by Roger Hurn
Below Zero
Roger Hurn
© Roger Hurn 2014
Roger Hurn has asserted his rights under the Copyright, Design and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work.
First published 2014 by Endeavour Press Ltd
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Extract from Dead of Winter by Roger Hurn
Chapter 1
It was a bleak day in Deptford. The rain was chucking it down in stair rods and a wind with more bite than a polar bear’s teeth whipped in from the river. As per usual, my assistant Carly was refusing point blank to nip out and get us both a decent cup of coffee from Bianca’s Café when the office bell sounded. She stopped answering me back long enough to buzz in whoever it was out there shivering their arse off in the gale.
I heard footsteps coming up the stairs and figured whoever the client turned out to be, they would have to be an improvement on the day so far. I was wrong.
The door opened and the bloke standing there in his elegantly tailored Chesterfield coat, shaking his umbrella all over our threadbare carpet tiles, was none other than Crispian Hunt.
Carly scowled at him and my heart sank faster than the Titanic at an iceberg convention. Crispian was a big cheese in Box 500, or MI5 to give it its proper name. But secret squirrels like Crispian just love a bit of drama and Box 500 sounds so much more mysterious than plain old MI5.
Anyway, our paths had crossed on a previous case. A case that had gone seriously pear shaped thanks to some shenanigans with a stolen handgun. As a result, Crispian had us by the short and curlies and now, judging by the look on his face, he was about to give them a very sharp tug indeed. Without being asked, he slid into the chair in front of my desk and then treated us to his oily smile.
‘Filthy weather for the time of year, isn’t it?’
Carly stared at him as if he was a particularly sleek but dangerous predator who had just padded into the office and said hello. He was acting friendly but she didn’t trust him an inch. Carly may be a tad on the stroppy side but she isn’t stupid, and neither am I. If Crispian Hunt had dragged himself all the way over to a “down on its luck” private detective agency above a kebab shop on Deptford High Street then it certainly wasn’t to chat about the weather.
I decided to cut to the chase. ‘So, what do you want with us, Crispian?’
He stretched back in his chair and smiled. ‘A nice hot cup of tea would do for a start — if it’s not too much trouble.’
I knew there was about as much chance of Carly making him a cuppa as Millwall winning the Champions League, so I went and put the kettle on.
‘Sorry we seem to be right out of Earl Grey,’ I said. ‘But I can do you an Asda Smart Price Builders’ Brew.’
Crispian’s smile didn’t slip. ‘How delightfully quaint,’ he said with only the faintest trace of sarcasm. ‘I’m sure it will put hairs on my chest. I’ll have it with milk and two sugars please.’
I made his tea in a grubby mug. It wasn’t much of a rebellion but it was the best I could do. He raised his eyebrows when I handed it to him but he didn’t say anything.
‘Do you wanna biscuit with it?’
Without waiting for an answer, Carly threw a pack of digestives at him. He caught them deftly and grinned at her. ‘Why, Carly, how unexpectedly sweet of you!’
She shrugged. ‘Hey, I’m not being sweet, Crispian. I’m hoping you choke to death on them.’
To give him his due, he came right back. ‘Oh Ryan, how lucky you are to have Carly’s razor sharp wit to brighten your day. In fact, I’m amazed you solve any cases at all given the amount of time you must spend shaking with helpless laughter.’
Carly coloured and I could see she was going to rise to the bait, so I stepped in before it all kicked off.
‘Yeah, we have fun, Crispian, but why do I get the feeling that whatever it is you’re here to talk about is going to wipe the smiles off our faces?’
He raised his hand and wagged his finger at me. ‘Well, that’s where you’re wrong. I am in fact proposing that you and the lovely Carly here take a short, all expenses paid holiday, courtesy of Her Majesty’s Government.’
‘What! You’re gonna have us banged up? Why? You can’t do that! You said all that stuff with the gun was sorted!’
Crispian shook his head. ‘You misunderstand me, Carly. I want you and Ryan to go to Spain on a little job for me. Naturally, the British tax payer will be funding the trip as what I’m asking you to do is in the national interest.’
Carly folded her arms and glowered at him as if he was offering her a turd on a stick. ‘Oh right. It’s a snidey deal so you wanna send two fall guys to do it just in case it all goes to shit, is that it?’
He gave her a cool appraising look. ‘Obviously deniability is a consideration in any operation the department engages in, but I can assure you that this really will be a glorified holiday.’
Carly wasn’t convinced. ‘So why don’t you send a couple of your guys to do it then?’
‘He can’t,’ I said. ‘Crispian’s mob is strictly UK based. MI6 do all the overseas stuff and, for some reason, which I’m sure he’s about to tell us, he’s chosen not to go cap in hand to ask them to take care of business for him.’
Crispian gave me a supercilious smile. ‘Not quite correct, old chum. We do put our oar in overseas if necessary but, in the main, we let our partners in SIS deal with Johnny foreigner on his own patch.’
I pulled a face. Crispian had a way of talking down to me that set my teeth on edge. ‘So why us?’
