The Hunter

CHAPTER 31

01:35 CET

‘Here we are.’

The broker glanced at him before she turned the key and opened the door. She couldn’t have known it, but her next action would determine whether or not he would kill her right now. She stepped inside. If she’d have said or even gestured for Victor to go inside first he would have snapped her neck, knowing it was a trap. But she hadn’t. For the moment at least she stayed alive.

Her building was prewar, seven storeys of no character and in need of some maintenance. It might have looked good once, but those days were long gone. The apartment was little more than an empty shell, only the most basic of furniture and fixtures, simply decorated. A typical low-cost, inner-city rental. The broker flicked the light switch and walked into the centre of the room.

Victor flicked the light back off and closed the door behind him. She pivoted on the spot. In the gloom he could see the fear that spread across her features as she mistook the action. Victor ignored her, walked over to a table that stood by the wall, and flicked on a lamp, angling it so it wouldn’t cast their silhouettes onto the thin curtains.

He kept his back to her for a moment longer than he needed, giving her a seemingly good opportunity to try something. He listened for movement, for the change of footing that would give her away. She didn’t do anything. He almost wanted her to just so he would know for sure. Victor faced her.

‘My name’s Rebecca,’ she said.

‘I don’t care.’ The broker started to speak again, but he cut her off. ‘Be quiet.’

Victor looked around the room, examining light fixtures, plug sockets, under tables — checking for bugs. He searched the rest of the apartment. There was a meagre kitchen, bathroom, a double bedroom. A tiny balcony was accessible from the kitchen. He had to be quick just in case time was an issue. He didn’t find anything.

She was standing in exactly the same place when he re-entered the lounge. There was a two-seater sofa and an armchair she could have chosen to sit in, but she hadn’t, her nerves plainly evident. It was a good sign.

‘I’m going to search you,’ he said.

‘What? You already have-’

‘Take off your coat.’

‘You think I’m wearing a wire? Why would I?’

‘Take off your coat.’

Victor’s tone didn’t change, but his gaze demanded obedience. Her mouth was open as if she was going to protest but she didn’t speak. She unbuttoned the long coat and slipped it off her shoulders. She looked at Victor.

‘Stand over there and hold out your arms.’

She moved toward the table, into the lamp’s arc of light. She raised her arms so they were level with her shoulders. Her shadow was cross-shaped on the wall.

Victor stood in front of her. She was a tall woman, in modest heels only a couple of inches shorter than he. She had olive skin, dark eyes, the Mediterranean somewhere in her blood. He could see the hint of training in the way she was standing, the way she carried herself. Maybe military, but he guessed intelligence. There was fear in her eyes, but that fear was controlled. He could see the tiny, rapid flexing of the skin on her neck. Fast, but not overly so.

She was wearing dark jeans, not tight but not loose either, a dark cardigan over a cream blouse. Smart-casual, playing down her looks but still allowing for shoes that were more stylish than practical.

He ran his palms along the outside and underside of her arms, down her back, down the sides of her torso and centre of her chest, not caring that she flinched when he touched her breasts as part of the search. He squatted down to check around her waist and her legs before standing again.

‘Take off your shoes and jeans.’

‘No, forget it. I’m not doing that.’

‘You will if you don’t want me to put my hand into your underwear.’

She was stunned, glared at him, her eyes full of disgust. He held her gaze, showing no emotion. There was nothing to negotiate. She would do what he told her. After a moment he watched the fight drain out of her, and she nodded slowly. She took her shoes off first, then turned her head away so she didn’t have to look at him, unbuttoned her jeans, and slipped them off her hips. They fell to her feet.

‘Step out of them.’

She did.

‘Stand with your legs a little farther apart.’

Again she did as instructed.

Victor looked at her closely for a moment. ‘Turn around.’

She pivoted slowly on the spot.

‘Okay,’ he said, satisfied. ‘Get dressed.’

Victor stepped away and stood to the side of the lounge window, his back to the wall. The broker pulled up her jeans and put her shoes back on. He was embarrassed to find himself watching her as she dressed. He looked away before she noticed.

‘Are you happy now?’ she asked when she was clothed.

