‘If you insist.’
‘Thank you. It is widely believed, even by his own son, that Davor Boras left Sarajevo because he foresaw the chaos that the sundering of Yugoslavia would bring, and that he wanted no part of it. It’s true that he wanted to get his children out of there, and that he was ambitious in his business life, but in fact he is a patriot.
‘By the time the Bosnian war started in 1992, Boras’s first business in the UK was successful and he was a wealthy man. Not only that, but he had retained many contacts in Sarajevo, Belgrade and other cities; he had continued to do business there, and was a regular visitor. He cared about the place, for emotional and commercial reasons. A year before hostilities erupted, Boras contacted the Central Intelligence Agency through the American Embassy in Grosvenor Square. He offered his services in any way they thought fit.’
‘Why didn’t he go to our intelligence service?’ Skinner asked.
‘He wasn’t sure whose side they’d be on, simple as that. The Americans, on the other hand, had caught on to Milosevic at an early stage, and knew what he was capable of. He was also a Communist, and that crystallised their view of him.
‘When Boras came to them, the CIA people rolled out the red carpet; they had actually been considering trying to recruit him. Ever since then, he’s been their guy. If you were to look at the records of Bolec, his company at that time, you’d find people listed as employees whose jobs were never phoney but who had other functions. Throughout the war he infiltrated personnel into the region, intelligence-gatherers, saboteurs, assassins. They were very effective, and never detected. Several Serbian paramilitary figures were eliminated by people who were officially employees of Bolec plc.’
‘The war’s been over for a long time,’ Skinner pointed out.
‘Not for some people, including the CIA. Boras has continued to be an asset of theirs. When he sold Bolec it was with their approval. They felt that they had run enough through it and that, sooner or later, the increasingly effective intelligence services in the new countries would catch on.
‘So Boras allowed himself to be bought out, and promptly started another business, Continental IT, in a slightly different sector, but still with a presence in the region, albeit lower profile. Its principal use to the CIA lies in the apprehension and, where necessary, elimination of war criminals. Several people on trial at The Hague have Davor Boras to thank for it, or rather Continental IT; several others have simply disappeared, including one or two alleged criminals on his side, who have been given safe haven in the US.’
‘And he’s still active?’
‘Whenever necessary; that was why there was a small alarm when Ballester first surfaced. Boras’s first thought was that he was a Serbian spy, but the Americans, through their UK front organisation Aeron, soon established the truth, that he was a radical, slightly crackpot journalist, with a penchant for bringing down big names.
‘He wasn’t after Boras the spy; he was after Boras the businessman, whose dealings in that sector were not always kosher, as witness Mr Barker’s “Jack Frost” account and his dealings with the man Dailey, and several others. When this was uncovered, Ballester was set up by CIA operatives in Paris, with the assistance of MI6, who owed somebody a favour at the time.
‘After his public humiliation, he dropped out of sight for much of the time. In truth, he was almost forgotten, until Dominic Padstow’s real name came out, through your investigation. The CIA believe that his involvement with Zrinka, and finally, vicariously, through her friend, was a last attempt to get to Boras. When it failed . . . well. The man had a kink, and a history of violence; poor girls, poor lad, poor Stevie.’ She looked across the table. ‘There’s no doubt that he did it?’ she asked.
‘Not a shred. There is no way this could have involved the people you’re talking about, or anyone other than him. Items were recovered at the scene that only the killer could have possessed. Skinner frowned. ‘So who did it?’ he asked abruptly. ‘Boras sent Spicer and Brown up there to be killed. Did the CIA sanction the murder of two of their own, as a favour to Boras?’
‘No: Boras has been operating independently. They’re not pleased about it, but there’s nothing they can do. As I gather you know, they’ve made the two men, and the entire Aeron operation, disappear already.’
‘Have you known about Aeron all along?’
‘Of course. We live with these things, as long as they observe certain niceties.’
‘Such as?’
‘Not killing British citizens, for a start. That’s why eliminating Ballester permanently wasn’t an option for them. Bob, the CIA do not know who killed the guy.’
Skinner shook his head. ‘That’s why I don’t rate them, when it comes down to it. Boras is very clever: he was fireproof, and he wanted to stay that way. He was determined to execute his daughter’s murderer, as soon as the Aeron people told him where he was. But when they did, that made them potentially dangerous to him. So he sent somebody outside the intelligence community, someone he could trust absolutely, to take care of the whole situation.’
‘Who?’
‘Somebody who’d be just as intent on killing Ballester as he was; I reckon he sent his son.’
’Drazen? But he and his father barely speak.’
‘The man loved his sister; her death would have brought them together, even if it was only a temporary truce.’
‘That’s possible, I’ll grant you.’
‘Anyway, whose word do we have for their rivalry? Theirs, and second-hand confirmation by the desperate Keith Barker, that’s all. If I was in Boras’s situation, running a business that was tied into the intelligence community, and I had a son that age, I’d want to protect him by keeping him well away from it.
’Drazen, or David Barnes, as he calls himself now, has no connection with his father’s company; in fact, he’s one of his rising competitors. There’s even talk of Davor feeling the pinch, thanks to him, and looking to sell out again. That may be a family at war, but it’s also a bloody good cover story to protect the son, if his father is ever exposed.’
‘Why should you doubt them?’
‘Because I’ve got twenty-five years’ experience in this business and when I’m investigating I doubt everything until I see unshakeable proof that it’s true.’
‘Bob,’ she began, then paused, like someone risking a trump too early in the game, ‘even though Boras was acting outside the intelligence community, the Americans still have to protect him, because of their own involvement with him, and they would not like you going after his son.’
‘How do you know?’
‘Because they told me so,’ she murmured.
‘Are you telling me that he’s a CIA asset too?’
‘They didn’t say that, not outright, but the implication was clear.’
‘Why else would they even mention him? Jesus,’ Skinner exclaimed, ‘of course he is: stun gun, grenade, that’s not stuff your ordinary yuppie businessman can get his hands on too easily.’
Dennis shrugged her shoulders. ‘Bob, the bottom line is this. These people are valuable to the Americans, and I’ve been asked to persuade you to call it a day. I’ve even been asked to have someone order you, if necessary.’
Skinner threw his head back and laughed. ‘But you’re not going to bother, are you. Because I’m Scottish, and outside Home Office control, only my chief constable can give me that order, and you know he won’t. Let me ask you something, Amanda. If this was an MI5 operation, in your home country, and the Yanks were telling you to pack it in, what would you do?’
Dennis drew a long, deep breath. ‘I’d tell them to piss off,’ she admitted.
‘Then will you tell them that for me, please? If I can prove that Drazen Boras killed Stevie Steele, I’m going to have him.’ His smile vanished. ‘However, if you want to give them some comfort, you can tell them that I’ll have a real problem doing that.’
‘Why?’
‘Because right now I’ve got two detective constables giving him an alibi.’
