Chapter 29
745 Words
Chapter 29Mark was standing by the window of a room at the NSW police station. He didn’t like what was going on. He had taken the two Australian officers the day before to the firing range and his instincts told him these guys were far too smug and comfortable in their own skins, not to say full of it, to be effective. Their brains were somewhere between Mars and Pluto, navigating through a brilliant image of their own worth or capabilities. They were probably very good at what they were doing at some level, but in this particular instance, Mark couldn’t see their value in chasing and apprehending a cat the likes of Samuel. All they talked about was having a beer and shrimps on the barby after they would have captured the Mossad agent. He had not heard one word about a plan. They seemed to rely entirely on Mark’s guidance, which was something he could not, or wanted to offer under the circumstances.
The door burst open suddenly; Sorenson came in, and sat at the table. “Agent Gilford, please sit down,” he ordered when he saw that Mark was not moving from his spot.
Reluctantly, Mark walked to the table and sat down, facing Sorenson. “What’s up?”
“I’ve just received a message from the CIA in Washington.”
“What did it say?” Mark couldn’t be more disinterested, and it showed.
“I know, you’re a bit at odds with us, Agent Gilford, but I think this little bit of information will get us back on track.”
Mark put an arm over the back of the seat. “All right. What is it?”
“In short, Agent Sadir has been removed...”
“Say what?” Mark yelled, bringing his arm back and onto the tabletop. “Do we know why?”
“Apparently—and that’s only my deduction—the fact that we are tracking Samuel and intending to extradite him back to Canada, ignited suspicions on the part of the CIA.”
Mark shook his head vigorously. “No, Chief, that’s not the reason.” He brought his upper body closer to Sorenson across the table. “You’ve been wallowing into believing that you could just go to Samuel’s place, hand him a warrant and get him to follow you...”
“We’re not...”
“Let me finish,” Mark blurted in the Chief’s face. He was fuming. “I’ve been with you people for two days now, and we’ve done nothing but talk about the problem and not the solution. Your two officers have no idea what or who they’re up against. Neither of them has had any training in sniper attacks. They’re probably very good at their policing work, but I have my doubts as to their ability in the field.” He leaned against the back of the chair again.
Sorenson was staring at him. His face was flushed; he didn’t like being told his men were not making the cut. He had picked them out of the bunch specifically for this mission.
“This message is nothing but a notification for us to look for Samuel somewhere else.”
Mark’s eyebrows went up. The man is really a jerk, Mark thought. “Yes, Chief, he’s gone. No doubt whatsoever. As I told you, he’d probably gone to Melbourne before we even arrived on the scene, and now, I’m sure of it, he’s already out of the country.”
“How can you be sure of it?”
“Come on, Chief! Look..., when Sadir was around, he’s the one who sent Prince Khalid to chase after Samuel, right?”
The Chief nodded.
“Then it’s fair to conclude that he alerted Samuel of our intentions. After that, your government agrees to issue a warrant for Samuel’s arrest and for us to extradite him, right?”
Sorenson nodded again.
“Well, since Sadir was still around at the time, he probably sent another message to Samuel saying that things were getting too hot Downunder and to get his ass out of here. And if it wasn’t Sadir who sent the message, Mossad did.”
“But Sadir was on leave as of last night; I mean yesterday afternoon in Washington, he couldn’t have sent anything...”
“Don’t you see...? Good God, man... I’m sorry... Sadir was a double agent, we agreed on that, and he didn’t have to say anything. Mossad kept a tab on him and when he initiated this whole thing by sending the Prince on a wild goose chase, they got the wind up and had the CIA remove him as soon as they could.”
“Fine, but how can you be sure he is not in Australia still?”
“Because he couldn’t sit anywhere here and wait for you to arrest him, now could he?”
“All right, but where does that leave us then?”
“I’m out of here, Chief. Book me on the first available flight to Vancouver. Ms Kartz is next. Please, Sorenson, get a move on. I’m telling you, if I don’t get to Vancouver before Samuel does, Ms Kartz is dead.”
Mark was at the door before the chief could say another word.
- Writer
