BlindFire (17 page)

  "Ah....
yes well.... I see, sorry. I’
d better get back to work now."

  After he left, she laid all the papers out neatly on the bed and sat down.

  Scanning the front page of the nearest newspaper, she noticed only the usual stuff. More people starving in Africa, another explosion in
London
, a prostitute murdered in
Manchester
and yet another Princess decides to divorce her rich, but boring hubby.

  As she turned the page, an headline near the bottom almost jumped out at her. 'IRISH FISHING VESSEL SINKS' Beth read on, knowing in her heart that she was reading about the
Regina
.

  'An Irish fishing vessel is feared lost at sea. Coastguard and Naval
Ships have spent all weekend searching coastal waters after several witnesses saw what they described as a huge
explosion at Sea.

   The left hand of the skipper ‘Mr. David Coates’ was washed ashore and found by two children and their dog. Even though the hand was badly damaged a positive ID was made by fingerprints experts.  And to add a new twist to this strange story Mr.  Coates was a wanted terrorist back in the seventies.

  Beths heart seemed to miss a beat. She felt di
zzy and almost fainted.  "Oh Danny
, what have I done to you."  She sobbed in to the newspaper her tears blending the words in to a grey haze.

***

  "Why must we drive aro
und and around the same
area?"  Gunter
snapped
. "I am getting dizzy."

  "Don't you Germans ever stop complaining?"

  "But we have driven down this same street more than a dozen times. I feel I have lived here all my life... Look."  He pointed at a man driving a post office van. "There’s Fred the Postman."

  "For god sake,
be
patient man... We watch and we wait."

"This is totally insane, Stone
is dead he went down with the
Regina
."

  The Major was fed up and
ti
red and he
was sick of hearing that Stone
was dead. "No you're wrong." He shouted. "For once just stop and think about what you're sayin
g. When all this started, Stone
was nothing, just another Squaddi with a family; we didn't even think he was capable of raising his voice let alone a gun."

  Gunter sneered. "
Not really! Aren’t you forgetting that he’s already has a fledgling body count? But anyway he’
s
probably dead; except it and move on
...."

  "Look what he's accom
plished in just a few weeks
, he's got weapons, contacts and for Christ sake he got aboard the
Regina
."

  "Maybe you're thinking he killed everyone aboard and blew her up."

  "It’s only a thought, but with the determination he's showing I'm glad he's on our side."

  "He isn't, he's on his own side."  Commented Gunter.  "Let me out, I want to walk for a while, get to know the place."

  "OK, you check out the Hotels and I'll have a look around the Bars, speak to a few old friends."

  As soon as the Major slowed down, he left the car. He had only walked a few yards, when he suddenly had an idea. Casually strolling up to an unused telephone box he ripped out the yellow pages, quickly flicking through to the Hotels section.  She would go for something quiet he thought, maybe a back street Bed and Breakfast. Then he pictured her sat there, butter wouldn't melt in her shaven armpits.
"Nothing but the best for our
Elizabeth
..!
“
He said aloud, and then stopped the nearest person, a young homeless teenager.
”Excuse me; I'm looking for the most expensive Hotel in
Belfast
.... Where is it?"

  "Sure.” Laughed the scruffy teenager.  "I use it myself all the time."

  "Where is it...?"

  "You must be looking for the Harlequin."  He pointed down the street, from where Gunter had just come.
“It's up there about half a mile on the left.”

  "Thank you."  Said Gunter and reached in to his pocket and pulled out some money.

  "I don't want your money, do I look fucking homeless or something?"  Complained the teenager. "....And besides, you will need it more than
me, if you're thinking of staying
there."

  Gunter almost broke into a run tossing the yellow pages in a bin. He could almost smell her now, he was sure she was there.
He
stopped some distance away from the Entrance and pretended to be waiting for someone, occasionally looking at his watch. The
re was an argument taking place one
man was seething with rage and he seemed somewhat the worse for drink

"I want to see the boss.... I need to speak to him, now. I'll go to the union over this, you see if I don't."
He shouted angrily

  "
Why don’t you
just go before I have to call the Police?" 
T
he Security Guard
pleaded
.
“We’re mates I don’t want any trouble.”

  "Let me in... I want that Bitch... She lost me my job."

  Gunter knew of only one woman who could piss someone off so much.

    Without warning the man suddenly pulled out a razor blade and lashed out across the guards face. Blood splashed out on to the pavement even before he screamed in pain and fell to the gro
und
.

  In the mass of confusion that followed, the drunken attacker managed to slip past all the other guards and was at a staggered half sprint heading for Beths room. He stumbled in his drunken haze, finding it difficult to keep balance and crashed head first into a food trolley gashing his left eye. He immediately climbed back to his feet, determined to get the bitch that had lost him both, his job and girlfriend.

  Gunter entered the Hotel at a full sprint. It was the perfect chance for undetected entry. Running up the massive staircase taking three steps at a time, he reached the top just in time to see the drunk kicking a door in.

  "No!"  Shouted Gunter.

  The drunk entered the room screaming and shouting insults. There was a loud crack, and then a smashing sound as the man came crashing back in to the corridor and slumped down unconscious against the far wall.

