Nigel pulled himself together, went back to the phone, and called the Chief, alerting him to the fact that they might have failed.
Failed they had, because at the precise moment that he was talking to the Chief, Akbah was watching the clock, and mentally counting down, five, four, three, two, one, then he depressed the button on his electronically controlled unit, and watched from the deck of the Yacht where he was standing. A split second later, the British Cargo Ship appeared to heave out of the water, and as the flash, and the explosion occurred it broke in two, with debris, and unfortunately, although Akbah didn't care, bodies being tossed high in the air, and littering the Dockside, and Harbour.
They had already pulled up the Yacht's anchor, and as he turned from the rail with a smug look on his face, he ordered his man to head the Yacht to the Cove along the Coast, to complete the last stage of another very successful strike.
At the time the explosion occurred, the British Consul and his wife were sitting down eating their breakfast. It was a beautiful warm morning, and they sat in the breakfast room with the French windows wide open to the garden. They felt good, the previous night's hangover had been chased away by the Aspirins, that he had taken when he got up and dosed himself, and his wife of ten years had made it worth his while to go back to, bed for a couple of hours, and on top of all that, they sat smiling to themselves, and each other as they thought of their kinfolk shivering in the cold, North of England Winter. The blast rattled the china, and caused two pictures to fall from the wall behind them, and Elizabeth, looking scared out of her wits said, "What in Heavens name is that Michael?" "I don't know my dear, I will go and see," but as he said that and started to get up from his chair, two men dressed in Army fatigues, and with masks on their faces, appeared in the doorway leading from the garden. They had automatic rifles pointed at the Consul and his wife, and one of the men said in broken English "You will please come with us, if no resist then no get hurt, come now quick."
One of the men then moved into the room, and using adhesive tape, strapped their hands behind them, then pushing them along in front of them, they took them through the garden and the rear gate, where they bundled them into the waiting car, ordering Elizabeth to lie across the back seat, and Michael to lie on the floor. One of the men drove, and the other sat with his gun trained on them. "I am a British Government Official," said the Consul, "and I demand to know where you are taking us, and why you are doing this?"
The man holding the gun smiled, and said, "Questions not good to ask, you will see soon, you are going for holiday, so no make trouble."
Then he looked over to Elizabeth who was sobbing quietly, and said, "Not necessary to cry, you pretty lady, soon will be happy, when you get where plenty real men eh!" "You bastard, "snarled Michael, you will never get away with this, I'll see to that. "The man leaned over the front seat, and clubbed him with the butt of his rifle. Elizabeth screamed, and Michael felt the blood trickling down his face from a cut on his forehead, that the man's rifle butt had made. In ten minutes, without any problems, for all the Police, and the Public were streaming down into the Harbour, the car arrived at the Cove, and pulling Michael and his wife out of the car, they hurried them down to the small boat that was waiting for them at the waters edge. Forcing them into the boat, and then following them in themselves, they headed out to the Yacht that was waiting half a mile out.
They scrambled up the ladder on the side of the Yacht, pushing the two Hostages in front of them, and were met by Akbah on the deck. He said something in Arabic to his two men, then turning to Michael and Elizabeth said, "I am sorry to have interrupted your breakfast, let me introduce myself. I am Colonel Akbah of the El Ghaza Freedom Fighters, and I find it necessary to take you with me, and hold you for a while. Your Government will be informed as to what has happened to you, and if they value you, I presume they will do something about you, or at least that's what we hope. You will be held in comfortable quarters, although somewhat restricted, if you make no trouble then we won't either, however if you do not do as we say, and become troublesome, I shall not hesitate to take the pretty lady here into my quarters as my companion. The choice is yours Mr Consul. Now I shall have you taken to your quarters."
As they turned to follow one of the men below, Michael said, "El Ghaza are known as terrorists of the worst possible kind, that is obviously true," and as he passed Akbah he spat on him.
"You will be sorry you did that my friend, very sorry." said Akbah, who then watched them taken below.
As the boat headed out into the Mediterranean, and Libya, Akbah said to himself, "Strike number two successful, and if you want your people back Mr Bentley, then come, and get them. But before she goes back that woman is mine."
Precisely at ten thirty that morning, a smartly dressed, dapper looking Gentleman, walked up to the British Embassy in Paris, and handed an envelope to the Security Police, asking that it please be delivered to the British Ambassador. It was addressed to, The British Ambassador to France, Personal, and Confidential. The Messenger left, and five minutes after the Security Policeman had delivered it to the Ambassador's Secretary, who in turn had taken it straight in to his Excellency, fearing that it might be of importance, as there were already garbled messages coming through, of some sort of catastrophe in Marseilles.
The Ambassador, a very Prussian looking Gentleman, was an old hand at his job. He had been in Paris for fifteen years, and could normally take everything in his stride, but when he opened the letter, and read the contents, he stopped dead in his tracks, and the blood drained from his face. His Secretary, thinking that he had been taken ill, went over to him asking if there was something wrong? The Ambassador said in a weak voice "We have been hearing some frantic messages of a terrible explosion in the Port of Marseilles, with much damage, and the loss of many lives, involving a British ship with an important Cargo for our Egyptian Atomic Plant. Well, read this, it's true, and that's not all, we are now minus one Consul." The Secretary took the letter and read it, it said, You were warned after Cairo that we would strike again. This is our second success, and it will once again delay the construction of the Desert Plant. We will continue with our strikes until you withdraw your support of the Atomic Plant. Your Consul and his wife are taking an unplanned vacation with us, if they co-operate they will not get hurt. If you want their return, I suggest that you have your Mr Bentley collect them, since he has already interrupted his retirement on your behalf, in spite of what the Newspapers say. Remember you will hear from us somewhere else, but you won't know where. "The fancy signature merely said "El Ghaza".
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