Matthew Dunn - Spycatcher

They had six and a half minutes to reach their destination.

Will looked at Roger. “I made the wrong decision.”

Roger removed a handgun from his jacket. “It could have been the right decision if he was on that boat.”

Will peered ahead. Laith was talking quietly to Ben.

“Stay on Atlantic Avenue. Switch lanes in fifty. Commercial Street joins us from the left. We’re now on Commercial Street. Massachusetts 1A joins us from left. Progress through crossroads, traffic ahead slowing. Change lanes. Change back again. Take the gap between the two vehicles ahead.”

Will placed his left hand on the back of Ben’s seat so that it exposed his watch. They now had a maximum of four minutes to reach their destination.

“Traffic slowing. We’ll have to take every gap we can. Move left, vehicle on your right. Accelerate. Now decelerate, move ahead, road goes forty-five left. Charlestown Bridge is in one hundred forty meters. Take the next gap at speed. Slow now. And accelerate.”

With his right hand, Will removed his handgun. He heard Julian’s voice. “Clock’s ticking. I can see our jetty at the Charlestown Navy Yard.”

Ben said nothing as he drove. He was clearly totally focused on his task and on the words coming from Laith.

“We move onto the bridge. Traffic looks lighter for one hundred. Make up ground now.”

The car sped forward, and Will wondered how Ben was managing to stop it from careening off its route.

They now had two and a half minutes.

“Take the inside of the bus. Move right. Heavier traffic, try to make that gap-correction, too narrow. Go left and progress.”

“What do you want me to do, Will?” Julian’s words were hushed.

Will leaned forward to speak to the men in the front of their vehicle. “Are we going to get there in time?”

The men ignored him, and Laith carried on coaching Ben. Will sighed, because he knew they could not give him an answer. All they could do was focus on covering ground as quickly as possible.

“We’re slowing up.” Julian could barely be heard. “We’re nearly there. Do you want me to stop them from getting off the vessel?”

Will punched the seat before him.

Julian spoke again. “It’s decision time again, Will. Do you want me to intervene?”

Will looked ahead. They were nearing the end of the bridge and would soon be turning right into Charlestown.

“Our ferry will be there in thirty seconds. Do you want me to intervene?”

Will glanced at Roger while hearing Laith continue his instructions.

“Going ninety degrees right now onto Chelsea Street. Six hundred fifty meters to destination. Multiple traffic ahead. Shit.”

Their car slowed quickly and then stopped behind a wall of stationary vehicles.

Ben looked over his shoulder at Roger. “No way through.”

Roger instantly opened his car door and shouted, “Laith and Will, with me on foot! Ben, do what you can to meet us there in the vehicle!”

Will opened his door, shoved his weapon into a pocket, and ran. As he did so, Julian spoke again.

“We’ve stopped. If you want me to do anything, now’s the time to say so.”

Will’s hand flew to his pressel switch. “Nothing. You’re outnumbered, and she might get killed in the cross fire. Do nothing.”

He moved with Roger and Laith between vehicles and over thick plowed snow. Cars were sounding their horns, presumably to try to get traffic moving, and some drivers had exited their vehicles and were looking ahead down Chelsea Street. Will dodged between cars and people and ran as fast as he could around the barriers ahead of him. Over the noise of the cars and his own rapid breathing, he heard more of Julian’s words.

“They’re walking off the ferry. They’re walking down the pier. I see their vehicle waiting for them.”

Will shouted, “Just watch them! No intervention!” He tried to run faster. He stumbled over a pile of snow, fell to the ground, and landed on the shoulder bullet wound he’d received on Medvednica Mountain. He winced in pain, felt a hand grab his jacket, and was hauled back onto his feet. He looked at Laith and continued running. He saw the navy yard to his right. With Roger and Laith, he moved off Chelsea Street and ran across open ground and a parking lot toward his destination. He pulled out his handgun. He sprinted. He heard Julian speak again.

“I see them get into their SUV. I see the vehicle drive away from my position. I see the vehicle drive away from your position. You’re too late. They’re gone.”

“Megiddo’s held his nerve-now it’s our turn to do the same.” Will spoke the words loudly while leaning over a map of Massachusetts. He was in the CIA safe house in Boston’s West End. Patrick and Roger were with him. Will jabbed at the map and looked up at Patrick. “There’s nothing else that can be done right now.”

“There’s nothing that can be done to undo your mistake.” Patrick pointed a finger at Will before thrusting his arms in the air. “She should never have been taken away by them. Megiddo could torture her.”

“I’m aware of that,” Will snapped, running fingers distractedly through his hair. He felt sick with frustration and failure and an all-encompassing fear for Lana’s safety.

“Then you’ll also be aware that if she’s tortured, she’ll reveal our hand and everything will be finished.”

“Is that all you care about?” Will shouted. “What about Lana? Her life? Don’t you care about that?”

“I care about the thousands of lives we might lose if she tells them what we’re doing. She knew the risks in working with us.”

“How could she? How could a woman like her know the real risks in the work we do?”

Patrick paced forward. “There is no excuse for losing her to them.”

Will banged a fist down onto the table before him. “I’m not the first person in this room to lose someone.”

Patrick shook his head quickly. “Don’t throw that at me. You’re deeply mistaken if you think that losing Lana to Megiddo is comparable to Alistair and me not capturing him in the first place.”

“It’s convenient for you to think that way now.”

“Oh, for Christ’s sake.” Patrick’s arms flew up in the air again. He spun around to face Will. “It’s not comparable.”

Will felt the anger increase within him. “Why not?”

Patrick spoke in an exasperated tone. “The comparison is flawed because you’ve done something that we could not do. We never had the young Megiddo in our sights. But you’ve managed to bring the older Megiddo, a man who is now the most wanted mastermind on this planet, to within a cat’s whisker of capture.” Once again he pointed at Will. “I’m angry with you because you’ve achieved far more than I or Alistair could manage to do and yet may have thrown it all away at the last moment. I’m angry because you are no longer in total control of events. I’m angry because we are now vulnerable to Megiddo’s view of Lana.”

“We’re not vulnerable.” Roger said the words quietly and calmly while staring out a window. “Megiddo will not torture Lana.”

He had gotten everyone’s undivided attention.

Patrick spoke up eventually, and his tone was tentative. “How can you be so sure?”

Roger shrugged. “All that matters to Megiddo is the successful completion of his mission. He could be suspicious of Lana, but he’ll be equally mindful that she could be telling him the truth. If he tortures her, he’ll lose her cooperation. His priority now is to get Will, and he’s totally reliant on Lana to make that happen.” Roger turned and nodded at Will. “It’s Will he wants to torture.”

Patrick did not move. “I hope you’re right.”