by Dan Latus
Inside, too, the building was imperial in style. At another time, I might have spent longer admiring it all. As it was, I gave them no more than a cursory glance as I focused on meeting the redoubtable Dmitri Petrov.
He was waiting in the Swan Lounge, as arranged. I couldn’t have missed him even if he hadn’t been accompanied by four dark-suited men who looked like what they were: bodyguards.
Petrov himself was dressed in casual wear — casual for a middle-aged Russian power broker, that is — but he might just as well have worn a suit. The designer jeans and white silk shirt looked expensive. The big Rolex probably was as well, regardless of whether it was genuine or fake. His stern, watchful posture left me in no doubt about who he was. He had probably identified me even before I had seen him.
I made my way towards his table. Two of the men sitting with him stood to bar my way. At the same time, I was aware of other figures closing in behind me. It was no more than I had expected. I had met heavy-duty Russians before, and in any case, Harry had briefed me well.
‘Don’t forget,’ he had warned me as I was about to leave. ‘He’s not stupid, and he’s dangerous and violent. Don’t underestimate him.’
As if that was likely!
* * *
It was clear from the first that this was a warrior, and the leader of an army. Maybe not the Red Army of old, but nevertheless, a significant modern military force. I could see that at a glance. So, no, I wouldn’t underestimate Petrov, but I did hope he would be stupid enough to underestimate me.
‘Mr Tergev — or should I say Mr Petrov?’
He had watched my approach. Now he nodded and gestured to me to sit down. I turned and motioned to the two men behind me to move aside. They didn’t.
‘Just you and me,’ I said, turning back to Petrov, ‘or I leave right now.’
He gave me a stony look, which I returned.
‘Do you want to hear what I have to say, or not?’ I asked.
He nodded to his men. They moved aside. I sat down, facing him across the small table.
‘James Wilson,’ I told him when he asked for my name.
‘English?’
I nodded.
Suddenly, he smiled. ‘How is Harry?’ he asked. ‘Scared to death?’
‘I don’t think so.’
‘He should be.’
I shrugged. ‘Let’s get down to business, if you don’t mind. Mr Williams has something of yours, information he took from you, I believe. He’s prepared to return it — unopened, and unused — in exchange for the release of a colleague of his you abducted in Kiev. That’s the proposal he instructed me to pass on to you.’
Petrov stared at me. He seemed astonished. ‘That is it?’ he said eventually. ‘That is the whole offer?’
I nodded. ‘Mr Williams believes it’s a very good offer.’
Petrov shook his head. ‘Get out,’ he said with contempt. ‘You are a stupid man — perhaps even more stupid than Harry Williams.’
‘This is not Ukraine, Mr Petrov,’ I pointed out in a mild tone. ‘You are a long way from home.’
‘So?’
‘We do things differently here to how you do them in Donbass, or wherever it is you come from.’
I was being provocative, intentionally so.
‘Novorossiya,’ he said. ‘That is where I am from. New Russia. Now you should leave, before I show you how we deal with people like you in Novorossiya.’
‘Is that a threat?’ I asked with a smile. In the middle of such a big, busy hotel it felt safe to do so. ‘There’s something else I’m authorised to tell you. Mr Williams also has in his possession the blueprint for a Russian cyber attack on Western Europe, and—’
‘He has nothing,’ Petrov said scornfully.
‘And, as I was about to tell you, the NATO response plan for a Russian cyber attack. He is prepared to offer you those two things as well.’
Petrov shook his head, as if in wonder at my stupidity.
I stood up to leave. ‘Phone me again if you want to talk about any of this.’
‘Let me tell you something,’ he said with a spark of real anger. ‘There will be no trading. No deal. There is no need. I will take those things from him anyway when I come to kill him. Tell him that!’
Then he drew an index finger across his throat, for all the world as if we were back in 1930s Chicago. I smiled at him again and left.
As I walked back towards the exit from the hotel, I pressed the speed-dial button to alert Harry, without bothering to tell him that a couple of Petrov’s goons were following me.
