“You may go,” said Ramus softly.
The large man turned, and stepped out from this private room deep within the heart of the stealth ship — Ramus listened intently as the walking cane clicked down the corridor, the noise finally disappearing into the bowels of this vast vessel.
The stealth ship rocked gently on eddies of sea current that caressed her twin prow and black flanks, and the moonlight shimmered across her decks, which were deserted and motionless.
Seagulls cawed outside the room’s porthole as Ramus stood gazing out across the bay and cold eyes glittered in the mixed light of the room and the moonlight. A hand stretched out and opened the porthole, allowing the sultry South American night air to invade his air-conditioned sanctuary.
Pain gripped him, but only for the briefest of seconds. As his twisted face returned to calm, he drank from the tumbler the last remnants of brandy that burned all the way down to the pit of his stomach. “Soon, Mr Dillon — very soon…” came the soft words.
He stirred the coffee slowly, the headache crashing against the shores of his mind and leaving him battered and bruised. Dillon carried the coffee through to the living room, knelt down in front of Tatiana and looked up into her eyes. She had sat up on the sofa, her face drawn, her eyes hooded. Every movement brought a little grimace of pain and Dillon sipped his coffee, drums thumping in his head, rippling across his temples.
“You okay?” Came Tatiana’s voice, weakened, jagged, almost a whisper and unheard.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Dillon opened his mouth to speak again, and Tatiana whispered; “Shh,” with a finger against her lips. She met Dillon’s gaze. There were tears in her eyes and she smiled warmly at him.
“I’m very sorry for bringing such trouble to your life and home.” “They came for me,” Dillon said slowly.
“Both of us, surely?” said Tatiana. Tears rolled down her cheeks, and she abruptly brushed them away. “Thank you for saving my life. I don’t know what would have happened, if it hadn’t been for you.”
“You would be dead — that’s what would have happened, my lovely.” Dillon said matter of factly.
Tatiana coughed, her face a grimace, her hand coming up to the sterile dressing covering the stitched bullet wound in her shoulder; she smiled wryly.
“You are a brave strong and honourable man, Jake Dillon. I have come up to this God forsaken place in the middle of nowhere, to warn you.” She laughed softly. “Your life is in grave danger… Yes, I know, a little bit too late.” Her gaze met Dillon.
“You do know that Scorpion HQ has been completely annihilated?”
Tatiana’s eyes went wide. “Scorpion HQ… are you sure?”
“It was on the TV news; and part of Alix’s encrypted message first thing when he came to visit was how the British Government had sanctioned Scorpion to assemble a strike task unit with the sole function of searching out major terrorists and assassinating them. How’s that for a coincidence? And now the whole Scorpion headquarters is — gone!”
“Completely destroyed?” Her voice was a hushed whisper.
“How?”
“The media is speculating that it was a Weapon of Mass Destruction, possibly a small nuclear device. There’s nothing left. The images on the TV left little doubt in my mind that it was a nuke warhead.”
“So LJ was right, after all.” She whispered, horror lining her face like battle scars.
“Right about what?”
“This is even bigger than he imagined.”
“What the fuck are you twittering on about?” Dillon’s patience had run out…
The fire crackled. Dillon finished his coffee, and Tatiana, head bowed, deep in thought, looked up, her face pale, lips trembling.
“Listen, we need to leave here, Dillon… We need to get as far away from here as fast as we can. They will come — they will come soon!”
“If we move you now, the wound might start bleeding again. Then you could die.”
“That’s a chance I’ll have to take, Dillon. Because if we stay here, we’ll both die.”
Dillon smiled, and then it turned to a nasty grin. “They will have to send a legion of killers,” he said the words softly, his hand brushed against the Glock and something stirred deep within his subconscious that made him shudder with the anticipation of dealing out death.
“You’re not listening, Dillon,” said Tatiana sadly. Her hand reached out, stroking Dillon’s cheek. “If LJ is right, and his informant is telling the truth, then they will send Assassins.”
“Assassins? You mean like those sent to Cornwall to kill me?”
“No — these willbe very different. All I know is that Scorpion had always known that a secret society of killers existed. It was thought that they had been destroyed a long time ago, and that the society had simply faded into obscurity. But it would appear that these ruthless killers are very much active, and linked with terrorist groups around the planet, paid for by the major drug cartels in Latin America. They have… somehow returned.” The word hung in the air like a bad smell.
“Why is this happening to me?” Dillon’s voice was cold as reality sunk in and he remembered what Alix had thought was happening to the Scorpion units. They were being assassinated, one-by-one… The possibility that this was happening passed like a chilling breeze over his soul, the certainty walked like a grim-reaper over his grave.
“You remember professor Kirill?”
“How could I ever forget him?”
“The partners of Ferran & Cardini believe that what took place in Cornwall was all about Kirill, and that it was the work of a group of individuals who are involved in terrorism, extortion, murder and just about anything that goes against the establishment. You think of me as your ex, and also as a tactical liaison officer between Ferran & Cardini and Scorpion — but appearances can be deceiving, Dillon, very deceiving.”
Dillon met her gaze.
Tatiana licked her lips.
“My role at Ferran & Cardini has always been a façadefor the work that I actually undertake on behalf of HM Government. I am part of a Government department that has no name and are accountable to no-one except the Prime Minister. We work within the Scorpion network to root out and eliminate anyone who co-operates with terrorists. We look for the enemy — we find them — we erase them. Permanently.” She sighed.
“You’re the bloody secret service?”
“Something like that,” said Tatiana, smiling wearily. “But the enemy has hit hard and fast; we had only just discovered that Kirill was one of them… Our intelligence source was reliable, but we never thought that they were anywhere near ready to make their move… I unknowingly sent you on an assignment that could have led you to your death — but thank God you survived. Others were not so fortunate.”
“And Kirill?” Dillon’s voice was as cold as Arctic ice.
“Kirill is one of the group; as is another man known to us, Ramus. We think that they’ve struck now because Kirill’s new Chimera Programme is almost ready, and with its awesome power they can use it to take over virtually every banking and governmental computer installation, satellites, and God knows what else. It is so powerful, Dillon — I can’t even start to explain just how dangerous this software could be in the wrong hands.”
“But I don’t understand,” said Dillon softly. “Why have virtually all of the Scorpion units being assassinated? And why has Scorpion HQ been destroyed? After all, no-one ever knew the exact location of the units and HQ was one of the Government’s best kept secrets. I thought that Kirill was a good man?”