Under Cover

Chapter 1

        It was just after eleven in the evening as the BMW pulled into the garage outside the elegant two story house located in one of the classier suburbs. Dr Julian Hansen stepped out the car, closed the garage door with the remote, and walked through the adjoining door into his house. After leaving his briefcase with its valuable contents on the desk in his home office, he walked out to the living room where he poured himself a brandy.

He sank into the deep cushioned couch and took a sip of the brandy. It had been a long day but negotiations had gone well. It had been a video conference with a firm in Germany. It took some careful talking but he and his team had almost sealed the deal to sign a very lucrative contract to supply electronic parts to the German firm for the construction of their new satellites. The contract was worth over fifty million dollars to his company. He had the final specifications, which he had developed himself, for the phase three power supply which would keep the satellites operating for over twenty years. He would have to be back at his company office at eight o'clock the next morning for the final negotiations. All going well they would finalise the deal tomorrow and the contracts would be drawn up.

Hansen finished his brandy and walked towards the stairs on his way to bed. He stopped at a cabinet at the foot of the staircase and opened it to turn on the security system. He glanced the digital display which said it had been last turned off at 9.37pm. Wait, that wasn't right. He had arrived home at eleven o'clock. How could it have been turned off at 9.37? His wife was away for a few days visiting her mother. He had the house to himself and he definitely remembered activating the system when he left for work this morning, and he had turned it off via his remote control just before his car entered the garage as he returned home. Then it occurred to him. When he had pressed the button to deactivate the system it hadn't given the confirmation tone. His thoughts had been too preoccupied with the day's events to realise it at the time. Someone had turned off the alarm over an hour ago, but who? And how had they done it?

He felt a chill run down his spine. Someone had got into the house just over an hour ago. Were they still here? Industrial espionage was not uncommon in his line of work. He remembered his briefcase with its valuable documents and specifications for the satellite's power system. He had left it on the desk just down the hall in his office. That's what the intruders were after, he was sure of it.

The house was suddenly plunged into darkness. He gasped in shock. The power box with the fuses was in the laundry at the back of the house. That's where the intruder must be right now. He had to call the police, and he had to get his briefcase and get out of the house fast. Where was his mobile phone? He had left it on the kitchen counter. As his eyes became used to the darkness he slowly made his way back to the kitchen, his ears straining to hear any sound, but the house was completely silent except for the pounding of his heart. He reached the kitchen and felt around on the counter top for his phone. There it was, but as he picked it up he discovered the back had been removed and the battery was gone! Now he was terrified. The intruder must be close. He stood perfectly still and scanned the darkened room. No sign of any movement.

Hansen knew he couldn't delay. He had to get his briefcase and get out of the house fast. He made his way through the living room and into the hallway to the first door on the right. That's where his briefcase was. The door was open just as he had left it. As he stepped quietly into the room he froze in shock.

"Looking for this?" a female voice asked casually.

The curtains were open and a streetlight was shining directly through the window revealing a woman with long dark hair and wearing a long black coat. She was holding up his briefcase in one hand while the other hand held a pistol pointing at Hansen's head.

He stared at her uncomprehending for a few seconds, then his eyes widened in recognition.
"You!" he gasped, "It's you! But why?"

She laughed a humourless laugh. "That's easy, Julian. For the money."

That was the last thing Dr Julian Hansen ever heard.

*****
Making sure she kept her gloves on to avoid leaving any fingerprints or DNA in the house, she opened the front door and walked out, pulling it shut so it locked behind her. She turned the security system back on using a remote control which she dropped onto the front lawn as she walked to the gate. She pulled the coat's hood over her head and walked down the street smiling to herself. Hansen's wife would have some explaining to do when the police found her remote control on the front lawn and her dead husband inside the house.

Ten minutes later she had left the briefcase at the drop off point, and was on her way home for a late night snack and a good night's sleep.

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