Matthew Dunn - Spycatcher

Will walked back and forth to get his circulation moving.

Julian spoke again. “They’re breaking left along the Harbor Walk.”

Will stopped moving. Lana was walking toward his position along the harbor.

“I’m ahead of them.” Julian sounded relaxed. “Suggest you put two others in so that we have a three-man perimeter around them.”

“Agreed,” replied Roger. “Laith, get in behind. I’ll move in closer to cover their west.”

Will smiled for the first time on this day. Lana and her shepherds were now trapped between Julian, Roger, Laith, and the waters of Boston Harbor. He listened to commentary from Laith and Julian.

“She’s on Rowes Wharf.”

“She passes the Boston Harbor Hotel.”

“Three members of the team have just overtaken me. They’re joining our lady and the other two.”

He heard Roger’s voice. “I’ve got one man heading toward them along East India Row.”

He heard Ben speak. “I’m in position on Atlantic, but it’s difficult to remain static here. Hold.” Will heard engine noises behind Ben’s voice. “The Dodge Durango has just passed me. But it’s going slow.”

“A mobile extraction is still probable.” Roger’s voice was no longer calm.

“She’s just broken right onto the Central Wharf.” Laith’s voice was also tense. “Julian, you should have her.”

Julian’s voice responded immediately. “Of course. Our lady and team are sixty meters behind me. They’ll be passing the aquarium now.”

Will stamped his feet against the cold. Children were still playing around him, and their noises were interspersed with the whistles of the harbor’s winter wind. He looked out at the water and saw that despite the blizzard and the cold and the rocky sea, the place was alive with vessels carrying cargo and tourists and workers. He rubbed ice from his face and turned back to look at the Harbor Walk. Its zigzag path and intervening buildings prevented Will from having a clear sight of it, but he knew that Lana was now only two hundred meters away from him and less than a hundred meters from Long Wharf. He stared at the pier and saw Julian walking slowly toward him. He heard Roger speak.

“I see her stop. I see one of the team speaking to her. I see that man pointing. I see four other team members move in close around her.”

Laith spoke. “I’m at stop one hundred meters behind them. What’s happening?”

“Not sure.” Roger’s voice sounded as uncertain as his words. “Everyone hold position.”

Will watched Julian stop. He saw him reach into a pocket and knew that he would be caressing a weapon.

“There’s some discussion taking place.” Laith’s voice was strained. “One of them tries to put his hand on our lady’s arm. She shrugs it off. She waves arms in the air. The man tries to touch her again. Two other men move close to her. Something is wrong.”

Will frowned. He pictured the maps of Boston that he’d studied the previous night. He pictured the road routes out of the city. He pictured the alleys and side streets that could be used to move people quickly away on foot. He remembered the timetables and the layout of the city’s subway system. He remembered the same for its public bus company. He pulled back his jacket hood so that frozen air could course over his head. He looked at the tourist families playing around him, and he looked back out at the harbor. He felt his stomach churn as he realized what was happening, and he reached for his pressel switch. He spoke very quickly. “The ferry. They’re keeping her on Long Wharf because that’s where the ferry terminal is. Either Megiddo’s coming in on the next ferry or they’re taking her out on it.”

“Which is it to be, Will?” Roger’s voice sounded as annoyed as Will’s thoughts felt.

Ben spoke. “The ferry goes from Long Wharf to Charlestown Navy Yard in the north. It’s a ten-minute crossing, but if you want me at Charlestown, you’d better tell me now, because this weather is killing the roads.”

“Which is it to be, Will?” Roger’s voice was now loud.

Before Will could answer, Laith spoke. “I can see the ferry coming in. It will berth in two minutes.”

“Will?”

The icy air was now causing the bullet wound on Will’s head to throb. He ran his fingers through his hair and stared out at the harbor. He saw the ferry and could tell that it was slowing to come alongside the jetty. He desperately tried to think and define the correct course of action. If Megiddo was on that boat, Lana would signal that it was him by taking off her fur hat. If that happened, Will needed every available resource around Megiddo on Long Wharf. And if he sent Ben ahead to Charlestown now, he’d be taking a huge risk, as he’d be diverting the team’s only mobile resource. But if he held back from deploying Ben to Charlestown and Lana did subsequently get on the boat, he would have lost invaluable time. There was no correct course of action.

Will spoke to everyone. “We wait to see if he’s on the ferry.”

“That’s cutting it fine, Will.” This was Ben. “If he’s not on the ferry and she gets taken on board, I can’t guarantee I can make the route to Charlestown before it reaches there.”

“Will’s given us his decision, so we stay here.” Roger’s voice was firm. Will wondered, though, whether Roger agreed with him.

The ferry moved alongside the pier. It bobbed up and down a little with the swell of water before ropes secured it fast against the jetty structure. People came off the boat. Will scoured Long Wharf, but from his position in the park a large jetty building prevented him from seeing Lana or the Iranians. He watched more passengers disgorge from the vessel, and then he saw no more people.

“Our lady’s being ushered toward the ferry.” Roger’s tone sounded neutral. “He’s not here. All six of them are taking her on the boat.”

Will stomped on the ground in anger. He spoke to Ben with no attempt to hide the urgency or frustration in his voice. “Come and get me, Ben. The rest of you follow her onto the boat.”

Roger spoke. “Will, if we put the whole team on there, chances are we’ll be spotted by the Iranians. The vessel’s too small. Do you want to take that risk?”

Will could not take that risk. If the Iranians discovered that Lana was being followed by others, everything would be lost, because Megiddo would suspect that she’d set him up.

“Julian, get on the boat. Everyone else, get onto Atlantic Avenue for collection by Ben.”

Will sprinted out of the park and stopped on the adjacent road. He turned and looked back at Long Wharf just in time to see the ferry leaving. He checked his watch. He glanced back along the road.

“I’ve got Laith.” Ben spoke loudly over the noise of his vehicle.

Will checked his watch again. The ferry now had nine minutes to reach its destination. Cars were moving very slowly along the road before him. Some had their hazard lights on, and in the distance to his right Will could see multiple rear taillights, meaning that traffic was grinding to a halt somewhere along the route they needed to take.

“Roger’s with me. We’re on our way to you, Will.”

The ferry would be reaching Charlestown in eight minutes.

“Okay, we see you.”

Will squinted through the blizzard, looking to his left. Multiple headlights were moving along the road, and he looked at them all to try to ascertain which ones belonged to Ben’s vehicle. He saw a car drive diagonally across the roadway and at a much faster speed than the others around it. The car’s headlights flashed twice, and as it came to within twenty meters of him, a rear door opened. The car slowed and moved alongside him but did not stop. Will ran alongside it and jumped through the open door. The vehicle immediately lurched forward at speed, and Will could feel its tires struggling to maintain their grip on the road. He pushed himself back into the seat. Roger was next to him, and Laith sat next to Ben in the front. Nobody spoke at first.