Chapter 38 Graham Goodall
Graham Goodall was looking forward to the exercise the department heads had devised that should be held. He hadn’t instigated the “Cobalt Exercise” – had that been the case, certain factors would have thought that he needed to tie up loose ends that seemed to be flapping in the wind and would if they ever came to light be his undoing. He could only surmise what Martin knew, although he suspected in his heart of hearts that Martin knew he was responsible for the death of Chan, the house being blown up. He had told the men that it was a sophisticated listening device – of course it was a magnetic mine. He was responsible for the death Luigi Stefan, having contacted the Mafia in America via the Russian Embassy. He wasn’t going to dirty his hands, when there were so many eager beavers willing to do the job and who were promised ready money.
Those that helped were given the same treatment and some had been staunch colleagues of Goodall for a good many years. It was sheer greed on his part and he was determined that all the middle men were going to suffer a fatal accident.
The Cobalt Exercise was one way of getting rid of the people he pretended to like and he treated them to dinners in the evenings and promised them wealth beyond their dreams. He told them that working for the British Government was alright as far as it goes and anyone could get away with murder if they knew the right person and those that took up his offer were going to get their reward later and those that refused would be quietly got rid of – lots of excuses were banded about the offices – have you seen Thomas Devon lately? No-one knew the answer and someone would start a rumour that he had gone abroad because an Uncle of his had died suddenly and he had been left a lot of money. It appeared that a lot of people from many departments went missing for one reason or another and so the killings had been stopped, the only reason being that Goodall’s rumours of excuses had been too repetitive.
Graham Goodall was a very dangerous man to cross and whether he was liked as a person was definitely out of the question and those that had already thought they could take him down with the knowledge they had gained had all been accidently on purpose got rid of. The funny thing is that the ones who were at the top of the tree were unaware of what really went on as Goodall’s explanations were always plausible.
The Russian Embassy would be his final call and from there he would be transported to Russia. Being a double agent had benefits from both sides of the curtain, and had Goodall just played the game, he might have been able to carry on until his retirement from the service.
Goodall never married as he used to say ‘I can’t find the perfect woman to match my abilities.’ Whether he was joking, no-one was really sure. Had he married perhaps he wouldn’t have strayed from the straight and narrow. A woman’s touch is something to behold and if you ever wanted to find out about somebody, they were best people to find some incriminating evidence – friend, foe or husband.
Goodall needed a diversion, on the basis that he had turned his back on an operation that he started, but failed to complete in person. He had allowed other people to do his job because OF not wanting to dirty his hands and he soon realized that he needed to be there at the finish. He had underestimated Martin’s abilities and it had cost him to slip a little in the eyes of the Russians.
His so-called allies, men he had trusted to do the job, his snipers, had missed the target. Admittedly they got the target in the end, but Goodall reckoned it was too late. He knew that the information that Chan had about him had been transferred and now it was a greater threat to him and Martin had to go. What excuse would he give if his number two received a fatal ending was anyone’s guess.
He thought about Joanna Stefan as a possible hostage, but then again two attempts had already been made on her life and she was now somewhere else in the hospital under guard. Although Martin had no interest in Joanna, there might be some bargaining leverage, if he could get her away under the blanket of the Government. It might be possible to do that, but he first had to get Martin diverted in another direction and he had to do it before the Cobalt Exercise. He would have to think very deeply and carefully on his next step.
Chapter 39 Martha
Luigi Stefan must have thought his Christmas present had come early as the thorn in his side, his estranged wife had been captured. He laughed at the thought of her strange clothing, dressed as a mercenary in khaki.
He slung her, tied and gagged under a blanket in a room he had specially prepared for any would be person who was not on his side. It used to be Charlie’s room – where he grew up and had wonderful views of the garden. The wallpaper were pictures of the sun, moon and stars that used to twinkle. Luigi doted on his little boy from his infancy to manhood. Unfortunately he hadn’t turned out as Luigi expected, even though he was brought up the Mafia way. The two words that Luigi described him was “an idiot.”
Luigi sent for his idiot son and for some inexplicable reason, the men frog marched Charlie down, still in his pyjamas to the room where his mother was.
It was fortunate for Martha that someone had got it wrong that morning. Charlie was able to release his mum and she was able to get them out of the room by laying a belt of dynamite along the window ledge.
The men soon realized their mistake when Luigi shot and killed the idiot who took the other idiot to the room where the mother was and it was too late to do anything because a massive explosion rocked the whole building and a whacking great hole appeared in the wall of the room they were incarcerated in and everyone fled for their lives. Some of Luigi’s men had died in the blast and consequently the other wall collapsed on them before they could leave the scene of destruction.
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Martha and Charlie were probably the flies in the ointment as far as Goodall was concerned. They were the surprise that was going to leap out and queer his pitch. Hitherto they were on the sidelines of whatever Goodall had in mind for Martin Church, the Cobalt Exercise being only another four days away.
Martha had previously been in America’s main army having joined when she was 17 years of age. She wasn’t particularly pretty or plain but she had a way with her and could tie any man in knots by being over feminine. Her training was as heavy and hard as the men, there were no differences. She drilled at 4 am with a pack on her back filled with house bricks like everyone else. She was as strong as an ox. She was taught unarmed combat, how to use a knife and all the other skills that the army offered and she was an expert in explosives. She was sent on important missions and had a hundred percent record on bringing down enemies of the United States. After five years she left the army, taking with her all the elements she had learnt and kept up her training for that rainy day which might save her life.
She was able to get a government job, not as important as she would like and it was through someone she had befriended in her army days who was working as a government official who was able to get her transferred into the diplomatic service and eventually posted to England as one of the trusted Couriers.
She met Luigi Stefan at one those many evening dinners that diplomats often set up to meet dignitaries from different countries. She thought he was charming and turned out to be a real gentleman. She wanted to be part of his life and of course one of the many meetings they had was to be a night of passion and soon after she found she was pregnant. Luigi did the decent thing and married her. It was not what he wanted to do really and soon it became apparent that Martha had made a terrible mistake. He turned nasty and made life awkward for her and eventually she left him after suffering two years of persecution, but had to leave her baby behind. Martha managed to avoid an assassin’s bullet as she left Luigi’s household.
Sixteen years on, she came to Charlie’s rescue, only to be caught trying to and ended up bound and gagged in a darkened room. It was through Luigi’s men bungling a simple task that was to be Martha and Charlie’s way out and they escaped with the help of Roland as their get-away driver. It was an unlikely combination of people and soon they were to become a conglomerate from different backgrounds with practically the same aim.
Perhaps Martha and Charlie had different ideas, but were agreeable to become involved in the downfall of Graham Goodall. He obviously was the bad apple core that had been at the centre of the cigarette caper and it was Goodall who persuaded Luigi to get rid of Charlie. It was going to be hard for Luigi to obey Goodall’s order, being that Charlie was his own flesh and blood. But he relented and was going to kill Martha and Charlie that morning when things went horribly wrong.