Nick moved to position himself to see the two men on the beach. William and the VIP were still at the water’s edge. Nick saw Samantha coming across the road on foot. He motioned for her to go behind him and saw her slip into the shadows. He returned his gaze to the ocean.
The men were standing in knee-deep water now. They were looking to sea, waiting for a signal. The VIP dropped the snorkel and mask in the shallow water.
Waiting for a diver to emerge probably, Nick thought.
The men began to wade out further—Nick saw the black figure rising; a diver.
There’s or ours?
The VIP moved towards the diver, William followed. Suddenly the VIP vanished, disappeared underwater. William looked around confused. The VIP surfaced and Nick could see the diver pulling the VIP down. The diver gripped the back of the VIP’s head and with two hands held him underwater. The VIP thrashed wildly.
Nick froze, shocked. He couldn’t act but he couldn’t turn away.
A second diver emerged and William Ying turned. He was swimming through the water as fast as he could. He hit shallow water and began running towards the shore. Two men moved out of the shadows near Nick. He pulled back further trying to stay out of sight. As they got closer down the beach, one of them pulled a gun and shot William—a single bullet wound to the head. The only sound was the clean noise of a silencer. William Ying slumped into the water.
The VIP’s body floated on the surface of the water. The diver dragged him to shore as the second diver collected William’s body in the shallow waters. On the shore, the remaining two men removed body bags from a backpack and William Ying and the VIP were bundled into them. In moments, they were removed from the beach and the scene cleared.
One man stayed behind, picked up the snorkel and mask which had washed back in, waded out a distance and threw them out to sea. Nick and Samantha watched as the man then came ashore, returned to the car and the dark SUV drove away.
Nick’s phone rang and he saw John’s ID come up.
“You can stand down from the beach,” John confirmed.
“Those four men …”
“They were ours,” John confirmed. “Nick, back Mitch up at the house and secure it, send Sam back to clear the accommodation, then get on the road and well-clear of the area ASAP.”
“Got it.” Nick hung up and turned to leave. He motioned for Sam to follow him. He glanced back over the beach. It looked as though nothing had ever happened.
Mitch saw John’s number come up on the screen.
“I’m about to go in,” Mitch said.
“The beach has been cleared, William Ying and the VIP are dead and removed.”
“Any sub?” Mitch asked.
“Nothing, looks like their abort mission order worked. But why call it off?” John asked.
“Why the hell would our team kill William Ying? There goes a good source of intel.” Mitch ran his hand over his face. “Ellie and I are moving in. I better call Nick.”
“It’s taken care of it. Nick’s on his way to back you up, Sam’s clearing the rooms and you all need to be out of the area by 0800 hours before the media arrives.”
“I’ve just heard several shots,” Mitch whispered to him. “I’m only expecting to find the shooter alive.”
John let out a low whistle. “That area is supposed to be clear. Do you want more back-up?”
“No, but I suspect it was clear when the SWAT team was here earlier. I don’t know where Dylan was calling from. Got to go.”
Mitch tuned to Ellen. “Ready?”
She drew her weapon and nodded.
Rising, Mitch led the way. He moved around the front of the VIP house and tried the door, which opened. With gun raised he scanned the room; it was empty. They scoped the house … completely empty.
Mitch and Ellen moved outside to the next allotment, to the tank. They ascended the metal rail to the top; the trapdoor leading inside was gone after Nick blew it up. Mitch moved in with Ellen close behind; a small amount of light spilled out and allowed Mitch to scope the rooms. Mitch glanced down the stairs towards the basement entrance. He shivered and a wave of nausea passed over him. He inhaled. Ellen came beside him and touched his arm. He instinctively shook her off.
Crouching low, he glanced down the stairs. He indicated that she should watch the door, and he dropped to the floor. He could see the entrance to the two tiled rooms and down the hallway, the shadowed entrance to the room where he was taken. In the first tiled room, he could see a man sitting with his back to Mitch typing away at a laptop. Wearing a large jacket and knitted cap, Mitch couldn’t make out who it was. He looked for a gun. It wasn’t on the man’s hip or on the console.
Mitch pulled back and motioned to Ellen. They moved back out and down the rail into the yard.
“We’ve heard gunshots so we know he’s armed. I can’t see the gun, but clearly he’s got one.”
Ellen agreed. “We can storm him, smoke him out or creep up on him.”
“We don’t know that he’s alone and I want him alive. I think we should smoke him out and anyone else in there.”
Mitch saw someone moving towards them in his peripheral vision. He pulled Ellen behind him, pulled his gun and whirled to find Nick with his hands raised.
“Can you wave next time?” Mitch rolled his eyes and holstered his gun.
“I’ll come up with a unique bird whistle,” Nick smirked.
“Sam all right?” Mitch asked.
“Yeah, she’s clearing the rooms so we can get out of here.”
Mitch nodded towards the house. “With William Ying and the VIP accounted for, we’ve got one in the basement here, and two missing plus Dylan. We heard a number of shots and I want to take the one downstairs alive. Now that there’s three of us, let’s storm him. Ellie, you take the rear in case he has support.”
