‘You. We want you. And Paulton. Although somehow I doubt we’ll get to him. He seems to have done a runner. But you’ll do for starters.’
‘We?’ The cigar was forgotten now. Bellingham was beginning to look trapped. He looked beyond Harry, sweeping the area with a practised eye.
‘Enough of us to bury you.’ Harry felt the response was over-dramatic, but it seemed appropriate. Bellingham and Paulton had buried him and the others in Red Station; it seemed right to think of retribution in the same terms.
‘Don’t flatter yourselves – any of you.’ Bellingham tossed the cigar into the river and thrust his hand in his pocket. ‘Who the hell would believe you?’
For a second, Harry thought he might be going for a weapon, and got ready to draw the gun in his pocket. It would probably be the last thing he ever did, but he was damned if this man was going to take him down. Then he realized Bellingham would be carrying a panic button. Press once in case of threats from foreign agents or pissed-off security officers. Bellingham wasn’t the gun type; he employed others to do his shooting for him.
He reckoned on having just a few minutes before the summons brought a response. ‘I’ve spoken to Marcella Rudmann,’ Harry said. ‘I think she’ll be looking to have a chat sometime. She’s particularly interested in Clarion.’
‘Don’t be pathetic.’ Bellingham’s voice dripped contempt, his mouth contorted, but he looked haunted at the mention of his server link. ‘You think you can come back here and take me on? You’re deluded, all of you, like that pathetic drunk, Mace. I suppose he’s hiding somewhere, afraid to come out and face the world without a stiff drink inside him?’
‘He’s alive, if that’s what you mean.’ The lie came easily. ‘And ready to talk.’
‘Then he’ll be arrested,’ Bellingham replied. ‘As will you. Your friends too. Is Jardine one of them?’
Another name, another point of reference. It confirmed that Bellingham knew who was in Red Station. By itself it might not be enough, but it added background colour for any subsequent enquiry.
‘Yes, she’s out there,’ he said. ‘I’d watch your back, if I were you. You made her some promises then let her down. She’s unlikely to forgive you for that.’
Bellingham’s eye gave a twitch, and he struggled to hold his gaze on Harry’s face. He said acidly, ‘We’ll see. You’ll all serve time in the darkest hole I can find. Believe me, you have no idea what being buried really means!’
A touch of spittle from Bellingham’s mouth landed on Harry’s cheek. He gripped the gun harder and wondered what it would be like to take it out and deliver his own brand of justice on behalf of those Bellingham had consigned to oblivion. The man didn’t have the slightest sense of remorse or fear, even when faced by someone who could bring him down.
Bellingham turned and walked away, his coat tails flapping around him, his head swivelling as he looked for his bodyguard.
But the tall man had disappeared.
SEVENTY-THREE
Harry checked the walkway in both directions. What the hell was happening?
The nearest figure ahead of Bellingham was an old lady with a dog, its nose buried in a discarded fast-food carton. Bellingham always walked down here, Maloney had told him, and always accompanied by his minder. Two hundred yards from the bridge down and two hundred back, without fail. Such a predictable pattern was almost suicidal for a man in his position, but nobody had seen fit to get him to change it.
On the other hand, nobody had tried to kill him, either.
So far.
Judging by his stance and the urgency with which he was moving, Bellingham had only just realized that he was without protection. And he didn’t like it.
Harry set off after him.
He didn’t understand the inconsistency with the bodyguard. It was standard procedure that the principal was never out of his protection officer’s sight. A decent distance might be observed for confidential discussions, but that was all.
Now the game had changed completely.
As he increased his pace, he sensed another figure moving up into his field of vision. He relaxed. It was a woman in a running suit and hooded top, jogging easily along by the inner wall, head down. She had an MP3 player strapped to her upper arm, the wire curling up under the hood, and was fiddling with the player’s retaining strap while keeping up a steady pace. She was thirty yards away from Bellingham and posed no threat.
Harry concentrated on walking as fast as he dared without attracting attention. Maybe he should have got himself a running suit. Now that would have raised a few eyebrows.
The woman runner passed Bellingham without a glance. Bellingham turned his head, eyeing the woman’s trim buttocks. She was twenty yards ahead of him and close to a concrete bench when she appeared to stumble. She threw out one arm, her pace broken, and something fell to the ground. Small, rectangular and white: the MP3 player. There was a faint clatter as it hit the ground and shattered, bits of plastic pinging into the air. Harry heard her cry of dismay as she stooped too late to catch it.
