Ryan, Chris - Zero 22

‘So the Yanks have got a mole.’ Her dismissive tone of voice angered Danny, but he did his best not to show it. ‘It was only a matter of time. What’s it got to do with me?’

‘The General’s in Jordan for a peace conference. He has a CP team wherever he goes. It’s hard for me to get close. But he also has an eye for the ladies.’

Danny didn’t have to say any more. Bethany gave a cynical smile. ‘Are you suggesting that you and your friends at MI6 suddenly feel a little less queasy about my methods?’

‘We do what we have to do,’ Danny said.

‘Obviously. Which is why you don’t mind stealing a six-year-old boy from his mother.’ She took a step towards him. There was something in her gait. The Bethany Danny had seen when he walked in here had looked broken. Somehow, in the course of their conversation, she had started to put herself back together again. ‘The trouble is, you seem to have forgotten something. I’ve lodged details of MI6’s illegal actions with solicitors all over the world. One word from me and they’ll release that information. So I don’t think I need to do a single thing you say. And if my former employees don’t get my son back to me, they’ll only have themselves to blame.’

Danny put one hand in his pocket and removed his mobile phone. He offered it to Bethany. ‘Go ahead,’ he said. ‘Call your lawyers. Any of them. I think you might find that each of them has met with a nasty accident.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Come on,’ Danny said. ‘You’re not stupid. You really think you could give GCHQ six months and they wouldn’t trace your precious solicitors?’

Bethany didn’t seem to have a response to that. Her shoulders slumped again. But then, in an instant, she regained her poise. ‘It doesn’t matter,’ she said. ‘So let’s say I agree. How do we go about this?’

‘We can’t make a regular border entry,’ Danny said. ‘Your face will ping every facial recognition system in the world – MI6 have seen to it. So we need to make a covert entry. There’s a Hercules waiting for us. Tonight, we fly along the Israel–Jordan border and we do a tandem HALO jump into the Jordanian side. They’ll drop a quad bike in alongside us and we’ll make our way across the desert into Jordan. We’ll have passes waiting for us that will get us in to the General’s hotel, then you flutter your eyelashes at him.’

Bethany took a moment to absorb that. ‘A HALO jump?’ she said.

Danny nodded. ‘I’ll talk you through it.’

‘I’m not one for heights,’ she said. ‘You’ll have to hold me tight.’

Danny gave her a level look. He was only human. He couldn’t help being physically attracted to Bethany White, but he knew how dangerous that was and how ruthlessly she would use it against him. ‘You weren’t thrilled to see me walk into this room,’ he said. ‘I’m not thrilled to be here. I’ve got a job to do and so do you. Any of that other shit, forget it. If you want your kid back, let’s get this done and we never have to see each other again.’

Silence.

‘I need to shower,’ said Bethany. ‘Do you think the boys at the door will let me leave without peeing their pants?’

Danny held up his Glock. ‘Don’t make a mistake,’ he said. ‘I will do it.’

‘And then who’s going to nail your precious general for you?’ Bethany said. ‘Put the gun down, Danny. You’re not going to shoot me and I’m not going to give you any trouble. At least, not until I have my boy back.’ She turned her back on him. ‘Tell the kids I’m coming out,’ she said. ‘I wouldn’t want to scare them.’

Danny left the Portakabin. The two guys outside were gripping the weapons slung across their fronts. ‘I’m taking her out,’ Danny said. ‘She needs to get cleaned up.’

‘We have orders,’ said one of them. He held up a pair of handcuffs. ‘As long as she’s on site, she wears these.’

Danny took the cuffs. ‘You got the key?’ he said. The soldier handed it over. Danny clunked the cuffs shut, dropped them on the ground and pocketed the key. ‘She’s with me,’ he said. ‘She doesn’t need those.’

The two soldiers eyed each other uncomfortably. Danny re-entered the Portakabin. ‘No cuffs?’ Bethany said.

‘They wanted to. I said no.’

Bethany shrugged, as if to suggest that she wasn’t fussed. Danny wasn’t fooled. He could sense that she was suddenly more at her ease. Ditching the handcuffs had been the right call.

He knew Brize Norton well, having deployed from here more times than he could count. There was a functional shower and toilet block to the back of the main terminal. Danny led Bethany out of the Portakabin, picked up the sports bag full of clothes and handed it to her. She smiled at the two soldiers keeping guard, but looked gruesome with her dirty, bloodied face framed by her wild, matted hair. They crossed the tarmac in silence. When they reached the shower block, Danny stood outside. He wasn’t really guarding the entrance. He knew that if Bethany wanted to escape the block, she’d find some way to do it. But he was certain that she wouldn’t. Bethany White was many things. A killer. A traitor, even. But everything she’d done had been for family. She wasn’t about to throw all that away. ‘No peeking!’ she shouted over her shoulder as she entered the block.

Danny was sweating heavily. The afternoon sun beat hard on the airfield and he had to shield his eyes to look across at the Hercules. The tailgate was down and gear was being loaded up, though from this distance he couldn’t quite make it out in detail. Otherwise, all he saw were troops moving around in open-top trucks and fuel vehicles circling the perimeter: the regular sights and sounds of a working military airfield.

Ten minutes later, Bethany re-emerged. She looked amazing. Her clean skin glowed, her long blonde hair was damp and shiny. There was no vestige of the crazy-looking woman Danny had found in the Portakabin. She was wearing the camouflage gear Danny had supplied her with. It too was damp where her hair touched it. ‘A perfect fit,’ she said, indicating the clothes. ‘It’s almost as if you knew my size.’

Danny ignored her flirtatious comment. He pointed towards the Hercules. ‘That’s our ride,’ he said. ‘You ever done a HALO drop before?’

‘What do you think?’

‘I’ll explain everything once we’re in the air.’

‘This is all pretty fast, Danny. It’s not like the Hereford I know. Don’t they want a week of briefings and a full squadron in case somebody stubs their toe?’

‘No time for that,’ Danny said. ‘And sometimes you need a scalpel, not a hammer.’

‘Very poetic. Shall we go?’

Bethany strode forwards. If she was feeling any anxiety, she didn’t show it. He reminded himself that she had fooled him once before. Nothing, with Bethany, was quite what it seemed, and Danny didn’t intend to make the same mistake twice.

He caught up with her and they walked side by side back to the Portakabin. The two soldiers were still there, sweating in the heat. Danny pulled out his phone and made a call. Seconds later, the white van pulled away from the Hercules and headed across the tarmac towards them.

SEVEN

Danny knew from past experience that Bethany White was as skilled an actress as she was an assassin. She was apparently a completely different person now she’d emerged from the shower. There was no sign of the broken, distressed mother crouching in the corner of a locked Portakabin. She walked with confidence, shoulders pinned back, head held high. Nobody would even begin to guess what she had learned in the last hour, nor what she had agreed to do. It made Danny even more wary. He knew plenty of killers. He knew female soldiers more ruthless than even the most ferocious Regiment guys. But he’d never met a person who could slip into a role quite so easily. It was impossible to tell what such a person was thinking, or what they intended to do. Bethany White was probably more dangerous than anyone he’d ever met.