Dark Zone

19

The British intelligence officer was polite — more than polite, under the circumstances — but Dean sensed the resentment beneath the surface. They were mucking around in his backyard and hadn’t had the decency to tip him off about it. That was the way he saw it.

Wolten drove them to a large house about twenty miles outside of London that MI5 used as a kind of guest cottage. He used the word cottage, but the building looked about the size of the White House. There was a fire going in the study off the entrance but no sign of whoever had started it.

“So, chaps. Who was Gordon Kensworth?” asked Wolten, going to a sideboard and pouring himself a drink.

“Don’t know,” said Karr. “How long have you guys been following him?”

“We haven’t. Drink, Charles?”

Dean passed. He leaned back in the leather club chair and felt his eyelids droop.

“Tommy?”

“Just a beer,” said Karr.

“Bitters OK?”

“If that’s what you’re calling beer these days.”

“We used to call it beer,” said Wolten. He reached down into the cupboard. “But all the nasty business with the Germans caused a change in vocabulary. Now, how long have you been after this Kensworth chap? He’s not a Russian, is he? Bosnian?”

Dean drifted off while Karr and Wolten danced. He started dreaming about Lia, wondered where she was, how she was. Then he looked up and saw Karr standing over him.

“What?” he said, struggling to open his eyes.

“Time for bed, dude.” Tommy Karr’s laugh made the old floorboards shake. “Come on. We need to get some sleep. They’ll be hooking us up to the electrodes in the morning.”

“I heard that,” said the British agent from the other room.

Two rooms had been prepared for them upstairs. Karr put his finger to his lips as they walked up the steps — then announced very loudly that the whole place was bugged and Dean shouldn’t think of saying anything. Dean wouldn’t have had the energy even if he’d had the inclination. He collapsed face-first on the bed, still fully dressed. Somehow he managed to kick his shoes off before falling into a deep slumber.