Three Lives Down (A Dan Taylor thriller) by Rachel Amphlett

Author:Rachel Amphlett
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: spies espionage thriller series, crime, crime and thrillers, thriller espionage, military adventure, military, spies, spies and espionage thriller, thriller, thriller suspense

CHAPTER 31

Dan hitched up the handbrake and sat forward, leaning his arms across the steering wheel.

Exhaustion had driven him from the conference room at two in the morning to one of the first aid rooms on the second floor of the building. He’d crawled into the narrow bunk, rolled onto his side, and slept fitfully until a cleaner had discovered him at daybreak and shooed him from the room.

He yawned.

Beyond the windscreen, the asphalt of the car park gave way to a grassy bank that sloped gently towards the river. Wooden bench seats had been installed along the grass, linked together by a concrete path that snaked next to the river, weaving in and out of ancient trees that cast dappled shadows in the summer light.

An official-looking car was parked a few metres away from where Dan sat, two security men standing next to it, their arms crossed over their chests, their eyes obscured by sunglasses. One faced him; the other’s attention was given to a man hunched on one of the wooden benches next to the river.

Dan checked his watch and then slipped from the car, stretched, and slammed the door shut.

He knew from experience that it would be better not to approach the man on the bench without checking in with his security team first, and he withdrew his identification card from his wallet as he walked towards them.

The shorter of the two men took his card, nodded, and then handed it back and gestured towards the bench.

‘He’s waiting for you.’

‘Thanks,’ said Dan.

He pocketed his wallet and made his way across the last of the asphalt and then stepped over a low chain linked between the posts that separated the car park from the river.

A mist had formed in the early hours of the morning and was now beginning to lift from the water course and surrounding landscape. The aroma of the riverbank reached his senses as he drew closer to the bench.

For a fleeting moment, he was reminded of childhood adventures on homemade rafts, and then his attention snapped back to the present as he reached his destination.

‘Mr Heatherington?’

‘That’s correct. You must be Dan Taylor.’

‘Thanks for seeing me at short notice.’

The man looked up but didn’t stand. ‘Your friend said it was urgent.’

‘It is.’

‘Sit down.’

Dan did as he was told and stared out at the river flowing past, copying the stance of the man he sat next to.

The Right Honourable George Heatherington was a stalwart in the Prime Minister’s cabinet, a back-bencher who had, according to Dan and Mel’s research, been an active Member of Parliament since his late twenties. Never one to make too much noise, he had a reputation for fairness, thoroughness, and a keen sense of loyalty. Now in his late sixties, he sat with his hands folded in his lap, a beige coat folded on the seat next to him, his thinning white hair lifting gently in the breeze.

‘Why here?’ asked Dan.

‘I like it. Gives me space to think,’ said the politician. ‘What do you want to know?’ he asked after a moment’s silence, his pale blue eyes boring into Dan.

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