Deadly States (Seaforth Files by Nicholas P Clark Book 2) (51 page)

types of more lightly armouredvehicles were everywhere. In fact, there
were enough troops and hardware assembled in that twenty acre plot
of land to launch an invasion. Jack counted at least twelve helicopter gunships
out in the open; and the three massive hangers were no
doubt concealing many
squeeze his hand tightly
pain and worry.

“Jack, before we land there is something that you should know. I
told you that I
have been running this
operation a little bit
off the
books. Well, I am afraid I
may
have grossly
under-exaggerated just
how off the books I have been operating.”

“I’m sure your
government will
understand
once you
have
explained why you did what you did.
After all, you did find the nukes
and if that attack had not been successful then you would have been
their only agent on the ground keeping track of the weapons.”

Alexa’s expression changed to that of shame.

“I learned some time back that there are elements inside my government who wanted the weapons to get through.”
“I
don’t understand. Why would they
do something that reckless?
If the weapons got into the country then who knows what might have
happened. The terrorists
may
have set them
off
prematurely if they
thought that your forces were closing in on them. It could have been
carnage.”
“I know Jack. But that is exactly what they wanted. Carnage. The
plan I uncovered involved ceasing the weapons inside our border, then
killing all those involved in the shipment. One of the nukes was going to
be taken to a small fishing town and remotely
detonated. Thousands
would have been killed. My government was then going to tie that attack in with all of our enemies in the region and use it as an excuse to
nuke them back to the Stone Age.”
Jack grinned.
“At least all those on the Arab Street would have been proved right,”
Jack said. “In spite of all the denials, Israel has a nuclear arsenal.”
“Yes, and it is a sizeable one at that. Over
one thousand large warheads.
And each one has already been locked on to a target. The attack
on the town would have been the signal to launch all of those weap

ons, within hours. Instead of being surrounded by enemies we would
find ourselves buffered by a nuclear wilderness.”

“Christ almighty, there is no way in hell that they could think that
the world would let them get away with it. Even your strongest allies
would turn on you.
And I wouldn’t be too sure that the condemnation
would end with trade sanctions.
And what about Russia? She may be
in terminal decline but that
doesn’t
mean that she hasn’t got the will
and the ability to strike back.
And you
don’t need me to tell you that
the Kremlin is full of people who would like nothing more than to see
the complete destruction of America’s closest ally.”

There was a pause.

“And here was me thinking that Britain was our closest ally,” Alexa
said, with a smile.
“Afraid not love. Unless someone discovers massive oil reserves in
Ireland or France, poor old Blighty is no more relevant to the US than
anyone else. We are only
ever useful when they want to refuel their
submarines
or
send
out their
bombers
on long range
missions.
We
are nothing more than a glorified US base these days.
And they are in
charge of the relationship.”
“Good job you are Scottish then,” she retorted.
Jack smiled.
“So what is going to happen now?” Jack asked.
“If we are very lucky I will be arrested and put in prison for the rest
of my life and you will be deported back home.”
“And if we are unlucky?”
“We will be tortured and then shot. They will say that we died at
the scene
of the attack,
or something.
And that will
be that.
Either
way, when we set foot
on the ground we will never see
one another
again.”
Jack smiled warmly.
“Not bloody likely doll,” he said.
Jack squeezed her
hand firmly as they touched down. The door
beside them slid
open and they stepped
out.
As they were led across
the tarmac Jack began to run through all kinds of escape plans. None
of them could
ever succeed with the bulk
of
one
of the most highly
trained and
best
equipped armies in the
world
only yards away.
That

220

small, yet all important fact to one side, Jack felt motivated to at least
die trying as she was worth the effort. By the time they got to a small
building next to one of the large hangers Jack was still of a mind to try
an escape attempt, but when they entered the building all thoughts of
escape vanished.

The building was a command centre. There was a large battlefield
mapped out
the room a
everything that went
on in that room. The room was not currently
active as there were only two military strategists in uniform milling
around, but behind the desk on the platform sat two men in uniform
and one man in a navy suit. The military men were unknown but the
man in the suit was all too familiar. It was Deeley. Jack had never been
so glad to see his old commander. Surely Deeley’s presence meant that
they would get the opportunity to tell their story and save Alexa from
whatever terrible fate her masters had in store for her?

“Good to see you Jack,” Deeley said.
“Believe me, I’m a hell
of a lot happier to see you than you are to
see me,” Jack replied.

