Page 14 of She Saw What He Did

‘It looks like trouble,’ he said, trying to stay calm, although his hands were shaking with adrenalin.

‘I want a close-up of the visitor.’

‘Right, going in and … Fuck it,’ he yelled. ‘He’s got a gun.’

He watched as the men walked to the boats.

‘This looks out of control,’ he said flatly.

‘Damn it,’ muttered Alpha Bravo.

Jaime watched in horror as Sparrow lashed out with the oar.

‘Jesus,’ he muttered. His hands shook on the controls. ‘That crazy bastard. He’s fucking killing him. He’s gone fucking mad.’

There was a heavy sigh from the radio.

‘Get out now.’

‘Fucking nutter,’ Jaime said, shocked. ‘I’ll call the police.’

‘You don’t call anyone. Do you understand? You didn’t see anything. You deliver the recording to the deposit box as instructed. You’ll get your money and then you forget you were ever here.’

Jaime turned the controls and brought the drone off the island, cursing the whole time.

‘But …’ he began.

‘Just enjoy the money. Leave this to us. You can’t do anything to help him can you? If you don’t deliver the recording we’ll have to come and get it.’

‘No,’ he gulped.

‘Good. Then we’re agreed. We’ll use you again.’

‘But the man …’ said Jaime.

‘We’ll take care of it, don’t worry about it.’

The radio crackled and then went dead. From his boat Jaime could just make out the figure on the island. He knew he couldn’t be seen but he still raced the speedboat back to St Cecilia’s.

Chapter Ten

Sparrow cursed. It was two o’clock. He was exhausted. He wasn’t used to all this running around. Too many beers and not enough exercise. He was struggling not to give into the sense of panic that was threatening to overwhelm him. Everything was going wrong. He looked at his phone. There was no signal, which meant the couple wouldn’t be able to call for help. At least that was in his favour. He needed them to stay put. He couldn’t risk them running back to the mainland to get the police.

He wiped the sweat from his brow and continued climbing to the hiding place. He stumbled up a bit further and then stopped as a sharp pain cut across his chest.

‘Christ,’ he muttered, dropping onto a rock. He was getting too stressed.

Once he’d got the box he’d get rid of the body. He’d sort the couple out later. She didn’t see his face. He was sure of that. She was too far away. If he couldn’t see her features through the binoculars, then she surely hadn’t seen his. They couldn’t identify him. He’d keep them here until he was ready to go. He only had to wait a few hours. He’s the caretaker and the caretaker does whatever is needed to protect the cargo. That calmed him somewhat and after taking a few deep breaths he was able to continue up the path.

His hand was shaking as he reached inside the rock. He felt about anxiously. He was in the right place, wasn’t he? He looked around. He may have misjudged where he was in his panic. But no, it was the right rock. There was the mark he had made. Then his hands closed around something soft.

‘What the fuck?’ he exclaimed, pulling out a fluffy owl.

Shit. The bastards had taken the box and now they were playing games with him with this stupid kids’ toy. He threw the owl over the rocks.

‘Damn it.’

It was blisteringly hot now and his temples throbbed. Two hours, that’s all he had. Two hours to get the box from that bastard couple. A dull ache spread across his skull. He pulled himself up and looked through the binoculars. They were climbing down the other side of the island. He threw the binoculars back into his rucksack and began to follow them. His legs were tired, and he had trouble climbing down. He pulled the gun from the rucksack and shot at them, but he was too far away. He’d get them though and when he did, they’d be sorry.

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