Focal Point
CHAPTER 17
 
By Alyssa Plant
 
Michael Cohen's dream was to protect and serve as a police officer.... That job didn't satisfy him until one day, when people without names came to visit. He wanted to make a difference, but he didn't expect it to make a difference to him, too...

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Chapter 17

Equally concerned by the turn of events Dujani had sent me with Officer Geffen to retrieve Harriet from her hotel. To say Daniel Geffen’s driving style was original was an understatement, but my only concern at the time was that we may not be fast enough.

With a screech of tyres, we slid into the service car park at the rear of the hotel. Daniel and I left the vehicle where it had come to rest and made our way to the rear service doors of the hotel building. If she was indeed as compromised as she had thought, the front door would be far too obvious.

Approaching the door, Daniel drew his sidearm, I hung back momentarily thinking he was going to shoot the lock off, but was relieved when he used the butt of the weapon to smash the security keypad off before short circuiting two wires and allowing us access to the service corridors of the hotel basement. It wasn’t pretty, or subtle, but that was our last concern at present.

As we rode the service lift to the 28th floor, I drew the PPK from my handbag and removed the safety.

“Where did you get that?” Daniel asked looking over with a vague hint of surprise. “I can take care of anything.”

“Peter gave it me,” I replied tersely. “And I don’t need your help thank you.”

“Whatever.” He muttered.

As the doors began to slide open I raised the pistol, and elbowed Daniel. “Take right.”

He nodded, and moved forwards into the corridor. Leaving the car, I turned the left hand corner quickly and scanned the empty corridor. “Clear.” I whispered, “I’ve got the lead.” I added beginning to move down the corridor with my weapon raised.

I reached the end of the corridor, and flattened myself against the wall. Harriet’s room was another 20 meters down the corridor to the left. Crouching down low, I popped my head around the corner before snapping it back again. The corridor was clear, but Harriet’s door was ajar. Feeling my heart thump, I pressed on silently towards my target. I could sense Daniel’s presence behind me.

Reaching the door, I stopped to listen; Inside I could hear a male voice with an Arabic accent…

“Yes sir, I got here and killed them, but it was not the one you said…. The pretend woman was not here. Yes, yes, I know, I will make it right, have the others reached their target yet? Ok, I will call.”

Feeling the anger surge inside me, I swept around the doorframe and entered the room, weapon raised. “DROP THE WEAPON.” I shouted reflexively, more from force of training than intent. The man turned on hearing my voice, and raised the silenced pistol in his right hand as the scenario invariably plays out. I loosed off the first round from my own, shooting the weapon from his hand. The man yelped angrily and came at me. Without time to scrap, or the body mass to take on the large man, I dropped my aim and put a bullet in his kneecap. Howling in agony, the man fell to the floor. “Fucking cover him.” I yelled at Officer Geffen. As I swept forward clearing the room. “Clear.” I gulped as I moved to the far side of the bed and found the room’s only other occupant.

Harriet was lying face down in a pool of blood. I rolled her over, and checked for a pulse. There was none… Two bullet holes in her chest, and a small red circle on her forehead were the only marks that told me my darling was not sleeping… Choking back a sob, I cradled her broken form in my arms. We had been together just under a hour previously… She had been so very much herself despite the danger. We had been together such a short time, but I had truly felt that I loved her… She had been my closest friend, my confidante, my teacher in more ways than one.
Unable to stop myself, I felt red hot tears roll down my cheeks and drop onto Harriet’s still warm skin. I bit my lip and sobbed uncontrollably for several minutes before I could regain control of myself. Laying her head back against the blood-soaked carpet slowly, I rose, looking down at her still form. I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth before turning back towards the others. Daniel was kneeling on the assassin’s back, and looking on with concern.

“Are you ok?” he asked dumbly. I don’t know why people ask that question when they know the answer, but I’m sure it’s the only thing they can think of at the time.

I sniffed and nodded. “Get him up.” I whispered quietly. “Put him on the bed then lock the door.”

Daniel nodded and lifted the injured man onto the bed that I had previously shared with Harriet. I walked across to the bed and stood over him, watching his expression for a moment. “Who sent you?” I asked quietly and calmly with a sniff trying to look like I hadn’t been weeping.

The man grimaced before shaking his head. “I will not talk,” he hissed.

I shrugged and lifted his silenced HK pistol from the floor. I looked the weapon over for a moment. I would use this weapon to destroy those that had ordered Harriet’s death, but first, it would get me their names. Calmly, I placed the silencer against the side of the man’s remaining kneecap and fired.

The man screamed out as the bullet destroyed his remaining knee, and sank back to the bed panting heavily.

