by Wilbur Smith
Tell me, please, Peter.’ She was still watching him, but the cold green light in her eyes had been extinguished – she was friendly and concerned, listening with complete attention as he went step by step over every detail of Melissa-Jane’s kidnapping.
It was an old rule of his to tell the complete truth when it would serve – and it served now, for Magda would know every detail. He told her of Caliph’s demand for Kingston Parker’s life, and his own response.
‘I would have done it,’ he told her frankly, and she hugged her own arms and shuddered once briefly.
‘God, such evil can corrupt even the strongest and the best—’ and now there was understanding softening her lips.
Peter went on to tell her of the lucky tip-off and the recovery of Melissa-Jane. He went into details of the manner in which she had been abused, of her terror and the psychological damage she had suffered – and he watched Magda’s eyes carefully. He saw something there, emphasized by the tiny frown that framed them. He knew that he could not expect feelings of guilt. Caliph would be far beyond such mundane emotion – but there was something there, not just stagey compassion.
‘I had to stay with her. I think she needed those few days with me,’ he explained.
‘Yes. I am glad you did that, Peter.’ She nodded, and glanced at her wristwatch. ‘Oh, we have so little time left,’ she lamented. ‘Let’s have a glass of champagne. We have a little to celebrate. At least Melissa-Jane is alive, and she is young and resilient enough to recover completely.’
Peter eased the cork and when it popped he poured creaming pale yellow Dom Perignon into the flutes, and smiled at her over the glass as they saluted each other.
‘It’s so good to see you, Peter.’ She was truly a superb actress; she said it with such innocent spontaneity that he felt a surge of admiration for her despite himself. He crushed it down and thought that he could kill her now and here. He did not really need a weapon. He could use his hands if he had to, but the Cobra parabellum was in the soft chamois leather holster under his left armpit He could kill her, and the two bodyguards across the room would gun him down instantly He might take one of them, but the other one would get him. They were top men. He had picked them himself. They would get him.
‘I’m sorry we will not be together for very long,’ he countered, still smiling at her.
‘Oh, chéri. I know, so am I.’ She touched his forearm, the first touch since the greeting embrace. ‘I wish it were different. There are so many things that we have to do, you and I, and we must forgive each other for them.’
Perhaps the words were meant to have a special significance; there was a momentary flash of the warm green fire in her eyes, and something else – perhaps a deep and unfathomable regret. Then she sipped the wine, and lowered the long curled lashes across her eyes, shielding them from his scrutiny.
‘I hope we will never have anything terrible to forgive—’
For the first time he faced the act of killing her. Before it had been something clinical and academic, and he had avoided considering the deed itself. But now he imagined the impact of an explosive Velex bullet into that smooth sweet flesh. His guts lurched, and for the first time he doubted if he were capable of it.
‘Oh, Peter, I hope so. More than anything in life, I hope that.’ She lifted her lashes for a moment, and her eyes seemed to cling to his for an instant, pleading for something – forgiveness, perhaps. If he did not use the gun, then how would he do it, he wondered. Could he stand the feeling of cartilage and bone snapping and crackling under his fingers, could he hold the blade of knife into her flat hard belly and feel her fight it like a marlin fights the gleaming curved hook of the gaff?
The telephone on the bar buzzed, and the secretary picked it up on the second ring. He murmured into it.
‘Oui, oui D’accord.’ And hung up. ‘Ma Baronne, the aircraft is refuelled and ready to depart.’
‘We will leave immediately,’ she told him, and then to Peter, ‘I am sorry.’
‘When will I see you?’ he asked.
She shrugged, and a little shadow passed over her eyes. ‘It is difficult. I am not sure – I will telephone you. But now I must go, Peter. Adieu, my darling.’
When she had gone, Peter stood at the windows overlooking the airfield. It was a glorious spring afternoon, the early marguerites were blooming wild along the grassy verges of the main runways, like scattered gold sovereigns, and a flock of black birds hopped amongst them, probing and picking for insects, completely undisturbed by the jet shriek of a departing Swissair flight.
