Adrian Magson - Retribution

‘What have we got?’ he asked. He clearly knew enough about the workings of officialdom to preserve a sense of courtesy. He also needed to know what Harry had found out while he’d been here, to help his own investigations about this business. Then he could kick the Brit’s ass off the area with a clear conscience.

Harry told him in simple and polite terms. ‘Your man Lloyd was lying up right here. The killer must have approached from the rear and killed him where he lay.’

The colonel was sceptical. ‘You saying he didn’t hear the killer coming? I find that hard to believe; he was a highly trained soldier.’

‘I’m sure he was,’ Harry agreed. ‘But he would have been concentrating on his forward area. If he was as good as you and Sergeant Pendry say, he probably knew where Pendry was anyway, so why look anywhere else?’

‘Have you ever been in a live situation, mister?’ the young lieutenant demanded. He was as rigid as a tent-pole and looked tough and fit. But his eyes flickered too easily towards the colonel. Harry recognized the type: he was aiming at higher things, a future staffer in the making.

‘Several times, actually, Lieutenant,’ Harry replied. ‘Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Colombia, Africa and Kosovo. I’ve also been on a Special Forces sniper course, so I know what it’s like for a young trooper trying to score against the best there is.’

‘Thank you, Lieutenant,’ the colonel muttered briskly. ‘I think we can take it Mr Tate knows what he’s at.’ He said to Harry, ‘If you’ll excuse me, I have to get back and meet our public relations boys.’

‘The press have heard already?’

The colonel nodded, his expression sour. ‘Unfortunately, there are people with nothing better to do than to spend their time monitoring military and police communication channels. Someone on the base mentioned the manner of Lloyd’s death and the world at large now knows we’ve lost a fine young soldier with his throat cut. No way can this be explained as a training accident.’ He began to turn away then paused. ‘I’ll be in my office if you want to share any ideas you might have.’

‘Ideas?’

The blue eyes settled on him. ‘Yes. How and why can a tough, fit young Ranger in the middle of a US Army training ground get his throat cut without fighting back?’

‘He didn’t fight because he couldn’t.’ Harry pointed at twin depressions each side of the body. ‘The killer jumped on his back, pinning him face down. Caught in that position, Lloyd didn’t stand a chance.’

The colonel flinched at such a stark summary, but didn’t argue. ‘But why him? And why does your presence here make the back of my neck itch?’

Harry wanted to tell him, but couldn’t. He wouldn’t understand; the worlds of elite fighting troops like the Rangers and the murkier one in which Harry moved were too far apart. ‘All I can say is,’ he said finally, ‘I believe it was a case of mistaken identity.’

The officer nodded curtly and walked away through the trees, closely followed by the lieutenant and the two escorts.

Harry glanced at Pendry. ‘It was meant to be you, Carl,’ he told him. It was brutal but necessary, if only to snap Pendry out of his anger and make him aware of his own safety. ‘If it was our killer, and not some lunatic with a personal grudge against Lloyd, he’ll be back for another try.’

‘I know.’ Pendry looked across at the body under the groundsheet, his jaw working furiously. ‘But why kill the kid? He didn’t have no enemies — it was pointless.’

‘Not to the killer.’

‘What?’

‘Lloyd might have got a look at him. He wouldn’t have wanted to risk having his description broadcast, especially in an area surrounded by security patrols. Anyway, if it was the same man who killed Carvalho and the others, Lloyd would have been no match.’

‘But the way Lloyd’s lying,’ Pendry argued. ‘He was moving forward. He didn’t look like he even saw him.’

‘He’s not facing the right way, though.’

‘What?’ Pendry checked the body position again, then looked towards the juniper bush. The direction Lloyd was facing was off by a good forty-five degrees. ‘I don’t get it.’

‘My guess is he crossed the killer’s trail or saw him and followed to see what he was up to. Then the killer turned the tables.’

‘That means he’s combat trained. Christ, who is this guy?’

‘A professional. One who isn’t afraid of penetrating a top military base to get what he’s after.’

One of the MPs laying out the white tape called out to them. He was fifty yards away, pointing into some brushwood. They hurried across and looked down. A large knife with a roughened bone handle and a serrated back ridge was lying on the ground.

The blade was red in blood.

‘A hunting knife,’ Pendry said. ‘He must have dropped it when he took off through the bushes.’

Harry looked at the MP. ‘I suggest you bag that carefully and get it to the forensics people,’ he said. ‘This might be the only evidence we get.’

The policeman nodded and began talking urgently into his radio. Pendry squatted and examined the knife where it lay.

‘It’s just a knife,’ he said. ‘Around here you’ll find a thousand just like it.’

‘Maybe,’ said Harry. ‘But there might be prints.’

Pendry shook his head and stood up. ‘What do we do now?’

‘We let the investigation team do their thing. He may have left more evidence behind. If so, they’ll find it.’ He looked up at the helicopter circling overhead a couple of hundred yards away, the down-draught swaying the branches of the trees.

Half a mile away, under cover of a line of scrubby bushes, Kassim watched through binoculars as the activity continued around the site where he had killed the American soldier. He could not see the black Ranger he had come looking for, but he knew he was there somewhere. Unfortunately, he was now untouchable, surrounded by heavily armed military personnel.

He regretted losing the knife, which had been ripped from his hand by a branch whipping back against his thumb. No doubt it would soon be picked up by the investigators and subjected to careful examination. It was inconvenient but hardly a disaster; he had no record in the United States, so any traces on the weapon would lead nowhere.

Now he had to get away from here and get cleaned up. There would be other chances to deal with Pendry, but not right now. Better to move on and come back another time. There was also the presence of the Englishman, Tate. He too would be fully alert, and any chance he had of approaching him was now gone.

He was thinking about money. He was going to have to call on the travel agent, Remzi, again, before he left America. He had enough cash for his immediate needs and his tickets, but the payment for the car had been more than he’d anticipated. After the cab driver had dropped him off the night before near a tired-looking backstreet workshop, he had found himself under scrutiny from three large, silent men in grubby overalls. A fourth man was using an oxyacetylene cutter on the wing of a beaten-up Chevrolet.

The haggling had been brief; take it or leave it. He had taken an aged Ford, victim of countless bruises and scrapes, but sound. They had thrown in directions for a cheap hotel and the location of a hunting store with flexible opening hours.

No doubt Remzi wouldn’t be pleased to hear from him again, but there was no other way. He slid out from his cover and wormed his way deeper into a belt of trees stretching away into the distance. It meant a long trek back to his car, but he was in no hurry. If they found it in the meantime, it would lead them nowhere.