First Strike (2 page)

They sat in the corner of the hospital caf? Visiting time was over for the evening and the place was quiet. Even so, John Chance and Hilary Ardman's conversation was barely louder than a whisper.

Rich and Jade listened, but said nothing. Rich was eating biscuits. Jade had an unopened carton of orange juice in front of her. Chance was on his third black coffee and Ardman had a stainless-steel pot of tea that he seemed unimpressed with.

Ardman was holding the note Ralph had sent over to Chance with the champagne. “I'll get this to the forensics people; they might be able to tell us something. Where the paper was made, how long ago it was written, if it's actually Ralph's handwriting. Something.”

“We can find all that out, but I'm not sure it will help. What we really need to know what is it
means
,” Chance pointed out.

“Yes.” Ardman sniffed. “He could have been more helpful.”

“He was expecting to speak to me,” said Chance.

“So why send the note?” Jade asked. “Why not just come over and chat?”

“Perhaps he felt guilty about what happened last time we met,” said Rich.

“Guilty—Ralph?” Chance shook his head. “Yes, I know he set us up against the Mafia, and planted a bomb on you, Rich. But he won't have any regrets about that. His overriding concern is always for himself and how he can turn a profit. So it's more likely the champagne was a peace offering. He wanted to make sure I'd hear him out, not punch him out.”

“It was a risk,” Ardman said. He opened the lid of his teapot and poked at the teabag inside with a spoon. “He's a wanted man in this country, remember. Oh, he can slip in and out on a false passport easily enough, but making contact with someone who'd recognise him is a big risk. He has no reason to think you'd be friendly towards him. Yet he wanted to tell you something. And
not over the phone, but in person.”

“And he got shot,” Rich added.

“Which suggests whatever he had to say was important.” Ardman gave up on the teapot and read the note again. “I don't care for his choice of the word
nuclear
.”

“He might not mean it literally,” said Chance.

“It's a shame we can't ask him yet.”

“How's he doing?” Rich asked. The doctors had been vague when they had spoken to them, but he thought they might have been more open with Ardman.

“Not good,” Ardman said. “They've operated, as you know, and removed the bullet from his lung, but he's still in a coma. He may come out of it in the next day or two. Or the next month or so. Or never.”

“So the note really is all we have,” said Jade.

“Well, we do have a good idea of who the sniper was,” Chance pointed out.

“I'd almost rather we didn't.” Ardman leaned back in his chair as he considered. “Another false passport job, I suspect. I really must talk to the borders and immigration people about how she got here undetected. But a more pressing question is, why does Colonel Shu, one of the most wanted war criminals in the world, go to the trouble
and expense of coming to an out-of-town diner in deepest, darkest Gloucestershire to kill a gentleman—I use the term loosely—who runs one of the most successful crime syndicates in Eastern Europe?”

“And why do it just as the province she's trying to liberate is being invaded by the Chinese?” Rich added.

Ardman frowned. “Not
invaded
, please. It is a Chinese province; they're just asserting their rule.”

“Is she working for this Marshal Wieng?” Jade asked.

“Almost certainly,” her father told them. “They've fought together since the rebellion really got going in the 1990s. Not that Wiengwei was ever quiet. Marshal Wieng claims to be a direct descendent of the original Emperor Wieng Tso—an equally war-like man who founded the province, and gave his name to it.”

“And
is
he a descendent?” asked Rich.

“Doesn't matter,” Ardman said. “The point is that the claim has focused the rebels and garnered them more support. Whether it's true or not won't make a difference now. After the Red Army rooted out most of the rebels in 1998, the province has been kept under tight control. But the Chinese took their eye off the ball rather; distracted by earthquakes and Olympics, among other things. That gave Marshal Wieng the opportunity
to come out of hiding and start gathering new support.”

“Does this Marshal Wieng have nukes?” Rich asked. “Could that be what Ralph meant?”

“The Chinese used to have a couple of strategic missile bases in the province,” Ardman said, “but nowhere near the areas where the rebels are active. The bases are still there, but the missiles were withdrawn and decommissioned back in the eighties.”

“I guess we just have to hope that Ralph pulls through,” said Chance.

“He's a rogue,” Ardman said thoughtfully. “But you know I do actually quite like the man.”

“Me too,” Rich agreed. “Even if he did plant a bomb on me.”

“He helped us in Krejikistan,” said Jade. “And he was being threatened by the Mafia last time we met, so he didn't have much choice.”

They sat in silence for a while. Then Ardman said: “Oh, they found the car, by the way. Abandoned and torched. Not much hope we'll learn anything there.” He stood up. “I'd better be getting back to the office. The doctors here know to call me immediately if there's any change and I'll let you know at once. But I expect you'll be in Washington before anything happens.”

“It'll give us something to tell the President,” Rich joked.

