Brogan’s hand hovered over the navigation system. As he plotted the course Weston had set, he noticed his hands were shaking. He trembled as he realised he was on his own, on a large ship in the middle of nowhere, with a psychopath for a crew member.
Suddenly retirement seemed a long way away.
Chapter 29
Singapore
‘Put your hands in the air – slowly,’ said the voice.
Dan did as he was told.
‘Now stand up.’
Dan stood and turned, then his arms lowered slightly and snorted in surprise.
‘Pleased to see me?’ asked David.
‘I’ll let you know,’ said Dan. ‘What are you doing here?’
David backed away, keeping the gun trained on Dan.
‘Probably best I ask the questions,’ he said then turned slightly and called over his shoulder. ‘Philippa?’
A figure appeared from the side of another car – Sarah, followed by another woman who was holding a gun at Sarah’s back.
Dan turned to David. ‘Let her go.’
David shook his head. ‘Sorry – no can do.’
‘What do you want?’
David smiled. ‘Well, for starters you can tell me what you’re doing breaking into private property with a journalist.’
‘Why – are you working in private security now?’
David scowled. ‘Very funny. Answer the question. I’ve got enough authority to make the pair of you disappear for a very long time. Don’t push your luck.’
Sarah glanced at Dan, fear in her eyes. ‘Dan? Do you know this guy? Just tell him, yeah?’
Dan ignored her and looked at the other man. ‘How long have you been following us, David?’
David shrugged. ‘A while. You saved us some legwork. Let’s say we don’t want to show our hand to Delaney just yet so it’s time to get you two out of circulation.’
He turned to Philippa. ‘Stay here with our friend the journalist – I’m going to take Mr Taylor for a walk.’
Philippa nodded, leaned against one of the cars and folded her arms, keeping her gun pointed at Sarah.
David took Dan by the arm and shoved him further down the pathway formed by the lines of vehicles. Dan glanced ahead of him and saw a steel staircase leading up to a solitary office. David indicated to Dan to climb the stairs ahead of him. Dan grunted. He would have done the same if their roles had been reversed.
When he reached the top of the stairs, he turned and opened the door to the office. David followed him in and switched on the lights. Dim fluorescent tubes flickered to life. Dan cast his eyes around the room. The office was a mess. Four filing cabinets to the left of the door had their drawers open, the contents strewn over the floor. He looked around the room – a desk stood in the middle of the office, facing the door. It too had been trashed, the contents of its drawers littering the desk surface and the floor.
‘Been busy?’ asked Dan as he turned to face David.
‘Like you wouldn’t believe,’ said David. He sat down in a chair behind the desk, put the safety catch back on the gun and laid the weapon on the desk.
‘Close the door,’ said David, and motioned Dan to the seat opposite him.
Dan closed the door and then slumped into the chair. He looked at David and noticed how weary he looked. ‘You’re trying to stop him too.’
David nodded and said nothing.
‘So, what have you got?’
‘We know Peter sent some notes to Sarah before he died. And we know you’ve used them to get this far. Impressive,’ said David. ‘I wonder what else is in those notes?’
Dan shrugged. ‘Not as much as you’d like to think. I presume Mitch works for you?’
David nodded.
Dan grunted. ‘Figures. There’s no way you’d have worked out we were here on your own.’ He leaned back in the seat. ‘Forget the notes. If we hadn’t broken into Delaney’s house and found the shipping manifest, we wouldn’t have got this far. And now we know he’s using a car for some reason. But we don’t know where it’s gone.’
He looked over at the other man. ‘What’s going on, Dave? What’s so important about this white gold powder? Why are you all chasing it?’
David sighed and leaned forward. ‘Academics in the UK have already pointed out to our government there that existing green energy technology is still decades behind demand, and as the old coal-burning power stations are decommissioned, wind and solar power won’t be ready to take its place. We’re talking nation-wide blackouts before 2020,’ he explained.
‘The coal mining and oil production companies are lapping this up – they know they’ve got at least another thirty years or more where despite protests from the green lobbyists, they’re still set to make billions – and they’re not letting that chance go without a fight. Delaney is just one of them – a particularly nasty one. There’s plenty who would take his place, given the chance. All these organisations are distorting the truth for their own means, so the general public doesn’t know who to believe – and, frankly, they’re starting not to care either. Think of it as apathy caused by information overload.’
Dan nodded and motioned to David to continue. ‘Where does white gold powder come in to all of this?’
David smiled and stood up. He paced the room. ‘White gold’s the answer to buying us some time – a lot of time – without having to consider nuclear energy; something that will give us the extra thirty years we need to develop sustainable, alternative energy.’
‘Which the coal mining and oil companies don’t want.’
‘Exactly. To the point where some of them are paying substantial amounts of money to some very questionable characters to keep the whole concept quiet.’
Dan leaned forward. ‘So where does your lot come into this?’
David shrugged. ‘We’re just making sure it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. Or gets used for the wrong reasons. White gold has to be produced in a safe, controlled environment.’