Mitch turned to go back in without waiting for consensus. He silently went to the basement door and squatted, waiting for Nick and Ellen to file in behind him. Looking in, he saw the chair was now empty. Mitch saw an adjoining door was half-closed. It was open before but he knew the room it led to only too well. He saw a shadow under the staircase directly below him. He turned to Nick and Ellen and indicated below him. They nodded.
In a split second Mitch dropped from the top step to the side of the stairs, gun braced as Nick and Ellen stormed down the stairs. He winced with the pain of landing on his leg. No one was there but a small steel door was closed under the stairs.
“He’s gone through there,” Mitch indicated the door.
Nick tugged at the door. “No go, locked on the inside.”
They heard a car start and Nick and Ellen raced up the stairs as a car sped away.
Mitch hurried to the monitor room to watch the screen with the external feed; the car moved too fast—there was no way to identify the driver or if anyone else was in the car. He rifled through papers that were on the desk. There was nothing written in English and no obvious signs or alerts from Dylan on the desk or around the room.
Mitch heard a strange sound; a bird noise and looked out as the steel door under the stairs opened slowly.
Mitch returned to the stairs as Nick emerged making another bird noise.
Mitch laughed. “You’re an idiot.”
“It’s the birdcall of the common loon,” Nick grinned.
“You got that right.”
“You told me to give you a signal so you didn’t accidentally fire!” Nick said. “Want us to chase?”
“No, he’s already got too big a lead on us. We know where that door leads now,” Mitch glanced at the steel door under the stairs, “a tunnel to the garage.”
Ellen emerged from the tunnel with two black leather folders.
“I found a secret stash,” she said.
“Hold that thought,” Mitch ordered. “We need to clear the premises. Ellie can you call the getaway car through to John for me? Let him know it was the white Camry, Asian driver, not sure if any other passengers. Nick, let’s check the rooms.”
Mitch and Nick split away, casing the first room. Mitch moved down the hall and pushed open the half-closed door; he entered the room that he knew too well. He felt his heart rate increase and mentally worked to get past the fear. Breathe, he told himself, focus, breathe. He reeled back. In one corner lay three bodies.
“John’s onto it,” he heard Ellen say as she appeared at the entrance to the room and stood beside him, observing the scene.
“Ellie, swap places with Nick.”
“It’s OK,” she said, “I’m OK to see this.”
He looked at her. His face was pale, with sweat on his forehead. He wiped his sleeve across his face.
“I know that,” he said and grabbed Ellen’s arm. “Just get Nick,” he said.
Ellen nodded. She raced to the door and disappeared. Mitch moved towards the dead men. Nick appeared moments after.
“Sit.” He pushed Mitch into sitting position on the floor and squatted next to him. “Take a deep breath.”
“I’m OK, I just need a minute,” Mitch panted.
“Take two,” Nick said. “It’s not every day you get to revisit the scene of your own crime.”
Mitch nodded. “It’s nothing.”
“It’s me,” Nick said in a low voice. “Shut up for a minute and just breathe with me … in: one-two-three, hold: one-two, out: one-two-three, in: one-two-three, hold …”
Mitch followed suit.
“Better?” Nick asked after a couple of minutes.
Mitch nodded.
Nick rose and pulled Mitch up.
“Clear head?” Nick asked, continuing to hold his arm.
“Yeah, thanks.” He broke away from Nick, took a deep breath and stood to full height.
They moved to the three bodies and pulled them off each other, laying them out on the floor.
“That’s Hai and Froggy. No Dylan and no Ru,” Mitch sighed with relief. “But who is this other guy?”
Nick shrugged. “A ring-in?
“Can you and Ellie scope the grounds?” Mitch asked reaching for his phone.
“Will you be OK?”
Mitch nodded, moving past Nick and out of the room into another area. He put in a call to John.
“Secure here. Three males down—Hai, Froggy or his real name Fan Wen and the other is unknown to us. Dylan and Ru are missing. Ru may have been the shooter that just escaped but we couldn’t identify him. Ellie and Nick are scoping the grounds.”
“Right,” John said. “No sub and no sighting of Dylan and Ru by the other teams. I’ll send the squad back to the VIP house to remove the bodies.”
“We’ll stay until the clearing party arrives, just in case Ru or Dylan return,” Mitch said.
Ellen and Nick re-entered the room. Ellen shook her head, “no one else around.”
“Hang on John, Ellie and Nick are back and no sign of Dylan or Ru here,” Mitch reported to John. “Any chance Dylan’s turned his watch GPS on, if he’s even wearing it?”
He waited while John made a call.
Nick moved into the room with the monitors and studied the screens. Ellen followed him in and gathered the paperwork left on the desk.
Mitch swore under his breath when John reported no tracer.
“Once the squad arrives, hit the road,” John ordered. “We’ll rethink the Dylan and Ru situation on your return.”
“Understood.” Mitch moved out of the room, past Ellen and Nick, up the stairs and into the back yard, drawing a deep breath and putting some distance between himself and the water reserve.
Ellen followed him out reading from the unzipped leather folder.
“Hold up Mitch, you’re not going to believe this.”
Mitch sat down on the base of a sawn-off tree. Ellen stood next to him.
“Some of this is in English … if I’m not mistaken this is a report to the Chinese Secret Intelligence Service,” she looked up at him. “Guess who the agent is?”