As I reached the pavement a motorcycle drew up. I climbed on the pillion and strapped on the helmet waiting there for me, and Harry powered us away through traffic no car would have been able to penetrate with such ease.
Chapter Fifty-One
Back at the modest hotel that Greta had booked for us, Harry and I held a debriefing session.
‘Petrov didn’t bite your hand off, presumably?’
I shook my head. ‘It went like we expected it to go. He was laughing at me, at least until the very end. The news that you also had the NATO cyber-attack response plan might have altered his thinking. I don’t know. We’ll have to wait and see about that.’
Harry nodded and, looking suitably judicious, said, ‘Let’s hope Giles Henderson comes up with it.’
‘Keep the faith, Harry. Keep the faith.’
‘Humph. We’ve still got the trump card anyway.’
‘Abduction? Well, perhaps we’ll have to play it. Anyway, I’d better get on to Henderson again. We need his contribution asap, just in case Petrov decides he’s interested after all.’
‘What did you think of him?’ Harry asked later, over a couple of beers in the hotel bar.
I shrugged. ‘Nasty piece of work. Typical Russian gangster type. Criminal, violent, evil, murderous.’
‘You’ve got all that right.’
‘You were close to him, you said?’
Harry nodded. ‘Much closer than I would ever have wanted to be. He liked the idea of having a westerner who supported Russian nationalism as one of his aides. Probably because he didn’t trust any of his own people.’
‘Didn’t trust them? How does that work?’
‘The same way Russian politics has always worked. It runs on paranoia. Petrov believes they’re all out to get him and take his place. He’s right about that, actually. So, he doesn’t trust them. It was different with me. There was never any possibility of me being in contention to replace or succeed him. I was an outsider. He could relax with me, confide in me to some extent. Impress me.’
I was beginning to understand how valuable an asset Harry must have been to Giles Henderson, not to mention the wider NATO community. I could also understand how deep Petrov’s sense of betrayal must be, and how badly he would want revenge.
‘What did you think of him on a personal level?’ I asked.
‘Petrov?’ Harry said, looking at me with surprise. ‘He’s a shit! I hated the bastard. Like you said, he’s a nasty piece of work. That’s why I’ve been so worried about Johanne.’
And presumably himself, although he wasn’t going to admit it.
On second thoughts, Harry wouldn’t be worried for himself. He was too brave for that. Only the very brave can do what he’d been doing. I knew that. Harry hadn’t changed. Not one little bit. He was as brave as a lion. Always had been.
‘How did you get the position with him?’ I asked.
‘I was useful to him.’
‘Yes, but . . .’
‘Oh, I see what you mean. Henderson planned it. The idea was for me to be a sympathiser who had useful connections back in London and could feed him information that would help his cause. The Useful Idiot concept all over again, I suppose. Just like in the days of the Soviet Union.’
Harry shrugged. ‘I’ve got to take my hat off to Henderson, it worked pretty well. All the same, it was a chancy trip for a couple of years. You can’t keep that up indefinitely. Soone
r or later doubts will arise, and the truth will leak, which is more or less what happened.’
Forget Henderson, I was thinking. It’s you I take my hat off to, mate. You were the one in the firing line all that time. I don’t know how you stood it.
‘Come on, Harry,’ I said, glancing at my watch and working out that it was midday back in London. ‘Let’s get back to the suite. I’ll phone Henderson before he goes off to his posh club for lunch.’
Giles Henderson, it turned out, had done what he had said he would do. He and a select group of his closest associates had, in a remarkably short space of time, concocted a supposed NATO cyber-defence strategy for us. He emailed the document over as we spoke.
‘Look after it,’ he said, gravely.
‘I’ll guard it with my life,’ I replied.
‘That’s the spirit. How’s Harry?’
‘He’s fine. The road’s been pretty bumpy, but we’ve survived so far.’