“I wouldn’t be too pleased to see me if I were you, Jack. You and
your lady friend have been on quite a little adventure. During your
little adventure you have managed to piss off a hell of a lot of the
very
easily upset governments in this region. Some of those
governments are holding British nationals for various reasons and
you have single-handedly managed to set back years of hard work on
our part in trying to get your countrymen and women sent back home
to their families.” “With all due respect sir, and by that I mean with
absolutely no respect at all, we were trying to stop thousands, if
not
millions
of
people in this country being vaporised.
And I do not
believe for one
minute that the self-serving bastards in Whitehall
could square the delayed freedom of a few people who put
themselves in harm’s way
of their own free will, with the deaths of
millions of innocent people who found themselves in this part
of the
world through an accident
of birth. And if you think for one minute
that I’m going to stand here and take a lecture on right and wrong from
you, in front of them, then
you really have misunderstood what I’m all about.”

on a table in the middle of the room, and at the back
of
large
desk
sat
on a
raised
platform,
looking
down
on
Deeley jumped to his feet and he banged on the table.
“That’s the
problem Jack,” Deeley yelled.
“I
do not
know what

you are all about. You were in a foreign country, a country who we
have been at war with for
decades and you go off the radar. You go
rogue. What are we supposed to think?
And when we get a call from
our friends here, as a
courtesy
mind you, to tell us that
one
of
our
agents has decided to involve himself in a
major
operation, and that
his thoughtless actions could lead to the start
of World War Three,
then what you are all about suddenly takes on a whole new meaning.
Seriously Jack, what the hell was going through that stupid head of
yours?”

Spittle spewed from Deeley’s mouth as he berated Jack in front of
the Israelis.
“If you want to take your dick out and start swinging it around in
front
of your friends you go right ahead, sir, but this whole situation
stinks. This woman has been fighting against
powerful forces in her
own government to try and stop this whole region from turning into a
nuclear desert and as soon as we are finished here she will be taken
away and she will never be heard from again. Our little adventure, as
you
put it,
may
have stopped the world from witnessing
one
of the
worst
crimes against
human
beings since the last war. Now, if you
have finished chewing the bollocks
off
me, perhaps you could sit the
hell down and think of a way to get her the hell out of this mess.”
Deeley stared at Jack with anger and fury written across his face.
When the moment
of intense anger
passed, Deeley
sat
down. When
he spoke again his tone was calm, but his attitude had not been swayed
one little bit.
“Jack, you
don’t seem to appreciate just how
much of a
mess you
have created here. When I got the call to come to Israel I was already
following you.
My
orders were clear.
You
know what those
orders
were.
You have seen it
happen to
many
good
men in the
past who
have fallen into the hands of the enemy.”
There was a
moment
of silence during which Jack attained complete clarity.
“I understand sir. You were sent to eliminate me. The great and the
good in London don’t like it when black and white turns a little grey.
I learned that one the hard way back in Ireland. But this is different.
Surely you can see that? For god’s sake man,
open your
mind to the
possibility that what we are telling you is the truth. If we don’t put our
foot
down here and now, if we
don’t stand up to these
people, then
how long will it be before they try again? You know what a mess Russia is in; and as that chaos continues it will become even more likely
that weapons
of mass destruction will make it into the wrong hands,
be they Islamic terrorists, or so called friendly states. If there was ever
a moment for Britain to stand up and be relevant, then that moment is
now. Please, don’t let them get away with it.”
Jack purposefully
over
egged the pudding in front
of the Israelis.
He wanted them to know that if they
ever tried anything as sinister
again then the outside world would learn all about it. But that threat
only stood if Jack made it back home and Deeley looked as if he was
not yet convinced about that.
“Jack, in spite of the fact that you have acted in an entirely
outrageous fashion, over the last few days, and here and now in particular,
our guests have agreed to allow me to take you back home under military guard. They do not want to press charges, though the service back
home still has to make a judgement
on that
one. I would suggest that
you say
nothing
more,
except to thank the nice gentlemen here for
their kindness. Then you and I can get on a plane and after a thorough
debrief back in London we can decide on your future and whether or
not that future involves Her
Majesty’s secret services. So be a
good
chap, shut the fuck up, and let’s put this whole sorry
mess behind us.
What do you say?”
“I say that unless
Alexa is going to be on that plane back to England, you can shove your offer up your arse.”
Deeley
looked at the
men
sitting
beside
him and
he shook
his
head. He then turned to Jack once again.
“You see Jack, it is crap like that which makes me think that you
have been compromised.
You know that’s not
how the world works.
You know that the very fact you are being allowed to go back home
in the comfort
of
military transport, and not in a
body
bag in the
hold of that plane, is a miracle. But believe me, if you insist on being a
pain in the arse I will be left with no choice but to put a bullet in you.