The Dreadnoughts Box Set

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Jason Chastain

By the time the other three men were safely on the clifftop alongside him, Jason had done a thorough recce of the surrounding area and was now ninety-nine-point-nine percent sure—he would never be so stupid or blasé as to say one-hundred percent—there was no one waiting for them. He’d startled a handful of rabbits as he’d crept around, sweeping his gaze over the landscape, looking for any signs of life, but that was it.

And now, as the others had a five-minute breather and rehydrated, Jason allowed his brain to move on to the next stage of the mission: Locate the target. To do that, he needed to re-programme his GPS tracker to pick up the signal given off by said mysterious target. And it really was mysterious. He literally had no idea whether it was a person, an item, or what. It could be a bloody goat, for all he knew. Unlikely, unless the goat s**t gold nuggets, making it worth all the money being forked out for this mission, but the world was a strange place, and growing more so with every passing day. Plus, how would a goat get hold of a GPS tracker, anyway, gold-shitting or otherwise?

He fiddled with the gadget, then waited as it thought about the command he’d given it before recalibrating. The flashing blob that had marked the beach blinked out of sight momentarily as the background of the screen, the all-important map, redrew. Once it had loaded, the flashing blob reappeared, a distance away from their current location. Given the small size of the island—about three by four kilometres, if he remembered correctly—that distance wasn’t much. Jason pressed a button, then said—out loud now, rather than into his mic, since the need for stealth seemed to have passed, “Right. Target is located. A little under two klicks away, as the crow flies. The terrain’s going to be rough, but we’ve got to push on. We might not have to worry about being seen anymore—though remain alert—but we’ve still got a deadline.” He retrieved his flask and drunk deeply, then replaced it. “Let’s get going, then.”

As the four of them made their way across some rough grass and towards what looked to be a dense forest, likely of pines, the first rays of the sun began peeking over the horizon. They held no noticeable heat, but were certainly bright. The tiniest of weights lifted from Jason’s shoulders. He was still none the wiser as to what the hell was going on, but at least time was on their side. Not that it had turned out to matter, but they’d reached the island in complete secrecy, under cover of darkness, and now, by the time they emerged from the forest, they’d hopefully have at least a little daylight to work with. Everything was working out well… so far.

He glanced up before the sky disappeared under the tree canopy. Hard to tell in the dim light what the clouds had in store, but hopefully it was nothing worse than what they’d already coped with since leaving the mainland. The wind and rain had been so consistent it had almost got to the stage where he’d stopped noticing it. But as long as the weather didn’t get any wilder, they could carry on. Business as usual.

Seconds later, they entered the forest, the scent hitting Jason’s nostrils telling him his guess about the type of trees had been correct. It was unmistakable—and actually somewhat soothing. No matter what other s**t was going on on the planet, nature would carry on doing its thing regardless, especially in forgotten, untouched corners.

Given the island was uninhabited, there were no convenient woodland trails to follow, no nicely-maintained paths. There were vague animal tracks here and there, but mostly they forged their own route, using brute strength and determination—as well as the occasional swipe of a machete—to get them through when the undergrowth became impenetrable overgrowth.

By the time he emerged from the trees, Jason was as exhausted as when he’d scaled the cliff. Only his heavy-duty gear had prevented him from being covered in scratches from bushes and branches—though Jason noted both Taylor and Joshua had ended up with scrapes on their faces. The fact he could see those scrapes, minor as they were, alerted him to the fact the sky had lightened considerably since they’d set off. Perhaps that meant as well as the sun making its inevitable climb into the sky, the rainclouds had buggered off, too.

He looked around, ensuring yet again they were alone. That done, he nodded to himself, then checked their progress on the GPS. They’d covered about half the distance they needed to. The target hadn’t moved. Probably not a goat, then. A goat would have been on the hunt for some breakfast by now, wouldn’t it? In fact, any mobile being would have moved by now, even if only a little bit, surely?

He’d tried not to think too much about it, but the closer they got to the target, the more impossible it became to not think about what it might be. The fact they had a deadline had made him think perhaps it was a person, who would be in serious danger if they didn’t get there in time. But that raised a whole bunch of other questions, ones he didn’t have time to contemplate right now.

And if it was an item? An inanimate object? Well, then it had to be something incredibly special to warrant flashing so much cash to have it retrieved. And what on earth was as special as all that? He hoped it wasn’t the gold the imaginary goat had been shitting out—their RIB would sink under the weight.

He shook his head. This was why he tried not to do too much thinking. Not only was it a waste of time, his brain started overreacting and throwing up query after question after what-if—as well as the occasional nonsensical thought. He needed every scrap of cognitive function to get them through this mission. Securing the target was only the half of it. He looked at the others. “According to this, we’re barely a klick away. Grab a quick drink, then let’s push on.”

