Red Notice

106

Tom shook his head, trying to clear the ringing in his ears. Waves of pain pulsed through his body and fresh blood oozed through the makeshift bandage. But he had to keep moving.

He limped past the shattered remnants of the two South Ossetians from the gun team. Their bodies had been mangled by hundreds of tons of train as it rolled towards Folkestone. Body parts were strewn along the track. Tom checked the torsos for mobile phones in the dull red glow. He found none. He wiped his freshly bloodied hands on his jeans and carried on down the tunnel.

Another body lay sprawled to one side of the track, a shock of white hair, matted with blood, plastered across a terrible wound in the head. Tom patted him down in the dull red glow. He found what he was looking for in his jacket pocket, and felt like the worst kind of thief as he dragged it out. He steadied himself against the wall, switched on the mobile and dialled.

It rang just twice.

‘Yeah?'

'Gav? It’s me.’

‘Fucking hell, mate, thank fuck for that. I’ve been flapping here big-time. You all right?’

Behind the almost jocular tone, Tom knew Gavin was fighting to hide his emotions. There was work to do.

‘What you got for me?’

Tom, too, had to cut away and get on with business. ‘Gav, listen in. The train’s heading your way. Antonov is not on board — repeat, not on board. He has a decoy, a Yankee, in a Eurostar uniform. He had the grab bag over his shoulder the last time I saw him. The X-rays are hiding their weapons. They’re going to try and blend in. Antonov is still in the tunnel, and still has the initiator. The device must still be active. Gav, do you understand what I’m saying?’

‘Mate, got it. We know about the train. We’ve got an option on it at the exit. It’s all we’ve got left. If I fuck it up we have another major drama on our hands. You stay right where you are — I’ll come in and get you straight after the option.’

‘I can’t.’ Tom slid his back down the wall until he was sitting on the concrete. ‘Gav, the fucker’s got Delphine…’

‘Oh, shit. Be careful. Find her, but be careful.’

‘I don’t have a choice.’ Tom hesitated for a moment. ‘She’s pregnant…’

‘You dirty bugger. You’ve only been on that train a few hours.’

‘Very funny.’

‘Mate, seriously…’ Gavin went silent for a moment. ‘Something fucking strange is going on this end. Did Ashton call you? I don’t know what the fuck he’s up to.’

‘No. Antonov took my mobile. Last time I saw it, he dumped it in the driver’s cab. I didn’t have time to get it back.’

‘All right. We’d better sort that shit out later. Please be careful. And one more thing…’

‘What’s that?’

‘Can I be godfather?’

Tom somehow managed to raise a laugh. ‘You couldn’t even spell “godfather”. But, hey, why not? As long as we don’t have to call the poor little bastard Gavin.’

He cut the call, got himself back on his feet and staggered through the green security gate. He stumbled across a pile of rubble and through the hole that Laszlo and his mates had blown in the steel fire screen. The air was still heavy with the stench of burning and death.

Light streamed down from the hatch above as he headed for what was left of the appliances. He saw at once that his mission was hopeless. The fire-fighters were little more than charred carcasses. None of their oxygen sets had survived.

He turned back to the steel ladder leading up to the pipeline conduit. And at the bottom he found one of Delphine’s shoes.