The Lethal Target (17 page)

‘He’s been shot!’ yelled Lauren.

Lauren moved to Robbie and Jake saw blood high on his back, around the shoulder.

‘He’s conscious,’ Lauren called to Jake, ‘but only just.’

More shots came from the small island behind them and Jake turned. The three Russians had scrambled down to the shore and found the rowing boat. Two of them were hauling it out from its hiding place, while the third — Dmitri, by the look of it — was taking aim with his rifle at them and the boat. There was the sound of a shot; and Jake dived down, taking Lauren with him, as the bullet went over their heads, narrowly missing them.

Jake scrambled back up, taking Robbie’s place at the engine, and opened up the throttle again, aiming the boat at the coast, which was now about a hundred metres away.

Another bullet zoomed past; and then there was a tearing sound, followed by a hiss of escaping air.

‘They’ve hit the boat!’ yelled Jake.

Lauren had torn Robbie’s shirt open to see how bad his wound was.

‘We have to get to the shore!’ she shouted at Jake. ‘If we don’t, he’ll drown. He’s unconscious.’

Jake pulled back on the throttle and the boat surged forward, even though Jake could see its rubber skirt was already deflating. Sixty metres, fifty, forty . . .

The boat began to slow and sink. Twenty metres to go, ten . . .

‘Out!’ yelled Jake.

As the water started to come in over the deflating rubber, Jake left the throttle and grabbed Robbie under one of his arms. The sinking boat began to tip over. Lauren grabbed Robbie’s other arm, and then the two of them half fell out of the capsizing boat into the cold water. Jake was relieved to find the shingle of the beach beneath his feet. Together, he and Lauren struggled to the shore, carrying Robbie’s unconscious body between them. Jake looked up at the cliff top above them, but there was no sign of anyone.

‘They may be lying in wait for us,’ said Lauren, seeing Jake looking up at the cliff.

‘We have to try, anyway,’ said Jake. ‘He’ll die if we don’t.’

They ran to the path, crouching low in case more shots came from the island; but, glancing over his shoulder, Jake saw that the three Russians were more intent on launching the rowing boat.

Robbie’s body, unconscious and soaking wet, was heavy, but they managed to struggle up the steep path from the shore. The whole time, Jake expected someone to leap out of the bushes and aim a rifle at them; but they made it to the top of the path. The guest house was ahead of them.

‘Not far now!’ grunted Jake, and he shouldered Robbie’s body higher and he and Lauren began to run.

That was when the sound of a shot rang out and the ground in front of them erupted as gunfire smashed around them.

Chapter 25

Jake and Lauren threw themselves to the ground, taking the unconscious Robbie with them.

‘Don’t come any nearer!’

Jake and Lauren looked at one another, startled. It was Jeannie MacClain’s voice.

‘Mrs MacClain!’ shouted Lauren. ‘We’ve got Robbie!’

They heard her shout out, ‘Robbie!’ And as they got to their feet they saw Jeannie MacClain rise up from behind the low stone wall bordering the guest house. She ran towards them, still holding the shotgun she’d fired. When she reached them, she dropped the shotgun and threw herself on her knees beside Robbie.

‘He’s alive,’ said Lauren. ‘But he needs a doctor.’

‘He’s been shot,’ said Jake. ‘We need to phone Dr Patel.’

‘I can’t,’ said Jeannie. ‘None of the phones are working.’

‘None?’ queried Lauren.

‘None. And they’ve taken Rona and Alec!’

Jake and Lauren stared at her, shocked. She was obviously doing her best to keep control of her emotions, but the fear of everything that was happening showed clearly on her face.

‘Let’s get Robbie to Dr Patel,’ said Jake.

‘Don’t move him! I’ll bring the Land Rover over!’ said Jeannie, and she broke into a run. Jake picked up the shotgun she’d dropped and turned around to check the path up from the shore.

‘I bet it’s not loaded,’ said Lauren. ‘She fired it at us, remember.’

‘The Russians won’t know that,’ replied Jake.

‘The Russians coming up that path will be armed,’ Lauren pointed out.

