Without Mercy Read online

  Without Mercy

  Jack Higgins

  On the pavement, Hannah Bernstein was trying to haul herself up, clutching at the railings as Dillon got to her. “You're all right, just hold on to me.” But there was blood coming down her face, and he was afraid. In Jack Higgins’ acclaimed bestseller Dark Justice, intelligence operative Sean Dillon and his colleagues in Britain and the United States beat back a terrible enemy, but at an equally terrible cost. One of them was shot, another run down in the street. Both were expected to survive – but only one of them does. As Detective Superintendent Hannah Bernstein of Special Branch lies recuperating in the hospital, a dark shadow from her and Dillon’s past, scarred deep by hatred, steals across the room and finishes the job. Consumed by grief and rage, Dillon, Blake, Ferguson, and all who loved Hannah swear vengeance, no matter where it takes them. But they have no idea of the searing journey upon which they are about to embark – nor of the war that will change them all.

  Jack Higgins

  Without Mercy

  Book 13 in the Sean Dillon series, 2005

  TO ED VICTOR,

  THE MENTOR IN MY LIFE,

  WITH GRATEFUL THANKS

  THE GATE OF FEAR IBIZA BALEARIC ISLANDS

  The Playa de Toros in Ibiza is a typical small-town bullring, a concrete circle, benches ringed around, average bulls, toreros desperate to make their bones. It was unbearably hot even on the shady side at four o’clock in the afternoon as Dillon waited at the barrera. As the President led the procession on, the band started to play “The Virgin of Macarena,” that most poignant of paso dobles, that promised only death down there in the ring; death in the afternoon, Hemingway had called it. The toreros tossed off their capes, works of art in themselves, to friends in the crowd, who draped them over the barrera, then the toreros were handed the plain fighting capes and made a few practice swings, the horses of the picadors stirring uneasily. There was a long moment, a signal from the President, and as a bugle sounded, the red door on the far side, the Gate of Fear, burst open. The bull came through from the darkness, a runaway train that skidded to a halt as the crowd roared. Peons moved out to try him, capes ready, the scene looking like the most dangerous thing on earth, but Dillon knew no fear. He vaulted over the barrera down into the arena. The crowd roared as he ran forward and flung himself on his knees in front of the bull and bared his chest. “Hey, toro. Just for me, the Pass of Death,” because he knew that was all it would take and he deserved it. She was dead and it was his fault and the bull charged, the crowd screamed and he cried out and came awake, sitting up in bed, soaked in sweat and more afraid than he had ever been.

  WASHINGTON

  1

  It was Washington, early evening, bad March weather, but General Charles Ferguson, comforted by the luxury of the Hay-Adams Hotel, stood at a window of the bar and enjoyed a scotch and soda. Newly arrived from London, he was curiously exhilarated by the rain pounding against the window and his proximity to the White House.

  On the other hand, he also just liked the hotel for its own sake. In its sheer luxury it was everything a hotel should be, and anybody who was anybody stayed there, the great and the good and the power brokers. Whatever else he was, he was certainly that, the man responsible for running a special intelligence unit out of the Ministry of Defence in London, responsible only to the Prime Minister of the day, irrespective of politics.

  The man for whom he waited, Blake Johnson, was head of a unit at the White House called the Basement. It had been in existence since the Cold War days, an intelligence unit answerable only to the current President, totally separate from the CIA, FBI and the Secret Service. They had achieved great things together.

  Ferguson could see the main entrance of the hotel, where now a limousine drew up and two men got out and hurried up the steps. Blake Johnson was a tall, handsome man in his mid-fifties. The man with him was very big and very black: Clancy Smith, once the youngest sergeant major in the Marine Corps and now the President’s favorite Secret Service man. Ferguson greeted them warmly.

  “Great to see you both.”

  “No Dillon this trip?” Johnson asked.

  He was referring to Sean Dillon, in the past a feared IRA enforcer, now Ferguson ’s strong right hand.

