He showed Guy his watch. ‘It’s twenty-three minutes past. Seven minutes.’
‘It’ll be fine,’ Guy told him reassuringly. ‘In two minutes we’ll be out through the main gate. I saw a lay-by about a hundred metres away from the main gate as we drove in. It’s sheltered by trees. Pull up there. I’ll make the call from there.’
Jake jumped behind the steering wheel of the SUV. Seven minutes! He prayed they wouldn’t be held up going through the main gate.
Guy got into the back, the gun cradled in his hand. Jake guessed The Index was next to him on the seat.
‘Just remember, I’ve got the gun trained on you, just like before,’ Guy reminded him. ‘And you need me to make that call.’
‘No tricks,’ Jake assured him.
Jake drove back along the main route of the base, fighting the urge to go at speed, but desperate not to be stopped for breaking the 10 mph speed limit. They reached the main gate, and the barrier.
Once again, Jake and Guy showed their ID cards to the soldier on duty in the cabin. Jake shot a glance at the clock in the dashboard. 17:26. Four minutes to go.
Raise the barrier! he begged silently. Instead, the soldier inside the cabin turned and began to talk to his companion.
No! thought Jake. Stop talking! Raise the barrier!
The clock moved to 17:27. Three minutes to go!
Jake was about to lower his window and shout at the soldier, but before he could, the soldier pressed a button, and the barrier rose. Jake drove the SUV through.
A lay-by, Guy had said. A hundred metres from the main gate. Shielded by trees. Where was it?
Then he saw it.
He pulled the car into the lay-by and turned urgently to Guy.
‘The phone call!’
‘Of course.’ Guy nodded. ‘OK. Get out of the car.’
‘Why?’ demanded Jake.
‘Because I need you at a safe distance from me while I make the call,’ said Guy. ‘And even with a gun in my hand pointed at you, I don’t trust you, Jake. I think once I’ve made the call, you’ll try and jump me.’
‘Make the call!’ begged Jake.
‘Out of the car!’ repeated Guy.
Jake pushed open the door and stumbled out. Guy stepped out of the rear of the car, moving back from Jake, keeping a safe distance between them. He had his gun in his hand, but no phone.
‘Your phone!’ urged Jake. ‘You’ve got The Index! Make the call!’
Guy sighed and shook his head. ‘It’ll be a waste of time, Jake. They’re dead already.’
‘No!’ shouted Jake. He held his watch out towards Guy. ‘There’s still one minute!’
Guy shook his head again.
‘You really are so gullible, Jake,’ he said sadly. ‘That business of my crew at the castle waiting for a phone call from me not to kill them. Why would I be stupid enough to let them go free? They can tell everyone about me, and about what happened.’ He shook his head. ‘Sorry, Jake. She’s dead. That’s what I whispered to Des, just before we left. I told my people to kill her after we’d gone, along with your boss, Gareth Findlay-Weston, and poor old Dan, and then clear out.’
Jake felt himself tremble, and he battled to stop himself shaking.
‘You’re lying!’ he snapped.
‘Why would I lie about that?’ Guy shrugged. ‘All I was ever after was The Index. Now I’ve got it, thanks to you. As long as you and your girlfriend, and Findlay-Weston, and even Dan, are all alive, you’re a danger to me. In the old clichéd phrase, you know too much. You were always going to die.’
‘No!’ roared Jake, filled with more pain and anger than he’d ever known in his whole life. He threw himself forward at Guy, just as Guy fired. Jake felt the bullet pluck at his clothes and then felt a searing pain in his shoulder, but by then he was on Guy, grabbing for his gun-hand. The force of his rush brought both of them crashing down as Guy fired again, the bullet this time going harmlessly up into the late-afternoon sky.
Desperately, Jake held on to the wrist of Guy’s gun-hand with one hand, forcing the barrel of the gun away from him, while with his other hand he grabbed Guy around the throat, trying to choke him. Guy brought up his knee sharply into Jake’s groin, and the sudden pain made him release his hold on Guy’s throat.
Guy smashed his head forward, butting Jake full in the face, and Jake felt blood pour from his nose. Guy tried head-butting Jake again, but this time Jake jerked his head to one side, and Guy’s head thudded into Jake’s shoulder.
Jake turned his head, seizing Guy’s ear between his teeth, and bit hard, while at the same time scrabbling with his free hand for the gun, desperate to wrench it out of Guy’s hand. Guy howled with pain, and then kneed Jake in the groin again. A sick feeling surged through Jake, and for a second he lost his grip on Guy’s gun-hand. Frantically, Jake grabbed for the pistol again, but Guy was too fast, and he used the gun as a club, smashing it into Jake’s face. Another strike from the gun, this one to the side of Jake’s neck, made him reel. He was aware of Guy struggling to his feet, and then standing, pointing the gun down at him. Jake tried to struggle to his feet, but a kick from Guy struck him hard on the side of the head, and he went down again. He tried to claw his way up, tried to leap at Guy, but Guy had moved back out of range, and now the gun was trained firmly on Jake.
Guy grinned vindictively.
‘Goodbye, Jake,’ he purred. ‘It was interesting knowing you.’
A shot rang out and instinctively Jake closed his eyes . . .
Nothing happened. There was no tearing pain, no shattering thud as a bullet tore into him. Instead, Jake heard a crashing sound. He opened his eyes and saw Guy on his knees, his mouth and eyes wide open in shock. There was the sound of another shot, and then Guy fell face forward on to the ground.
Everything happened fast in the next few moments: a man completely covered from head to foot in black, and holding an automatic rifle, appeared, pointing the rifle at Jake. Jake felt his arms being grabbed and himself being lifted up off the ground, and then he was being hurried towards a large van. He was aware of another man, also dressed in black, standing nearby, his automatic rifle trained on him.
Special forces, realised Jake.
As Jake and the special forces soldier neared the van, the rear doors swung open, and Jake found himself being bundled into the back. He was shoved towards a wooden bench and pushed down on to it. Then three black-clad soldiers clambered in and sat down, one opposite and two sitting one on either side of him.
The last thing he saw was a black-clad soldier standing over Guy’s still body, then the rear doors slammed shut, and the van moved off.
‘What’s happening?’ asked Jake. ‘Where are we going?’
‘Shut up,’ grunted one of the soldiers tersely.