Richard Wiseman - To Kill Or Be Killed

As promised he left Joe alive, but he didn’t call an ambulance and he didn’t intend to. It was seven in the evening when Stanton left the house with a loaded revolver, a silenced nine millimetre Browning and the keys to a Nissan Micra, which he quickly found.

London Euston tower

7-10 p.m.

April 19th

Ellie leaned into the proffered kiss from Tony. They were in the shared kitchens of the duty teams in Euston Tower. Ellie decided that on their last day of duty rota she would cook Tony dinner. There was a casserole dish in the oven and the smell of Coq Au Vin permeated the room.

Tony broke away from the tender and soft kiss first.

“That was nice. Do that again.”

Ellie kissed him again, longer this time and more passionately. There was a cough from the doorway. They broke from their embrace suddenly. It was Jack Fulton.

“Sorry to bother you two. I’ve got a bit of a problem.”

“Yes boss.”

“Liam was in the duty office and David was talking angrily about Sternway. Liam thought nothing of it, but David went to get a cup of tea and decryption called to tell David that his five minute access to the MI6 network was ready. Liam said he went to get some dinner and when he came back David was looking at details on Sternway. Then David grabbed his coat and left. Liam said he was still armed”

Tony and Ellie showed their concern.

“Any idea where he is?” Tony asked.

“That’s the thing our DIC listener at Sternway’s house has just phoned to say that David McKie is parked in a car across the road from Sternway’s house.”

Ellie put her hand to her mouth in shock.

“I think he’s very worked up. I want you two to go and talk him round. You and he get on well Ellie and Tony has experience in talking people ‘down’ if you know what I mean.” They both nodded.

“Do we go armed?”

“No. DIC diplomatic and armed status has been suspended indefinitely.”

Tony and Jaz left in a hurry. Jack noted the smell of casserole and promised himself he’d keep an eye on it. He leant against the kitchen side. He was worried. ‘Unstoppable’ that’s what the Lympstone Commando base trainers had said about David McKie.

In the car Ellie frowned at Tony who pulled his pistol and holster from a Tesco bag. He checked it and armed it. They sped away with Ellie half jokingly calling Tony a ‘thrill seeker’ and a ‘renegade’.

Nigel Sternway’s House

Hampstead

London

7-30 p.m.

April 19th

David finally made up his mind. He checked his pistol and stepped out of the car. The lights were on downstairs and they made red glow around the edges of the deep red velvet curtains in Sternway’s living room. Della was upstairs with the two children, reading them stories.

The DIC operative in the bushes had been told to report if David made a move, but he was slumped unconscious, hidden by the thick foliage of Sternway’s neighbour’s bushy border. At the back of the house a figure scaled the drain pipe heading for the small open window of an upstairs toilet.

At the front David rang the bell.

Sternway rose from his comfortable chair in the lounge, put the paper down and padded to the front door in his slippers.

“Yes?” McKie wasn’t familiar to him.

David pulled out his Sig and pointed it at Sternway.

“In!” McKie barked.

Sternway did as he was told backing down the hall, leaving the front door open. David pushed him into the lounge and into a chair.

“Who are you?” Sternway demanded.

“David McKie DIC.”

Sternway smiled thinly.

David assumed that the listener in the garden was ready and waiting, he wanted a confession and some answers from Sternway. He also wanted to know who had been behind all of the deaths.

“Oh you’re McKie. DIC diplomatic and arms bearing rights are suspended so you’re breaking the law. Or are you going to kill me?”

“You’re responsible, through your twisted plotting, for the deaths of innocent people. I want to know why you brought those killers into the country.”

“Killers come and go. I believe you’re a killer yourself now, or doesn’t killing people like Wheeler count. Just because you have a badge and he doesn’t that makes you the good guy does it? I have a government remit, that’s my badge. Men like Wheeler, Stanton and you are all the same. Hired killers, government trained, whichever side of the trenches you’re on and you kill on orders or as part of the process of doing your job. There are no black and white hats for people to wear McKie. All the hats are shades of grey. You became a government paid killer just like Stanton when you shot Wheeler.”

“You can’t compare us. I don’t kill for no reason and unlike you and the people who work for you I protect the innocent and wouldn’t kill on orders if I thought it was wrong. You’re to blame for all this admit it.”

“I don’t know what you mean old boy as far as I…”Sternway’s face was suddenly a mask of horror.

Behind David entering the room were his children, his wife behind them, pale and frightened and to his ultimate horror Trevor Stanton holding two weapons. One, MI6 snub nose revolver was pointed at his wife and children and the silenced Browning was pointed at Sternway. McKie spun around and pointed his pistol at Stanton.

Stanton shoved Della and the children towards Sternway, but he pushed them to his left away from him, instinctively protecting them by separating them from him in Stanton’s eyes.

Stanton suddenly pointed the revolver at McKie and kept the Browning pointed at Sternway.

“Hello McKie we must stop meeting like this.”

“Drop it Stanton. Don’t shoot him.”

“Come on McKie you want him dead as much as me. I heard what he said. The man’s a slug, an evil slug. The cold blooded bastard had me tortured.” He turned to Sternway. "Joe might still be alive, but he’s crippled and he talked. Brook’s dead. You picked the wrong man to play your game with Sternway.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

The shot slammed into the wall by Della’s head, the movement of the Browning from Sternway to Della and back was swift. David held fire when he saw that no-one was shot. He held himself calmly.

“He planned all this to get to DIC and destroy it. Sternway has an orange coloured cell phone and Robinson, the home secretary, is on the other end of it. That’s the man you want. If you don’t believe me Sternway’s got two lime green Bic cell phones, one of them was for me. If you search here or his car you’ll find them and they’ll link him to me, check the satellite based locations for the calls made if you don’t believe me. He’s going to die and there’s nothing you can do. He’s a monster and he deserves to die. He told me they’d accounted for Robert Cole. DIC were getting too close, he said, a nuisance. You know he has to die for what he’s done.”

“Don’t listen to him McKie.” Sternway’s voice wasn’t pleading, he kept his authority. “You’re paid to stop men like him. He’s going to kill all of us, including my wife and children. Kill him. Kill him now.”

Stanton turned the gun pointed at McKie towards Della and the children.

“Move towards the door you three.” Stanton’s voice held a note of finality.

“Nigel.” Della was terrified and the children were whimpering.

“Do as he says it’ll be alright.” Sternway was calm.

Della made her way towards the door and Stanton repositioned himself pointing his weapon at McKie as he moved and backing into a space between them. Della and the children stood by the door. Sternway was across the room from them and McKie stood in a corner. Stanton pointed the Browning at Sternway and the revolver at Della and the children.