‘Not exactly,’ Victor answered quietly. ‘I’ve broken more rules than I can count by coming here so what you have to tell me had better be worth it.’

‘Otherwise what?’ the broker challenged. ‘You’ll kill me?’

‘Yes.’

It wasn’t just a threat, and Victor saw that she understood this. There was an immediate shift in her posture, a drop in her shoulders, the shifting of weight, the instinctive change in body language that told an enemy there was no threat, no challenge, no need for violence. He saw that though she may have convinced herself beforehand she could deal with him, she was fast finding out just how wrong she had been.

The broker asked, ‘What’s your name?’

The question caught Victor off balance. ‘Excuse me?’

‘I said, what do I call you? You were always referred to as Tesseract in our-’

‘Why Tesseract?’

‘I don’t know, it’s just a code name,’ she answered. ‘So, what shall I call you?’

‘You don’t need to call me anything,’ Victor said.

‘Okay.’

‘Tell me what you know.’

‘It’s the company that wants you dead.’

She delivered the information as if it were a huge revelation. There was no change in his expression.

‘You already know,’ she stated, surprised.

He nodded.

‘But how?’

‘If you expected me to be shocked, I’m sorry to disappoint you. I haven’t been standing idle since this thing started.’

‘What else do you know?’

‘I’m not here to answer your questions. For now let’s stick to what you know.’

The broker nodded and folded her arms in front of her chest. ‘This has to work both ways.’

‘I don’t remember agreeing to anything to that effect.’

She stared at him for a moment as if she was considering a particularly choice retort. But he’d broken her will and instead she said simply, ‘It’s the CIA who wants you dead because it was the CIA who hired you.’

Victor’s face showed nothing, but his mind was a mess of questions. ‘How do you know that?’ He found he disliked having to ask her questions immensely.

‘Because I used to work for them,’ she answered.

‘Used to?’

‘They want me dead too.’

‘Explain.’

‘They killed my control and cut me loose. They want me dead just as much they want you.’

‘What about the flash drive?’

‘There’s something on it they want. Information, obviously.’

‘Information on what?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘Then what good are you?’

‘Ask me something else and find out.’

‘Who was the man I killed?’

‘Andris Ozols.’

‘I didn’t ask for his name. Who was he?’

‘A former officer in the Russian navy.’

‘That wasn’t in the dossier.’

‘You didn’t need to know.’

The muscles in his jaw flexed momentarily. ‘What was he doing in Paris?’

‘Selling the drive to someone.’

‘Who?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘You didn’t need to know?’

‘I guess not.’

‘What about the memory stick? Can you decrypt it?’

‘Do you have it?’

‘No,’ he said.

‘But you have it somewhere?’

‘Can you decrypt it?’

‘Maybe. But I won’t know until I try. I have friends at the agency who-’

‘Not an option,’ he said and immediately had an idea. Something he hadn’t considered until now.

She saw him thinking. ‘What is it?’

‘Nothing,’ he said. He changed the subject. ‘So they wanted me to get the drive before the buyer got hold of it?’

‘Yes.’

‘I assume at that point it would be considerably harder to obtain. The buyer must be too well protected or someone they didn’t dare kill.’

‘Who are you thinking?’

Victor kept his thoughts to himself. ‘Why didn’t the CIA just do it, why use me? And why try and kill me afterward?’

‘Those two questions share the same answer.’ The broker took a step forward. ‘But I can’t be sure.’

‘Then why am I listening to you?’

‘Because you don’t have a choice.’

Victor was surprised by her words and more surprised by the strength of her tone. He reassessed his opinion on her will.

‘And neither do I,’ she continued. ‘But what I do know is that they tried to have you killed to cover up the operation. They don’t want Ozols’s death ever coming back to haunt them.’

Victor listened, face showing nothing.

The broker continued, ‘If the plan had worked all anyone would have to go on is the body of a killer in a Paris hotel room with no clue as to who hired you. At best they would have realized that you were a hired gun with no affiliation to anyone. Any connection between you and those who ordered Ozols’s death would have been neatly severed.’

