Chasing The Dawn (Luke Temple - Book 2) (Luke Temple Series) (21 page)

Weapons
, Luke scanned the two new men. His eyes rested on the shorter man’s tool belt that hung slack around his waist. It contained a claw hammer and what seemed a variety of large steel pins
. If needs be I engage with him first.
The only other obvious weapon was the carving knife on the counter, but behind in the kitchen would be a stash of improvised weaponry. Both these new men were not in particularly good shape; they were younger than the men at the counter but not by much. This was all processed at lightning speed and the conclusion was unavoidable.
This is not going to end without engagement.

Chung Su had not followed Luke out to the front of the café, but without realising had backed toward the counter. The owner moved round and took her arm; she flinched.

“Vieni con me, Signorina, ok?” he said in the softest voice he could muster.

“She can’t understand you,” Luke spoke fluently. “Guys, you don’t want to do this. It is not what you think, she is fine.”

Chung Su felt the knot in her stomach grow tighter. She couldn’t understand what they were saying but the atmosphere had an air of inevitability. Luke had to assess his options. He had the pistol tucked into its usual place. He could use it as a deterrent but he quickly dropped the idea. He only had the ammunition that was in the magazine and couldn’t afford to waste it.

Time had run out. The man with the tool belt leaned over and clicked the lock on the front door.

The tobacco crackled and singed as the flame waved gently across its dry and brittle body and the sweet smell wafted skywards. Beltrano never tired of that first intake on a new cigar, and the clipping and preparation aroused a simple joy in him.

Beltrano had spent all night going over the details. He was now sat on the balcony of his rented accommodation; a dilapidated block that housed four apartments. His balcony was nothing more than a slab cut out of the side of the building. Somehow the owners had managed to fit a small white garden table and chair into the space, which he was now sat on, with a cup of coffee and his cigar. He checked his watch and sighed. Right on time one of his mobiles started to vibrate, bouncing across the table.

“Yes?”

“Explain …”

“It was not my decision. It seems I have an overzealous young colleague.”

“Is that meant to be an explanation?”

“Merely the truth. Do you think I wanted their details over the airwaves?”

“Is there any part of this that you are still in control of?”

“I will find out everything and take action.”

“Who is this new person? Is he a threat?”

“A threat? Yes. He is a professional.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I do, he is not unique in this world.”

“I do not care how unique he is. Why is he involved? Who is he working for?”

“I don’t know yet, but I know that the girl was not his aim.”

“What?”

“He did not come to Teramo for the girl. He stumbled upon her, and that is a positive sign.”

“And why is that?”

“Because it means he now has an element that he did not plan for. That makes life difficult.”

“So what brought him here? If he is a professional and dangerous we need to know everything about him ...”

“Trust me ...”

“I do … but I do not like any of this. I want answers and I want action. Make it happen.”

Before he could protest, Beltrano heard the phone line go dead.
Shit.
He threw the phone down on the table in a rage, sending the cup smashing onto the floor and spraying coffee across the rough tiles. Roaring, he flipped over the table and kicked it against the wall.

He leant over the balcony and took a long puff of the cigar. He knew that things were sliding, but he was not going to let the woman escape his grasp. Things were finally within reach. He closed his eyes and let the cold wind brush across his face
. Who is this man?
Beltrano knew he was only frustrating himself
. Get inside his head.
As the cold clung to his skin, he played the events over in his head
. The laboratory, the Observatory, Chung Su, Professor Brun …
suddenly Beltrano opened his eyes. His next move had struck him.

Throwing the cigar over the railing he grabbed his other phone. Navigating to a number he pressed dial and got a voicemail. “Wake up and call me when you get this. I am heading to L’Aquila.”

Move, hit, move, hit, move, hit … the key to engaging multiple targets in an enclosed space is to economise movement, keep the blows short, low and compact.
Luke played the training through in his head, his muscles relaxed and his mind took full control.