None of them gave a verbal response as they reached for their flasks—didn’t need to—but Jason caught the briefest flicker of discomfort on Smith’s face. Not, he suspected, because of anything physical, but more likely because he was fighting to keep his mouth shut. He clearly had questions, doubts—probably both. And he didn’t blame him. Smith was the most logical, most staid of the group, the one who always double checked everything, just to be sure. He’d saved all their lives more than once—and not just because he was a medic. It had to be killing him to be so uninformed. Normally he, and the twins, knew all the ins and outs of a mission before they’d even left their respective houses. This time, they’d had to put up with Jason being less forthcoming than a politician being quizzed about funding for the NHS or social care. None of them had been happy about it, but when he’d mentioned the fee they stood to earn, they’d sucked it up.

Normally, if he clocked an expression like that on any of their faces, he’d have demanded to know what the problem was, got it all out in the open before it became an even bigger problem. But there was nothing normal about this mission. Nothing what-so-f*****g-ever.

He took a breath and scrubbed at his beard, then tugged on the hairs in frustration. He hated the lack of information, too, but he daren’t tell the three of them he didn’t know anything much, either. They’d flip—and rightly so. As it was, they assumed he knew everything and couldn’t tell them, for whatever reason. God, he just hoped they all got back to the mainland in one piece. He could beg their forgiveness then.

Right now, they had no choice but to get on with it. He took a few swallows of his own water, then they silently continued on their way. The pine forest had opened up onto more rough grass, which then sloped down into a valley. It grew narrower and the sides steeper as they trekked further in, decreasing the light once more. The ground was littered with rocks which had crumbled and fallen from the valley sides, many of them hidden by the long grass and therefore a tripping hazard. They amended their walking style so the toes of their boots—mercifully reinforced with steel—found the edges of the rocks before it was too late and they inadvertently went arse over tit. Twisted or broken ankles would be one hell of a problem. Where Jota lived, in the Highlands, was the middle of nowhere. But at least it was attached to somewhere else, and had roads. This place was surrounded by ocean, and nobody knew they were here. Nobody except the client, anyway, and since the client had paid them to do the retrieving, it was unlikely they had any retrieving skills of their own. That would just be nuts.

When he thought they had to be getting close, Jason looked around—still all clear—then checked the GPS again. Sure enough, their current position, marked by a white dot, was incredibly close to the flashing blue dot, which had remained stationary. He headed towards the target, which seemed to be close to the side of the valley, watching as the white dot grew ever closer to the blue one. After another minute, their edges overlapped the tiniest bit, then a little more.

Jason stopped. Frowned. What the hell was going on here? According to the gadget, he was almost on top of the target, but he couldn’t see a damn thing. Just a wall of rock—that was getting to be a recurring theme—and… Wait.

The area was so full of rockfall he hadn’t immediately noticed what was now blatantly obvious. Less than a handful of feet away was what looked like a landslip. The rocks were bundled up close together, meaning it was likely they hadn’t come from so far up the valley side, and there was no grass or plant life growing amongst the rubble—it hadn’t had chance. This was recent. And quite possibly not created by nature.

The others had caught up by now and moved to either side of him.

“This it?” Smith asked, tilting his head back to examine the rock face. “Pretty sure we’re not here to retrieve a rock. Unless it’s an enormous f*****g diamond, that is.” He side-eyed Jason, a smirk twitching at the corners of his lips. “Perhaps it is. Perhaps that explains the silly money.”

Jason rolled his eyes. “Don’t be an arsehole, Aidan. Of course we’re not here to find a f*****g diamond. If someone knew for a fact a diamond was here, wouldn’t they just get it themselves? Especially since they’d have to bloody well be here to know about it in the first place! That doesn’t even make any sense.”

“None of this makes any sense,” Smith shot back with a glare, his earlier restraint apparently having disappeared. “We’re here to find something, or someone, and the three of us,” he jerked his thumb at the twins, “haven’t got a clue what, or who, it is. How are we supposed to know what the f**k we’re looking for? All we can do is stand around like useless sacks of s**t and wait for you to shout ‘found it’.”

Jason opened his mouth to respond, then snapped it shut again. What was the point in arguing? His friend was right. He sighed, then shoved the GPS unit in his pocket and fiddled with his beard again. All he was doing was buying himself some time to respond, because he didn’t know what the hell to say. Was now the time to come clean? It wasn’t as though they were having a row in a pub and the others could just turn and leave. Go home.

They could punch him in the face, though. It wouldn’t be the first time. And he probably deserved it.

No, there was no probably about it. He definitely deserved it. But he wasn’t going to encourage any of them to smack him one, not right now. They had a mission to complete, and just because they were within spitting distance of their target didn’t mean they could, or should, waste time. Particularly since it looked as though they were going to have to blast their way through a rockfall to get to it.

Through gritted teeth, Jason said, “We haven’t got time to stand about pissing and moaning. The target is in there,” he indicated the valley side, “in what I’m assuming—and yes, before anyone points it out, I know exactly what they say about assuming—is a cave. This rockfall looks recent. We need to get through it ASAP.”

Smith folded his arms. “And what if it’s a trap?”

“What do you mean, a trap?” Jason replied, unable to keep the incredulity out of his voice. “Why the hell would it be a trap?”

