“Yes, hello Steven. Sorry I’m late. Before you ask, no issues. Just difficult to find somewhere appropriate to call you.”
“Good. I’m glad to hear it. I’m here with Laura and Nat is listening in from Heathrow; he’s on his way to Mexico.”
Rob’s heart missed a beat hearing that Laura had cut her holiday short and Nat was on his way to help. But there wasn’t time for chitchat.
“I don’t have much time. We are currently staying at an illegal settlement, no address, no coordinates. Best we meet at a place called La Cascada Encantada in a couple of days. I will email ideas after this call. I doubt there will be reception so after now, I will most likely be off line. After yesterday’s escapade, I want to stay as isolated and hidden as possible.”
“That’s very sensible, Rob,” Gurning said, raising a hand to silence Laura’s desire to object to the lack of communication. “I had also thought about that and have emailed you the password to connect to a transmitter device a separate agent will establish ahead of the main team near the pick-up point. That will hopefully give you connectivity. You’ll need to be within two hundred metres.” I will deal with Laura’s protestations later and explain the cartography of the area, Gurning decided.
“Great. You will need some good off-road vehicles; this is savage terrain. Hold on…”
Rob slid down within the disintegrating seat on which he was sitting as two men sauntered on to the plot and started looking around. He pulled the handgun from his pocket and readied himself for a possible fight. He barely dared to breathe in case the wreck of a car he was in moved and creaked.
Despite his hopes the men would leave they kept walking about, looking into the wreckages. Frustrated, Rob disconnected from his call and slid from his hiding place just as one of the men heaved the squeaking doors of a van open. Moving carefully, Rob made his way to where the men had already searched and sent a text to Gurning,
Sorry. Will call back as soon as I can, if I can. 2 men searching near where I’m hiding. R
As Rob made his way to the exit, darting from one place of cover to another, he had a moment of inspiration and sent another text to Richard, the captain of his luxury yacht, Liberation.
Please head for Stockholm. Will explain later. Thx. R
After all that Freja has been through, I expect she and her family will want some privacy, away from the inevitable media scrum when she returns. Liberation can provide that. Rob glanced at his watch, Damn! I need to move or I’ll be late to meet whatever her name is. At this rate she will head home without me! Rob quickly sent his email and typed another text to Gurning,
Sorry. Not able to call again. Suggest give Nat 2 clear days from today and meet on 3rd day. We will be waiting, so time to suit Nat. Hope your comms idea works. R
* * *
Having crept from the car-wreck pound, Rob jogged to the meeting point. He constantly looked about him; forests looked so similar in all directions and he was far from confident his route was correct! Heart pounding he eventually saw the woman ahead of him. When she saw him, her relief was clear to see.
She pulled out a bottle of water for him and proceeded to show him her purchases. Rob was delighted, she had found everything he had asked for – a tarpaulin in place of a tent, blankets, a foam mat for each to lie on, a gas cooking stove, some plates and camping cutlery, basic food, two decent sized back sacks and, crucially, a large scale map of the area. Great, this will suit us perfectly for a few days while we wait.
There was an awkward moment when she tried to give Rob the large amount of change from the money he had given her. Rob shook his head and refused, pressing the money back into her hand – she needed it far more than he did. After all, he had inherited Burak’s fortune.
* * *
Late that evening, Rob, Freja and their host pored over the map, Freja translating as usual. After a lot of discussion, they had an agreed approximate location for the woman’s illegal settlement. Following that, careful that no one else was watching, Rob planned a route for the next day for Freja, Alvaro and himself to get to La Cascada Encantada – he didn’t want anyone knowing where they were going.
12
Early the next day while it was still dark and after emotional farewells, Rob, Freja and Alvaro set off. A long, hard trek later, they arrived at the sharp bend in the river opposite the waterfalls of La Cascada Encantada. Rob left Freja and Alvaro for a short time to scout the area and find a suitable campsite. Having settled on a site that was both well hidden with a small spring bubbling up and close to a sheltered place where he could watch the approach road, Rob returned and guided Freja and Alvaro to the place that would be their home for two days.
As Alvaro lay down for a sleep, Rob moved out to observe any comings and goings. He was surprised to see quite a few cars parked up, all local. Although he couldn’t see, the sound of children’s squeals of merriment and splashing was a good indicator of the calm.
Returning to camp to discuss his plans with Freja, Rob was taken aback when he jumped softly down into the small hollow where the camp was based; Freja was having a wash, standing naked in the spring, her back to him.
“Oh. Er, I’ll come back. Sorry. I didn’t realise.” Rob turned to leave as she turned her head.
“That’s okay,” she called softly, remembering his request to keep all conversation low. “You don’t have to go. I won’t be long, and the camp provides some privacy if you want it.”
Embarrassed, and momentarily unsure as to what to do, Rob was rooted to the ground, staring at his feet. He then walked to the camp and sat down, very conscious of the attractive, naked woman only a few metres away.
“Ooo, that was lovely,” Freja said a few minutes later joining Rob in the camp, her wet, blonde hair pushed back over her shoulders and damp clothes clinging to and accentuating her figure. “I really needed that after our trek. I would wash my clothes and hang them to dry but think you prefer I wear them, no? You chose a great place to camp,” she quickly added noting his embarrassment. She handed Rob a bottle of water to drink and placed her other hand on Rob’s forearm as she sat down next to him. “Maybe you will want to try it? The water is very refreshing.”
“Maybe later,” he replied self-consciously, aware of her proximity and touch.
Having shared his thoughts for her return to Sweden, Freja gave Rob a long hug, emotional tears welling in her eyes. “Thank you, so much, that is so thoughtful and generous.” The idea that she and her family could spend a few days onboard Liberation to escape the media and have some privacy was overwhelming.
“You’re very welcome,” he replied, draping an arm over her shoulders, thinking That sounded so dreadfully English! Ugh!
13
Laura arrived at the disused warehouse estate mid-morning with her favourite researcher, David Spalding. On their way, David had explained that the estate was in a derelict state. The current owners had bought it a few years earlier and were battling through the bureaucratic regulations to obtain permission to redevelop. The buildings had therefore been allowed to crumble and become a playground for adventurous young boys and a haven for drug addicts and other criminal fraternities.
They were met by one of David’s colleagues who specialised in chemicals. Donning the protective clothing the specialist gave them, the three approached the cordon, showed their identifications, and inspected the area and barrels of chemicals. The specialist immediately became animated as he reviewed the containers and ran a few quick tests on each.
“This is amazing, as well as gravely concerning!” he said in hushed tones to Laura and David. “We must take control of the area at once and prevent anyone from coming into contact with these chemicals. We also need to keep this very quiet to avoid panic!”
Laura, alarmed by the man’s tone and not knowing whether he could be given to over-reaction, queried his assessment. “On what basis do you say that? We need justification to take over jurisdiction of a potential crime scene.”
“If I mention the words chemical warfare and weapons of mass destruction, I trust I have your attention?”
Laura scowled, extremely concerned and glanced at David, who nodded. “I can understand your scepticism, Laura, but even I know these chemicals. By themselves, extremely nasty and not to be messed with, but mixed together then potentially a wide scale disaster waiting to happen!”
“Okay, let’s remain calm and ensure that our next comments and actions do not give rise to any undue concern,” Laura said quietly and calmly. “Could these also be used to create an explosive?”
The chemical specialist shrugged and wrinkled his face. “Well yes, quite easily. Very unstable and nasty.”
“Explosive potential is enough for me. We can feed that into the public domain and whoever is behind this may just think we’ve screwed up – at least for now! Let me take it from here.”
