The Lost Testament

61

Bronson stood up and turned to face Angela and George.

‘Right, we only have a short time, so we need to plan quickly. This is a potentially dangerous situation that we’re walking into, and I want to make sure that we have the means of getting away from it as quickly as possible. So we’ll be taking the car, and ideally I’d like you two to meet this man while I stay in the vehicle, somewhere with a good view of the rendezvous position. That way, I’ll be able to carry out surveillance of the whole area, and provide immediate back-up and a quick way of getting out of there if anything untoward happens.’

Throughout Chris’s speech, George Stebbins had been squirming uncomfortably in his seat, and now he spoke, directing his concerns at Angela.

‘Look, I’m not all that happy about going ahead with this. My understanding was that I simply had to examine a piece of parchment. Nothing more, nothing less. I expected to be able to do this in the comfort of my hotel room or some other sensible and civilized location. I was never told that there was a possibility that there might be violence involved.’

Then he swung round to look at Bronson.

‘It’s easy enough for you to say it’ll be safe. You won’t even be at the rendezvous. You’ll be sitting in the car somewhere and able to drive away at the first sign of trouble.’

There was steel in Bronson’s voice when he replied.

‘Angela knows me very well,’ he said, ‘and she knows that there’s absolutely no way I would just drive away, as you put it. I only suggested that I wait in the vehicle because that would enable me to provide surveillance of the entire area and react if anything happened. I’m a police officer. I’m trained in surveillance and I’m a Class One police driver, so I’m the best person to have in the car. If you’d rather we did it the other way round, and you wait in the car while Angela and I meet with Husani, that’s fine by me.’

‘You might be happy to do that, Chris, but I’m not,’ Angela snapped. ‘The only reason George is here at all is to give his opinion of the parchment, and he can’t do that if he’s sitting in a car fifty yards away. Either you come to the rendezvous with me, George, or there’s no point at all in you being here. The clock’s ticking. If we don’t leave here within the next few minutes, we’re not going to make it on time. It’s time to piss or get off the pot.’

She paused for a moment, her glance switching between the two men.

‘So what’s it to be?’

Stebbins looked somewhat sheepish, then shook his head.

‘I think I’ll get a taxi back to my hotel,’ he said quietly. Then he stood up and walked out of the bar.

Bronson and Angela watched him go.

‘So it’s just the two of us again,’ Bronson said, turning back to look at Angela, ‘and personally I think it’s better that way. Now, we need to go.’