Rich, Jade and their father had been invited to a special reception at the White House. It was a way for the President to thank them for saving his life after some trouble in the Middle East a few weeks previously. Rich had hoped for a medal, but since the whole incident was being kept secret, a White House reception was the next best thing.

“We should be getting back too,” said Chance to the twins.

“There's a little shop here,” said Jade. “I think I'll take Ralph some flowers before we go.”

“He won't see them,” Rich told her.

“He will when he wakes up. And he might smell them.”

“I'll walk you back to your car,” Chance told Ardman. “Meet me at the main entrance,” he said to Rich and Jade.

“I'll come with you,” Rich told his dad.

“You'll go with Jade.”

“Oh right—you're doing secret talk. No kids allowed, I get it.”

Chance smiled. “Don't let your sister spend too much on the flowers.”

It seemed miles back to Ralph's private room. Jade and Rich had been allowed only a minute in there before. Just long enough to see that Ralph appeared to be sleeping peacefully. But the constant bleep of a heart monitor and the drips and wires attached to Ralph suggested otherwise.

The plain-clothes police officer sitting outside the door had smiled sympathetically at them when they left. But now his chair was empty.

“I thought he was supposed to be on guard all the time?” said Rich.

Jade had opted for an arrangement that came in its own vase, and had to peer round the enormous bouquet to see what he meant.

“Maybe he's checking on Ralph.”

There was a small, round window set high in the door. Rich looked through, and saw that there was someone in the room. A female doctor or nurse in her white coat was checking the monitoring equipment.

“He's not in there.”

The flowers brushed against Rich's cheek as Jade joined him at the window.

“He's just nipped off to the loo or to get a coffee or something while the doctor's here.”

Jade didn't bother to knock. She just opened the door and walked in.

Rich was right behind her. Jade looked round for somewhere to put down the vase of flowers, but Rich was facing the doctor as she turned. He had barely registered her black hair before, but as she turned he saw the slight bulge under the back of her coat where the long plait hung down. And he saw the mismatched eyes that stared at him in anger—one green and one blue.

Without thinking, Rich grabbed the vase from Jade, and hurled it across the room.

The vase struck the woman on the chest. She staggered back, knocking into the heart monitor. The vase shattered on the floor and the flowers were strewn across the bed.

Colonel Shu advanced towards them, holding a scalpel. Jade and Rich backed away. Rich's foot caught on something lying behind him. He looked down quickly to see what it was and saw the plain-clothes police guard—unconscious.

Colonel Shu turned away, just long enough to slice through the tubes and wires keeping Ralph alive. Then she advanced on the twins again.

Rich stepped over the policeman and edged round the far side of the bed. Ralph's breathing was already
becoming ragged and laboured. Without taking his eyes off Colonel Shu, Rich lunged for the emergency pull-cord at the head of the bed.

In the distance, a buzzer sounded.

Shu gave a grunt of anger and ran for the door. She swiped the scalpel at Jade as she passed, but Jade easily avoided it—and as she stepped back, Jade kicked out. Her foot connected with Shu's wrist and the scalpel spun away, clattering to the floor.

With another shout of anger, Shu turned and ran.

“Get help,” Jade yelled at Rich. “Tell them what happened.”

“Where are
you
going?”

“After her.”

Rich opened his mouth to protest, but Jade was gone.

Then a hand seized Rich's arm.

Jade was in time to see Colonel Shu disappear round the corner at the end of the corridor, her white coat billowing behind her as she ran. Jade set off in pursuit.

Round the corner, the corridor continued past several wards and store rooms. A white coat lay discarded on the floor, but Jade could see the woman's distinctive black pigtail swinging behind her as she ran. There were signs hanging from the ceiling. Colonel Shu was heading for X-Ray, A&E, and the Main Exit.

There was a man mopping the floor. Colonel Shu didn't even slow down; she shoved the man aside and kept running. The mop bucket went flying, spilling grey water across the floor.

“Sorry,” said Jade to the man, as she ran past without
helping him up. Her feet were skidding on the slippery wet floor. She slid, and almost fell, but managed to keep going. As soon as she was sure of her balance, she pulled her mobile out of her pocket.

It was switched off. She'd done that when she came into the hospital. It seemed to take forever to turn back on again. As soon as she'd entered her PIN and the handset unlocked, the phone rang.

“Dad?”

“Rich told me,” her father's voice said at once. “Where's Shu headed?”

“Trying to get out through Accident and Emergency.”

“I'm on it.” The phone went dead.

“Yeah,” said Jade, stuffing it back in her pocket. “So am I.”

There were double doors made of heavy plastic hanging across the end of the corridor. They swung shut behind Shu, their weight almost knocking Jade over as she pushed through.