‘Glad to hear it. Harry obviously chose the right man to have alongside him.’
I chuckled. ‘Ably supported by Officer Greta Campbell, the RCMP and what seems like the entire Canadian intelligence establishment.’
I heard him chuckle then too. ‘Ah, yes, the redoubtable Ms Campbell. Don’t underestimate her, Frank.’
‘There’s no danger of me doing that,’ I assured him.
Somewhat surprised, I ended the call and switched over to wait for the email. When it came, I studied it for a couple of minutes and then nodded with satisfaction.
‘OK?’ Harry asked anxiously.
‘Oh, yes! He’s very good, your boss, isn’t he?’
Chapter Fifty-Two
To keep things moving, I texted Petrov and told him we needed an answer.
There was no response. So I texted him again, saying that if he was not interested, I was sure the Russians in Moscow would be. Their embassy would be our next port of call.
That did it.
‘You are playing stupid games,’ Petrov said when he phoned me shortly afterwards. ‘You have something of mine that I want returned. That is all.’
‘And you are holding Mr Williams’s colleague, a woman called Johanne Erickson, who he wants released.’
‘I know nothing about this. A woman, you say? Maybe I can look into it if my property is returned. Perhaps I can help.’
‘My client says no to that. The woman must be brought here. Then he will hand over what you want.’
‘He is stupid!’
‘Perhaps so. But he is also very determined.’
‘If I bring him an arm or a leg of this woman will he change his mind, do you think?’
I let that pass without comment.
‘So. How does he think I can bring a woman from Kiev? Tell me that.’
‘You do know about her then? That she is being held in Kiev?’
‘Maybe she is there. I don’t know. If she is, how can I get her here?’
‘Whether you personally can do that or not, I don’t know. But I do know that Moscow can. You can tell them — or I can tell them — that if they do that, we will give you the NATO response plan to their cyber-attack strategy, as well as the other documents I mentioned.’
‘I will think about it.’
‘Think fast. If I don’t hear from you by midnight, I will contact the Russian embassy in Canada.’
‘What good will that do?’
‘None, perhaps, but when they are given the battle plan for the attack on Estonia, they will know whose copy it is — and who lost it. They will know who to blame, and who to hold to account.’
Petrov sighed. ‘I will see what is possible.’
‘All right?’ Harry asked after the call ended.
‘Maybe.’ I shrugged. ‘Let’s wait and see — again.’
It didn’t take long.
Petrov called back twenty minutes later to say he wanted to meet. The same place. He would meet me in one hour’s time.
I hesitated. It was late. Another hour and it would be midnight. So what? The hotel would be open still, certainly for residents.
I agreed to meet, and Harry went off to tinker with the motorbike.
The laptop fitted snugly into the carry bag we had bought for it in Victoria, but there was little room for much else, and none at all for the Glock pistol Harry handed me. That went into the big pocket inside my jacket.
‘What are you going to do if they want to search you?’ Harry asked.
‘Step back and walk away. Pull the gun if necessary.’
Harry nodded. ‘You can’t afford to let Petrov think you’re soft, or an easy touch. He thrives on that.’
‘Relax,’ I said, and chuckled. ‘I’ve been here before. I know how negotiations with bad guys work.’
He grinned. ‘Sorry. I was in danger of underestimating you. Good luck, pardner!’
I pulled a face. ‘Just be ready, Harry. I may have to leave in a hurry.’
The hotel was almost deserted at that time of night. On my last visit there had been hundreds of people thronging the hallways and the bars and restaurants. Now all was deathly quiet. As I climbed the great carpeted staircase, I saw no one until I caught sight of two of Petrov’s goons standing like statues at the entrance to the lounge where we were to meet. I kept on going, not wanting them to suspect me of suffering an anxiety attack.
The lounge was big, capable of accommodating some fifty or sixty people. When I entered, I saw Petrov in a distant corner with two or three of his retainers. A pianist was despondently tickling the ivories of a grand piano, while half a dozen couples, thinly scattered around, conversed in murmurs. The barman was idly polishing glasses for want of something better to do.
