Doubled Down Deadly

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER TWO

Carde's den, alias office, aka bedroom, was at the front of the cottage. It was a large room as were most of the rooms in the 6,000 square foot building. It was full of Carde's stuff, ranging from guns in a locked unit, fishing rods and related gear in large cabinets against one wall, shelves loaded with books and magazines mostly dealing with hunting, fishing, guiding and cooking, a closet stuffed with clothes. One unique feature of the room was the Murphy bed that was built into one of the two windowless walls. The floor in front of the bed was the only bare spot because the bed was used frequently.

Graham marveled at the den every time he entered. His own cottage was about one tenth of the size of this one and barely deserving of the term 'minimalist.' It was 10 minutes away from Shield Island by boat and was at least on the water. Graham was spending less and less of his time at his own home.

Officially, Graham was the housekeeper and party chef at the big cottage. He had been hired by its owner Jackson Phillips some years ago after Graham, in his role as a short order cook at a roadside diner, served a meal to Phillips and his now-late wife Laurel. Laurel and Jackson told Carde the meal should be featured in the Michelin Guide. Jackson now relied on Graham for everything cottage-related and the two had become fast friends.

A second unique feature in Graham's den was a large console set under one of the windows overlooking the front porch of the home. The console contained controls which would be a complete mystery to most visitors. Some were controls to run the fabulous electronics in the house but some were for four big drones which were hangered on the roof of the cottage. The drones were stationed at each corner of the building and were used, mainly, to patrol all approaches to Shield Island whenever the need arose. The rest of the digital controls were for the defence system that protected the cottage, boathouse and island at large. The protective measures were formidable thanks to Jackson's background with Canada's intelligence service and as founder of one of the world's leading military software companies.

Carde made a mental note to use a drone to surveil the area where he had encountered the diver today. No doubt the man and his powerful boat would be back. The drones would be a safer way to keep tabs on the creep.

Carde's den was across the hallway from Jackson Phillips' office. The hallway led from the double front doors to the giant living area of the cottage. Phillips' office was locked tight as it was every time the man was away from his home. Lately, he was away most of the time except for the odd weekend when Carde's boss needed a break from the Toronto company he headed.

Jackson Phillips was, ultimately, the cause of Graham's close call with death or injury earlier in the day. In the hectic 15 months that had just passed, Jackson had been coaxed out of his Cottage Country retirement to save the company he founded 15 years before. Jackson Phillips Inc. had been put in jeopardy by an executive who had stolen source code containing secrets of the military software firm. The COO had tried to peddle the code to Russian GRU or other military intelligence services, a sale that could have wrecked JPI by destroying its credibility among top tier clients through the world.

Jackson Phillips had defeated the effort by launching a new software development program that would make the stolen code outdated and irrelevant in the market. He then let the Russians unmask the software thief before stepping in to confront the GRU agents. The confrontation saw Jackson come out on top but the cost of his victory had been the temporary end to his retirement as he returned to be interim CEO of JPI.

The drama had not ended; the Russians had returned with a new mission. The same team that Jackson had beaten stayed in Canada and attacked JPI a second time. This time, the team set out to steal the new software as it was being developed but to do that they believed they had to kill Jackson Phillips. He was too formidable an enemy. To murder Phillips, the team leader, Captain Vasily Zaytsev planned to snipe Phillips through a bulletproof window at one end of the living room of the Shield Island Cottage.

The team was lured into a trap at the cottage. A security team from JPI, an RCMP sergeant and Carde had supported Jackson. In a strange wrinkle, a Chinese assassin became involved on Phillips' side; he had been assigned by his country's security service to help protect Jackson Phillips who had become a popular prophet of technology for Chinese millennials.

The sniper team again was defeated with the capture or deaths of its four members. Captain Zaytsev had taken his shot but that failed. He, in turn, was tracked and chased by Thomas Yew, the Chinese assassin. Both Zaytsev and Yew had ended the chase across the frozen bay by running their snow machines onto thin ice. Their bodies and the specialized sniping rifles both carried were now at the body of the bay.

Graham and Jackson knew the rifles were worth small fortunes. One was the product of a small but elite arms factory on the outskirts of Moscow run by the GRU. It had new and innovative technology that would revolutionize military weaponry. The other rifle was a produce of China's Ministry of State Security with its own advancements. Not only were the guns worth millions, they were extraordinarily important resources for leading militaries through the world. The rifles would provide a great deal of information about advances in weaponry being made by the Russians and Chinese. They also would provide models for the development of similar innovations by other nations including the United States, Britain, France, Canada and others allied nations.

Carde had been asked by Jackson Phillips to keep an eye on the area of the bay where Zaytsev and Yew had drowned. His trip by boat this day was his first look at the scene since the ice on the bay had retreated to a thin strip along the rocky shorelines. Graham was surprised by the interest of someone so quick off the mark. There were very few boats on the water so the few that were on the bay would attract attention. Certainly, a diver working alone at an accident scene was bound to stand out. It was quite a risk for someone to take, a risk that ought to have a major reward. Carde had threatened to put a monkey wrench into that plan. He wondered what the diver would do next.

Carde picked up his cellphone and pressed Jackson's number. Jackson answered as soon as he saw Carde's number on his screen. Carde spent quite a while telling Jackson about the incident with the mysterious diver. He listened while Jackson suggested his next moves. They were the same as Graham had plotted.

"Have you told Marion?" There was a chuckle in Jackson's voice despite the gravity of the reason for Graham's call. Marion Hartz was Graham's girlfriend and the other user of the Murphy bed in the den. She was also a Detective Sergeant of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and had been with Graham since the sniping attack on the cottage by the Russians. Marion had been one of the team that had trapped and dismantled the GRU team.

"My next call," Graham said with a grin of his own. "She'll be up here in a flash because she is so, so dedicated."

"To whom, the Mounties or you?" Jackson laughed at his friend's anticipation of his girlfriend's arrival at the cottage.