Shu was already on the other side of the Accident and Emergency waiting area. An elderly woman on crutches was coming through the door. She lurched to one side, somehow remaining upright, as Shu charged past. Then she lost her balance and began to fall. A crutch clattered to the floor.

Jade caught the woman as she fell. She helped her get her balance and picked up her crutch.

“Thank you,” the old woman spluttered nervously.

“No problem,” Jade told her. “Got to dash.”

Through the main doors. Jade skidded to a halt in the glare of the floodlights that illuminated the front of the hospital. A car park stretched away into shadows. Two paramedics were lifting a wheeled stretcher out of the back of an ambulance; its blue lights still flashing. There was no sign of Colonel Shu.

Then the ambulance began to pull away, its back doors flapping. One caught a paramedic on the shoulder as the ambulance moved. He gave a startled yell.

“Who's driving?” the other paramedic shouted in surprise.

Then both were leaping aside, pulling the stretcher out of the way as a car screeched up where the ambulance had just been. It was a silver-grey BMW. The passenger window was open. Through it, Jade could see her dad at the wheel.

Jade wrenched open the door and threw herself into the car.

“Which way?” Chance asked.

Jade pointed. “Follow that ambulance!”

Ralph seemed to be unconscious again. He'd given Rich the fright of his life when he sat up and grabbed Rich's arm.

Then the nurses had arrived and sorted out the drips and equipment with an urgent efficiency. Rich left them to it, turning on his mobile phone and calling Chance to warn him about Colonel Shu and tell him Jade was in pursuit.

When he returned to the room, the nurses had finished and a doctor was checking Ralph's vital signs.

“No serious harm done,” he assured Rich. “Lucky we weren't a few minutes later, though.”

The plain-clothes policeman was slumped in a chair while a nurse dabbed at his bruised head.

Rich cleared up the flowers scattered across the bed, and a nurse gave him a dustpan so he could sweep up the glass. No one said anything, but he got the impression they were more annoyed with him and Jade for making a mess than the woman who had tried to murder their patient.

When he was done, and the policeman had staggered off to make his report, Rich sat down in the visitor's chair beside the bed.

It took him several moments to realise that Ralph's eyes were wide open, and he was looking straight at Rich.

“You're awake,” said Rich, startled. “You're OK. I'll get someone.”

Ralph's expression didn't change. His eyes were wide and unfocused.

“You
are
OK?” said Rich. He waved his hand in front of Ralph's face. There was no change. Nothing to indicate that Ralph even knew he was there. Until Ralph spoke.

“Flown…” His voice was hoarse and quiet. Rich leaned closer to hear. “Sorry? What do you mean?”

Ralph blinked. His face creased into a frown. Suddenly he was staring right at Rich—really staring at him, focused and alert.

“Tell your father. Tell Ardman.” Every word seemed forced out of him.

“Tell them what? That you're awake?”

“If the birds have flown, they will try for the Football.” Ralph took a rasping breath of air. “That is what they are planning,” he gasped.

Then he slumped back, and his eyes closed.

The heart monitor bleeped forlornly as Ralph slept and Rich wondered what he could have meant.

With its back doors still banging and blue lights flashing as it raced through the evening traffic, the ambulance was easy to follow. Until Colonel Shu realised she was being chased and turned off the emergency lights.

Traffic was moving slowly through the busy town centre. As soon as the ambulance lights went off, Chance put his hand on the horn and his foot on the accelerator. He swung the powerful BMW on to the pavement, sending people scattering. Half on the road, half on the pavement, the car roared towards the ambulance making slow progress further ahead.

But before they reached it, the ambulance lights came on again. The siren cut through the evening, and traffic pulled over to let the ambulance through.

The BMW followed in its wake—cutting through the gaps in the traffic before the vehicles had time to move back into the middle of the road.

Jade closed her eyes as they sped through a red light. A car that had braked hard for the ambulance had to do so again. The car behind it slammed into the rear and both cars slewed across the junction. Chance swerved round them, and carried on as if nothing had happened. From behind came the sound of more breaking glass.

Then the sound of more sirens.

“Police,” said Chance, glancing in the rear-view mirror. “Just what we don't need.”

He slammed the car down a gear to get more power as they raced uphill, along a narrow side street. In front of them the ambulance was spilling equipment and supplies out of its back doors. A car coming the other way caught a glancing blow and spun off on to the pavement, then scraped down the wall of an office block.

The ambulance turned out of the street on to another main road—a dual carriageway. Without hesitation, Chance followed.

“Wrong way!” Jade yelled as the traffic veered off in all directions like the current of a river flowing round a rock.

A huge container lorry was sounding its horn. The ambulance sirens were wailing. The lorry swung across into another lane as it headed towards the ambulance. But the ambulance moved the same way as Colonel Shu tried to avoid the lorry.

