No Kiss For The Devil

30

Riley’s mouth dropped open in shock. Palmer returned the stare without a flicker. He knew she still recalled with frightening clarity her first meeting with Szulu and the scare he’d given her, but he also knew she was tough enough to get over this.

‘Szulu?’ she echoed. ‘That idiot with the gun? Tell me you’re joking!’

He shook his head. ‘I’m dead serious. The security men near the hotel didn’t look twice at a couple of black guys who walked by. It’s as if they weren’t there. Don’t ask me why… possibly making false assumptions. Everyone else got the full eyeball, men and women alike. Szulu’s purpose-built for the job.’

‘What did you do — threaten to shoot him?’

‘No. I offered him money.’ He was enjoying the moment. At least it had taken the anger out of the situation. ‘I also said if he didn’t agree, I’d send you round. That seemed to clinch it.’

‘Very funny. What else?’

Palmer remembered the magazine he’d taken from the parcel in MailBox Services. He handed it to her. ‘Varley was taking a close interest in this. There was a box full of them in the shop.’ He waited while she glanced through it.

‘Well, why wouldn’t he be interested? It’s his job.’ She looked at the cover. ‘This is the edition following the one he gave me.’

‘There was also a mailing list in the box. A long one.’

‘So?’

‘Natalya Fisher said the circulation was three-hundred, tops. The box and the mailing list must have been twice that.’

‘What are you saying?’

‘It looks as if they distribute the magazines from London. It probably looks better than coming out of Georgia. The list, though, was only for the next two issues. I thought it was odd having such an inflated mailing for two editions.’

Riley said nothing, so Palmer continued, ‘I think this first one — number 1572 — could be a mailing tester to flush out any problems with the list and to set up the next one.’

‘Or it’s a simple marketing exercise to increase circulation.’ Riley still sounded prickly, but her tone wasn’t quite so sure. She turned to the editorial page, then looked at Palmer with a sombre expression. ‘I think you’re right.’ She handed him the magazine, pointing at an editorial piece at the bottom of the page.

In the next edition of East European Trade, we take you behind the scenes of the developing battle for control of the next-generation telecommunications network across the planet’s largest land mass. What is the Low Earth Orbit BATNEV system? What does it promise for consumers in remote areas of Eastern Europe and beyond? Who will be the winners and losers in the forthcoming round of bids? Will it be the current giants of the telecoms industry expanding their business base even further, or is there room for newcomers in this exciting consumer market? We introduce you to one surprise bidder in this field — ‘Kim’ Al-Bashir, Egyptian-born London billionaire entrepreneur, who is staking his claim to a portion of this global business. He has the nerve, he has a formidable investment background, and an army of oil-rich Middle East fund-holders. But has he any weak links in his armour? Is there anything about Al-Bashir that might derail his plans at the last minute? His traditional and ultra-conservative Muslim backers are known to favour secrecy and a lack of anything approaching scandal in their dealings. But we ask, is this man, married to a beautiful young wife, Asiyah, perhaps anything but conservative? To find out, you must read the next explosive edition of ETT!

Palmer finished reading. ‘I don’t get it.’

‘They’re talking about my article,’ she said. ‘The article Richard wants me to write. It’s going in the next issue.’

‘But you haven’t written it yet.’

‘Nor can I. This is a smear-job… it would be professional suicide. Al-Bashir would nail my skin to the doors of the High Court.’ She shook her head. ‘I mean, I knew there was some salacious stuff in the notes Richard gave me, but I didn’t expect them to go for this kind of angle- ‘ She broke off and paced the room, eyes flashing with growing anger. ‘They must have planned it this way this all along — and I stumbled right into it!’

They were both startled by the phone ringing.

Riley picked up the phone and listened, then glanced involuntarily towards the front window. ‘You’re here?’ She looked at Palmer and mouthed Varley’s name.

Palmer jumped to his feet and pointed upwards. It was best if he stayed out of the way. He wondered if his visit to the shop in Camden had anything to do with it, although he couldn’t see how. As far as Varley was concerned, there was no connection between him and Riley Gavin, and that was how he wanted to keep it.

Riley nodded and said, ‘Richard, just give me a minute, will you?’ She put the phone down, a determined set to her jaw. ‘Good timing, really. I’m going to tell him I’m pulling out. I can’t put my name to the sort of stuff he’s talking about.’ She picked up the magazine. ‘You’d better take this with you. What are you going to do?’

‘I want to see if he came alone.’

‘You’re thinking of those security men.’

Palmer nodded.

‘And if he didn’t?’

‘Then we’ll know what we’re up against.’