Judgement and Wrath

34

Pushing on down the coast road, I quickly discovered that the next layover was full to capacity with TV and radio crews. Space was at such a premium that a State Park warden had been drafted in to keep the traffic in order. Any vehicles that did not belong to the media were waved on by the curt man in the stupid hat.

Driving south, I looked for somewhere to park in solitude.

There were plenty of wide, sandy parking bays along the way, but each one had an abundance of tourists' vehicles already encamped on the parking lots, their occupants disgorged across the saw-grass above the beach, or walking on the sands themselves. A regatta of boats made its way through the Inter-Coastal Waterway and I understood why there was so much activity. The crowds had turned out to watch some sort of big boat race.

I finally found a spot to myself. I drove off the road and on to the grass itself. The Audi was equipped with a four-wheel-drive function, so I wasn't concerned about bogging down in the soft ground.

I tried Bradley's office number again but the phone was answered by the same brisk-voiced woman.

'Who is this?' she demanded when I kept my silence.

I hung up. It was time to call in a few favours.

Dialling a number that was committed to my memory, I waited while the call was shunted through various relays. It was some time before the call was picked up and I was asked to punch in a numeric sequence on my phone. I was asked to confirm the number, which I did, then was transferred to another telephone at the CIA headquarters, up the coast in Virginia.

Already a member of the British Special Forces, I had been drafted into a specialist counterterrorism team that pulled on the finest soldiers from across all the member countries of the United Nations. Rink belonged to the same unit. We were ultimately governed by our commanders at a base codenamed 'Arrowsake' after one of the locations where William Melville, head of the original British Secret Service Bureau, allegedly trained his new recruits in the fight against Nazi spies. However, because we were formed from the consolidation of a number of allies, we had facilitators in each country. My handler in the US was Walter Hayes Conrad IV, a Sub-Division Controller of the CIA.

When the face of modern terrorism changed post 9/11, so did the methods of fighting the war. Public relations campaigns and scrutinising bank accounts became more important than assaults on terrorist enclaves. In some eyes my unit were dinosaurs and belonged buried in history. Our fate was sealed, as the original dinosaurs' had been. I retired shortly before my unit was disbanded. Our handlers were absorbed back into their own security communities. Most of them still held great influence; as did Walter.

'I need a favour, Walter.'

'Why do you only ever call when you want something, Hunter?'

'Because I know you'll always come through.'

'Flattery, as you should know, will get you nowhere.'

'Better flattery than blackmail, huh?'

Walter owed me big time. For one, I had been instrumental in stopping the rogue Secret Service agent, Martin Maxwell, who had managed to stay one step ahead of those hunting him. More than that though, I'd kept the name of Tubal Cain — the Harvestman — secret, avoiding a massive embarrassment to both Walter and the US Government. Tubal Cain had gone to his grave as Robert Swan, and I'd made no one any the wiser.

'So what is it you want?'

'Cooperation from the local feds,' I told him.

My location must have been thrown up on some sort of Global Positioning Satellite screen on his computer monitor.

'Martin County, Florida,' he confirmed to himself. 'What are you doing there?'

'Up until now? Not a whole lot of good,' I said.

'Tell me.'

I gave him the brief version.

'I heard about the explosion on Baker Island. Homeland Security flagged it up. Thought at first that it was some kind of terrorist attack on the rich and deserving. When it came to light it was a good ol' gas explosion it was thrown back to Miami PD. Then bodies started turning up and the FBI jumped on board.' Walter ruminated a moment. 'Now you're saying that a contract killer's involved and it's all to do with the Jorgenson pharmaceutical contracts with our military?'

'That's as much as we've gathered,' I agreed.

'And you're up to your neck in it as usual.'

'You know me, Walt. Never can keep my nose out of other people's business.'

'Not when there's a damsel in distress, eh?'

'Doesn't matter who is in distress,' I corrected.

'You want me to put men on it?' Walter asked. 'Catch this killer before he gets at your mark again?'

'Suit yourself; I'm not interested in the killer. It isn't personal this time. All I want is a green light to speak with Bradley Jorgenson. The family estate is shut down as tight as a duck's ass. Can't think of a way to get in there without having to put some good people to sleep. I don't want to do that.'

'No, not a good idea, Hunter.' Walter tapped his fingers. Thinking deeply. 'Can I ask you why you need to speak to the Jorgenson kid?'

'I want to get him out of there.'

'Why?'

'Because I promised his girlfriend that I would. He's not safe.'

'And you think you can protect him better than the police and FBI can?'

'Walt?'

'Yeah, I know. It was a stupid question.' He was tapping again, this time on a keyboard, and I guessed he was already on to someone in law enforcement. While he did that I told him what we'd patched together concerning Gabriel Wellborn and his network of contract killers named after the mythological fallen angels. I told him about Dantalion. Walter asked, 'But you don't know his true identity yet?'

'No. Only that he's decent at his job. I don't think he's military or police. He's, I don't know… different.'

'Self-taught?'

'Or privately taught. This guy looks weird. Very pale-skinned, white-haired, has some sort of condition with his skin?'

'Albino?'

'Perhaps, but I don't think so. Something else. But you might want to check historical medical records; it might throw up his identity.' I thought about the first time I'd seen Dantalion on Baker Island. 'He's also very good with disguises, Walter. Maybe he has a background in theatre or the movie industry.'

'I'll pass all that on to the FBI,' Walter said. 'OK, all done. Go to the front gate; ask to speak with SAC Kaufman. He'll give you what you need.'

'Thanks, Walter.'

'Say nothing of it,' he said. To some that would be a throwaway remark. But I knew exactly what he meant. It was a reminder, and literal in its meaning. Say nothing of it. The Harvestman.

Pressing the end button, I pushed the phone in my jacket pocket. No sooner than I had done that than it vibrated and I pulled it out again. A text message from Harvey. home and dry

Good, they'd made it back to the safe house. Time for me to get on with delivering Bradley there.