Chapter VIII

At Heathrow Edwards went directly to Iberia's ticket counter.

Vaughn thought he was almost safe and would be in the air in ninety minutes when he reached the ticket counter. He gave the pleasant looking staff member a charming smile, before he gave her his file number.

"Hello. I need to pay for my flight to Buenos Aires via Madrid, please, and check in. My name is Henry Jones."

The customer service agent was looking for the booking in the computer system. After a few minutes a frown showed in her face. "I'm sorry," she said, "what was the name again?"

"Henry Jones," answered Vaughn irritated.

The lady searched again through the system, before she stated coolly, "I'm sorry, but there is no reservation in the name of Henry Jones in our system."

Vaughn felt as if he had been punched to the midriff. It was impossible. He asked her to look one more time. "I booked the flight online this afternoon. Can you look again, please?"

Impatiently she said, "Mr Jones, I have already looked twice. There is definitely no reservation for you. It appears that the reservation was cancelled because there was no credit card on the file."

He took a deep breath and asked her as calmly as he could manage, "Can you please rebook me on those flights? I have an urgent business meeting in Buenos Aires and have to go this evening."

After a few minutes she said, "I am really sorry, Mr Jones. The flight is already fully booked. I can offer you a flight tomorrow morning."

Bit by bit he became angry. He tried to stifle his anger, but could not avoid growing more and more agitated. His voice grew louder before he noticed it. "Is it possible to book a flight by another route then?" he snapped.

The young woman flinched. She looked to her supervisor for help. Airport security had noticed the angry exchange as well. One of the security guards moved into position with line of sight to the counter.

Vaughn swallowed and lowered his voice before he spoke again. "Forgive me. It is truly a very important business meeting. I have to be in Buenos Aires as soon as possible. Please, can you try to book another flight tonight for me?"

The Iberia clerk relaxed slightly and searched in the system once again to show her good will. Unfortunately for Vaughn the result was no different this time.

"I am very sorry. There is no other flights on any other airline before that one in the morning. I apologize for the trouble you have had. If you decide to take the morning flight I can upgrade your ticket to business class for the inconvenience," she offered kindly.

Vaughn thanked her and paid cash for the booking. He had no other option.

On the other side of London, in an abandoned warehouse Maya wished she could faint now. Her face hurt a great deal. One of her eyes black and swollen, so she could not see easily with it. Her wrists ached where the cable ties cut into her flesh. She had already admitted that she knew Vaughn. Additionally she had told her captors that he was going away on a business trip to an unknown destination. She did not know any details of his travel plans. She gave them the phone number she used to call him, but the mobile was switched off. Despite that they continued to beat her. They believed she knew more about Vaughn's plans. Unfortunately any other information she could give them was about Lucas. She knew she could not talk about him, but it became more difficult to remain silent with each minute.

'Where is he?' she thought, 'he promised to protect me, but now I'm here in this dangerous situation, and nobody is around to help me. So much for your promises, Lucas. Blast, but I have to bear the blame myself. Why couldn't I go to the safe house? My wilfulness will be my downfall, but hopefully not today. Please, please, Lucas come and rescue me. I will never argue with you again, I swear.'

She did not know how long she could conceal the involvement of Lucas and MI-5. She was not a spy and was not trained for situations like this one. Under the next blow her nose broke, and she fainted at last.

Outside the building CO19 had arrived. After consulting with Beth the commanding officer ordered his team to take up position. Shortly after when Beth received the OK mobile call from Lucas to charge the warehouse, she nodded to the commander. He gave the signal to go ahead. In dead silence CO19 moved forward. Then things started to happen very fast. Only a few gunshots were heard before the team leader informed Beth about the successful mission. One of the Chinese agents was dead, the other arrested. Maya was alive, but unconscious. She needed medical care. Her face was a bloody mess. Beth arranged for her removal to hospital.

Once Lucas learned Maya was safe and one of the Chinese apprehended, he contacted Dimitri to give his approval to arrest Edwards.

At the same moment Vaughn Edwards was in the lavatories, washing his face. He was deep in thought, and only one notion flitted through his mind, again and again. Could John be behind his plight? He recalled clearly the sentence John had said to him: 'Think about how difficult I could make things for you'. Perhaps it was only an unhappy coincidence, and he was beginning to see phantoms, or his time had run out. Of one thing he was sure; he had to pull himself together and keep a cool head if he wanted to get through undamaged. Only a few hours separated him from his freedom, so it was not impossible to escape.

Dimitri had just informed the rest of the team as Vaughn exited the washroom, and checked the surroundings. He made eye contact with Dimitri by accident. Dimitri looked down, but the short connection was enough. The face was slightly familiar to Vaughn. Out of the blue he remembered he had seen this guy one day, outside the cybercafé he had used in the shopping centre. It was clearly not a coincidence, but rather surveillance. Instantly he knew he had to escape and go into hiding. Buenos Aires would be unreachable for him any time soon.

Immediately Dimitri realised Vaughn was aware of the situation. Slowly he drew closer to him. The rest of the team followed suit. Vaughn noticed the movements and knew he was cornered. Quite suddenly he fled like a hunted deer. Without thinking he ran through the concourse, jumping over luggage, barging against travellers. His only goal was to reach the exit. The others chased after him, but he made it outside. There he was hit by a bus he had not seen. His body flew through the air and landed on the asphalt. He was dead before he hit the ground. Dimitri emptied Vaughn's pockets and took his baggage away before tumult broke out. Then he disappeared unobtrusively.

The next day Lucas travelled to Switzerland. In Edwards' travel bag they had found the key to a safe deposit box plus the necessary information they needed to obtain access. It was a walk in the park for Lucas to fetch the contents, once he was in the bank. By the late afternoon he was back in London. What he brought with him was a remarkable source of information they could employ to advantage. He had already deleted all compromising evidence of his former life that was included in the material before he entered the Grid. By doing this his past was gone forever.