Blackout - By Tom Barber Page 0,46

and realised from the list of the dead what this was about. That explained the armed escort.

Alone in the dark command post, the big man cursed.

Killing Jackson and Cobb was going to be harder than he’d thought.

THIRTEEN

The journey to the hospice took just over forty five minutes. Cobb drove fast, but the midday city traffic was bad and they were delayed by queues and red lights. Nevertheless, they got there in pretty good time, just as the clock on the dashboard of the Mercedes ticked to 1:00 pm. In Jackson's car not a word was spoken between the CIA agent, Archer and Fox on the journey. They were hoping to get some answers from Corporal Fletcher himself. Also, like loyal men, they didn't much feel like conversing with the man who had withheld information from their boss.

As they turned into the parking lot behind the lead car, Archer looked out of the window from the front passenger seat and examined the hospice from the outside.

It was a long, single storey building and looked newly built. Once the two cars parked side by side and the six men climbed out, Archer spotted a welcome sign with a map layout of the hospice a few feet away. He walked over to take a closer look.

Judging from the map there was a three-acre garden the other side of the building, fenced off from the public where residents, if they were physically able, could enjoy some fresh air and some privacy. He scanned it quickly, looking for all entry and access points. He wasn’t expecting trouble inside, but he heard his father’s voice, a former Sergeant in the NYPD, echo in his mind. Make sure you know every way in and out of a place.

It had been his dad’s credo back in the 80’s when he and his partner were after gang members and drug-addicts plaguing the city. If you were a landlord, you’d have to point a gun at some of those people to get them to move, but one knock on the door from a cop was enough to clear out an entire apartment like cockroaches when the lights were turned on. Archer had rolled his eyes as a kid when his dad told him about that stuff, bored, but as a man he’d remembered it and that advice had got him out of trouble more than once. Cobb stepped forward, joining Archer, and glanced at the map. After a moment, he nodded and motioned for everyone to follow him inside.

Given the poor health and physical frailty of the residents of the building, the few people who happened to be near the entrance were extremely surprised to see six men, four of them armed police officers, walking towards the double-door entrance to the hospice. Not the usual sort of visitors.

All conversation in the reception area abruptly ceased as everyone watched the purposeful group enter. As Cobb approached the lady behind the front desk to explain why they were here, Fox and Porter remained by the entrance, checking the car park behind them to make sure they hadn’t been tailed. Standing in the middle of the Reception area, Archer and Chalky looked around the interior of the building.

The place was clean with a lot of polished wood, shaped like a long bungalow and reminded Archer of a log cabin. It looked Scandinavian. Archer had spent time in a hospice before. His mother had spent her last few days in one a few years ago but much to his surprise, then as now, he had found that the building didn’t give him the yips in the way hospitals did. There was no smell of bleach or disinfectant, no crowding in the corridors, no drunken injured or people shouting, no impersonal staff. It was very calm and very quiet. Everyone who came here knew that their days on Earth were drawing to a close. But instead of being a desperately sad place, it felt peaceful. A pleasant environment which frequently took people who’d never visited a hospice before by surprise.

Archer realised the building was having a calming effect on him already. It had been a tumultuous morning, but the quiet atmosphere was definitely soothing. He remembered Katic had mentioned that she had spent a lot of time in one of these places when her husband was in the final stages of his cancer. He felt his throat tighten as he thought of her, but instantly banished any thought of her from his mind.

He couldn't afford