Deception

FORTY-FOUR

‘Wait!’ He had taken just three steps before the driver, who he figured was the weaker of the two, decoded the instruction and his nerve broke.

Harry turned back and stood by the window. Now it was the passenger who looked the most worried. His attitude was gone and his knuckles were clenched tight on his knees, the cloth wet with the spilled drink.

‘We have not seen her,’ he muttered. ‘The lady. I show you.’ He reached up and gingerly took a slip of paper from behind the sun-visor. It held Jean’s name and address written in ink and a photo clipped to one corner.

‘Who gave you this?’

There was a momentary hesitation before the driver said, ‘What you say before. . Zubac and Ganic. They came to us and said we should do this.’ He wasn’t looking at Harry, instead staring rigidly to his front as if holding on to the last bit of courage he could muster and not doing too well.

‘And what were you to do, exactly?’

‘Watch and report. That is all.’

‘Report where?’

But the man shook his head. ‘You will not shoot us. But the one who hires us. . for this he will kill us both.’ Harry saw his lip beginning to tremble and a sheen of sweat lining his forehead. He exchanged a look with Rik, who raised his eyebrows. Whoever had hired these two had got them terrified. He wondered how. They should be able to cobble together some kind of story about being caught napping, surely. It happened to everyone-

Then his instincts kicked in. He’d missed an obvious trick. Why were these two sitting out here in a red van? Red vans weren’t exactly uncommon, but nobody mounted a surveillance so openly. . unless they were meant to be seen. And these two being so petrified could only mean one thing: they knew they also were being watched. He leaned against the van and glanced surreptitiously along the street, following the driver’s line of sight. The only way these two would have been so easily scared was if they knew the watchers were close by. The street was getting busier, with several cars moving in each direction, gradually building towards peak traffic. Other vehicles were lining the kerb, including the FedEx truck a hundred yards away. The driver was sorting packages at the side door, then carrying them to a nearby shop.

There was too much going on; it was impossible to tell where the watcher might be.

‘Wait here.’ Harry stepped back from the van and rang Ballatyne. ‘I need a favour.’ He told the MI6 man where he was and why, and gave him the number of the van and the names of the two men. ‘Whoever employs these two has them scared. They won’t talk to me and I think someone else is in the area keeping an eye on them.’

‘Is Jean all right?’ He heard Ballatyne snap his fingers at someone in the background, already issuing instructions to get some men on the move.

‘I don’t know yet-’ He broke off, glancing automatically towards the block of flats. Jean was standing by the side of the building, out of sight of the street. She waved and gave a signal that she was OK, and Harry heaved a sigh of relief. He said, ‘Forget that. . I see her. She’s fine.’

‘Glad to hear it. There’s an undercover unit not far from you. They’ll pick them up and tail them. Leave it with us from here on.’

Harry thanked him and tossed the driver his keys through the window. It was time for some play-acting to fool the watchers. ‘One thing you should know,’ he said coldly. ‘If I see you again, I’ll kill you.’ He jerked his thumb in dismissal.

‘That went well,’ said Rik, as the Kombi disappeared along the street. He looked at Harry. ‘I don’t know what that order to shoot did to those two, but it frightened the crap out of me.’ He frowned. ‘What’s going on?’

‘My guess is,’ said Harry, ‘they were meant to be seen and someone else wasn’t. They were decoys. Follow me and don’t look round.’

They crossed the street to the cover of the block of flats, and Harry folded Jean in his arms. ‘You all right?’

‘Yes.’ Her voice sounded firm, but he could feel a faint tremor running through her. ‘Well, I am now.’

‘Where were you?’ he asked, biting down on an instinctive desire to reproach her. ‘Your door was open.’

She pulled back from him. ‘I did what your colleague said.’

‘Colleague?’

‘Yes. A woman. She sounded young. She said I was in danger and should go immediately to a neighbour and stay there until you arrived, and to leave the door unlocked to prevent damage if they forced their way in.’

Harry stared at her. What the hell was going on? Was this Ballatyne working behind the scenes, putting someone on to Jean as a precaution? He remembered the young woman who’d been watching them in Victoria Embankment Gardens. Maybe that was who the caller had been. If so, why hadn’t he said anything just now?

‘She said we were colleagues?’

‘Well, not exactly.’ Jean looked confused. ‘But she said it was for my sake and yours, and you were on your way.’ She looked at him, eyes wide. ‘What’s going on? You don’t know who she is, do you?’

‘I can guess.’

‘Never mind. Did you see the other men?’

‘What others?’

‘Two older men. They’re in a grey car down by the shops. They arrived just after the woman called, and I was looking through the window for you. They crossed the road towards the building, so I slipped out the back and left the door open as she’d said.’

Harry let out a long breath. This was all moving too fast. Behind him, Rik was standing by the corner of the building, studying the street. ‘Harry.’

Harry moved alongside him. The FedEx truck was gone. It had been concealing a grey Renault parked further along the street. Two men were sitting inside. Both looked big, one with short hair, the other bald.

Zubac and Ganic. It had to be.

Instinct made Harry glance up the street behind him. A police car was approaching. He recognized one of the Armed Response Unit Volvo V70 vehicles. Remembering the Bosnians’ disregard for the police, and their likely response when they saw the car, he stepped out from behind the building and started walking along the street, his semi-automatic cradled inside his jacket. Rik followed and crossed the street to the far side.

They were thirty yards along, walking in parallel, when the men in the Renault sat up and the engine burst into life. It was unclear whether they were reacting to Harry and Rik or the police car. Seconds later, the Renault was reversing at speed, side-swiping a scooter parked at the kerb, then it performed a handbrake turn and raced away after the red Kombi.

The police car, caught by a line of school children on a pedestrian crossing, sat helplessly, then roared off in pursuit. But they were already too late.