I headed across the thick carpet towards Petrov’s table.
One of Petrov’s men placed himself in front of me. ‘Out of the way,’ I snapped. He smiled and stood his ground.
‘What are we going to do, Petrov?’ I said to his boss. ‘Play silly games, or talk business?’
Petrov issued an order and the guard stood aside.
‘That’s not far enough,’ I told Petrov. ‘I want your men well way from the table before I sit down with you, and I don’t want any of them standing behind me either.’
Petrov grinned. ‘You don’t trust us?’
‘Just get them away from me, or I leave.’
He glanced at my bag. ‘You have the documents?’
‘Another ten seconds,’ I told him. ‘Then I turn round and leave.’
He chuckled, as if he doubted my ability to do that.
‘Let me make one thing clear,’ I said. ‘You do not impress or intimidate me. You may be a big man back home, wherever that is, but here, right now, you are not. Now, quit fooling, or I walk away and go to the Russian consulate, and then the Russian embassy.’
His smile froze into an icy expression of contempt. My reminder of the alternative market for the documents was evidently not to his liking.
‘Sit down,’ he snapped.
I waited until his men had moved well away from the table before I sat down, got out the laptop and opened it up.
‘What’s this?’ he said. ‘Where are the documents?’
‘Somewhere safe. Surely you didn’t expect me to bring them here?’
He stared coldly at me.
‘Your Estonia battle plan,’ I said, turning the laptop round and pushing it across the table.
He glanced at the cover and first page or two before pushing the laptop back dismissively.
‘You don’t want to go through it?’
‘I know what is in it.’
‘My client is anxious for you to know that he has not passed the document on.’
‘The game would be over if he had,’ Petrov said flatly. ‘And so would he.’
‘We know where we stand,’ I said.
‘Here’s the Russian cyber-attack plan,’ I continued, producing the second rabbit from my hat and letting him see the laptop once more.
Again, he gave it no more than
a passing glance. He was waiting for the game changer, the NATO response strategy, which was what both he and Moscow would want.
When I brought that up on the screen, he read the first three pages avidly. Then he scrolled down to the next page — it was blank. He stared at it for a moment. Then he looked up at me, his eyes blazing.
‘What is this?’ he snarled. ‘You joke with me?’
I shook my head. ‘I have shown you a sample of the document, even though you have given me nothing, remember? What I want from you is an indication of whether or not you are interested. Do we have a deal, or not? If we do, we can discuss the handover arrangements.’
He was silent for a full minute. Then his face darkened, and he snapped, ‘Get out of here!’
Chapter Fifty-Three
I zipped the laptop back into its bag and got to my feet. ‘You know how to contact me.’
He just glared at me. His eyes had narrowed to slits, his whole body shook with rage and hatred. I didn’t wait for a reply. Either there would be one or there wouldn’t. My main concern was getting out of there in one piece. There were enough Petrov people around to make that difficult, even if we were in a posh hotel.
I walked at a steady pace across the floor of the lounge and out of the door. Two of Petrov’s men looked as if they were aiming to head me off, but I kept going without giving them a glance. As I headed down the big staircase, I speed-dialled Harry. I had no need to say anything.
As I emerged into the night and set off down the stone steps at the entrance to the hotel, I heard and then saw Harry coming in fast. His timing was perfect. As my feet touched the pavement, he came to a stop in front of me. Once again, I slung myself onto the pillion and we took off. This time I didn’t wait to put on the crash helmet.
A big black car blocked the driveway, but not Harry. He skidded the bike into a slide that took us through an ornamental flower bed.
We regained the tarmac and then were out into the street. A car pulled out from the kerb and headed straight for us. Harry easily evaded it and we raced away along the harbour side.
Back at our hotel, I briefed Harry on how it had gone with Petrov. On the face of it, the meeting had been pretty much a disaster, but I wasn’t overly concerned.