The two vehicles collided head-on. The front of the lorry shot up into the air, then crashed down. It landed half across the font of the ambulance. The back of the lorry tilted, the weight of the container dragging it over on to its side.

Chance grabbed the handbrake and the BMW slid
sideways, skidding to a halt right in front of the lorry now sliding sideways towards it.

Jade threw her hands up in front of her face.

Chance rammed the car into gear. The tyres spun, then gripped.

The BMW shot across the road, out of the way of the sliding lorry.

Even before it had stopped, Chance had the door open and was out, running for the half-crushed ambulance. Vehicles skidded to a halt. A police car screeched up beside the ambulance. Uniformed men leaped out and ran to intercept Chance, but he shook them off, and kept running.

By the time Jade got to the ambulance, Chance was waving his identity card at the police and shouting at them to organise a search and close off the area.

The ambulance was empty. Colonel Shu had escaped.

“The local police are not terribly happy,” Ardman said.

John Chance and the twins were sitting in Ardman's London office the next morning.

“What are they complaining about?” Rich asked.

Ardman raised an eyebrow. “Well, there's the fact that someone was shot in a restaurant by a renegade Chinese war criminal.”

“Oh, right.”

“And one of their men was later knocked unconscious by the same renegade war criminal.”

“I get the point,” said Rich quickly.

But Ardman hadn't finished. He checked a sheet of paper in front of him. “Fourteen cars damaged. A container lorry written off and its cargo destroyed. Television sets apparently. Out of 412 TVs, three survived the crash. Then there's the ambulance. And the hospital equipment Colonel Shu sabotaged. Various driving offences we have told them to drop—including speeding, and going the wrong way down a major dual carriageway. Damage to crash barriers. An old lady who saw the collision had a suspected heart attack, though they do admit that turned out to be indigestion.” He paused to peer at the bottom of the sheet. “Oh, and a hospital cleaner sustained a minor bruise on his arm and is threatening to sue.”

“Sorry I asked,” Rich muttered.

“Having said that,” Ardman told them, “I'm more concerned that you let Colonel Shu escape.”

“We hardly
let
her escape,” Jade told him.

Ardman ignored her. “The second attempt on Ralph's life confirms that his cryptic warning is to be taken
seriously. From what his note said, we have to assume there's a nuclear angle.”

“He mentioned football as well,” said Rich. He'd told the others Ralph's cryptic message—
if the birds have flown, they'll try for the Football
.

Ardman glared. “Yes, and I don't think he was warning us there might be trouble at the European cup final.”

“But you do think he's discovered a nuclear threat?” Chance asked quickly before either of his children could respond.

“I do. And there is obviously a connection with the trouble in Wiengwei.”

“Do they have nukes?” Rich wondered.

“Not officially. The rebels certainly don't. But as I told you, the Chinese army used to have a nuclear base in the province. It was decommissioned as part of the wider Strategic Arms Limitation agreements over twenty years ago. But there may be a link.”

“Worth checking,” said Chance. “We need to send someone to Wiengwei to find out whether there's any chance the rebels have acquired a nuclear capability.”

Ardman leaned back in his chair and for the first time in the meeting, he smiled. “Just what I thought. In fact, I've decided to send my best man. Right away.”

There was silence for a moment.

“But, that's Dad.” Jade pointed out.

“We're off to the White House in a couple of days,” Rich added.

“To see the President,” Jade continued. “You promised. And Dad promised.”

Ardman held up his hands for silence. “We have an excellent contact in Wiengwei. A friend of Ralph's in fact, so he's keen to help. And apparently Ralph was there recently organising some deal or other, so that's another connection. One that might explain how he found out whatever it is that he found out. All you need to do,” he told Chance, “is check in with this man on the way. The flights are arranged.”

“Flights?” said Chance.

“It's on the way to Washington. Sort of. Well, given your schedule, it'll have to be. It also gets all three of you well away from Colonel Shu. She may know who you are now, and Goddard's team can track her down while you're well out of the way.”

“Wait a minute,” said Rich. “What do you mean,
all three
? You don't expect me and Jade to go to Wiengwei as well, do you?”

“I'm afraid so,” said Ardman. “I really can't afford to
organise two flights to the same place. Not with over 400 televisions to pay for suddenly. You'll leave the spying to your dad, of course.” He raised his eyebrows, as if he didn't rate the chances of that.

“But we still get to go to the White House reception, right?” Jade wanted to be sure. “All of us?”

“Of course. You can stop off in Wiengwei to refuel, have a quick chat with our friend Mr Chang, and be in Washington in good time for the White House reception. You should have a day or two to spare to see the sights. If it all goes smoothly.”

“Any reason why it shouldn't?” Chance asked.

Ardman smiled. “None at all.”

“Terrific,” Jade muttered.