Grabbing his hair, I yanked his head upright, and put my face in his own. “Tell me who sent you or I’ll destroy every one of your joints and you’ll never move again.” I hissed quietly. The look in his eyes told me that he knew I would keep my promise, but that he would still resist.

I placed the barrel of the pistol against his elbow, and paused for a moment, locking eyes with the man. His eyes widened in terror and his lips quivered. “Tell me.” I offered.

“I can’t they will kill me,” he begged. “Please.”

I shrugged and pulled the trigger.

As I felt the humanity leave me for what I was doing, the man’s screams of agony began to sate my lust for revenge.

“Life as a paraplegic can’t be too fun can it Officer Geffen?” I asked conversationally turning to the Israeli. Daniel’s expression was a mixture of shock and understanding.

“No, I here it’s worse than death.” He replied with a straight face. “I’ve never spoken to one though, I’d like a first hand account before I make and firm judgements.”

“Give me a moment and you can ask one.” I replied turning back to the pitiful excuse for a man on the bloodstained bed and placing the pistol against his remaining limb.

“Ok ok! I’ll talk!” the man half screamed. “Please don’t!”

I decocked the pistol and pressed the barrel against his kneecap, causing him to whimper. “I’m all ears.”

“I was ordered to come here and silence someone who got too close.” “A man pretending to be a woman, undercover… I got the wrong person… too late,” he pleaded. “I was ordered by an English man that I work for…I did not know his name.”

The man’s eyes locked with mine, and his eyes widened in recognition… I lifted the pistol and put a bullet between his eyes. I knew his next words…

I dropped the pistol on the bed between the man’s legs and turned to Officer Geffen. “I guess that proves it. Mi6 is significantly involved in the ring.”

Daniel nodded. “That was a little forceful maybe?” he asked cautiously, his eyes flicking between mine and the still body on the bed.

“He forced my hand. We have neither the time nor resources to interrogate him properly.” I shrugged.

“No, I am just surprised… I thought Mi6 officers were more… by the book than that…”

“There’s a book?” I asked raising my eyebrows. “Either way, it was personal, he deserved to suffer.”

Daniel’s eyebrows shot up. “You and the dead woman?”

I nodded, wincing at the word dead.. “Officer Harriet Carlisle of Her Majesty’s Secret Intelligence Service.” I replied fighting tears. “I love… loved her.”

Daniel walked over to me and opened his arms. I accepted his embrace and sobbed into his chest. Eventually we separated, and there was an awkward silence for a moment. “What do we do next?” I asked softly.

“We need to get back to the compound… If they have struck here, it can only be a matter of time…”

“What about Harriet?” I asked looking between my lover’s body and the Israeli. “We can’t leave her here?”

“We have to.” Daniel replied softly. “Contact your people or your embassy and tell them you have an agent down, they will recover her body and fly her home. But we must go,” he insisted.

I nodded weakly, and walked back to Harriet’s side. “I love you. Forever and always.” I whispered bending down to kiss my love’s lips.

Standing, I composed myself, and followed Daniel from the hotel room with a last look at the bloody scene behind me.

I stood outside the door for a moment before turning on my transmitter and contacting Damascus Station.

“This is Sharon Cohen, We have an Officer down at the Damascus Hilton, room 2331, Harriet Carlisle.” I stated without emotion.

“Sharon this is Terry Anderson, What happened?”

“Someone was sent for me.” I replied quietly out of Daniel’s earshot. “An assassin sent by a ‘British man’, she was murdered before I could get to her.”

“Sharon, I believe you, but we have just received a copy of an arrest warrant sent to the Syrian Police… For you and an Israeli named Daniel Geffen, for the murder of Harriet and the bombing of the compound you were staying at…. “

I felt a lead weight hit me; “The compound was hit? When? It can’t be Daniel; I’ve been with him since we left the compound… He can’t have done it.” I replied with insistence.

“We don’t know…” Terry began cautiously, “However, this man Geffen may be playing both sides, be careful… You need to go dark Sharon, This is way above everything… They have your Anastasia Zanov Alias too… you will both need new papers… “

“I’m a newbie remember Terry?” I replied with a mixture of resignation and exasperation. “What the hell contacts do I have? I couldn’t find fake papers if they sold them in Marks and Spencer’s…”

Terry sighed. “I’ll see what I can do, but With six watching me, it could be hard… I have orders to bring you in and have you sent back to the head shed.”

“Thank you Terry, I don’t know what I’d do without you…I had Harriet… but now…” I trailed off. “We will be ok, and I’ll watch my back… Don’t worry.”

“Look, after this conversation, bin the transmitter and mike, they have a gps locator in… do you have clean coms?” he asked almost as an afterthought.

“I have a new mobile, 07844 337228, It’s untraceable.”

