The Invisible Assassin by Jim Eldridge

Author:Jim Eldridge [Eldridge, Jim]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2012-03-07T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

A gun!

Numbly, Jake looked at the man who’d stepped in front of him. He was small but wiry. Unsmiling face, cold eyes, hair cut so short his scalp was almost shaved. He had a thin scar that ran right down the left side of his face, from his eyebrow to the corner of his mouth. A knife or a sword, thought Jake. Or a bayonet. He was wearing a casual jacket over a black T-shirt; and jeans and trainers. He looked like one of the SAS soldiers Jake had seen in documentaries, small and incredibly fit, like human pit bull terriers.

‘We want the book,’ said the short man.

‘The one you took from Hadley Park,’ came the quiet voice from behind him.

The pressure in Jake’s back had eased, but Jake was still aware of the man standing very close behind him.

How did they know? Government black ops, thought Jake. They know everything. They must have caught me on camera, some secret CCTV system.

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ he said.

The short man obviously expected to get this answer. His face didn’t register annoyance. In fact, he didn’t seem to register emotion of any sort.

‘Shall I shoot him in the leg?’ asked the man behind him. ‘Just so he gets the message we mean business?’

‘The arm would be better,’ said the short man. ‘We need him to be able to walk.’

The way they spoke about shooting him was so casual, so matter-of-fact, it sent a wave of terror surging through Jake. They’re going to kill me, he thought. They’ll torture me to get what they want; and then they’ll kill me.

‘You can’t shoot me!’ he protested. ‘People will come running!’

The short man gave a weary sigh.

‘It’s fitted with a silencer, dummy,’ he said in exasperation. ‘We’ll just take you somewhere.’

‘We’ll have come to your rescue after you’ve injured your arm in the street,’ whispered the man behind him. ‘Two friends looking after another.’

‘Or you can save yourself a lot of pain and just hand over the book,’ said the short wiry man.

Jake thought quickly. ‘OK,’ he nodded, ‘it’s in my office.’ And he gestured along the street back towards the Department of Science building.

These men aren’t from Gareth, he thought. Unless Gareth was playing a double game and Adam’s job had been to frighten Jake into running out of the building and into the clutches of these two. But that didn’t make sense. Adam had Jake trapped inside the building. He had a car waiting to deliver Jake to Dr Endicote, where he would undoubtedly be questioned. The way they answer this will tell me whether the men are also working for Gareth. If they think I’m able to just walk back into that building, they’re not connected with Gareth. In which case, who are they working for?

The short wiry man hesitated.

He’s thinking about it, thought Jake. And if they do let me go back inside the building to get the book, I’ll find somewhere to hide and then get out another way.

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