Andy McNab: Payback

3. To ‘clean house’. All those aware of PRIMARY TARGET’s activities also to be eliminated for same reasons. This includes, but may not be restricted to, Fergus Watts, Danny Watts and Elena Omolodon. Before Fergus Watts is eliminated, every effort will be made to discover any other person or persons still living who are aware of PRIMARY TARGET’s activities or of Watts’s activities as a Deniable Operator (‘K’). They, too, will be eliminated.

THIS DOCUMENT IS SUBJECT TO UPDATE.

M. Deveraux

All the final pieces fell into place; the picture became clear. For everyone.

It was what Fergus had feared all along, but all hope was not lost. His mind was working quickly. ‘Download it, Elena. Don’t lose it.’

Danny’s voice came over the mobile phone that Fergus still had at his ear. ‘You’re seeing it too, then? What they really want to do?’

‘Yeah. Elena’s downloading it.’

‘I heard. So do I come out?’

‘Yes, but stay focused. Forget what you’ve just read for now, and concentrate on what you have to do. Don’t get caught now, Danny.’

Danny hung up, but before he could move he heard footsteps in the corridor. He dived back under the table.

The duty officer had returned to the Depository, where the escort was still waiting outside the locked door. ‘Is he still in there?’

‘Yes, sir. I dunno what he’s up to, but I haven’t heard a thing.’

There was no way that Danny could move until the two men and their visitor had cleared the area. Cautiously, he crawled out and went back to the PC; before leaving he had to remove the CD and close it down.

As he looked at the screen, the SECRET: ULTRA page suddenly disappeared and the screen went blank.

Danny stared and felt a surge of panic. If his computer had lost the page, then surely Elena’s had too. But had she had time to download it?

As he stared at the screen, he heard another door open and then slam. He dived under the desk again. This was starting to feel like home.

Fincham had unlocked the Depository door and pulled it hard behind him as he walked out. ‘I’m leaving,’ he said to the startled duty officer and the escort. He took the visitor’s card from around his neck and thrust it into the guard’s hands.

He didn’t wait for the lift but took the stairs up to the ground floor, with his escort scrambling behind.

‘Go to the guardroom and tell the sergeant I’m leaving,’ said Fincham as he reached the ground floor. ‘I will not be stopping at the guardroom to check out. Get the main gate opened, man. Now!’ He hurried away towards the exit, trying to control his fury. He had deleted the SECRET: ULTRA file – the evidence was gone – but inside he was raging. Fuming.

Marcie Deveraux! His own protegee. He had trusted her. Encouraged her. Nurtured her career. And all the while she had been plotting and operating to cause his downfall. But he was safe now. When he had calmed down, he would have the last laugh.

He cleared the main building and took a deep breath. In a few hours’ time he would be on a plane to Moscow and this nightmare would be behind him.

As Joey parked the car across the road from the unit, Danny sent a text to Elena’s phone saying they were coming in. It had been easy to get out of Northwood. Danny had walked to the back gate, fed his arm into the tube and pressed the button at the end. The gate opened with an electronic buzz and he walked into the married quarters, then out onto the road where Joey was waiting.

Danny hurried out of the car and across the square towards the unit’s roll-down shutter while Joey made his more casual approach.

‘Come on,’ urged Danny as Joey started to unlock the shutter door.

‘You go on,’ said Joey as he slid the key into the lock. ‘I got something to do.’

‘Do? What d’you mean? We have to get inside!’

‘Look, Danny, I been sitting there hours waiting for you. I couldn’t move in case you came out. I got you back, I’ve done everything Fergus asked of me. Now I need a smoke.’

‘Then smoke here! We don’t care!’

‘I can’t! I gave the last of my cigars away in the pub. I’m desperate, Danny. There’s an all-night garage down the road.’

‘But my granddad-’

‘Just tell him I’ll be back before he even knows I’ve gone.’ He pushed open the shutter door. ‘Go on, I’ll be fine.’

Danny hesitated for a moment but then went in; if Joey wanted to kill himself with cigars that was up to him. He pushed the door shut and took the metal staircase three rungs at a time, shouting out before he reached the top, ‘Did you get it? Did you download it? I saw it deleted!’

Fergus and Elena were sitting at the laptop. ‘Yeah, I got it,’ said Elena. ‘Every word.’

Danny let out a huge sigh of relief. He’d been almost hyperventilating with anxiety on the way back from Northwood, especially after there had been no response to his text saying that he was out of the camp and in the car. He didn’t call for confirmation, partly because he thought Elena might have been struggling to download the information and a ringing phone at the wrong moment could have shattered her concentration, and partly because he couldn’t bear the thought that all their work that night might have been in vain.

He slumped down onto the sofa, exhausted but elated. His grandfather was looking pale and drawn but he had just enough strength to manage a weak smile. ‘You did well… brilliant.’

‘But what it said, about us being-’

‘Eliminated,’ said Elena.

Danny nodded.

‘At least we know their true intentions now, and it’s what I always suspected. But thanks to you two we’ve got a better chance of getting out of this than before.’ Fergus turned to Elena. ‘I need you to burn three copies of that file onto CD. Can you do that?’

‘No problem.’

‘And then-’ Fergus stopped and looked towards the stairs. ‘Where’s Joey?’

‘Oh, yeah,’ said Danny, remembering. ‘He’s gone for some cigars. Said he was desperate.’

‘Bloody fool!’ said Fergus angrily. ‘He should be here!’

Elena was already starting to burn the CDs. ‘He’ll be all right. He’ll be back soon, and at least we won’t have to listen to him moaning.’

Joey bought himself two packets of cigars at the petrol station. He slid his cash through the narrow gap beneath the toughened glass and metal-grilled window and waited in anticipation as the sales assistant reached for the cigars and pushed them through the gap, along with his change.

‘Thanks, man,’ said Joey, smiling in anticipation of his long-awaited smoke.

The sales assistant said nothing but turned away and went back to staring at the TV screen mounted on the wall above his till.

Joey wasn’t bothered. ‘And a very good night to you too,’ he muttered as he ambled back to the hire car, unwrapping one of the cigar packets as he went.

He got into the car, pulled out a cigar and stuck it into his mouth. Having it there, unlit, was almost as good as smoking it – for a while, at least. He started up the car and drove away from the garage forecourt.

Then he heard the siren. He looked into the rear-view mirror and saw the flashing blue light.

‘Oh, shit.’

The police car’s headlights flashed a couple of times but Joey kept going: he wasn’t going to stop unless he had to. Seconds later the police car came cruising by, and the officer in the passenger seat indicated for Joey to pull over.

Joey drew the hire car into the kerb. This was not good; Fergus would not be happy.

The police vehicle stopped directly ahead and the officer in the passenger seat got out and walked back to Joey, who wound down his window and smiled, with the unlit cigar still in his mouth.