Bellingham was closer than anyone. His body language betrayed hesitation, then he stepped forward to help, his proximity overriding any concern at the disappearance of his bodyguard. He raised a hand to touch the woman’s arm, his rich voice floating back to Harry’s ears, solicitous and soothing.
It was all done very smoothly. One second they were standing alongside the bench, then the woman sat down, the pieces of her player on the ground around her feet, her hand to her face.
Bellingham sat alongside her, one hand reaching out to pat her arm, then dropping to pat her knee. Never mind, the gesture implied. It could have happened to anyone.
The woman didn’t look up, didn’t object to the hand on her leg. Instead, she rubbed her arm where the MP3’s retaining strap was still in place. When she brought her hand away, she was holding something.
She reached down to Bellingham’s thigh, and daylight flashed on shiny metal.
‘No!’ Harry swore and broke into a run.
In a continuous movement, the woman reached up and drew her hand across Bellingham’s front, just beneath his chin. It might have been a caress, the intimate touch of a lover, almost smooth and gentle. But the way Bellingham’s head went back indicated it was anything but.
By the time Harry reached the bench, breathing hard, the woman was eighty yards away and covering the ground in a floating, easy run. Bellingham was still sitting as if stunned.
‘Jesus, what happened?’ Rik Ferris raced up to join Harry, and they stood and stared at the MI6 director. He was bleeding profusely, his body slumped and held in place only by its own downward weight. His thighs and chest were a mess of red, and spurts of blood were pulsating past the layers of fat around his collar and dripping on to the paving slabs beneath.
Clare Jardine happened, thought Harry. Her and her evil bloody powder compact, the blade curved and razor sharp, like a pruning knife. Lethal in the hands of an expert. But he didn’t say anything. He had no proof. In any case, there was no point. Not now.
Instead, he said, ‘Femoral artery and throat. A professional kill.’ He pulled out his mobile – actually, Stanbridge’s mobile, which he’d never got rid of – and looked at the screen. The signal was strong down here; he’d get a 999, no problem. They’d be here in seconds, all bells and whistles. Hell, St Thomas’s hospital was a spit away; they’d almost be able to see the body from the front door.
He turned and threw the mobile over the wall into the river. ‘Bloody things. Never work when you need them.’
‘What?’ Rik, who knew about communications and signals, especially in London, looked towards the river in confusion. ‘But that—’
‘Wasn’t working.’ Harry looked at him, daring him to argue. It was better than looking at Bellingham. ‘Trust me. By the time the medics get here, he’ll be dead. He’s nearly gone already.’
‘I’ve got a phone.’ Rik started to reach for it.
‘Great. Phone them. And while you’re
about it, you can explain what you were doing here while a senior MI6 officer was getting his throat cut. A man who, just a couple of days ago, ordered your execution.’ Harry walked away without looking back. A gaggle of early sightseers was approaching a hundred yards away, festooned with cameras and curiosity. ‘Don’t take too long to decide,’ he called back. ‘The heavies will be along soon and looking for anyone with a grudge.’
SEVENTY-FOUR
‘You were right,’ said Rik, staring out across Hyde Park. It was a week later and they had met at Harry’s suggestion. Somewhere open and public, he’d said. They had been keeping their heads down ever since Bellingham’s death.
‘How so?’ said Harry. He peered into a bag of peanuts and flexed his fingers before selecting one. His injury was now down to a dull ache, and lifting much easier than a few days ago.
‘Down by the river. After you left, a couple of blokes turned up in a black car. Some sort of security, I reckon. They took a look, called an ambulance and carted Bellingham away. He must have been dead – they covered his face.’ Rik rubbed his fingers across a leather satchel on his knee.
‘Well, that suits everyone, doesn’t it? He’ll get an honourable mention in despatches, good and faithful servant, blah, blah, blah. End of story.’
‘That’s a bit cold, isn’t it?’
‘It’s reality. He went too far, stepped over the line; him and Paulton, both. If it ever got out, it would have gone international. Thing like that, the Russians and Georgians would have had no choice but to raise hell. We were on their turf, along with the Clones and a government hit-man.’
Rik looked surprised. ‘You make it sound like his death was . . . sanctioned.’
