The Geneva Trap

Chapter 43

Mrs Milner liked to rise early and walk her dog before too many people were about. She lived in a mansion flat off Victoria Street, and had done so for more than three decades – so long that she could ignore the new owner’s edict against pets. Milly wasn’t any trouble anyway. Her barking could be insistent, but except for Wednesdays when the rubbish collection men were just below Mrs Milner’s window, Milly confined her yaps to her daily walks outside.

Most of which were in nearby St James’s Park, which she loved – Milly that was, since Mrs Milner had always thought it slightly overrated. Too many tourists and flowerbeds and not enough open space; to her way of thinking the park was too neat. It was really just an adjunct to Buckingham Palace at one end, and all those Government Departments in Whitehall at the other. She often recognised well-known people on its paths, but this did not impress Mrs Milner. As she and Clemency Robinson, her oldest friend, often remarked to each other, they had been brought up in an era when to appear in the newspapers – except on the occasion of one’s birth, marriage, and death – was not a desirable state of affairs.

This morning Mrs Milner had set out with Milly for their daily constitutional slightly later than their normal time – it was ten-past eight, she’d noted as she left her flat. Crossing Birdcage Walk she had seen nothing unusual, and as she slowly made her way towards Horse Guards there was the usual collection of MPs and civil servants on the paths. Not many tourists around yet, though she noticed a diminutive Chinese-looking man.

At the east side of the park she carefully crossed Horse Guards Road, but only after first stopping furtively to allow Milly to do her business. Not for Mrs Milner the new practice of bringing a plastic bag along for collection purposes – Heaven forbid – but at least she was selective about where Milly was allowed to go. And who would think seriously of fining a woman in her mid-eighties for the indiscretion of her dog?

It was as she entered the Horse Guards parade ground that she saw the unusual event ahead of her. The small Chinese-looking gentleman she’d noted earlier was twenty yards in front. It was funny seeing him striding through the park – not like a tourist, more like a civil servant on his way to work. Not that Mrs Milner thought there was anything wrong with that. She liked people from the Far East, having lived for five years in Hong Kong with Mr Milner. There was a courtesy about them she approved of. Call it old-fashioned, but Mrs Milner liked it just the same.

Nearing the arch at the far end of Horse Guards Parade, the man quickened his pace slightly – and it was then that Mrs Milner saw the two other men appear, as if from nowhere. Neither of them looked as though they belonged in this part of London – they were both wearing weatherproof jackets and to Mrs Milner’s mind looked like toughs. They seemed to be working in tandem, making a beeline for their target from either side of him.

What were they going to do to him? Maybe they were part of one of the pick-pocketing gangs she was always reading about. In any case, the Chinese-looking fellow seemed utterly unaware of their approach. Or of the woman dawdling by the arch – Mrs Milner had seen her before, walking her dog, which Mrs Milner had avoided since Milly had never got on with Schnauzers. This woman was looking at the little man as well. Surely the two toughs weren’t going to harm the fellow here in broad daylight. Though in London these days, who could be sure? Maybe she should call out to warn him.

Then the little man seemed to sense the presence of the other two. He turned around, and when he saw them he started visibly. He tried to make a break for it, sprinting off back across the parade ground, but they were too quick for him – far too quick. In seconds each of them had grabbed an arm, and they held the little fellow between them. One of them was speaking as they began leading him across the parade ground towards a car parked, quite illegally, on the roadside.

The odd trio passed within spitting distance of Mrs Milner, and in the eyes of the Chinese gentleman all she could see was fear. She wanted to stop them all, ask the men just what they thought they were doing, perhaps threaten to call the police. But there was something in their eyes that said no one should interfere with them. Least of all an old lady walking her dog.