Andy McNab - Payback

‘Stop as soon as you can,’ Fergus had yelled at him. ‘In cover!’

Danny shunted up a B road, and as he pulled the vehicle into a field entrance the engine stalled. Fergus had already pulled off his jacket and sweatshirt. ‘Make sure you switch off the engine, then turn the interior light on and get in the back with me.’

When Danny saw his grandfather’s face in the feeble glare of the small interior light he almost panicked. It was grey and the pupils of his eyes were like saucers.

Fergus threw him the sweatshirt and put the jacket back on. ‘You need to plug me up, stop the blood loss.’ He reached down and attempted to rip his jeans further apart at the point where the round had entered his thigh, but he was too weak. ‘Do it, Danny, rip it open.’

The interior of the Discovery smelled like a butcher’s shop. Danny’s hands were trembling as he tore the blood-soaked jeans apart. Fergus’s thigh was like a mass of red meat where the round had torn away the flesh.

Fergus grunted in pain. ‘Listen to me. Rip up the sweatshirt and jam it into both the exit and the entry wounds. You’ve got to stop the bleeding. If I moan and shout at you, ignore me. You’ve got to plug the holes or I’ll be going down.’

‘Did they kill-?’

‘Yes.’

There was nothing more to say. Not then.

Danny ripped the sweatshirt with his teeth and hands until he had two large pieces.

‘Roll them up and pack the cavities.’

Breathing deeply, and trying to ignore Fergus’s curses and gasps at the almost unbearable level of pain, Danny followed his orders. The only way to stop the bleeding was to apply pressure to both entry and exit wounds. If one was left unplugged, the blood flow would only increase.

Fergus screamed again and Danny instinctively released the pressure slightly, so as to ease his grandfather’s agony.

‘Keep the fucking pressure on!’ yelled Fergus. ‘Ignore me!’

A vehicle went by, but neither Danny nor Fergus even noticed it. Danny leaned into the wounds, trying to get his weight behind the pressure he was applying with his hands as they slithered and slipped on the bloody leg.

He stayed in the same position for fifteen or twenty minutes, although it seemed like hours. His grandfather’s blood had oozed all over the back of the vehicle and covered Danny’s hands and arms, but the heavy flow had stopped.

‘OK, get your shirt off and wrap it as tight as you can around the damage. The pressure has to stay on while you drive us out of here.’

Without a word, Danny took off his shirt and bound up the wounds.

Fergus nodded. ‘OK, now drive! I’ll tell you where to go.’

At the golf club the long-haired DJ was taking a break. He walked out into the car park, with his girlfriend in hot pursuit.

‘What is it with you and bridesmaids – are you incapable of leaving them alone?’

‘Oh, give it a rest, Lisa, will you? I played her a record, that’s all.’

‘You sure you didn’t ask for her phone number?’

‘Course I didn’t. She’s too pissed to remember it, anyway.’

He walked further into the car park, leaned against the boot of a red Nissan Almera and took out a packet of cigarettes. In the boot of the car were two bodies: Kev Newman and Benny.

Fran and Paul, who was heavily bruised down one side of his body, had cleared up the contact as swiftly as possible. They did all they could and then left in their own vehicles. Benny’s car would be picked up later.

The DJ smiled at his girlfriend. ‘Come here and give us a kiss.’

‘Not if you’re lighting that fag. I don’t kiss ashtrays.’

The cigarette dropped to the ground and the DJ held out his arms. ‘Come on, Lisa, you know you can’t resist me.’

Lisa shrugged, then moved towards her boyfriend and they kissed. Briefly.

The DJ frowned as Lisa stepped back. ‘What’s wrong with you?’

‘I dunno, I just don’t like it out here. Something about this place is giving me the creeps.’

Elena’s phone was lying on her bed. She was staring at it, willing it to ring, but it remained silent.

The time had passed agonizingly slowly since her frantic warning call and she was desperate to know whether Danny and Fergus had got away from Hereford. She wanted to call again, but was trying to think tactically. If they had been captured, and Danny’s phone was in the hands of Fincham’s team, then redialling the mobile could compromise her own situation. Then she realized that her number was already on Danny’s phone because of her previous call, as well as being in the mobile’s phone book.

Elena was listening to music, but it wasn’t having a calming effect. The longer she sat and waited, the more anxious and frustrated she became. She had to make the call; she had to know. She switched off the music, picked up the phone and punched in the number.

Danny was gripping the Discovery’s steering wheel with both hands. His driving was getting better, but not much. There was no way he could answer the phone and keep the vehicle on the road at the same time. ‘You’ll have to get it.’

The mobile was in Fergus’s jacket. He had managed to prop himself up on his elbows so he could watch the road and give Danny directions. He pulled out the phone. ‘Yes.’

‘Are you OK?’ said Elena, remembering the no names order. ‘You didn’t call back and-’

‘Yeah, we’re fine. It’s been a bit difficult to call, but thanks for the warning.’

Up ahead, the road forked left and right. ‘Go left, boy.’

Elena could hear the Discovery’s engine and she also heard Fergus’s instructions. ‘Did you say…? Is he driving?’

‘No, no, of course not. He can’t drive.’

‘I know that, but you said-’

‘We’re with a friend, getting out of town, and he’s in the front with him.’ Elena was going to have to know exactly what had happened over the past few hours, but not until Fergus had worked out what their next move would be. ‘He… er… he sends his love.’

Not for the first time Fergus was reminded that Elena, like Danny, could be very persistent. ‘Could I have a word with him?’

‘Not now, it’s not a good time, and we have to save the charge on this phone. We’ll call tomorrow, early. And don’t worry, we’re fine.’ Fergus ended the call and dropped the phone onto the seat next to him.

Danny was concentrating on the road but he had listened to every word of the conversation. ‘I can’t believe you said that.’

‘What?’

‘That we’re fine. Look at the state of us. You’ve got holes in your leg, we look like a couple of vampires, and you say we’re fine.’

Fergus grimaced as a stabbing pain shot through the wound. ‘We’re a lot better off than we might have been. Left again.’

It was way past midnight in Moscow, but George Fincham figured that fifteen million pounds entitled him to call his ‘broker’ whenever he wanted. Not that he ever had – the more distance between them the better as far as Fincham was concerned. But this was different; this was an emergency.

Fincham was holding a brand-new pay-as-you-go phone. Using his official Firm secure phone would not be a good idea for such highly unofficial business as this. The pay-as-you-go phone would be used only once and the call would be untraceable. It was a system often employed by drug dealers.

Curly and Beanie had switched to the night shift and were watching Fincham on the surveillance house monitors as he pressed his password into the phone to access the credit from a?20 top-up card. Curly adjusted the sound on his headphones and checked that everything was being taped. ‘This’ll be interesting.’

They watched as Fincham put the phone to his ear and waited. A minute passed: he was obviously going to let it ring until it was answered.