“Good, goodbye for now Sharon, and good luck.”

“Thanks Terry, Goodbye.” I offered wondering If I’d ever speak to him again and turned the transmitter off, dropping both items into a waste bin as we left the service entrance of the Hotel.

I wasn’t sure if I could trust Daniel Geffen; His behaviour had seemed genuine, but we were in a high profile game, with very high stakes. I decided that I would keep the news of the attack on the compound to myself for the time being. We would return, and I could judge his reaction to what awaited us. It would be harder to fake shock than it would be to cover it.

Slipping back into the car we had arrived in, we vanished into the city once more.

As we drove, I looked over at Officer Geffen beside me: He seemed concerned at the hotel… and showed no sign of acknowledgement when I’d suggested we return to the compound. In anticipation of our inevitable discussion when we arrived, I carefully slipped the PPK out of my handbag and held it out of sight on my lap. I may have been out of my depth, but I was fully prepared to drain the pool should it come to that.

The roads became more congested as we approached the compound, and as we turned into the street, we were confronted by a sea of flashing lights… Syrian Authorities were all over the remains of the compound. The place looked like it had been on the receiving end of a cruise missile or laser guided bomb.

Daniel looked on with surprise… genuine surprise, but eventually he allowed his training to kick in, taking our car past the scene without raising suspicion, before pulling up about a block away.

“They…. It’s gone….?” he asked apparently rhetorically. “Shit they found us.”

“Keep both hands on the wheel.” I hissed quietly slipping the handbag off my lap and raising the pistol. “Talk to me.”

Daniel froze. “You’re working for them…” he frowned looking over at me with a mixture of disappointment and surprise. “But the hotel….?”

“What did you know about this… the attack?” I repeated. “You saw what I did to that bastard in the hotel… Don’t believe I won’t treat you the same.”

“I swear… I found out the same time you did.” He stammered in surprise. “Why the fuck would I want to murder my friends?” he asked incredulously.

I shook my head and lowered the pistol. “Sorry.” I offered with a sigh and an embarrassed half smile, “I needed to be sure you were not working against me. Things have gotten bad quickly… I’m scared” I admitted.

Daniel looked across at me. “You thought I was working with whoever did that?” he asked, jerking his head back towards the burning rubble of the compound. “You English are paranoid…”

“Paranoia keeps me alive.” I offered by way of excuse. “I’m sorry I had to do that… I was told earlier when we were leaving the hotel… The Syrian authorities have an arrest warrant out for both of us. Me, for murdering… for the murder of Harriet, and you, for the bombing… Our respective agencies have orders to pull us in too… Some very influential people are pulling the strings behind this.”

Daniel shook his head. “You don’t say.” he sighed. “I understand by the way.” he offered looking over at me as he lent forwards resting his elbows on the wheel. “If I had been in your shoes, I’d have treated you the same.”

“I’m so new at this.” I admitted. “My first mission has gone so wrong… now we are fugitives even from our own people… How did things get so twisted?”

“The players in the ring are tidying up loose ends… we posed a threat to them, and any further work on our part would compromise them, or spark investigations within our parent agencies.” He shrugged. “They couldn’t have that; setting us up to take the fall conveniently removes any blame from others. We went rogue, we are the perfect scapegoats.” He concluded with a sigh.

There was an awkward silence for a moment. “We need to go dark.” Daniel added firmly. “We need to get a new car, new ID papers, and new clothing… Change how we look… If we have any hope of surviving this, we need to find the traitors within our organisations: Exposing this is the only way we get out.”

I nodded solemnly. “I can help on part of that,” I offered tentatively. “Our station chief in Damascus is on side; he’s looking into acquiring papers for us.”

“How do you know he’s clean?” Daniel asked sceptically. “It is clear Mi6 is rotten.”

“No,” I stated firmly. “I trust him, I took this to him first, and he was surprised and supportive to say the least… This is someone back home judging by the train of events. He is a good man.”

“If he gets us papers he is.” agreed Daniel. “Look, we need to find somewhere to stay… I know a nice quiet hotel out near the airport. It will do for now I think.”

Pulling away from the curb, we headed into uncharted waters. Apprehensive as I was, I wasn’t about to concede yet.

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To be continued....

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Note from the Authoress in chief:
Hello lovelies, Sorry this is taking its time, the house move and other crap is taking its tole, now im down with swine flu and between putting oinkment on the horrid rashers and fighting the urge to roll in mud (Seriously, just regular flu), I'm trying to work on this now... So hers 17, 18 is hot in the works. I hope this isnt a tad bruital for some weaker constitutions, but oh well :) you dont read my work for peticoats and princesses...
Happy reading,
Alyssa