  “There didn’t seem any need and he’s concerned about Hannah Bernstein. She’s really in a very bad way thanks to that Russian bastard Ashimov.”

  “President Cazalet will want to hear all about that. Let’s go.”

  They drove along Constitution Avenue toward the White House, where as usual these days and in spite of the weather, there were demonstrators. Their driver tried the East Entrance, where they were greeted warmly by a Secret Service agent on duty, who escorted them to the President’s secretary, a pleasant and cheerful lady who admitted them to the Oval Office. There they found Jake Cazalet in shirtsleeves at his desk, as usual, working his way through a pile of documents.

  “So you made it. I heard the weather wasn’t too good.” Cazalet came round the desk and shook Ferguson warmly by the hand. “Good to see you, General, as always. I think whiskey is in order, considering this damn rain. Clancy, if you’d be kind enough to do the honors.” He turned to the other two and said to Ferguson, “You took a bullet in the shoulder, I understand?”

  “I was lucky, Mr. President. A bad crease, thanks to the IRA mercenaries employed by Belov’s people, but that’s all.”

  Josef Belov, the billionaire head of Belov International, had once been a colonel in charge of the KGB’s old Department 3. His intentions now were as they had been then – disruption of the Western world as much as possible, encouragement and financial support for terrorism of all kinds. He had very nearly succeeded in assassinating President Cazalet, and, thwarted in that, he had been successful in injuring Ferguson and putting one of his best operatives, Superintendent Hannah Bernstein of Special Branch, in the hospital. Belov had been killed in a shoot-out in Ireland, along with his agents Yuri Ashimov and Major Greta Novikova of the GRU, as well as assorted IRA guns-for-hire. But the pain they had caused lingered on, in both the body and the soul.

  “Belov was backed by the Russian government?”

  “At the highest level.”

  Clancy handed out the drinks, and then stood against the wall behind them, arms folded.

  “Right, tell me the worst,” Cazalet said.

  “I’d say that’s Hannah Bernstein,” Blake told him.

  Cazalet was immediately concerned. “Just how bad is she?”

  “Very,” Ferguson told him. “Ashimov ran her down in the street deliberately. She’s undergoing treatment at a specialized neurological unit right now.”

  “Anything we can do, General, just ask – that goes without saying.”

  “She’s in good hands, sir. She’s in the care of George Dawson, one of the best brain surgeons in the business. But there’s a limit to what the human body can stand, Mr. President. This could be the end of her career.”

  “She won’t like that.”

  There was silence, for there was nothing to say. After a while, Ferguson carried on.

  “Thanks to the efforts of Major Roper, our computer expert, we established that Major Ashimov had fled to Belov’s house in County Louth, in company with Novikova. He also established that Belov himself was there – but about to leave for Moscow.”

  “And knowing Dillon, he decided to stop him.”

  Ferguson nodded. “By a beach drop, backed up by young Billy Salter.”

  “Our young gangster friend? He does get around. Must have been difficult, though.”

  “Mr. President, that is a particularly IRA area. There isn’t a policeman for miles, and strangers stick out like sore thumbs. Any kind of trouble, people keep their heads down and stay in
doors. They don’t want to know. It was a very tricky drop.”

  “So, what was the body count?”

  “Three IRA in the house, plus Ashimov. Novikova, Belov and an IRA man named Tod Murphy made it out to sea in a boat, but Dillon had rigged it with a little Semtex and detonated it by remote control.”

  “By God, he’s a ruthless bastard,” Cazalet said. “After that, I think I could do with another one. Clancy?”

  Clancy obliged and recharged their glasses. It was Blake who said, “The curious thing is – this all took place three weeks ago and there hasn’t been a word about it anywhere. You’d think that Belov’s death would have caused ripples at least.”

  The President turned to Ferguson. “What does your Major Roper say?”

  “That the IRA link with Belov International would explain the good people of Drumore keeping their mouths shut, but as regards the deaths of Belov and the other six…” He shrugged. “They have to be accounted for one way or another.”