‘Because you’re good at what you do and the fewer people in-house who know about this the better. And anyway, outsourcing to freelancers is all the rage these days.’
I pushed a bit harder. ‘Look, I know you’re a cloak and dagger merchant and so secretive that I bet your right bollock doesn’t know who your left bollock is screwing but if you want me and Carly to put our necks on the line, you’re going to have to level with us.’
OK, I know Crispian coming clean was about as likely as Elvis coming back to Earth in a UFO and crash-landing on the Loch Ness Monster but I had to try.
Crispian ran his tongue over his lips. He was like a lizard and just as cold blooded. He was also the kind of guy who only had teeth so he could lie through them, so whatever he was about to tell us would be a version of the truth, but not the whole truth and probably nothing like the truth we needed to hear. But he had way too much on Carly and me for us to turn him down. I just hoped he’d tell us enough so we could at least stand a fighting chance of not coming back from the “all expenses paid holiday” in body bags. Fat chance!
Chapter 2
Crispian sucked in his cheeks and furrowed his brow. He was trying to create the impression of a man struggling with his conscience, but I knew that he’d already worked out in fine detail exactly what he was going to tell us. I appreciated th
e effort he was making. He sighed and, with the open expression of a man telling all, he said, ‘One of our scientists at Porton Down has gone AWOL. It’s a tad embarrassing as he’s a prized asset who relocated from Eastern Europe a couple of years ago. He thought living in England would be so much more agreeable than in some Soviet era tower block in Moldova. And we rather encouraged him in that view — particularly as the chap has a genius for chemistry. Anyway, all seemed to be going swimmingly until he suddenly became restive and a bit of a diva. He claimed to have made a breakthrough in some research he was engaged in and he wanted big bucks for it and a much more exalted status.’
I shrugged. ‘So what’s the problem? If the bloke’s delivering big time then surely he’s entitled to a few perks. I mean have you seen what a half decent striker in the Premiership makes these days just for banging in the odd goal or two?’
Either Crispian wasn’t a football fan or I was missing the point. He looked at me as if I was dribbling into my bib.
‘The problem, Ryan, is that he was rocking the boat. He’d got it into his head that we didn’t love him enough and that he could get a better offer for the fruits of his labours elsewhere. So he’s taken himself off to see if he can.’
‘And you guys didn’t stop him because…?’
‘Because he gave our watchers the slip.’ Crispian sighed and shook his head.
‘You just can’t get the staff these days, can you?’ I said in mock sympathy.
Crispian gave me a chilly little smile. ‘Which is where you and Miss Bloom come in.’
‘So, whereabouts in Spain is he?’ Carly asked.
‘Well, he took the 19.25 Easy Jet flight from Gatwick to Malaga yesterday evening so I imagine he’s now on the Costa Del Sol holed up somewhere cosy and waiting for the bidders to arrive.’
‘So what is this breakthrough he’s trying to flog?’
Crispian held up his hands. ‘That’s highly classified information which I’m not at liberty to divulge, but suffice it to say that we really would rather it didn’t fall into the hands of certain parties far less scrupulous than ourselves.’
‘And they are…?’ Carly sounded wary.
Crispian grinned. ‘Oh the usual suspects, Miss Bloom.’
She stared at him. ‘Porton Down is where they do germ warfare and test bad stuff on animals, isn’t it? So has this guy developed some sort of super virus or something that terrorists wanna get their hands on?’
Crispian treated her to his most patronising smile. He’s never forgiven her for the time she nearly took his eye out with her elbow in a fight in which he came off a very poor second best.
‘You may think that, Miss Bloom, yet I’m afraid I couldn’t possibly comment. But he’s expunged all trace of his work from the research database and taken it with him — and that is a matter of great concern.’
I tapped my teeth with my finger nails. I do that a lot when I’m on edge.
‘OK, so it is something nasty that all manner of bad guys will be queuing up to get their grubby paws on. That makes this one hell of a dangerous assignment. I just hope what you’re paying is going to make it worth the risk.’
Crispian rubbed his hands together briskly. ‘You’ll be doing this for your country, Ryan. That should be reward enough, but obviously I’ll be paying you both your daily rate plus all expenses — and there may well be a bonus at the end if you do the job successfully and with the minimum amount of fuss.’
‘What does “doing the job successfully” actually mean?’
‘You track down our man before any of the competition reach him and then persuade him to come home without selling his discovery to anyone.’
I raised my eyebrows. ‘And how do we do that?’
Crispian smiled. ‘Well, you two are the detectives not me, but I’m sure Miss Bloom’s charms will act like a magnet to attract his attention. Apparently, he is very fond of a certain type of female company.’
Carly’s voice cut through the air like the business end of an icicle. ‘And what type of female company is that?’
Crispian looked her up and down like an auctioneer at a Roman slave market. ‘Young, blonde, beautiful but edgy, and I think you fit the bill perfectly, Miss Bloom.’
Carly frowned. She hadn’t expected Crispian to be so complimentary and it put her on the back foot. Even though I suspected Crispian played for the away team, Carly attracted men like bears to a honey pot. I just wish I didn’t have such a sweet tooth.