  "I told you not to call me a slut." 
A
female’s voice
cried
from just inside the room.
Then she stepped out following her attacker into the hallway. She grabbed his ears. “I’m not a slut!” Then she head butted on the bridge of his nose and he fell to the floor. Beth spat on him and returned back inside her room.

  Gunter stepped over the body, his huge frame filling the door.  "I've been looking for you everywhere Elizabeth Kaelin."

  Beth froze, motionless, the will to fight her way out showing in her wild eyes.

  He raised a calming hand.  "Relax; I don't want to fight you. I... We need your help."  Not knowing what to expect after the episode on the
airp
lane, he slowly advanced.

  She tried a head kick, curving her foot up in a perfect arc, but Gunter grabbed her leg and easily stepped inside the stance viciously throwing her to the floor, landing heavily across her stomach.

 
His muscular body pinned her to the floor like a dead weight.  "Get
off
of
me."  She hissed, embarrassed in defeat.

  "Not until you calm down... Stop hitting me."  He shouted.  "...I don't want to hurt you."

  "You're German, you can’t arrest me."

  "I don't want to... I need your help."

  "I don't believe you."  She said and jerked a finger into his left eye.

  "You bitch..."   Gunter
spat
. "I could kill you in a second if I wanted to." He released his grip to rub his eyes, then got up and walked to the window. "Go on;
get out
if that's what you want." His eyes still streaming salty tears.

  "What the hell do you want?"  She asked. This man obviously didn't mean her any real harm. She held out her hand, he took it and hauled her to her feet. She threw off the silk robe, revealing her naked body.  "I could scream and say you tried to rape me."

  "But you won’t.... Will you?"

  S
he smiled mischievously and smiled. "...No!
"  She got dressed quickly, not really wanting to talk to the Police. "Where's your other half?"

  "...Who?"

  "You know that guy I saw you with."

  He shot a cursory glance at his watch. "....I should have met him an hour ago."

  The two of them left the Hotel and hailed a Taxi cab. "The Kings View.
.!
" Gunter
said
to the driver who nodded in return. "Not quite the palatial luxury you're used to
Elizabeth
."

  John Rothschild was already unsteady on his stool, knocking back single shots of Whiskey.

  "What are you doing?"  Gunter
said and sighed
.  "I thought you didn't drink.... You're pissed."

  "...As a skunk." Slurred the Major.  "I've been in every Pub in 'Hellfast'.

  "
Don’t y
ou mean
Belfast
?" Beth
r
etorted.
“And this man is a professional?”

  "I know what I mean.... this place is..... Hell."

  "John, I found Elisabeth Kaelin. She's here with me now."  He turned to Beth. "This really isn't like him at all. Help me, we must get him to his room and sober him up."

   Gunter carried the lanky frame of the Major to his room with incredible ease. They stripped him and propped him under the ice cold spray of the shower.

  The Major came around at once, coughing and spluttering, the freezing water a shock to his intoxicated system
.  "...What.... What the fu..
!" He screamed, his teeth chattering. "Ge
t
.... Get that female out of here."  Still too drunk to walk, he managed to push past Gunter and grab a towel to hide his retracting man hood.

  "Don't worry ‘peewee’."  She laughed.  "Is it always that small?"

  "With his pride shattered the Major got into bed and turned the light off. Beth and Gunter returned to the living room.

  "Goodnight."  Said Gunter.  "You can sleep on the settee."

  "Oh, you're such a gentleman."

  "I know...."
He grinned.

***

  Danny
had been peddling all day, his feet hurt and the saddle was getting harder. He couldn't go on
for much longer without an arse
transplant and to top it all, the tyre had a slow puncture. "Oh bollax
to it..!
."  He spat and threw the bike into
a ditch at the side of
the next field. He started to walk and then broke into a slow jog. It felt good, like the times
all
those months before, when he went for a run every night.

 
After passing countless farms and villages, he came across what looked like a country Hotel set back from the road surrounded by conifers. If it wasn't for the smell of food, he would have missed it. The rumblings in his gut dragged him up the drive through well kept gardens to the front of the building. Checking his reflection in a car window, he didn't look too bad he thought. He plunged his hands deep into his pockets searching for the small amount of money the Vet had afforded him, just enough for a pint of lager and a packet of crisps.

  He headed for the larger of two maps he noticed on the way in, they were of the ordinance survey type, sealed in hard plastic and screwed to the wall on either side of the entrance. On hearing the approaching hum of a motorbike he watched impassively as it coasted into the drive and parked up in one of the spaces marked 'Employees'.

  He
was strangely surprised, when the rider removed her helmet to reveal a young girl.

  "Not bad looking too."  His subconscious added.

  The girl rushed inside, clutching a bag that was obviously too small for the pink uniform bulging out over the sides. She almost tripped on the steps, flushing her young cheeks with an embarrassing glow.

  "Mustn’t be late." 
Danny t
hought and returned his attention back to the map. Similar to the ones he had used on exercise in
Germany
, each square represented a kilometer, although this one had points of historical importance marked for walkers and tourists.