  Blake said, “It’s as if it never happened.”

  “Not quite,” Ferguson said. “Which, in part, explains my visit. Roper picked up an item yesterday, put out by Belov International. It concerns their huge development site at Station Gorky in Eastern Siberia.”

  “Which is about as far as you can get from the known world,” Cazalet said.

  “They announced the arrival of their great leader, one Josef Belov, for an extended visit. A photo was included.”

  “Are you sure it was him?”

  “Could have been an old photo,” Blake put in.

  Ferguson shrugged. “Sure looked like him. Which brings me to another interesting thing Roper uncovered. The other year when oil concessions were up for grabs in Venezuela, Belov was in Paris putting himself about on the social scene. Except we know something else as well: he was also in Venezuela pulling a fast one on the opposition and sewing up those oil concessions.”

  “Why is it I feel like applauding?” Cazalet said. “Go on, tell me. Who was the Belov in Paris? Did you have it checked?”

  “Indeed we did. A French intelligence source tells us it was one Max Zubin, an actor of sorts – cabaret, that sort of thing, big in Jewish theater in Moscow. Apparently it’s not the first time he’s impersonated Belov.”

  “So where is he now? Station Gorky?”

  “Wherever his masters need him,” Blake said.

  Cazalet nodded. “Sean Dillon has always been extremely thorough, so I see no reason to doubt that what’s left of the real Josef Belov is at the bottom of the Irish Sea off Drumore Point. So what are they playing at?”

  “I’ve no idea,” Ferguson said.

  “We can’t have that.” Cazalet finished his drink. “Blake, if General Ferguson agrees, I’d like you to grab a lift in his Gulfstream, go back to London with him and help resolve this puzzle.”

  “That’s fine by me, Mr. President,” Ferguson told him.

  “Excellent. I want this matter resolved. Now, let’s enjoy a nice dinner and you can bring me up to date on the European situation.”

  LONDON

  2

  Ferguson hadn’t bothered with a steward on the trip over, just his usual two pilots, Squadron Leader Lacey and Flight Lieutenant Parry. They passed the coast at thirty thousand feet and started out over the Atlantic. After a while, Parry appeared.

  “Our American cousins have been more than generous, sir,” he told Ferguson. “Plenty of intriguing grub in the kitchen area, champagne in the fridge.”

  “What’s our estimated time of arrival?”

  “We should hit Farley Field spot on four o’clock, General.”

  He returned to the cockpit. Ferguson said, “I’m going to make some calls. Excuse me.”

  He called London on his Codex Four, first Bellamy, the doctor in charge of Rosedene, the special medical unit maintained for Secret Security Service personnel, mainly the victims of some black operation or other. He found Bellamy in his office.

  “It’s me. How’s Hannah?”

  “Well, the head tests are fine, so they’re transferring her back here for continuing care. The thing is, the traumas she’s had in the last two years have really dragged her down. Her heart isn’t good – not good at all.”

  “Is she receiving visitors?”

  “Her grandfather and father. They’re being sensible, not overdoing it. It’s Dillon I’ve had to have words with.”

  Ferguson frowned. “Why?”

  “He’d be round every five minutes if I’d let him. In a funny kind of way, he seems to blame himself for Hannah being in this situation.”

  “Nonsense. If there’s ever a woman who knows her own mind, it’s Hannah Bernstein. She’s always done the job because she wants to do the job. It’s everything to her. I’ll look in this evening.”

  He thought about it for a while, then called Roper at Regency Square. Roper was permanently confined to a wheelchair as the result of an IRA bomb several years ago, and his ground-floor apartment was designed to enable a severely handicapped person to fend for himself. Everything was state of the art, from kitchen to bathroom facilities. His computer equipment was state of the art as well, some of it highly secret and obtained by Ferguson ’s liberal use of muscle. Roper was at his computer bank when the General called.

  “So how did it go?”

