“I don’t know what you mean old boy as far as I…”Sternway’s face was suddenly a mask of horror.
Behind David entering the room were his children, his wife behind them, pale and frightened and to his ultimate horror Trevor Stanton holding two weapons. One, MI6 snub nose revolver was pointed at his wife and children and the silenced Browning was pointed at Sternway. McKie spun around and pointed his pistol at Stanton.
Stanton shoved Della and the children towards Sternway, but he pushed them to his left away from him, instinctively protecting them by separating them from him in Stanton’s eyes.
Stanton suddenly pointed the revolver at McKie and kept the Browning pointed at Sternway.
“Hello McKie we must stop meeting like this.”
“Drop it Stanton. Don’t shoot him.”
“Come on McKie you want him dead as much as me. I heard what he said. The man’s a slug, an evil slug. The cold blooded bastard had me tortured.” He turned to Sternway. 'Joe might still be alive, but he’s crippled and he talked. Brook’s dead. You picked the wrong man to play your game with Sternway.”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
The shot slammed into the wall by Della’s head, the movement of the Browning from Sternway to Della and back was swift. David held fire when he saw that no-one was shot. He held himself calmly.
“He planned all this to get to DIC and destroy it. Sternway has an orange coloured cell phone and Robinson, the home secretary, is on the other end of it. That’s the man you want. If you don’t believe me Sternway’s got two lime green Bic cell phones, one of them was for me. If you search here or his car you’ll find them and they’ll link him to me, check the satellite based locations for the calls made if you don’t believe me. He’s going to die and there’s nothing you can do. He’s a monster and he deserves to die. He told me they’d accounted for Robert Cole. DIC were getting too close, he said, a nuisance. You know he has to die for what he’s done.”
“Don’t listen to him McKie.” Sternway’s voice wasn’t pleading, he kept his authority. “You’re paid to stop men like him. He’s going to kill all of us, including my wife and children. Kill him. Kill him now.”
Stanton turned the gun pointed at McKie towards Della and the children.
“Move towards the door you three.” Stanton’s voice held a note of finality.
“Nigel.” Della was terrified and the children were whimpering.
“Do as he says it’ll be alright.” Sternway was calm.
Della made her way towards the door and Stanton repositioned himself pointing his weapon at McKie as he moved and backing into a space between them. Della and the children stood by the door. Sternway was across the room from them and McKie stood in a corner. Stanton pointed the Browning at Sternway and the revolver at Della and the children.
“Kill him McKie it’s your bloody job.” Sternway barked the order.
“Sternway if you confess I let your family walk out that door and only kill you. McKie isn’t going to shoot first.” Stanton’s voice was cold and factual.
“Confess to what?” Sternway held his party line.
“I’m going to count to three and then I’m going to kill your son Sternway unless you confess to McKie what you’ve been doing, why you hired me and why all those people died.”
“I can’t tell…”
“Please Nigel… the children…”
“One…”
Ellie and Tony were standing in the hall silent. Tony had his gun drawn. Della and the children were too intent on the scene to see them, but McKie glanced at Della’s pleading face and saw Ellie poised behind her. His face didn’t betray their position.
“Please Nigel.. for once put the family first…”
“I can’t do that Della…”
“Two…”
“Don’t do it Stanton I’ll fire I swear I will. Put the gun down and we’ll talk you can be a witness there might be immunity…” McKie’s finger tightened on the trigger.
“Three…”
Stanton fired both weapons. McKie fired. Ellie dived into the room shielding the children and Tony pushed in and fired his weapon at Stanton.
Ellie screamed as her body passed between Stanton and the children.
Sternway cried out and spun around facing the wall as if punched.
Stanton hit in the hand by McKie’s shot dropped the revolver then suddenly crumpled with a blood stain appearing on the right side of his chest from Tony’s shot.
Della grabbed the children and rushed them from the room. Tony dropped to Ellie’s side on the floor.
“Ellie!”
Ellie sat up cradling her arm. Tony saw blood and whipped off his belt and made a tourniquet. In his peripheral vision he saw Sternway turn back from the wall and take a step. He raised his Sig.
“You stay where you are!”
“My wife and children.” Sternway muttered. Blood showed on his right shoulder and he put his hand to it and looked at the blood.
David leant over Stanton. He was coughing blood.
“You tried not to kill me.” He coughed. “You shot the gun hand pointing at the children too.” He felt a pain spasm and coughed heavily. David put his hand on Stanton’s chest, there was a mass of blood, a pool of it was gathering around him on the floor.
“I think he shot an artery.”
“Forget… it… time for me to go… everything I said… find the phones..” Stanton closed his eyes.
“Is there a message for someone? Family maybe?” David asked.
Stanton’s eyes opened.
“No family… no one…”
“I’m sorry…”
Stanton slumped and his body went limp. David stood up. There was the sound of sirens, ambulances and police. He turned to Tony and Ellie.
“You okay Ellie?”
“Just a flesh wound.” Ellie grunted.
“Tough woman.” David said and looked at Tony.
“That’s my girl.” Said Tony keeping his pistol trained on Sternway.
Before the police came David went into the garden to see what the DIC listener had got and found him unconscious. Tony helped him get the unconscious man into the house. David made a thorough search of the house. He worked around Della Sternway as she packed. He found a Bic ‘disposable’ cell phone, orange coloured, in Sternway’s suit jacket and two lime green Bic ‘disposable’ cell phones in the Jaguar.
Ellie was taken away in one ambulance with Tony. The DIC listener was taken away in another and Nigel Sternway had a police escort in his. He had tried to speak to his wife, but she had cut him dead and defeated he had sat looking at the ground whilst Tony held him still at gun point.
Ten minutes after the gun play, the only blue light left was a waiting police car and the ambulances had gone. David stood in the door way of the house having answered all police questions he was able to. The DIC badge had done most of the work, DIC official stand down not having been something that would be externally broadcast.
On the doorstep Della held out her hand for the Jaguar keys. The children were dressed and there were bags on the floor.
“Do you need a hand with those bags.” David asked.
“That’s good of you thank you.” She said softly.
David took the bags to the car and put them in the boot. The children got in the car. Della stood by the driver’s door.
“I didn’t know exactly what he did at work. I knew that he was MI6, but I never asked. I didn’t realise he was so cold blooded… he wouldn’t even stand in front of us, to protect us, he was more concerned about his secrets.”
