Free Flight Path: A Wright & Tran Novel by Ian Andrew

no one, I will not wait to reapply your gag. I will have my friends kill you.” She said it calmly, like it was a perfectly normal thing for her to say. The impact on Amberley was anything but calm or normal. His eyes widened again and he bit back whatever words had been forming in his mouth. Kara continued, “There will be no second chance. You need to realise that some questions I already know the answer to. I am only asking to see if you are staying honest. If you answer those questions with a lie, I will no longer need to talk to you at all. I can’t talk to you if you lie to me. My friends will kill you and then they will hang you from your stair bannisters. You will be found with a proper suicide note. No one will ever suspect.” She paused again and counted silently to three. “Now, who did you text?”
    “Rik. I texted Rik in Holland.”
    “And who’s he?”
    “He arranged for Derek to get out.”
    Kara’s hand shot out, grasped the serrated bread knife and hammered the butt of its handle into the wooden table. Amberley let out a pained whelp, reared away from the glistening blade and again Jacob had to prevent the chair falling over.
    “I didn’t ask you what he did, Francis. I asked you who he was. You need to pay attention.”
    Tears were streaming down Amberley’s cheeks. He sniffed as hard as he could but the mucus from his nose was forming thick bubbles at his nostrils. His breath came in short snatches, “I’m sor- I’m sor- sor- sorry.” 
    Kara nodded and repeated herself, “Who is he?”
    “I don- I don’t know. It does- it doesn’t work- it doesn’t work like that.”
    “It? What’s it, Francis? How many more of your friends have you helped to disappear?”
    Amberley’s brows creased together and he looked genuinely confused, “Non-, none. None. I don’t have-” he stopped himself and Kara felt the smallest twinge of sorrow for a man so obviously lonely and devoid of human contact. She stifled it and went to get on with the job, but was stopped by Tien’s hand on her shoulder. She laid the knife down flat, stood and walked towards the kitchen.
    Tien used a handful of paper towels to wipe Amberley’s face. She gently cleaned and wiped until he had ceased gasping for breath between sobs. Then she stepped away.
    Kara retook her seat and tapped Amberley’s knee, “Tell me who Rik is, Francis?”
    “I don’t know, I really don’t know,” he pleaded. “I only know his name is Rik. No last name. Derek told me he knew some people that would help him. All I had to do was take him out on my boat. Then he would be gone.”
    “How?”
    “We met another boat. They threw a rope over. Derek took it and jumped in the water. They pulled him across. That’s all I know, I swear. I swear.”
    “Now that’s not true Francis. You knew a number to text and how to get a response. Tell me about that.”
    Amberley remained focussed on her. His eyes were again watery but they weren’t darting about. His answers came in rapid, staccato sentences, “Derek gave me it before he left. Told me to memorise it. Told me it was for emergencies. Told me how to use it. I never had to before. But he never told me about no money. Never mentioned an insurance payout. I thought I needed to know about it. That’s why I got in touch.”
    “What’s with the Francis 44619 number?”
    “Derek told me I needed an identity. He had one too. If I didn’t have one Rik wouldn’t pass messages. Wouldn’t know who I was.”
    “And the pin number?”
    “Same. He said I needed it so Rik could be sure it was really me. I was to give a wrong one first. That way, I’d know if it was really Rik. Only he would know the right one.”
    “All seems strange to me Francis,” Kara said and hovered her hand across the implements on the table.
    “No, no!” he shouted, wiggling within in his restraints and moving the chair from leg to leg. “That’s it. That’s all I know. That’s how it was set up. That’s how I had