  Ferguson told him of his talk with Cazalet. “I’ve got Blake with me. He’s going to stay at my place for a day or two while we see if we can make any sense out of all this.”

  “Blake’s got a point when he said it’s as if it never happened.”

  “And that’s what Belov International is confirming by announcing Belov’s visit to Station Gorky.”

  “Well, one thing is certain. You know this goes to the highest level in Moscow, and that includes Putin himself. The worldwide economics involved are simply too important. Whatever has happened, there’s bound to be a Kremlin connection.”

  “Then can’t you find out what? Dammit, man, there must be traffic somewhere out there in cyberspace that has something to do with it.”

  “Not that I’ve seen. Have we got anyone who could nose around at Drumore, do an undercover job? Pretend to be a tourist or something?”

  “Hmm, that’s an idea. If you see Dillon, mention it to him, would you? I’ll see you later.”

  Ferguson sat there for a moment, frowning, then went to the small bar and helped himself to a scotch. Blake said, “Problem?”

  “Bellamy at Rosedene says Dillon’s going through some sort of guilt feeling over Hannah. It’s as if he feels responsible for her condition.”

  “They’ve always had a strange relationship, those two.”

  Ferguson nodded. “She could never forgive him all those years with the IRA, all those deaths. She could never accept that his slate could be wiped clean.”

  “And Dillon?”

  “Always saw it as a great game. He’s a walking contradiction – warm and humorous, yet he kills at the drop of a hat. There’s nothing I could ask him to do that he would find too outrageous.”

  “Everything a challenge,” Blake said. “Nothing too dangerous.”

  “And on so many occasions she’s been dragged along with him.”

  “And you think that’s what makes him feel guilty now?”

  “Something like that.”

  “And where would that leave you? After all, you give the orders, Charles.”

  “Don’t you think I know that?” Ferguson swallowed his scotch down and looked at the empty glass bleakly. “You know, I think I’ll have the other half.”

  “Why not?” Blake said. “And I’ll join you. You look as if you could do with the company.”

  Dillon arrived at Rosedene in the middle of the afternoon, parked his Mini Cooper outside and went in. As he approached the desk, Professor Henry Bellamy came out of his office.

  “Now, look, Sean, she’s just been moved, you know that. Give her a chance to settle in.”

  “How is she?” Dillon’s face w
as very pale.

  “What do you expect me to say? As well as can be expected?”

  At that moment, Rabbi Julian Bernstein, Hannah’s grandfather, came out of the hospitality room. He put both hands on Dillon’s shoulders.

  “Sean, you look terrible.”

  Bellamy eased himself away. Dillon said, “This life of Hannah’s, Rabbi, I’ve said it before, you must hate it. You must hate us all.”

  “My dear boy, it’s the life she chose. I’m a practical man. Jews have to be. I accept that there are people who elect to take on the kind of work that ordinary members of society don’t want to, well, soil their hands with.”

  “You’ve seen her?”

  “Yes. She’s very tired, but I think you may say hello, show your face and then go. Room ten.”

  He patted Dillon on the shoulder, turned away and Dillon passed through the doors to the rear corridor.

  When he went in, the room was in half darkness, the matron, Maggie Duncan, drawing the curtains. She turned and came forward. Her voice had a tinge of the Scottish Highlands about it.

  “Here you are again, Sean. What am I going to do with you?” She patted his face. “God knows, I’ve patched you up enough times over the years.”

  “You can’t patch me up this time, Maggie. How is she?”

  They both turned and looked at Hannah Bernstein, festooned in a seemingly endless web of tubes and drips, oxygen equipment and electronic screens. Her eyes were closed, the lids almost translucent.

  Maggie said, “She’s very weak. It’s a huge load for her heart to bear.”

  “It would be. We expected too much from her, all of us. Especially me,” Dillon said.

  “When she was in last year, when that Party of God terrorist shot her, we used to talk a lot and mainly about you. She’s very fond of you, Sean. Oh, she might not approve, but she’s very fond.”