‘And that’s it? They want me dead to cover up a job that I actually did? It’s not as though I’m going to advertise what I’d done. If nothing else it’s not the best way to generate new clients.’

Victor realized there was more emotion in his voice than he would have liked to have revealed.

‘True,’ she said. ‘But they couldn’t risk your being captured, interrogated.’

‘I couldn’t have told anyone anything because I don’t know anything.’

‘Be that as it may, if you’re dead they don’t have to worry. The link to those who ordered the hit dies when you do.’

‘But why use me? Why not some punk? Any amateur could have killed Ozols. The CIA didn’t need me to do it.’

‘Because some punk wouldn’t have taken a fraction of your precautions. Someone else would have left a trail to follow. At the time I wasn’t told why, but we needed a killer who had no record, someone who was capable but to all intents and purposes didn’t exist. They needed someone who was invisible, and you fit the criteria. I suppose you can take that as a compliment.’

‘I’m flattered.’

‘There’s no need to be sarcastic.’

Victor ignored the comment. ‘And how do you fit into all this? Why do they want you dead too?’

‘I’m part of the chain. The operation failed. You lived; they didn’t get the drive; and now they need to cut all the links to make it clean.’

‘Guilty by association?’

‘Something like that.’

‘But they haven’t got to you yet.’

‘I didn’t give them the chance.’

‘Why exactly did you bring me here?’

The broker moved from where she had been standing, a couple of steps to the left. Nervous release maybe. Victor watched her. Light from the lamp accentuated her cheekbones, danced on her full lips.

‘Because we can help each other,’ she said.

‘Help each other to do what?’

‘Remain breathing.’

‘I hope you’re not suggesting we try and give them the drive and pray they leave us alone.’

‘Of course not.’

‘Then what?’

‘We take out our enemies.’

He wanted to say, to where? Some people just didn’t like to say kill. Ridiculous euphemisms, however, were fine to say. He supposed it helped them sleep at night.

‘And how are we going to do that? I can’t kill the entire CIA. I don’t have that many bullets.’

‘The hit on Ozols wasn’t officially sanctioned,’ the broker said.

‘It was strictly off the books, old-school black bag. Someone ordered it, people implemented it, but the wider organization doesn’t know about it.’

‘Why do you think that?’

‘There are lots of different reasons,’ she explained. ‘Starting with the way I was approached for the job. I had anonymous phone calls and meetings. I wasn’t told who I was working for or with, or what exactly I was working toward. It went way beyond need to know. Plus the fact that they needed you, a contract killer, one with no prior agency links. If it was a white job they wouldn’t have needed to kill you afterward or me or my control when it went wrong. They would have just used their own people or known contractors in the first place. Whoever is behind this really doesn’t want the rest of the CIA to know what they’re up to.’

‘The shooters who ambushed me in Paris,’ Victor said. ‘They were private sector. They didn’t know who they were working for.’

‘Exactly.’

‘And I had a run in with an American killer at my house.’

He didn’t say where that had been. To some extent it didn’t matter; he wouldn’t be moving back, but revealing personal information unnecessarily was one habit he wasn’t about to start.

‘In Switzerland, I know,’ she said. The fact she knew stung him, but he hid it. ‘It would’ve been a contractor, not an operative.’

Her voice carried weight, even if she didn’t explain herself. He believed her. No need to tell her he’d originally thought the opposite.

‘You’d already iced their shooters in Paris,’ she said, adding to the ridiculous euphemism count. ‘So they didn’t have much choice but to risk using someone closer to home to get the job done. They wouldn’t have been able to take the chance you might disappear while they assembled another unaffiliated execution team.’

Victor nodded, accepting the assessment. ‘This means that the wider agency isn’t looking for us at least.’

‘Yes, for the time being. But at any time something could happen to bring this out into the open. That bloodbath at your hotel attracted a lot of attention. I’m sure the legitimate CIA has people looking into it. Plus the French and the Swiss are now in on the party. Things are getting pretty crowded, even without the people who want us dead.’

‘So we’ll get to them before they get to us.’

‘Precisely.’

‘But how?’

She looked at him closely. ‘So you’re on board?’

‘I’m thinking about it.’