Peter ran his mind swiftly over the meeting. Carefully identifying and isolating the exact moment when she had changed. When she had ceased to be Magda Altmann and become Caliph.
There was no doubt left now. Had there ever been, he wondered, or had it merely been his wish to find doubt?
Now he must harden himself to the act. It would be difficult, much more difficult than he had believed possible. Not once had they been alone, he realized then – always the two grey wolves had hovered around them. It was just another sign of her new wariness. He wondered if they would ever be alone together again – now that she was alerted.
Then abruptly he realized that she had not said ‘Au revoir, my darling’ but instead she had said ‘Adieu, my darling’.
Was there a warning in that? A subtle hint of death – for if Caliph suspected him, he knew what her immediate reaction must be. Was she threatening, or had she merely discarded him, as Kingston Parker had warned that she would?
He could not understand the desolate feeling that swamped him at the thought that he might never see her again – except through the gunsight.
He stood staring out of the window, wondering how his career and his life had begun to disintegrate about him since first he had heard the name Caliph.
A polite voice at his shoulder startled him and he turned to the airport sub-manager. ‘They are calling the KLM flight to Brussels now, General Stride.’
Peter roused himself with a sigh and picked up his overcoat and the crocodile skin Hermes briefcase that had been a gift from the woman he must kill.
There was such a volume of correspondence and urgent business piling the long desk in his new office that Peter had an excuse to put aside the detailed planning of the pre-emptive strike against Caliph.
To his mild surprise he found himself enjoying the jostle and haggle, the driving pace and the challenge of the market place. He enjoyed pitting wits and judgement against other sharp and pointed minds, he enjoyed the human interaction – and for the first time understood the fascination which this type of life had exerted over his brother Steven.
Three days after arriving back at his desk, the Iranian Air Force made their first order of the Narmco Kestrel missiles. One hundred and twenty units, over a hundred and fifty million dollars’ worth It was a good feeling, and could grow stronger, could finally become addictive, he realized.
He had always looked upon money as rather a nuisance, those degrading and boring sessions with bank managers and clerks of the income tax department, but now he realized that this was a different kind of money. He had glimpsed the world in which Caliph existed, and realized how once a human being became accustomed to manipulating this kind of money, then dreams of godlike power became believable, capable of being transmuted into reality.
He could understand, but could never forgive, and so at last, seven days after his return to Brussels, he forced himself to face up to what he must do.
Magda Altmann had withdrawn. She had made no further contact since that brief and unsatisfactory hour at Orly Airport.
He must go to her, he realized. He had lost his special inside position which would have made the task easier.
He could still get close enough to kill her, of that he was certain. Just as he had the opportunity to do so at Orly. However, if he did it that way it would be suicidal. If he survived the swift retribution of her guards, there would be the slower but inexorable processes o
f the law. He knew without bothering to consider it too deeply that he would be unable to use the defence of the Caliph story. No court would believe it. It would sound like the rantings of a maniac without the support of Atlas or the Intelligence systems of America and Britain. That support would not be forthcoming – of that he was certain. If he killed Caliph they would be delighted, but they would let him go to the guillotine without raising a voice in his defence. He could imagine the moral indignation of the civilized world if they believed that an unorthodox organization such as Atlas was employing assassins to murder the prominent citizens of a foreign and friendly nation
No. He was on his own, completely. Parker had made that quite clear. And Peter realized that he did not want to die He was not prepared to sacrifice his life to stop Caliph – not unless there was no other way. There had to be another way, of course
As he planned it he thought of the victim only as Caliph – never as Magda Altmann. That way he was able to bring a cold detachment to the problem. The where, the when, and the how of it.
He had complicated the task by replanning her personal security, and his major concern when he did so had been to make her movements as unpredictable as possible. Her social calendar was as closely guarded as a secret of state, there were never any forward press reports of attendance at public or state events.