The man with the tool belt took a step forward; Luke noted the movement but kept his attention flicking between all four. The café owner moved around the counter and took Chung Su by the arm; she fought against him lightly but he walked her through to the kitchen. Exploding forward, Luke took tool belt by surprise, kicking hard just below his right knee. With a guttural grunt the man buckled slightly, presenting Luke with the left side of his body. Without hesitation Luke drove his knee hard into the man’s kidney. The blow sprawled the man across a table. A gasp of air escaped as he dropped hard to the floor.
Always assess the threat level of each person you engage. The person judged at the highest level must be taken on first and dropped the hardest.

Out the corner of his eye Luke saw the owner pick up the phone in the kitchen
. He can’t be allowed to make another call
. Scanning the table, Luke picked up a glass salt shaker. He had one clear opportunity and cranking his arm fully back he hurled the shaker through the hatch … it cracked off the top left quarter of the owner’s skull. It didn’t shatter but the thud conveyed the strength of the blow. The owner staggered backwards, not unconscious but shaken, and slumped over a work surface.

The man with the giant stomach jabbed out a stumpy arm. Luke was sharp enough to turn his head to the side and it brushed past his ear, but he could feel the fist was solid. Readjusting his feet, Luke smashed his left fist under the man’s extended arm and instantly followed it up with a punch to the man’s temple. The man grunted and Luke let loose with another blow to the jaw before the man could raise his hands.

The skinny man had lost his appetite for the fight, and held his hands up in surrender. The violent threat had been neutralised, but where were Chung Su and the owner?

Luke raced from the café into the kitchen. There was no sign of either of them. A wooden door stood ajar in the corner and Luke slipped quickly out, leaving the devastation behind.

The morning air stung Luke’s cheeks, the sweat reacting against the cold. He had emerged into a dank, shadowy alleyway that ran the length of the building attached to the café. The smell of rotting food was strong, and several black bin liners were propped against the wall, spilling their loads onto the floor. Luke lifted his feet high to avoid stumbling as his eyes focused only on the shadows ahead. It was silent. Every few paces he passed a rear door to one of the properties. He stopped to listen for a few seconds before passing each one. He heard no noise, and all so far had been locked.
Where are they?

As he approached the last door along the alley he stopped to listen … nothing. Then as he took his first step an almighty cry erupted from the shadow of the doorway.

“Bastardo!”

Luke swayed back away from the cry. As he did, a glint of light flashed outward and a blade missed his face by millimetres; he pressed his body against the rear of the building,
neutralise the target.

Luke could hear a struggle taking place in the doorway but from his position could not see what was happening. He needed to think fast.

“Chung Su … Chung Su, I know you can hear me.” He spoke loudly and in English. “Chung Su, everything is ok, he isn’t going to hurt you. I need you to help me. Here is what I want you to do, first stop fighting, just relax your body … ok?”

Luke listened intensely. After a short time the sound of a muffled struggle subsided and the only sound was the café owner’s panting.

“Ok, good, now the next thing I need is a little harder but I know you can do it. I want you to gently rest against something hard, a wall or a door, then I want you to push the man as hard as possible out into the alleyway. I am going to count to three, then shout
Go …
you push as hard as you can.”

Luke hoped Chung Su understood him; he gave her a few seconds as he bent his knees slightly and focused on the area just in front of the doorway.

“One … two … three … GO!”

For a millisecond Luke feared she had not heard him, and then a loud grunt was followed by the guttural swearing of the owner. The moment the owner stumbled out into the open Luke sprang into action. He kicked hard and low into the back of the knee joint, using the owner’s momentum to then wrap his left arm around his neck and take control of the knife with his right, throwing it to the ground. Luke then used his right arm to lock under his left, creating a vice grip around the owner’s neck. He began pumping his feet backwards, dragging the man off-balance and tightening his grip. They hit a bump in the concrete and both men toppled backwards, crashing onto the cold floor, but Luke did not let go.

The spit and guttural expletives were now rolling into coughs and gasps. The owner’s movements were panicked, frenzied movements of a human being watching death approach. Still Luke clung on, the muscles in his arms were burning. Gradually the writhing lost energy, the coughs were now just short, sharp gasps. The owner eventually lost consciousness.

