The Lethal Target(48)
Jake looked enquiringly at Lauren.
‘Then I guess it’s up to us,’ he said quietly.
‘Yes,’ said Lauren.
Stewart frowned.
‘What do you mean?’ he asked.
‘We deliver the book to the Russians,’ said Jake.
Chapter 26
‘Oh no!’ Stewart told them firmly. ‘We’ve had enough deaths already on this island!’
‘And there’ll be two more unless we hand the book over,’ said Jake. ‘Rona and Alec.’
‘You don’t seriously believe they’ll let them go, do you?’ Stewart challenged them.
‘They may,’ said Lauren. ‘It’s a chance we have to take. If we don’t, they’ll die for certain. And, who knows, Lemski might even keep his word and let us all go.’
Stewart shook his head.
‘You’re being naive,’ he said. ‘You’ve just told me that you’re the evidence that they were behind the death of Dougie MacClain. Which means they also killed John Gordon. They have to kill you to shut you up.’
‘Possibly,’ admitted Jake. ‘But we can’t let Alec and Rona die. We have to do something. We’ve got just over an hour before the deadline. At the moment, with this EMP operating and this whole business about diplomatic immunity and international incidents stopping any kind of official intervention, we’re the only chance Alec and Rona have.’
Stewart fell silent, thinking about it. Finally, reluctantly, he said, ‘I suppose so. But we’ll be your back-up. Me and Constable Frierson. I can handle a rifle. I’ve done the training course.’ He turned to Frierson. ‘How about you, Constable?’
Frierson nodded.
‘I’m not officially qualified, but I shot rabbits for the table when I was younger.’
‘Good enough,’ said Stewart. ‘We’ll both be there, ready to fire if things go wrong.’
‘From a distance,’ said Jake. ‘If Lemski spots you, he might kill Alec and Rona straight away.’
‘Of course from a distance,’ snapped Stewart.
‘How good are you with a rifle, Sergeant?’ Jake asked.
‘I don’t like to boast, but I did well on the police range. Top score.’
‘Could you disable a helicopter? Shoot out the rear rotor or something?’
Stewart frowned thoughtfully.
‘Possibly,’ he said.
‘OK,’ said Jake. ‘Here’s the plan. We go and carry out the exchange and get Alec and Rona free. If Lauren’s right, a helicopter will be landing immediately after, once they’ve switched off the EMP machine.’
‘Who’s Lauren?’ asked Stewart sharply.
‘I am,’ said Lauren.
‘So . . .’ began Stewart, growling.
‘Can we talk about that later?’ pressed Jake. ‘My guess is they plan to take us with them on the chopper.’
‘Not necessarily,’ said Lauren. ‘They might plan to use us as guinea pigs again. Inject that stuff into us.’
And she shuddered at the memory of the hypodermic syringe, and seeing the Russian burst into flames.
‘I doubt it,’ said Jake. ‘I reckon they’ll keep that for later. Right now the main priority for Lemski is to get off this island.’
‘They might just kill you,’ said Stewart.
Jake shook his head.
‘My hope is they’ll take us as hostages,’ he said. ‘To make sure their helicopter is given free passage and not shot down mid-flight.’
‘So you end up spending the rest of your lives in captivity in Russia?’ asked Stewart.
‘Or they kill us during the flight and throw us out somewhere over the North Sea, weighted down so our bodies don’t come back to the surface,’ said Lauren. ‘All evidence neatly vanished.’
‘Whichever, it’s important that helicopter doesn’t leave the ground,’ said Jake. ‘It’ll give time for your reinforcements to arrive. And we can get the book back.’
‘I’ve already told you, we’ve got a diplomatic situation here,’ Stewart reminded them. ‘We can’t charge in and arrest them.’
‘No, but you can free us,’ said Lauren.
‘And if they start firing, surely you’re allowed to fire back,’ added Jake.
Stewart fell silent.
‘OK,’ he said. ‘It’s a plan.’ He looked at his watch. ‘It’s just gone ten. We’ve got less than an hour. We need to get you kitted up.’
‘Kitted up?’ echoed Jake, puzzled.
‘Just in case they change their mind and shoot you while you’re standing here, waiting for the exchange to happen,’ explained Stewart. ‘Have we got any Kevlar body armour?’ he asked Frierson.