If she were invited to dine at the Élysée Palace, the fact was reported the day after, not the day before – but there were some annual events that she would never miss. Together they had discussed these weaknesses in her personal security.
‘Oh, Peter – you cannot make a convict of me.’ She had laughed in protest when he mentioned them. ‘I have so few real pleasures – you would not take them from me, would you?’
The first seasonal showing of Yves St Laurent’s collections, that she would never miss – or the Grande Semaine of the spring racing season which culminates with the running of the Grand Prix de Paris at Longchamp. This year she had high hopes of victory with her lovely and courageous bay mare, Ice Leopard. She would be there. It was absolutely certain.
Peter began to draw up the list of possible killing grounds, and then crossed off all but the most likely. The estate at La Pierre Bénite, for instance. It had the advantage of being familiar ground for Peter. With a soldier’s eye he had noticed fields of fire across the wide terraced lawns that dropped down to the lake; there were stances for a sniper in the forests along the far edge of the lake, and in the little wooded knoll to the north of the house which commanded the yard and stables. However, the estate was well guarded and even there the victim’s movements were unpredictable. It would be possible to lie in ambush for the week when she was in Rome or New York. Then again the escape route was highly risky, through a sparsely populated area with only two access roads – both easily blocked by swift police action. No, La Pierre Bénite was crossed from the list.
In the end Peter was left with the two venues that had first sprung to mind – the members’ enclosure at Longchamp or Yves St Laurent’s premises, at 46 Avenue Victor Hugo.
Both had the advantages of being public and crowded, circumstances favouring pickpockets and assassins, Peter thought wryly. Both had multiple escape routes, and crowds into which the fugitive could blend. There were good stances for a sniper in the grandstands and buildings overlooking the members’ enclosure and the saddling paddock at Longchamp or in the multi-storied buildings opposite No 46 in Avenue Victor Hugo.
It would probably be necessary to rent an office suite in one of the buildings – with the attendant risks, even if he used a false name, which put the probability slightly in favour of the racecourse. However, Peter delayed the final decision until he had a chance to inspect each site critically.
There was one last advantage in doing it this way. It would be a stand-off kill. He would be spared the harrowing moments of a kill at close range, with handgun or knife or garrotte.
There would be the detached view of Caliph through the lens of a telescopic sight. The flattened perspectives and the altered colour balances always made for a feeling of unreality.. The intervening distance obviated the need for confrontation. He would never have to watch the green light go out in those magnificent eyes, nor hear the last exhalation of breath through the soft and perfectly sculptured lips that had given him so much joy – quickly he thrust those thoughts aside. They weakened his resolve, even though the rage and the lust for vengeance had not abated.
If he could get one of the Thor .222 sniper rifles it would be the perfect tool for this task. With the extra long, accurized barrels designed for use with match grade ammunition and the new laser sights, the weapon could throw a three-inch group at seven hundred yards.
The sniper had only to depress the button on the top of the stock with the forefinger of his left hand. This activated the laser and the beam swept precisely down the projected flight of the bullet. It would show as a bright white coin the size of a silver dime. The sniper looked for the spot of light through the telescopic lens of the sight, and the moment it was exactly on the target he pressed the trigger. Even an unskilled marksman could hardly miss with this sight, in Peter’s hands it would be infallible – and Colin Noble would give him one. Not only would Colin give him one, hell, he would probably have it delivered with the compliments of the American Marine Corps by the senior military attaché of the U.S. Embassy in Paris.
Yet Peter found himself drawing out the moment of action, going over his plans so often and with such a critical eye that he knew he was procrastinating.
The sixteenth day after his return to Brussels was a Friday. Peter spent the morning on the NATO range north of the city at a demonstration of the new electronic shield that Narmco had developed to foil the radar guidance on short-range anti-tank missiles. Then he helicoptered back with the three Iranian officers who had attended the demonstration and they lunched at Épaule de Mouton, a magnificent and leisurely meal. Peter still felt guilty spending three hours at the lunch table, so he worked until eight o’clock that evening, on the missile contracts.
