Deadly States (Seaforth Files by Nicholas P Clark Book 2) (41 page)

cially lies to his masters back in London, Jack always kept it simple.
He sent a message back to London through the embassy. The message
could not
have been simpler
or
more ambiguous—
following a lead.
Going dark.

Their next stop was Northern Turkey. There was a long established
arms route from Russia to the North of Turkey and if anyone was going to try to shift a cargo as complex as four nukes then that was the
most likely route they would take.
Although NATO still had a
presence in Turkey its role had been confined to barracks for most of the
eighties and nineties. The missiles stationed in Northern Turkey and
permanently pointed at Moscow were a much more effective deterrent
than a million-man army lining the border. It was also much safer for
the soldiers to remain in one or two heavily fortified positions as there
was still some fairly radical opposition to NATO being in the country
from nationalist elements.

The town
of
Erzurum was the
main hub for the distribution
of
illegal weapons from Russia. The trail ran down the coast
of Georgia
and into the North of Turkey for much of the eighties, but as Georgia
began to find her own feet as a nation the country began to tighten up
on the trade. In reality it meant that the smugglers had to pay higher
bribes to customs officials and the local police, who in some cases even
went as far as providing an escort through their region.
As the middle
class in Georgia grew larger and more affluent they developed a voice
of their
own and that voice demanded an
end to corruption. There
was too much money to be made for the trade across Georgia to be
ended completely, but it was becoming a lot more difficult. There were
even some rumours that the smugglers were hiring USSR submarines
to avoid Georgia altogether.
At that time in that
part
of the world,
Jack would not have been surprised if such a scheme was in place.

Alexa was
much more at home in Turkey than Jack, and for the
most part he let her get
on with making contact with those shady individuals who were in a position to help them locate the weapons. She
had been an agent in Southern Turkey for many years and her local
knowledge was simply indispensable. She was completely at ease with
the locals as she conversed with them in their own language as effortlessly as she conversed with Jack in English.
As the days passed and
they investigated one dead end after another she never lost her com

posure. As Jack settled into the role as her sidekick he began to see her
in an entirely different light. Setting aside the not so insignificant matter
of her trying to
blow
him to kingdom come following their first
meeting, he was
fondness
quickly
last night in theTurkish town Jack was to learn that she was also developing feelings for him too. In true Alexa style she was far from subtle
when the moment to declare how she felt about Jack finally arrived.
She came into his room in the middle
of the night.
As a sleepy Jack
tried to sit up in the bed she pushed him onto his back. He was wide
awake when she straddled him; thoughts of how his actions would be
viewed back home, worries
over just how
much trouble he would be
in when he got back, if he got back; all put to one side as her athletic
thighs spurred him on. He was even more awake when they finished
making love in the early hours of the morning.

The following morning they had arranged to meet up with a market
trader who was reported to have links with the underground weapons
network.
Alexa approached the man with her usual affable grace; Jack
was not so sure. The guy was all wrong. He was in his mid-twenties
for a start. It wasn’t uncommon for
men in that part
of the world to
get involved with all manner
of illegal activities at a very young age,
but there was no way that someone so young could have held as much
influence and
knowledge
of
such an important
criminal
enterprise.
The Russians would never have trusted him. With age came wisdom
and when a Red
Army
officer was facing execution at the hands of a
firing squad for treason if he was exposed, he was going to make damn
certain that he was putting his life into the hands of someone credible.
The
man spoke decent
English, if somewhat fragmented, which did
indicate a level of education that was much higher than that attained
by most of his countrymen. Though the fact that he spoke English did
nothing to make the stream of nonsense coming out
of his mouth any
easier to swallow.

“I am the man,” said the young man. “I am Bahir. I am the man.”
“So you keep saying,” Jack said, with annoyance.
“What can I do for you?” Bahir asked, with his cheerful tone momentarily obliterated by Jack’s negative attitude.

quickly
developing a genuine fondness for
developed into
something
much
deeper.
her. That
On their
“You know what we are looking for,” Jack said. “If you can give us

the information that we are looking for then you will be paid well. If
you try to sell us a pup I will put a bullet in your head. Does that
make
things clear enough for you?”

Jack knew that
Alexa did not approve of his approach to finding
out information and that is why Jack had been happy to let her take
the lead up until that point; but there was something about Bahir that
rubbed Jack up the wrong way.
Alexa would never let anyone get to
her, least
of all some street
punk from the back
end
of
beyond,
but
Jack couldn’t help but feel protective of her. She was his woman and if
he had to slap a thousand Bahirs senseless until they treated her with
respect and told her what she wanted to know then that is
exactly
what he would do.

“Now angry man, let me make a few things clear for you and your
good lady,” said Bahir. “This is not your country. This is my country.
Your silly little threats
do not
hold fear for anyone in this country.
That you haven’t already
had a
bullet to the head and your woman
sold as a slave to a rich Arab has been my gift to you. That is a gift that
I can have taken from you at any moment. So, angry man, keep your
mouth on a leash and mind your manners. The men who I work for
are much scarier than you could ever be. I could wake up one morning
with my
balls in my
mouth and my still beating heart
on my
pillow
and all because one of the men who I work for had a row with one of
his wives. So you see, your threats mean nothing to me. Now, angry
man, let us start again only this time you can play my game my way.
Do we have an understanding?”

“I understand that you are an insignificant little shit who knows
as much about four nuclear missiles travelling through his country as
that goat tethered over there. You are a fucked up little chancer and I
have no intention of wasting another breath on you.”

“Perhaps you would let me talk to the nice man, darling?” she said,
with a smile.
“Knock yourself
out. Just
don’t get too close to the bastard; I can
almost hear the lice crawling around on him. Keep your eyes on him