The Nemesis Program

Chapter Fifty-Three

Daniel’s grin dropped away and he flushed. ‘You’re wrong. I don’t do mistakes.’

‘Sorry to disappoint you there, Daniel,’ Ben said. ‘Attention to detail, remember? You see, I saw Claudine Pommier’s passport at her apartment in Paris. There was no Indonesian visa on it. You never brought her here. I made you repeat it, just to be sure. And you walked right into the trap. That’s when I knew you were lying to us.’

Roberta looked at Ben in consternation. ‘You knew? That long ago?’

‘I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,’ Ben said to her. ‘I couldn’t afford for our friend here to suspect anything.’

‘That’s why you wanted me to stay in Germany, isn’t it?’ she asked.

Ben nodded. ‘I didn’t like you being anywhere near this treacherous maggot.’ He turned back to Daniel. ‘See, you’re not the only one who can play-act. It was all I could do to restrain myself from throwing you into the deepest part of the Arabian Sea to amuse the tiger sharks.’

Some of the colour had drained from Daniel’s face, but he still managed to pull an uncomfortable smirk. ‘So you knew all along, huh? Guess you think that makes you pretty smart.’

‘Not as smart as your bosses,’ Ben said. ‘They think of everything, don’t they? Like bringing a blank firing pistol to a gunfight to protect the identity of a valuable agent like you. Now that’s clever.’

Daniel’s face paled for real at Ben’s words, his composure slipping visibly away. ‘What are you talking about?’ he stammered. His eyes darted nervously as his brain was set racing. The awful connections began to form in his mind. He glanced down at the pistol in his hand.

‘I’m surprised it took you this long to cotton on,’ Ben said. ‘It was McGrath’s pistol I gave you. The one I took from his body. The one he fired at you as you were running towards the woods. You probably don’t remember. You were too busy trying to save your skin.’

‘I … I …’

‘It was their contingency plan,’ Ben went on. ‘Just in case the attack went wrong and either I or Roberta got away. They needed to make it look like you were one of their targets and make sure we got a good look at them shooting at you, to save your cover from being blown. Of course, you couldn’t know about it. You had to look believably shit scared. And you did. Just like you do now, Daniel.’

‘Bull. You’re just trying to rattle me.’

‘It’s the truth,’ Ben said. ‘Just like you were telling the truth when you said you didn’t know much about weapons. One of the only honest things you’ve said. And bad news for you. They should have given you a better training.’

Daniel’s brow twitched. ‘No way. Fuck you, if you think you can fool me so easily.’ He took a step back and raised the gun higher in a white-knuckle grip, aiming it first at Ben’s head, then at Roberta’s, then back at Ben.

‘You could check for yourself,’ Ben said, pointing calmly at the weapon, ‘If you knew how. It’s loaded with 38-calibre blanks. Standard primer. Normal powder load. But the cartridge case mouth is just crimped shut where the bullet ought to be. The gun needs a special modification to be able to cycle the rounds, so it can’t even handle regular ammunition. It’s noisy enough, but nothing comes out of the barrel except burning gas.’

‘You’re lying!’

Ben took a step towards him. ‘Come on, Daniel. Do you really think I’d have given you a live firearm to tote about with you, knowing you were lying, knowing you were one of them? But don’t take my word for it. Go ahead and squeeze the trigger. Maybe I’ll be wrong.’

Daniel backed away another two paces across the dusty floor. His Adam’s apple heaved as he gave a swallow. The gun was shaking in his hand.

‘Go for it, Daniel,’ Ben said. ‘Don’t you want to kill us? Or are you waiting for us to starve to death?’

‘I … don’t want to kill you. The boss said …’

‘Look around you,’ Ben said. ‘No boss anywhere to be seen. He must be running late, which means you’re on your own. It’s time to stand up and defend yourself, and right now pulling that trigger is the best chance you’ve got. Because if you don’t kill me, I’m going to kill you, and soon.’

Daniel’s face contorted into a wild look of loathing and terror. He thrust the gun out, took aim at Ben and squeezed the trigger.

A halo of yellow-white flame spat from the muzzle. The sharp report of the shot resonated all around the empty building.

Roberta started at the sound.

Ben didn’t even flinch.

Daniel fired again. Another spit of flame from the barrel. Another ear-splitting boom that reverberated off the walls and echoed up to the roof.

‘Oh, God,’ he moaned when he saw what had happened.

Because nothing had happened. There was no blood. No injured opponent rolling on the floor screaming in agony. Ben was still standing. Not just standing. Walking slowly, purposefully towards him. Daniel gaped at the weapon in horror.

‘Kind of changes things, doesn’t it?’ Roberta said.

‘I know what you’re thinking,’ Ben said to Daniel. ‘Maybe he’s lying about the blanks and I just missed, because I’m such a crappy shot. Or maybe it’s true, but by some miracle the next round in the magazine will be live. Well, there’s only one way to find out.’

Daniel fired again. The look of desperation on his face was turning to panic. Roberta wasn’t flinching at the sound any more, but looked on with her hands over her ears and a fierce light in her eyes.

‘Keep going,’ Ben said to Daniel, nodding at the smoking pistol. ‘Empty it. The worst you’re going to do is give us tinnitus for a day or two.’ He kept on walking towards him. For every step he advanced, Daniel was backing a step away.

‘Wait,’ Daniel said. ‘I can explain everything.’

‘Didn’t you just do that?’ Roberta said.

‘Please! Listen, I told you, I’m just an assessor. I had no choice but to let Claudine go. If I’d told her who I really was—’

‘Then you’d have put yourself in danger too,’ Ben said. ‘Maybe the handyman would’ve paid you a little social call. And we couldn’t have that, could we?’

As though suddenly repulsed by its touch, Daniel flung the gun away. ‘All right. Look! I’m not armed, okay? I surrender.’

Ben shook his head. ‘I’m sorry, Daniel. We’re past that stage. You’re in too deep.’

‘W-what are you going to do to me?’ Daniel quavered.

‘What I said,’ Ben replied quietly. ‘I never really liked you anyway, right from the start. Now I like you a lot less. So I’m going to break your neck.’

Daniel had retreated all the way to the far wall and couldn’t back away any further. Ben was almost on him.

Daniel fell to his knees. ‘I’m begging you!’ he wailed, his cheeks suddenly wet. ‘Listen, I have over four hundred thousand dollars in a checking account. It’s supposed to be my expenses money. Let me go and it’s yours, every cent of it, I promise. We’ll get out of here together before the others arrive. I know where we can hide. We’ll get the cash transferred to you within a day — hell, within the hour. Just let me … aggh!’

Ben had grabbed hold of him and hauled him roughly to his feet. ‘It’s just like you said,’ Ben told him. ‘The more you struggle, the more this will hurt.’

Daniel fought and thrashed and kicked and tried to bite as Ben held him in a clinch. He grasped Daniel by the jaw. Pushed, twisted, pulled, pushed again. There was a muted crunch and Daniel’s scream was cut short. Ben held him a moment longer, then let the lifeless body slip to the floor.

Roberta stared wide-eyed at the corpse.

‘I’m sorry you had to witness that,’ Ben said to her, mistaking her look for one of shock.

‘He had it coming,’ she replied. ‘Actually, I thought you went too easy on the rat.’

‘He won’t get any deader than this, Roberta.’

‘I can see that. But it was over a little quicker than what I had in mind for him.’

‘You can tell me all about it later,’ Ben said. ‘For now, I think we should get out of here before his friends arrive.’

But even as he finished saying it, the rapidly approaching throb of a helicopter told him they were too late.