Before Jake could come up with an answer, Jeannie returned over the bumpy ground at the wheel of the Land Rover. Gently, they loaded Robbie’s unconscious body into the back, then Lauren climbed in beside him, while Jake joined Jeannie in the cab. As she drove, Jeannie filled them in on what had happened.

‘It was less than an hour ago,’ she said. ‘The Russians came to the guest house. Professor Lemski with four others, all heavily armed. They took Alec and Rona with them. It happened just after the phones went down. I drove to the police station and told Constable Frierson what had happened, then I came back here. I loaded up the shotgun. I’d decided I was going to go to the cottage where the Russians are and demand they hand Alec and the bairns over. They had my whole family! I wasn’t going to let them do that to us!’

With one of her fists she thumped the steering wheel hard, expressing her anger.

‘When I saw you coming up at the top of the path, at first I thought it was the Russians coming back; this time to take me! So I slipped out and hid behind the wall.’

‘Luckily you only fired a warning shot,’ said Jake.

‘Professor Lemski left a message for you.’

‘For me?’ asked Jake.

‘For you and Helen Cooper. Although he called her Ms Graham.’

Jake sighed.

‘I’ll explain later,’ he said. ‘What was the message?’

‘He said you were to take the book to them at the cottage, or Alec and Rona will die. By fire, he said.’

Spontaneous human combustion, thought Jake. He’ll inject them and they’ll burst into flames.

‘Did he give a deadline for us delivering the book to him?’ asked Jake.

‘Eleven o’clock this morning,’ said Jeannie.

Jake looked at his watch. It was 9.30 a.m.

‘An hour and a half!’ he said.

Dmitri must have radioed Lemski and told him that Jake and Lauren had managed to escape from the island. Immediately, Lemski had hurried to the guest house and taken Alec and Rona hostage. That was why there had been no further chasing from Dmitri or from any of the other Russians.

‘Lemski said he wants both of you to deliver the book personally,’ added Jeannie. Suddenly the vehicle slowed. ‘Here we are,’ said Jeannie.

As they pulled up outside Dr Patel’s house, Jake saw a police car parked there. Good, he thought. That saves us having to go and find them.

Jake leapt out of the Land Rover and was about to run to the doctor’s house, when the door opened and Dr Patel hurried out, accompanied by Detective Sergeant Stewart and Constable Frierson.

‘What’s happened?’ demanded Stewart. ‘How did you get away?’

‘Later!’ said Jake. ‘Robbie’s in the back, and he’s been shot.’

Carefully, they took Robbie from the back of the Land Rover and carried him into the doctor’s house, and to the consulting room. They laid him on the medical couch.

Dr Patel examined the unconscious Robbie, then turned to them, his expression grim.

‘He needs to be treated in an A&E unit,’ he said. ‘The best I can do is stabilise him until we can get him to the mainland.’ He looked at Jeannie MacClain. ‘Will you act as my nurse, Mrs MacClain? I’m afraid Donna isn’t with me today, with all that’s going on.’

‘Of course,’ said Jeannie.

‘We’ll leave you to it,’ said Stewart. He looked pointedly at Jake and Lauren. ‘We need to talk,’ he said.

Jake and Lauren followed Stewart and Constable Frierson out of the house.

As they stood in front of the house, Jake reflected on how bizarre their situation was. Everything seemed so peaceful, so tranquil. The sounds of seagulls as they wheeled overhead, the quietness of the island, the vast expanse of blue sky above them, the varying shades of green of the heathlands stretching out from this small rural hamlet; and yet there was more man-made malevolent evil and danger here right at this moment than in some of the most dangerous inner cities.

‘Jeannie MacClain says there are no phones working,’ said Jake.

‘No, nor computer links. No internet, no email, either,’ growled Stewart. ‘I came here because Dr Patel has got a satellite phone and I thought that might work, but even that seems to be down.’

‘An EMP,’ said Lauren.

Stewart looked at her quizzically.

‘An electromagnetic pulse,’ explained Lauren. ‘It disrupts electronic communications systems.’

‘The Russians?’ queried Stewart bitterly.

‘That’s my guess.’ Lauren nodded. ‘What’s happened? Mrs MacClain told us they’d taken Alec and Rona.’

