8

Lacerta

"Salamander?"

"Salamander."

"Salamander?"

"Yes."

Swanbeck rubbed his eyes. It was too early in the morning for this. "When you said, last night, that it was him… well, I honestly didn't believe you. I mean, that overweight, greasy little-"

"It was a disguise." Ethan told him about Salamander's transformation.

Swanbeck leaned back in his chair. "But he's been with us for two years now. He disguised himself for two years? Why?"

"I think I'll ask him myself," Ethan replied. After a nap, he added privately. He still hadn't had any sleep, and it was getting to him. While Wray had been burning down a farmhouse, Ethan had commandeered Luther's computer to try and locate the tracking device. It seemed to still be in America, although there was something odd about the signal.

"You know where he is, then," said Swanbeck, looking slightly relieved.

Ethan shrugged. "Sort of. I know where the Firestorm that Darter stole from Archangel is, and there's a good chance that Salamander is there too."

Swanbeck appeared to reach a decision. "Alright, Ethan. As soon as you can, I want you to find Salamander and stop him using Firestorm."

"But we don't know what he's going to do with it," Ethan pointed out. "Maybe he's just going to sell it to the highest bidder."

Swanbeck shook his head. "I'm afraid not. I was contacted about an hour ago by a certain Thomas Troy. Now, Troy is a gangster. He's in charge of a huge crime syndicate that operates in the USA. Apparently, he attended a little "demonstration" of Firestorm a few hours ago. He filmed the whole thing – a precaution he takes at any meeting he attends. And this is the video, which he emailed me." Swanbeck pressed a button, and a large screen on the wall flickered into life. Ethan watched Seymour Wray's moment of glory, but although he heard Wray's voice, Ethan couldn't see the man among the blurred faces. There was a guy with a terrible skin disease on his face, though.

When it was over, Ethan drummed his fingers on the table. "Okay, there's another demonstration. That means we have to find him quickly. But why did this American offer to help?"

"He wants a trade. We take care of Salamander, and he gets all of the Firestorm."

Ethan laughed. "That's stupid! We're never going to agree to that!"

Swanbeck smiled. "Correct. But we mustn't tell him that."

"So does he know where Wray is hiding?"

Swanbeck shook his head. "I told him about the tracking device, though. He seemed quite eager for you to get there."

Ethan stood up. "I'm ready to go," he said. Then he stumbled and fell into the chair again.

"Uh huh, sure. Why don't you have a little sleep first? Take the weight off you feet?" said Swanbeck, grinning.

Ethan nodded gratefully. "I might just do that."

Such was the state of Ethan's mind that he noticed little of the journey they undertook. He was too tired to notice where he was, or where they were going. All he knew was that they boarded a small plane, flown by Sean, and then he passed out. He regained consciousness of a sort when they landed and was dimly aware of getting off the plane and into a car. Luther drove, and Sean sat beside him, allowing Ethan to lie across the back seat. He draped a blanket over himself so no nosy policemen would interrupt his slumber.

Eventually, the car came to a halt, and Ethan heard Luther saying, "Wake up Ethan, we're here."

A sudden blast of wind hit Ethan, fully reviving him in an instant. He sat up, and even as he tasted the salt in the air, he opened his eyes.

"Here" was a harbour, quite a large one by any standards. Seagulls screamed harshly from somewhere overhead. A number of small yachts and speedboats were pottering around in the calm water of the harbour, not daring to venture out to the turbulent sea. A large cruise ship was docked, and a steady stream of people were fighting to board it, waving pink tickets that matched their sunburnt skin at a steward, who looked as though he'd rather be somewhere else. A couple of bored men sat on a small pier, optimistically dangling their fishing rods in the water, but without much luck.

Ethan took all this in, then lay back and said, "I need an aspirin."

Two aspirin and a cup of very black coffee later, the three of them sat in a small café overlooking the water.

"So where exactly is the signal coming from?" Sean asked.

Luther, as usual, had his laptop on the table. He brought up a map of the area they were in. A small red dot pulsed on the screen, but what was odd about it was that in was some distance out in the middle of the sea.

"So what's he doing out there?" asked Ethan.

"Well," Luther explained, "I've run a check of that particular area. There's nothing there; no islands, no oil rigs, nothing like that. So my guess is he's on some sort of ship."

Ethan groaned. That made sneaking up on Salamander a lot harder. "Any ideas on how we get on board?"

Luther shook his head. "I think we better have a look at it first, before we come to any conclusions."

Sean stood up. "I'll get us a speedboat," he said.

Ethan had never been seasick before. It was a novel experience. As the speedboat bounced over the waves, he guessed that a lack of food, a lack of sleep and some horrible coffee had combined to do this to him.

So he was relieved when a small dot appeared on the horizon. Picking up a pair of binoculars, he peered at it.

"Yep, it's a ship alright. Looks like a big oil tanker." He pressed a button on the side of the binoculars and the image zoomed in, allowing him to read the name on the side of the ship. "Lacerta… I wonder what that means."

"It's Latin for "lizard"," said Sean. The other two stared at him. He grinned smugly back. "The benefits of a Classical education," he said.

Shaking his head, Ethan looked back at the Lacerta. He was just in time to see something cutting through the water towards them.

There was a splash, and Ethan fell in the water. He heard an explosion, and then a pair of hands gripped his shoulders. He was hauled out of the water. He looked up into a face that belonged to neither Luther nor Sean.

It belonged to Morgan Darter.

It was the last thing Ethan saw before Darter hit him on the side of the head with something very solid.

Ethan blacked out.