“Stop it …”

Luke glanced up and saw Chung Su with the knife in her hand, her eyes were red.

“Please stop … he doesn’t deserve to die.”

Luke didn’t let go, he looked into Chung Su’s eyes, her face half in shadow.
No, he has to be neutralised, he is a witness.

“Please … please.” Chung was pleading.

Luke fought to keep focused, images flashed through his mind, voices played in his ears.
No, nothing is more important than the mission …

“I am begging you; he does not need to die.”

Luke looked up, but he no longer saw Chung Su. Stood in front of him in the grey light was a beautiful woman with wavy blonde hair, her face was full of compassion and her blue eyes ignited in him a warm sense of comfort. She spoke.

You don’t want to do it Alex.

A clattering sound of train wheels screeching across tracks, somewhere in a distant haze, hit Luke’s ears …

“Stop it, stop it … please.” Chung Su was now crying as she watched the man’s life slip away.

Luke looked up at Chung Su, then back to the man. He let his arms drop and pushed the owner off. Standing, he stared at Chung Su.

“Is he dead?” She did not want the answer.

Luke spoke quietly. “No. We need to move, let’s go.” Luke took the knife out of Chung Su’s hand, wiped the handle with his shirt and buried it deep in a bin liner.

Shaking her head, Chung Su stumbled along behind.

The Alfa Romeo 159 was tucked away down a side street. Its white and red paintwork did not make it the most inconspicuous of cars. Beltrano rolled his Mazda CX-7 gently past the Carabinieri patrol car, gliding to the end of the road where he parked up. He checked his mirror. Once satisfied, he clicked open his door and stepped down onto the road.

Walking slowly up to the patrol car, he tapped on the window. Delvechi flicked a switch and the door unlocked. Beltrano took his place inside.

“Good morning, Sir.”

Beltrano did not respond, he kept his gaze down on the dashboard.

“Sir, I know what you are thinking …”

“Do you? Enlighten me.”

Delvechi shifted in the driver’s seat, attempting to negotiate his knees either side of the steering wheel. “Well … I assume you have seen the news?”

Beltrano stayed motionless.

“Sir, I just felt … we needed an edge, and we needed quick results … I … I just thought normally we would flush suspects out, close down their options. So I leaked a little information to the news networks.”

“Is that so?”

Delvechi didn’t know what else to say on the subject.

“What is so urgent?” Beltrano asked. “I said to meet at L’Aquila.”

Delvechi smiled. “You are going to want to know this, Sir, this morning I wasn’t in bed as you said on your voicemail, I was in the station hoping for some tip offs to come in from the coverage. We got pretty much nothing …”

Beltrano scoffed under his breath.

“But we did get one call; it was from a café. A man was rambling on about some fight or assault that he had been involved in … he wasn’t being very coherent, but he insisted the police needed to get involved …”

Beltrano began playing with his lighter in his coat pocket.

“The man said that there had been a fight between him and his friends and one other man, the aggressor … really bad stuff apparently …”

“I assume this is leading somewhere?”

“He said the man was with the Asian girl from the news …” Delvechi let the words hang.

Beltrano looked at Delvechi for the first time. He noted that the sling had been taken off; under his sleeve he could see Delvechi now wore only a dressed bandage. “What time did the call come in?”

“Just before I called you, Sir.”

“Who else knows?”

“No one. By chance I took the call, and I figured you would want us to react first, so I didn’t share anything … just called you and drove out here.”

Beltrano softened. “The café?”

“End of the road and turn right.” Delvechi gave a smug smile. “I had a casual walk past earlier … not exactly the finest establishment.”

Beltrano didn’t indulge him. “Let’s go see what we can find out.”

They both went to exit the patrol car when Beltrano suddenly turned back on his junior.

“If you ever make a move without my permission on this case again, I will have you stationed in the middle of Outer Mongolia for the rest of time, understand?”

Delvechi nodded and they both stepped out.