Execution

FIFTY-SEVEN

‘What was that all about?’ Harry and Ballatyne had stopped along the gravel path of Victoria Embankment Gardens, skirting small groups of tourists and office workers on their lunch break. Ballatyne had led him at a brisk walk from the building and down towards the river, forging ahead on the busy pavement in a manner that avoided conversation. ‘Why the play-acting with Crampton and the Special Forces liaison?’

‘You know him?’

‘No, I recognise the type.’

‘I was covering my back. You know how these things work.’ Ballatyne turned and looked towards the river, chewing his lip. ‘This job is as much about politics these days as it is about gathering intelligence. Departments have their own priorities and agendas, and as much blood is spilled in the corridors as out in the field. I just have to make sure none of it is mine, which is why those others were at the meeting. I needed them to hear the basics.’ He gave a thin smile. ‘Crampton and the nameless one will spread the word about Paulton; I’ll do the rest from another direction.’

‘So why am I here?’

‘We need to stop this in case Miss Balenkova’s message doesn’t get through. I wasn’t entirely open and honest in that meeting. We’ve actually got more information about the two shooters than I let on. First of all, though, there’s Paulton.’

‘There always is. Do you know why he was here?’

‘In a nutshell, he wants to come in from the cold.’

‘You’re kidding.’

‘I wish I were. Maybe life out in the wild isn’t all it’s cracked up to be when you’ve got a price on your head. It seems his plan was to bargain his way back by bringing something of value to the table. And for that he needed a sponsor. . someone who would give him the time of day without having him shot on sight. Somebody who would appreciate something to trade — if it had added value.’

‘How do you know this?’

‘A birdie told me.’

Harry had been thinking a lot about who else would have benefited by Clare’s death apart from the Russians, who wouldn’t have wanted their part in Tobinskiy’s murder revealed. But exactly who that was meant someone else had to be pulling some strings. As an old instructor had been fond of saying, when you’ve considered and rejected all possible options, all you’re left with is the blindingly obvious. But naming names wasn’t his job.

‘Who?’

But Ballatyne was enjoying himself too much to let it all out at once. ‘Well, let’s remember that Clare Jardine figures closely in all of this. First of all, who would have a grudge against her? The list is not very long, strangely enough. Second, who has the ambition, balls and position to risk talking with Paulton as a means of getting to Jardine? Who would also give anything to get the Tobinskiy hit team — and their controller? And who would bring Paulton back into the fold — and potentially turn on him as a personal coup?’

Harry knew who Ballatyne was talking about. The only person he had referred to who might fit. Candida Deane. What he didn’t know was why the MI6 man was going after one of his own colleagues in such an open fashion.

‘I take it this person would have known about the Russians being here in the first place?’

‘Too right. They read reports and summaries just like I do, and that one would have been hot enough to snap her knicker elastic. They knew where Tobinskiy was, they probably had a good idea what this team were here for — although, to be honest, tying the two together might have taken a while, because they’d have assumed that finding Tobinskiy wouldn’t have been easy.’

‘So how did they find him?’

‘Laughably easy: I think the shooter in Brighton who first plugged Tobinskiy had a backup man in place. Once the shooting was over, the gunman disappeared, and all his colleague had to do was keep an eye on the hospital and wait for Tobinskiy to croak. When he didn’t, he simply followed the ambulance to London. A second team was called in to finish the job. It’s how I would have done it, anyway.’

‘Is that why the guard on the ward disappeared? Was he part of it?’

‘No, he was perfectly innocent, if incompetent. A mix-up over rotas. He saw another guard entering the building and thought he was his replacement, and took off without handing over. It left a ten-minute gap which the Russians exploited. But they’d have probably planned on taking out any guards, anyway.’

‘So Deane wasn’t using Tobinskiy as bait?’

‘Probably not, much as it pains me to say. She’s as nasty as a tank of piranha fish but she has her limits. She was playing Paulton along and hoping to implicate Jardine in the killing and get the hit team all nicely wrapped up. I can’t prove it because she’s not saying much, but I suspect she was planning on turning Paulton in as a bonus.’ He sniffed. ‘I told you, she’s ambitious. Proving any of it might be a problem, but she’s finished in that job, anyway.’

‘Unless you can find Paulton.’

Ballatyne shrugged, his eyes hooded. ‘You and I both know that’s not going to happen.’

‘So what’s this other information you have?’

Ballatyne took a slip of paper from his pocket and passed it to Harry. He was surprised to see that it held an address in Knightsbridge, west London.

‘What’s this?’

‘We tracked the shooters to this location. The tech boys in the Met got a lucky strike with an FRS camera along Knightsbridge. The building’s not on the list of Russian holdings, which makes me think this whole operation was very deep and black. It’s the second-floor flat of a short-term rental property. They were there last night and I’ve got a man on watch to make sure they don’t slide out unnoticed.’

‘Couldn’t you get Crampton’s men to go in?’

‘Too risky. There are two foreign embassy buildings in the same street, both unfriendly, one openly harbouring a fugitive facing terrorist charges in the States and cocking their noses at us. If the boys in blue show up in force anywhere within two hundred yards, they’ll scream from the rooftops.’

‘What about Special Forces?’

‘The MOD won’t risk sending in anything less than a full team. Can you imagine the noise?’ He shuddered. ‘We’d never hear the last of it from the Harrods board, either.’

Harry breathed out. He knew what was coming.

‘So what’s the plan?’

‘You and Boy Wonder could do it.’ Ballatyne straightened his jacket. ‘It would send a message to Gorelkin’s controllers, telling them they can’t do this on our territory without consequences.’

Harry wanted to tell Ballatyne to go jump in the river; that he didn’t do hit jobs, no matter what the reason. But he knew deep down that it wouldn’t wash. If the two Russians were in there, it wouldn’t be a hit, it would be a fight.

There was a lot more he wanted to ask, especially about Clare. For example, why was Ballatyne suddenly so keen on her welfare, when before this he had been indifferent to downright cold. But now wasn’t the time.

Ballatyne turned to go. ‘Don’t leave it too long, or they’ll be gone until they can pop up and take another crack at Jardine. And I hate to be melodramatic, Harry, but they do know where you live.’