‘About an hour ago,’ said Stewart. ‘Almost immediately after this pulse thing hit and everything went down. Professor Lemski and some of his henchmen turned up at the guest house, armed with guns, and took Rona and Alec.’

‘Jeannie said he wants us to deliver the book to him,’ Jake told Lauren. ‘He’s given a deadline of eleven o’clock. Jeannie told me about it on the way here.’ He looked at his watch again. ‘The clock’s ticking. It’s a quarter to ten. We’ve got seventy-five minutes.’ He turned to Lauren and added: ‘He said if we don’t deliver it, they’ll die by fire.’

‘Human combustion,’ said Lauren, her face going pale.

‘Exactly,’ said Jake.

‘What do you mean “human combustion”?’ demanded Stewart.

Quickly, Jake and Lauren explained to Stewart what had happened the night before: how Jake had got into the Russians’ cottage and escaped with Lauren and Robbie, and how the Russian had burst into flames when the hypodermic injected the toxic mixture into him.

‘So this stuff is real?’ said Stewart.

‘Yes,’ said Lauren. ‘And Lemski will use it.’

‘Is there anyone else on this island who can give us some kind of back-up?’ asked Jake.

‘There’s the main station at Tobermory, in the north of the island,’ said Stewart. ‘But there’s only one officer there, and we can’t get hold of him by phone. If we drive to Tobermory, we won’t get back before this deadline of the professor’s. Which is why the first thing I did after Jeannie came to me this morning, was send a message by boat across to the mainland. But there’s no way of knowing how far this electromagnetic pulse will have an impact. For all we know, it could have knocked out communications in Oban.’

‘That depends on how big the disrupter is that’s generating it,’ said Lauren.

‘I’ve asked for trained marksmen, hostage negotiators, and for help from the Russian embassy,’ said Stewart. He looked at his watch. ‘But, again, I doubt if they’ll be able to get here before the deadline.’

‘They won’t,’ said Lauren. ‘An EMP will also knock out the guidance systems in a helicopter. They won’t be able to fly here.’

‘If that’s the case, how are Lemski and his people planning to get off the island?’ asked Jake.

‘Simple,’ said Lauren. ‘They’ll switch the disrupter off when they’re ready to leave. My guess is they’ve already arranged for a helicopter to come down just after eleven o’clock. By then they’ll either have the book, or they won’t. Whatever’s happened, they’ll make their getaway.’

‘Surely a helicopter won’t have enough fuel to take them all the way to Russia,’ pointed out Jake.

‘It’ll get them to the Finnish border,’ said Stewart. ‘Once they’re there, they’re safe.’ He let out a heartfelt sigh. ‘The trouble is, even if reinforcements do arrive, there’s the issue of diplomatic immunity. When all this started up I was warned to tread very carefully. Softly-softly. Frankly, I was told to keep hands off. The powers that be don’t want a difficult international incident.’

‘But they’ve killed people! Surely that overrides any kind of diplomatic immunity!’ protested Jake.

‘We
think
they’ve killed people,’ countered Stewart. ‘We can’t prove it.’

‘Yes we can,’ said Jake. ‘We heard Muir admit to killing Dougie MacClain.’

‘Ian Muir,’ grunted Stewart. ‘I had a hunch he was involved somewhere!’

‘And we’re your evidence against him!’ insisted Jake.

‘Muir is not a Russian,’ said Stewart.

‘He could be,’ suggested Jake. ‘Posing as an American.’

‘Whatever he is, he’s secure in that compound with the Russians, and we can’t touch them.’

Jake looked enquiringly at Lauren.

‘Then I guess it’s up to us,’ he said quietly.

‘Yes,’ said Lauren.

Stewart frowned.

‘What do you mean?’ he asked.

‘We deliver the book to the Russians,’ said Jake.

Chapter 26

‘Oh no!’ Stewart told them firmly. ‘We’ve had enough deaths already on this island!’

‘And there’ll be two more unless we hand the book over,’ said Jake. ‘Rona and Alec.’

‘You don’t seriously believe they’ll let them go, do you?’ Stewart challenged them.