‘I doubt that. I think the bodyguard disappearing was a signal to Bellingham that he was isolated. On his own. He’d have been picked up – that’s probably what the two men you saw were there for – and made to resign. Only he didn’t get the opportunity.’
A woman jogger was running under a line of trees. She moved confidently, flowing in an easy gait across the grass towards them. Harry felt a jolt in his gut. She reminded him of someone.
‘It was her, wasn’t it, who did Bellingham?’ said Rik sombrely, also watching the woman. ‘Clare, I mean.’
‘Forget it. If it was, she’s gone. It’s done and dusted.’
‘Do you think we’ll see her again?’
‘Jesus, I hope not.’ Harry had certain views on the kind of psyche it took to use a knife on someone, especially the way it had been done on Bellingham. If he ever did see her again, he hoped he was armed and ready to shoot. He changed the subject. ‘Did you get your clearance?’ He was referring to the official security clearance they had both been granted in the wake of Bellingham’s death and the investigation into Red Station. It was a token forgiveness only, and did not include re-employment. But it was better than nothing. It offered a severance payment in lieu of all claims, which was government-speak for going away and developing total amnesia. He’d also had a call from Bill Maloney. The man killed with the girl in Essex had been identified as Romanian, with known drugs trafficking connections across Europe. And the Land Rover had contained a handgun, two false passports and a secret compartment under the floor panels.
‘Yeah. You?’
‘Yes. How’s your mum?’
‘She’s fine. Pleased I’m back, even if I haven’t got a job.’ He grinned, and for the first time since Harry had known him, looked thoroughly relaxed.
Harry knew how he felt. Jean had expressed similar delight, albeit thankfully of a far less motherly nature, when he’d called the previous evening. Learning that he wasn’t going to be hung out to dry and consigned to hard labour for thirty years had clearly pleased her. The pleasure had lasted into the small hours, and he had left her flat just two hours ago with a smile on his face and a spring in his step.
They sat in silence for a few minutes, enjoying the freedom. Then Harry said, ‘I’ve been offered some private security work. Good pay and conditions. Freelance. It’s in the area of internet fraud.’
It hadn’t sounded quite his thing, but he was too young to retire and too old to sign on for Iraq as a ‘consultant’ – even if he’d wanted to. And it would do to keep him going. He had some ghosts to lay along the way, and that would take time, after everything that had happened. One ghost in particular.
Then Rik surprised him. ‘You’re going after Paulton,’ he murmured. ‘Don’t deny it.’
‘Maybe.’ He had little to go on, save some knowledge of the man. But knowledge was power and eventually, people who ran usually surfaced somewhere they knew well; somewhere they felt secure.
All he had to do was unpick Paulton’s past life and find that place.
‘Hey, that’s good,’ said Rik enthusiastically. He shrugged. ‘I wish I could help. I’ve got a few job feelers out myself. Something will turn up.’
Harry looked at Rik, nudging him with his elbow. ‘I just offered you a job, you geek. I need someone I can trust. You do the IT, I’ll do the legwork. You in?’
Rik looked stunned. ‘Me?’
‘You. Don’t take too long or I’ll go elsewhere.’ He stood up and looked at his watch. ‘I know quite a few ex-security bods who’d jump at the chance—’
‘I’m in!’ Rik leapt to his feet and threw his satchel over his shoulder. ‘When do I start?’
Harry was walking away. ‘You already have,’ he called back. ‘I’ll buy the coffee, you fire up the laptop.’
Table of Contents
A Selection of Recent Titles by Adrian Magson
Red Station
Copyright
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Chapter Forty-Seven
Chapter Forty-Eight
Chapter Forty-Nine
Chapter Fifty
Chapter Fifty-One
Chapter Fifty-Two
Chapter Fifty-Three
Chapter Fifty-Four
Chapter Fifty-Five
Chapter Fifty-Six
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Chapter Sixty
Chapter Sixty-One
Chapter Sixty-Two
Chapter Sixty-Three
Chapter Sixty-Four
Chapter Sixty-Five
Chapter Sixty-Six
Chapter Sixty-Seven
Chapter Sixty-Eight
Chapter Sixty-Nine
Chapter Seventy
Chapter
Seventy-One
Chapter Seventy-Two
Chapter Seventy-Three
Chapter Seventy-Four
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