Crispian switched his attention back to me. ‘Look, Ryan, all you two have to do is act as intermediaries for HMG. Find out what his price is and then offer him anything he wants. You can even hint that a gong isn’t out of the question. The key thing is to bring him home ASAP. But he’s got a head start on you so you can’t afford to dilly dally.’
I let out a long breath. ‘OK, we’ll do it but we’ll need money upfront and a proper briefing before we even think about packing our buckets and spades.’
Crispian grunted and stood up. ‘Money from an untraceable account has already been transferred to your bank. It will cover your costs and charges for two weeks. A bonus will be paid on the successful completion of the task in hand.’
I started to interrupt but he held up his hand. ‘Obviously you won’t report directly to me. Your handler, who glories in the name of “Greenstick”, will meet you in St Paul’s Church in thirty minutes.’
I did a double take. ‘Why are we meeting him in a church?’
Crispian smiled a smile so thin it could have been anorexic. ‘Because it will be good for your soul, Ryan.’
Chapter 3
St Paul’s is about two minutes’ walk from Deptford High Street and is a fancy baroque building that the late, great Sir John Betjeman really rated. I think it looks like a bit of left over wedding cake decoration, but then I’m not a big fan of churches.
Anyway, Carly and I were huddled in a pew at the back trying to keep warm when a bloke slid in next to us. ‘Hi, I’m Greenstick,’ he said in the kind of mid Atlantic accent favoured by DJs on those crap music stations that pride themselves on playing “smooth sounds”. He had a scruffy little beard and looked like an extra from a Kevin Smith movie. But he also had an edgy intensity about him that belied the carefully cultivated slacker persona.
He passed me a folder. ‘Everything you need is in there; fake passports, plane tickets, car rental, hotel reservation. You’re sharing the same room. Hope you don’t mind but it was cheaper that way.’ He winked at us. Carly stared at him stony faced. I swallowed. I figured that maybe this job was going to have some unexpected perks after all. But then I’m an eternal optimist.
‘There’s also a flash drive giving you the low down on Constantin Stere. He’s the guy you’re after. Oh yeah, and always use this cell phone to contact me.’ He handed me a pay-as-you-go mobile phone.
His accent and his use of Americanisms annoyed me for some reason. But then who was I to judge? Crispian acted like an old school toff, while this bloke was a complete Shoreditch hipster. I couldn’t help but feel MI5 was going through something of an image crisis. But then my football-mad mate Rob also worked for them so I guess they really are an equal opportunities employer like it says on their website.
The point was, we were going to have to work with this guy like it or not so I asked him to give us a brief heads-up on Stere. If we were going to track him down we needed some insight into what made him tick.
Greenstick shrugged and then grinned. ‘You can forget booze, gambling or dope — the dude’s a total pussy hound.’ He gave Carly an admiring glance. ‘And a babe like you will get his motor running big style.’
Carly blanked him. I didn’t.
‘OK, so we can give the casinos and the racetracks the swerve and we’re not going to find him propping up the bars, but are you saying we should check out all the knocking shops between Malaga and Gibraltar? Because, if you are, that’s going to be a tall order.’
‘Yeah, but it may be a lot of fun l
ooking.’ Greenstick leered at me.
‘Or not,’ snapped Carly. ‘Look, sorry to rain on your pervy little parade guys, but this guy’s done a runner to Spain to drum up offers for his death ray, or whatever it is he’s invented, so a bunch of hookers are not gonna be much use to him as far as that’s concerned. What we need to know is how he’s advertising himself.’
Greenstick pulled a face. ‘Well, that’s the thing. He doesn’t have to advertise. As soon as word gets out that he’s gone on the lam, everyone will go looking for him. All he has to do is sit back and wait for them to form an orderly line outside his door. So you need to find him before they do.’
‘And they are …?’ Carly needed it spelled out.
‘The SVR; the Russian Mafia; Mossad; the secret intelligence services of a whole heap of Mid-Eastern states plus any number of terrorist groups. Though, to be honest, I’d say the Russian Mafia and Mossad are the front runners. The Russian Mafia because they’re well established on the Costas, and Mossad because they are shit scared of Constantin’s baby getting into the hands of their enemies — of whom, as I’m sure you’re aware, there are many.’ He gave a tight little grin. ‘Now, if you’ll forgive me, I gotta dash. Churches bring me out in hives.’
‘No, wait up.’ Carly reached out and grabbed his coat sleeve. ‘Just what is it that they’re all so desperate to buy?’
Greenstick gently removed her fingers. ‘I dunno. But whatever it is he’ll have it on a flash drive. So make sure you bring both him and it safely back home. Ciao.’
He hurried away and as we watched him go a young curate came bustling over to us and tried to engage us in a chat about Jesus. We made our excuses and left. We had a plane to catch and we didn’t need a sky pilot to help us.
Chapter 4
On the way back from the church I made a call from something that most people think is extinct — a public pay phone that works. I could have used my mobile but I didn’t want it traced back to me.