It was long after dark when he left through the rear entrance, taking all his usual precautions against the chance that Caliph had an assassin waiting for him in the dark streets. He never left at the same time nor followed the same route, and this evening he bought the evening papers from a marchand du tabac in the Grand’Place and stopped to read them at one of the outdoor cafés overlooking the square
He began with the English papers, and the headlines filled the page from one side to the other; black and bold, they declared:
DROP IN PRICE OF CRUDE OIL
Peter sipped the whisky thoughtfully as he read the article through, turning to Page Six for the continuation.
Then he crumpled the newsprint in his lap, and stared at the passing jostle of spring tourists and early evening revellers.
Caliph had achieved her first international triumph. From now on there would be no bounds to her ruthless rampage of power and violence.
Peter knew he could delay no longer. He made the go decision then, and it was irrevocable. He would arrange to visit London on Monday morning, there was excuse enough for that. He would ask Colin to meet him at the airport, and it would be necessary to tell him of his plan. He knew he could expect full support. Then he could move on to Paris for the final reconnaissance and choice of killing ground. There was still two weeks until the showing of the spring collections – two weeks to plan it so carefully that there would be no chance of failure.
He felt suddenly exhausted, as though the effort of decision had required the last of his reserves. So exhausted that the short walk back to the hotel seemed daunting. He ordered another whisky and drank it slowly before he could make the effort.
Narmco maintained two permanent suites at the Hilton for their senior executives and other important visitors. Peter had not yet made the effort of finding private accommodation in the city, and he was living out of the smaller of the two suites. It was merely a place to wash an
d sleep and leave his clothes, for he could not shake off the feeling of impermanence, of swiftly changing circumstances by which he found himself surrounded.
My books are in storage again, he thought with a little chill of loneliness. His collection of rare and beautiful books had been in storage for the greater part of his life, as he roamed wherever his duty took him, living out of barracks and hotel rooms. His books were his only possessions, and as he thought about them now he was filled with an unaccustomed longing to have a base, a place that was his own – and immediately he thrust it aside, smiling cynically at himself as he strode through the streets of another foreign city, alone again.
It must be old age catching up with me, he decided. There had never been time for loneliness before – but now, but now? Unaccountably he remembered Magda Altmann coming into his arms and saying quietly:
‘Oh, Peter, I have been alone for so long.’
The memory stopped him dead, and he stood in the light of one of the street lamps, a tall figure in a belted trench coat with a gaunt and haunted face.
A blonde girl with lewdly painted lips sauntered towards him down the sidewalk, pausing to murmur a proposition, and it brought Peter back to the present.
‘Merci.’ He shook his head in curt refusal and walked on.
As he passed the bookstall in the lobby of the Hilton, a rack of magazines caught his attention and he stopped at the shelf of women’s magazines. There would be announcements of the Paris haute couture showings soon, and he thumbed the pages of Vogue looking for mention of Yves St Laurent’s show – instead he was shocked by the image of a woman’s face that leapt out of the page at him.
The elegant cheekbone structure framing the huge slanted Slavic eyes. The shimmering fall of dark hair, the feline grace of movement frozen by the camera flash.
In the photograph she was in a group of four people. The other woman was the estranged wife of a pop singer, the sulky expression, slightly skew eyes and bee-stung lips a landmark on the Parisian social scene. Her partner was a freckled, boyish-faced American actor in a laid-back velvet suit with gold chains around his throat, more famous for his sexual exploits than his film roles. They were not the type of persons with whom Magda Altmann habitually associated, but the man beside her, on whose arm she leaned lightly, was much more her style. He was fortyish, dark and handsome in a fleshy heavily built way, with dense wavy hair, and he exuded the special aura of power and confidence that befitted the head of the biggest German automobile manufacturing complex.