The Lethal Target by Jim Eldridge Page A

look.
    ‘You’ve really got a bug about those guys, haven’t you?’ she said.
    ‘Can you blame me?’ asked Jake. ‘They’ve been involved in anything to do with the Malichea books right from the word go.’
    Gordon thought it over, and nodded.
    ‘It’s possible,’ she said. ‘But there’s been no contact between Muir and Pierce Randall since he’s been on the island.’
    ‘How can you be so sure?’
    ‘Because the CIA aren’t the only ones with state-of-the-art surveillance equipment,’ said Gordon.
    They fell silent.
    ‘So who’s got Lauren?’ asked Jake finally.
    ‘We don’t know,’ admitted Gordon. She hesitated, then said: ‘Maybe she’s not on the island any longer.’
    ‘What do you mean?’
    Gordon hesitated again, then said: ‘Look, these are dangerous people we’re dealing with. Whether it’s the Russians or someone else. Muir, maybe. Think what happened to Dougie MacClain and John. If your friend got too close to them . . .’
    ‘No!’ snapped Jake. ‘I’d know if something had happened to her.’
    ‘How?’ asked Gordon. ‘Telepathy between lovers?’ She shook her head. ‘I’m sorry, I don’t buy it. It could be she was dealt with and dumped in the sea, far enough out for it to sink. The first we’ll know about it is when the spring tides bring her body in.’
    Jake shut his eyes to block out the image and shook his head violently.
    ‘No!’ he said again.
    ‘You’ve got to admit, it’s a possibility,’ said Gordon. She sighed. ‘Look, I shouldn’t even be saying this. I was told to keep you on the hook, and that means you thinking that she’s still out there somewhere, being kept prisoner, and you can ride to her rescue with our help.’
    ‘Why would you do that?’
    ‘For the book. Our people want you to get it for us.’
    Jake let that sink in. Finally, he asked, ‘Why me? Like you said, you’re the professionals. I’m just an amateur.’
    ‘Because He Who Shall Not Be Named seems to think you can get places we can’t. He says you’ve done it before.’ She gave a mirthless grin. ‘If you want my opinion, he wants you to try because if you get caught then it doesn’t come back on us.’
    ‘And if they kill me?’
    She fell silent, then she shrugged.
    ‘What can I say? One more dead body, but nothing to do with MI5.’
    Jake thought it over as Gordon continued driving. If he agreed, and was successful, then MI5 would get the book and hide it away, along with the others. Any chance he and Lauren might have of getting the information about the Order of Malichea into the public domain would be gone. And he’d be going in alone, Gareth wouldn’t want to take the chance of the Russians being able to put the body of a dead MI5 agent, caught while trying to steal ‘Russian property’, on display.
    But there was still a chance that the Russians were holding Lauren prisoner, despite Gordon’s doubts about that. He had to believe that Lauren was still alive, otherwise all of this would be for nothing.
    ‘OK,’ he said finally. ‘I’ll do it. But I want something in return.’
    ‘We’ll give you back-up, as much as we can without being seen to be involved,’ nodded Gordon.
    ‘I’m not talking about back-up,’ said Jake. ‘I want a deal. If I do this, then Gareth agrees to let Lauren back into the country, and any charges against her are dropped. Second, I want my old job back.’
    Gordon laughed.
    ‘You’re mad!’ she said. ‘He’s not going to go for either of those.’
    ‘He will if he wants me to get the book back off the Russians,’ said Jake. ‘And I want his agreement in writing.’
    Gordon fell silent. Then she said, ‘You’re serious, aren’t you?’
    ‘Deadly serious,’ said Jake. ‘I’m guessing that you’ve got one of those state-of-the-art phones that you can link to a printer.’
    Gordon shrugged.
    ‘I may have,’ she said.
    ‘And it’ll have some kind of scrambler on it so you can send messages safely in