The Geneva Trap

Chapter 8

‘Enjoy your stay in Switzerland, Ms Falconer.’

The immigration officer handed back her passport and Liz walked on, pulling her small overnight bag past the desk, through the baggage hall and the Customs post, emerging into the arrivals hall of Geneva Airport.

She paused for a moment, scanning the sea of waiting faces for anyone who looked as though they might be meeting her. It was 11.30 in the morning; her flight had landed on time. She didn’t know if she was being met; she’d changed her travel plans the previous afternoon, in response to a message from Geoffrey Fane. There had been a second contact with Sorsky and the meeting was arranged for this evening. So here she was, twenty-four hours earlier than she had planned.

She waited a few minutes more, but when no one approached her, she started walking towards the taxi rank. She was just nearing the terminal doors when a man appeared at her side.

‘Ms Falconer?’ he asked, slightly breathlessly.

She nodded and he offered his hand. ‘Russell White from the Embassy. Sorry to cut it so fine – traffic’s unpredictable this time of day.’

He was wearing a smart blue suit and one of the striped ties that Liz knew that Englishmen used as a sort of signal. The corner of a paisley silk handkerchief was poking out neatly from his jacket’s breast pocket. He made friendly small talk as he led her outside to the short-term car park where a small grey Mercedes saloon sat parked near the exit. ‘Hop in,’ he said, unlocking the doors. ‘Shove your bag on the back seat.’

As they drove out of the airport, White said, ‘I’m getting rather fit thanks to you.’ Liz gave him a questioning look and he laughed. ‘I usually play tennis twice a week, but since your friend emerged, I’ve been on the courts every morning. Didn’t want to miss him. And yesterday he showed. We’ve agreed a meet with you at 18.30 in the Old Town. It’ll be twilight but not dark. It depends how long he wants to talk for. I’m glad you could make it at such short notice. Do you know Geneva?’

‘Not really. I’ve been here for a conference, but I came one day and left the next. I didn’t have time to look around much.’

‘Ah, then let me make a few detours. Give you a bit of a feel for the place, and I can show you where your meeting will be. We can talk over all the details back in the office, but I can tell you he’s given us some pretty precise instructions. He’s clearly scared.’

Liz nodded. She was beginning to get that familiar sense of excitement, the tension in her stomach that front-line operational work produced.

They were driving along the lakefront now, passing a mix of modern glass-and-steel towers and grand old-fashioned hotels. Turning away from the lake, White drove down a street of baroque stone-and-brick houses, originally the mansions of the rich but now apparently housing the offices of law firms, accountants, small businesses.

‘Geneva’s a strange city,’ he went on, ‘stuffed with international organisations and banks, of course, but it’s also a big industrial centre: pharmaceuticals as well as hi-tech and IT companies of all kinds. But it’s by no means all modern and soulless. The cultural life here is very strong; you can’t turn a corner without running into a museum or gallery. As you can imagine it’s also a hotbed of intelligence gathering, industrial espionage: political and military, agents of influence – it’s all going on here. A bit like Vienna in the Cold War. The place is heaving with the opposition and our American friends – all trying to get one up on each other. And then there’s the local Security Service, trying to keep the lid on things, never quite sure where to focus their attention.’

They crossed the river, and White parked on the edge of the Old Town. The buildings were smaller, the streets irregular and narrow. ‘We have to go on foot from here. But the meeting point’s not far.’ They walked through an ancient stone arch and on to a cobbled street. To Liz it looked like a Central European version of Stratford-upon-Avon, little houses with bulging white plaster walls and black beams, overhanging the narrow streets.

‘It gets a bit touristy here in the summer,’ White said. ‘People holidaying in the Alps often come down for the day. Now, do you see that park over there?’ He pointed to the west.

‘Just,’ said Liz, catching a glimpse of green beyond a long high stone wall.

‘That’s Parc des Bastions.’

‘Was it once a fort?’

‘Originally, though more recently it was the city’s botanical garden. Now it’s part of the University of Geneva. That’s where chummy wants to meet you this evening. We’ll go over the details when we get back.’

‘Looks awfully exposed.’

‘That’s what we thought. On the other hand, it means he can tell if anyone’s watching him.’

‘Or me,’ said Liz. ‘Speaking of which, I don’t want any surveillance from our side when I meet him.’ She saw White hesitate and said firmly, ‘None at all. I don’t want anything to alarm our man. It’s not as if I’ll be in any danger. If he wanted to murder me, he wouldn’t pick the middle of a park.’