Dangerous Liaisons

Arrival

They approached the Finca carefully. You could never be too careful, it had been a long time since Guillaume had last been here and who knew if there were people around.

The farm was owned by a "friend" and had been abandoned for some time. There could be squatters in it for all they knew. Jonathan waited at the gates while Guillaume investigated. He could hear his friend's retreating footsteps on the rough gravel as he walked up to, stopped and then walked slowly to the side of the building.

Jonathan's heart was racing despite, or maybe because of, the silence. Silence always made him suspicious. Who was listening; who was controlling the area? Years of looking for ambushes and traps made him wary of the most innocuous scenarios.

He crouched down as if tying a shoelace, his eyes scanning the area. Suddenly he froze - the sound of an engine rumbled towards them. He let out a sharp warning whistle and scrambled to conceal himself behind the nearby wall.

Peering round the corner, he watched intently as a small blue-panelled van crawled past. The occupants were mid-thirties, heavy-set men and if anyone could look less like they belonged there, Jonathan could hardly imagine them. The van slowed as it passed the gates and, from his hiding place, he could see them scan the driveway to the finca. They stopped for a moment, the passenger pointing at something. Jonathan held his breath, his fingers slowly curling around his pistol.  He could only hope Guillaume had heeded his warning.

After a couple of minutes which felt like hours, they seemed satisfied and
drove off.  As they did so, Jonathan made a mental note of the licence plate. He watched them go, the vehicle disappearing down the narrow country road. It came back into view as he watched it turn off the road and head up the hill towards the direction of Roper's villa, La Fortaleza. Worst fears confirmed, he whistled again and a couple of minutes later a very agitated Guillaume crouched beside him.

"Roper's men! Why would they be watching this place? It's been empty for years" Guillaume was very uneasy "do you think we have been betrayed, Jonathan?" Worry was written all over his face.

Jonathan couldn't lie, he had no idea.  Where Roper was concerned, anything was possible.  "My friend, I wish I could tell you, but I truthfully have no idea. We can only hope we can avoid them long enough to get our plan into action." He patted his friend's shoulder and looked at his watch.  "Let's get settled inside. We can wait till it's dark to make a recce of the villa. We have a couple of hours, let's eat and rest.  Who knows when we'll get another chance."

As he sat on the dusty sofa looking at the unappetising can of something that resembled cat food he'd heated, Jonathan's mind wandered to the villa up the hill.  Until that moment, something hadn't really occurred to him. Was Kate actually there? In all this, there had been many assumptions and suppositions but no hard facts. What if it was all a huge mistake?

As if that wasn't bad enough, Roper would be expecting him. It was simply a matter of getting as far as he could before he realised Jonathan was there. He did not doubt in a fair fight he could take down anyone, but this wasn't a fair fight, was it? And then there was Guillaume. Much as he insisted he was here of his own volition, Jonathan couldn't help feeling guilty that he was here when Jeanne and their son waited at home.

He threw the half-eaten can into a rusty old bin and stood up.  Walking to the grimy window, he looked out. The light was fading, soon they would be able to venture out in relative safety. He turned to speak to Guillaume but as he did so he saw the other man was still snoozing quietly on a worn old easy chair.

With a smile, he turned back to the window. There would be time to talk soon enough. Let him rest. In all the years they had been friends, the one thing he'd learned was to let sleeping Frenchmen lie. A grumpy sleepy Guillaume was a more terrifying prospect than anything he'd encountered in battle.

Ten more minutes, he thought, then they had to get this show on the road.
As he saw the lights start to flicker on further up the hill, he closed his eyes and whispered "Hang on just a little longer Kate, I'm coming for you."

Kate opened her eyes and immediately wished she hadn't. Everything. Every atom of her body was in pain. She'd often wondered how people could beg for death. How could anything possibly be so painful you'd rather die? Now she knew.

Frisky had said he would be kind. If this was kind... her thought turned to what he must have done to people he wasn't being 'kind' to.  Suddenly, even in her agony, she remembered the click of the gun as she passed out.  Was Frisky even alive now?

Part of her felt obliged to want him alive as a fellow agent, but the majority of her wanted him dead. Whatever loyalty to the service he once had, was now severely compromised. He had, to all intents, turned.

She was just drifting back into a haze of fatigue and pain when the door opened.  Turning her head slowly, she watched as Roper walked in and straight to the window.  He stood, silhouetted against the remaining daylight, revelling in the fact she would have to concentrate hard on him to even see him.

"You're awake then." There was none of the apologies that he'd given after the Price attack. "You almost cost me another of my best men.  I'm not playing games Kate."

He walked over and gripped her chin, making her squeal and her eyes water. He bent down and hissed into her face. "You'll give me what I want - that goddamn name - before he gets here. If you don't, then I'll punish you by making you watch me killing him first. Then, when you think you can't bear any more, you'll beg me to finish you. And I will.  But when I decide to. You'll just have to wait."

He pushed her roughly back into the pillow and walked away. "Oh and don't think you'll get off lightly in the interim. I think Frisky might want to repay you for his current injuries. Once his kneecap is back in one piece that is. Bullets tend not to like kneecaps, or is it the other way about? I can never remember."  He shrugged nonchalantly and walked out of the room, locking the door behind him.

Kate lay absorbing the information that Frisky wasn't dead; that Jonathan was being set up and for the first time since she'd been captured, properly cried.  Great raw heaving sobs that left her breathless. She was going to die and what was worse, so was Jonathan. And it was all her fault.

As her broken and battered body slipped back into a semi-conscious state, her last rational thoughts were of Jonathan, the day at the beach and the promise.  She prayed he would break it. 'Don't come Jonathan ' she prayed 'Don't protect me forever.'