“Because,” his friend replied coolly, his eyebrows inching higher, “you don’t know who, or what, the target is any more than we do. So how do you know it’s not a f*****g bomb? How do you know we’re not going to make our way into that cave, only to lose limbs or be turned into pink mist?” He snorted. “Need to know, my arse.”

The rock in Jason’s gut rolled, making him nauseous. He swallowed back the bitterness flooding his mouth, readying himself to deny his friend’s accusations, but found he couldn’t. Bollocks. I’ve got to come clean now, even if it does earn me a fist to the face. Or worse. He took a deep breath, clenched his teeth, then swept his gaze steadily over his friends. Possibly soon-to-be ex-friends. “All right, you got me. I haven’t got a f*****g clue who, or what, the target is. I hadn’t considered it until now, but I guess it could be a bomb, primed to blow as soon as we get inside that cave. But if it is, I don’t understand the motive.” He shrugged. “I mean, why fork out so much cash—and come on, guys, even the deposit was a monstrous amount of money—just to trick four blokes into getting to a certain point on a remote Scottish island in order to blow them up? If someone wanted us dead, there’d be much easier, and cheaper, ways of doing it.”

“Maybe,” Smith replied, irritation still etched into his features, “but I’m guessing that, right now, nobody except the client knows where we are. So if we do die, nobody will even know we’re dead, much less where to find our f*****g bodies. We’ll eventually be reported missing—probably me first, when I don’t turn up for work—but we’re never going to be found, especially if we’re in pieces, and with those pieces being eaten by wildlife. It’s pretty much the perfect crime.”

“I can’t deny that, mate. But what’s the motive? If someone has paid this much cash to get us out here, just to kill us, then they’ve got enough cash to make sure it never comes back on them in the first place, no matter how it’s done. And who have we pissed off enough that they want us dead, anyway?”

“Are you for f*****g real?” Smith replied, his face darkening. “Where to start? How many drug lords, cartel bosses, corrupt politicians have we brought down over the years?”

“Loads. Too many to count. But they never knew who we were. Our real names. Never even saw our faces. How would they even find us—much less set up this elaborate scheme on our home turf? Not to mention quite a few of them are dead, anyway.”

“This is nobody’s home f*****g turf,” Smith muttered, glowering at the rock face. “But,” he let out a heavy sigh, “you might be right. So what the f**k are we doing here?”

“Maybe it’s a sicko billionaire,” Taylor said suddenly. “I’ve read about these folks who abduct people, take them somewhere remote, the woods or something, and release them, then a bunch of other people hunt them, like they’re animals. Just fer fun. Maybe this is a twist on that theme.” He gazed around, wide eyed. “Aye. Maybe there are hidden cameras pointed at us right now, ready tae capture the moment when we,” he fisted his hands, then splayed his fingers dramatically, “kaboom!” He glanced at his twin, who looked as though he couldn’t decide whether his brother was insane or hilarious.

“Maybe there are,” Jason shot back dryly. “I suppose we shouldn’t rule anything out. We’ll check everything thoroughly for triggers, all right? And cameras.” He rolled his eyes again. “Anyway, before we c***k on, I want to apologise. If we’re going to die imminently, I don’t want to die with this on my conscience. I’m sorry, all right? Truly. I was intrigued by this mission, dazzled by the money up for grabs, and desperate to do a job which wasn’t f*****g close protection or glorified security guarding. I truly regret dragging you three into this without knowing all the facts. But,” he spread his hands placatingly, “we’re here now, and I can’t take that back. So we have two choices: we go back, get on the boat, and f**k off. We’ll have a little bit of cash to split between us. Or, we find out what the hell is behind this rockfall, and get it, or them, out of here—providing we’re not pink mist or missing limbs, of course. We’ll have a shitload of cash to split between us. And a great story to tell our grandchildren.”

Joshua spluttered out a laugh—the first sound he’d made in ages. “Grandchildren? Ye need children before ye can have grandchildren, ye ken. And, fostering and adoption aside, ye need a woman tae make wee babbies. Who on God’s green earth is going tae put up wi’ ye?”

There was no arguing with the man’s logic, so he didn’t bother. “f**k off, you lanky ginger t**t, and find the f*****g explosives. I want that rock face rigged up and ready to blow by the time the rest of us have checked for triggers and cameras, all right? And make sure the blast won’t hurt or damage the target. No target, no money, remember?”

“Aye, aye, cap’n.” Joshua gave the world’s most sarcastic salute and hopped to his task.

Barely resisting the urge to flip Joshua the bird, Jason turned to the other two and briefed them.

Less than fifteen minutes later, they were satisfied there were no booby traps of any kind, and that the only explosion that was going to take place was the one they’d planned. They all jogged to a safe distance and dropped into a crouch. The others waited in silence for Jason to make his move. “Right,” he said, having gone through his mental checklist. There was nothing else they could do to make this scenario any safer. He hovered his thumb over the button. “Three. Two. One.”

He ducked his head and pressed it.