Crash Course by Derek Fee (pdf to ebook reader .txt) 📕

his drink. “We should go in for dinner. Hassan is waiting to serve us.”

They sat at a long oak table on which two places had been set. Hassan deposited a plate of grilled king prawns before each man and retired.

“And where do I fit into your game?” Kane asked after Safardi had filled his wine glass with Rioja.

“Yes.” Safardi peeled the shell off one of his prawns and sliced into it. “It is time.” He forked half the prawn into his mouth and chewed. “Tomorrow night I have a rather large shipment of cocaine arriving off the north coast of Spain. The merchant ship which is carrying this precious cargo will anchor offshore and the cargo will be transferred to a specially constructed speedboat. The authorities have been getting too close of late. They follow the freighters from South America by satellite. They will not be far away when the cargo is transferred to my boat. As he approaches the Spanish coast, the captain of the freighter will make a series of course changes which will confuse the Spanish Navy. They will not be able to plot an intercept. That will be your edge. There is no doubt that the Spanish will have a vessel in the area and that that vessel will give chase. You will drive that speedboat and you will drive as though your very life depends on it. Because it probably does. If you are taken by the Spaniards, you will probably spend the rest of your life in prison. If you lose me my cargo, I will have you killed. It will be so much more thrilling than either Sorrento or Cannes.”

“Sounds like fun.” Kane bit into one of his prawns.

“I knew you’d see it that way.”

“What’s the plan?”

“Tomorrow morning, Jaime and two of my men will drive you north to Galicia. You will arrive at night. The boat is already waiting in a village we use for this purpose. Jaime will accompany you to the freighter and will unload the cargo. You will then bring it ashore, collect your money and rejoin your team for the next race.”

“Sounds like a piece of cake,” Kane said, finishing his prawns.

“It will be.” Safardi clapped his hands and Hassan reappeared. The dishes were removed and the main course of braised lamb was served.

“Now,” Safardi said. “When I was a young boy at Eton, I did so love the Boys Own tales of British bravery in establishing the empire. You really must tell me all about how you won the Distinguished Conduct Medal in Afghanistan.”

Chapter Forty-Two

Davenport looked at the two men cowering before him. “What in the name of the good God were you two thinking?” Red streaks of anger spread from his neck to his face.

Watson had informed London of Kane’s departure and Davenport had arrived in Cannes on the next available flight. “You’re supposed to be the adults in the room.” He turned to Watson. “You know the rules. We don’t allow an undercover operative to wander off without establishing a means of communication.”

“Mark had his mobile,’ Doc said.

“Which is now dead!” Davenport paced the floor in Bell’s room at the Carlton. “And the battery has been removed so we have no idea where he is at the moment.”

“We know he’s with Safardi,’ Bell said.

“Safardi has five properties that we know of and God only knows how many that we don’t know about. Kane could be anywhere.”

“At least we’ve established that Barrett and Safardi are up to no good,” Watson said. “And Mark was sure that they’re the ones involved in smuggling the drugs.”

“Great,” Davenport snarled. “I’m sure the judge will be delighted to take Kane’s word for it. There was a plan which involved establishing who was involved and then mounting a proper police operation to bring the miscreants down. That plan is now in the toilet because Kane has gone rogue and you two simply let him.”

“He’s a hard man to stop when the bit is between his teeth,’ Bell said. “You know him better than all of us. The question is where do we go from here.”

“Ideally we need to establish communication,” Davenport said. “But the situation with the mobile means that Safardi will try to make sure that we won’t succeed. I’m afraid we’re between a rock and a hard place. Kane is out there alone, with no weapon and planning on the hoof. De Vries has put the word out to all the national police agencies to be on the lookout for Safardi. He could be anywhere. It’s one of the disadvantages of a Europe without borders.”

“What if Mark and Safardi are no longer together?’ Watson asked.

“That is a possibility,” Davenport said. “Has Kane mentioned anything about his recent missions?”

Bell and Watson shook their heads.

“He helped to take down an especially vicious Jamaican drug gang led by a man named Veeral Hackett. Our great judicial system let Hackett out on bail and he fled. We’ve got intelligence that he holds a grudge against Kane and has offered a bounty to anyone who gives him information on where he can be found. We’re scouring Britain for Hackett but he might already have left the country.” Davenport stopped pacing and slumped into a chair. “I’ve been at this game for twenty years and I’ve never lost a man yet.”

“Unfortunately, there’s a first time for everything,” Bell said.

“I have an SO10 team ready in London and the RAF have a plane on standby. It all means nothing if we can’t locate Kane.”

“What do we do?” Watson asked.

“Praying might be useful,” Davenport replied.

Chapter Forty-Three

It was five o’clock in the morning and a pall of darkness hung over the gilded shore that lay directly outside Kane’s bedroom window. He stared into the blackness waiting for the first rays of light to break from the east. The smell of eucalyptus was heavy in the early morning air and the gardens of the villa echoed to the noise of the crickets. He’d slept fitfully. The old