The Blood King Conspiracy

CHAPTER EIGHT

When Matt Drake first clapped eyes on Hayden Jaye he thought she was already dead. His heart froze in fear, throat tightening as he envisaged what Ben’s reaction would be, and then she moved. There was a huge mass beside her and it too was moving. Drake could hardly believe it was a man; its size dwarfed Hayden, but she appeared to be happy sat right next to him.

“The fuck’s that?” One of the SEAL team guys said. “A hippo? In the Everglades?”

“That’ll be Mano,” Ben spoke up for the first time, his eyes and heart alight. “She mentioned he was pretty huge.”

“Huge, yeah,” came the reply. “Pretty? Nah.”

The chopper hovered low whilst men leapt out. Their mission was to reclaim Hayden Jaye, not pursue the enemy, so they showed no interest in the fleeing band of murderers. Ben jumped out too, landing face-first and spluttering and thrashing in the shallow water whilst everyone watched in amusement.

But he wasn’t fazed. As soon as he’d planted his feet he used them to forge a path to Hayden’s side. Drake was a step behind and heard the words they said to each other.

As did Mano Kinimaka.

Drake and the outsize Hawaiian shared a brief smile and then Hayden was back to business.

“We need to get back to that HQ of theirs. And fast. They cleared out so fast they probably left something behind.”

Drake eyed her torn and muddy clothes, the blood that still soaked her hair, the wounds on her face. “Don’t take this wrong, Hayden. I know you’ve just been in a bloody battle. But, are you sure? You look like you’re gonna collapse.”

“Probably will, Drake. Probably will. But those sadists killed four CIA agents and, believe me, they’re after something much bigger. And they work for a guy who’s, possibly, the most evil man in history. And that’s just his reputation. So, yeah, I’m damn sure.”

Slowly, they helped Hayden and Kinimaka towards the thundering chopper. The SEAL team were stationed around the perimeter, keeping watch, but not even the crazy gator showed its head. Within five minutes they were airborne again.

Ben was squeezed as close to Hayden as he could get; his own clothes now wet and dirty. “I feel like I haven’t breathed since I last spoke to you,” he said in a low voice that everyone pretended they hadn’t heard.

Hayden didn’t move. “In a different way,” she said, “so do I. Look, Ben, I can’t do this now. Not yet. They killed my men, murdered them right in… in front of me. I won’t rest until I’ve done my best to make sense of their deaths.”

The chopper landed back at Boudreau’s HQ. Drake let Hayden get off first and let her have her head. He motioned to Ben and Kennedy. “Just let this happen,” he told them. “Don’t interfere. Even if she collapses on her feet. She needs to exhaust herself.”

Kennedy nodded. “Clearly.” Ben looked less sure, but agreed when Drake winked. “Best way mate,” Drake assured him. “Give her space.”

They trooped into the shambolic HQ.

Screams echoed from her cell, hitting her with a peculiar déjà vu.

“What-”

One of the SEAL guys came over to her. “Miss Jaye. We captured one of their operators. He’s back there.” The man inclined his head. “We’re talking to him.”

“Let me-”

“It’s not Boudreau,” Drake stepped up beside her. “Just a geek. A computer guy. Let them work, Hayden.”

“They sent him back to destroy evidence and information,” the SEAL guy was saying. “So something’s here. It would help us, Miss Jaye, if we knew what we were looking for.”

Hayden took a moment to catch the man’s eyes. “No offence. I can’t tell you. It… it goes so far up the chain you wouldn’t believe.”

“Fair enough.”

Another rough scream rent the air. Despite herself, Hayden shivered. She turned to Ben. “You’re good at this, Blakey. Take a look.”

Ben wandered off amongst the destroyed terminals, kicking debris as he went. Drake and Kennedy stayed with her, silent.

“I’ll be ok,” she said without looking at them. “Not yet. Never the same, probably. But I’ll be ok.”

Drake nodded, saying nothing. Of them all, the ex-SAS man would know best what she was feeling.

“I’ve never seen Ben so worried. Never. You mean a lot to him, Hayden.”

“I know.”

“Might shock you but he’s even taken his Taylor poster down off the wall.”

Hayden smiled reflexively. “Swift? Or Momsen?”

“Need you ask? In the spirit of Dinorock I’ll just quote Motley Crue: Girls, girls, girls. I think one of those is you.”

Ben shouted them over. He was kneeling amidst a pile of discarded paper. “I’ve got some random stuff right here. One of these guys must have been a Johnny Depp fan. Look — a history of Blackbeard the pirate. Grrarrgh! Some bumf about a ship called the Queen Anne’s Revenge. Entire reams of shit on the Bermuda Triangle,” he said, winking at Drake. “Know what I mean?”

Hayden looked perplexed. “A device was recently salvaged from the wreck of the Queen Anne’s Revenge, Blackbeard’s ship, which they have in reality been salvaging for what seems like twenty years. It was broadcast on T.V. We think this so-called Blood King saw the broadcast and knew immediately what the device could do, and, more importantly, how it can do what it does.” She paused for a moment.

“We don’t.”

Drake waved a hand around. “And I’m just guessing, but after seeing the amount of firepower around here — and the CIA’s reaction to your abduction — that it’s a pretty big thing… what it does.”

Hayden was quiet for one long moment. “The answer to the Bermuda Triangle phenomenon.” She said quietly. “But the damn thing’s ancient. Truly ancient. It may predate the dinosaurs.”

Drake frowned at her. “Eh?”

Kennedy grabbed a sheaf of papers off the floor, now tying her long hair back as she straightened. “Wasn’t Blackbeard called the Blood King?”

“I don’t know,” Hayden looked startled. “Was he?”

“Maybe I got it from a movie,” Kennedy said, waving her flippant comment away. “Who knows?”

“Well, hopefully the Blood King ain’t Blackbeard.” Drake tried a chuckle which came out sounding more like a duck arguing with a frog.

“The problem is,” Hayden continued, “there may be a second part to the device. A more important piece. And no one knows where that is.”

Ben looked up from the litter. “Sounds like a challenge to me.”