teeth. “Mr Rebanks is languishing in new underground quarters until I’ve cooled down enough to decide exactly what to do with him. You probably did me a favour there.” His voice was mild. Only the expression on his face told me he might be lying.
“I wasn’t the only one at the armoury last night,” I said quickly. “Somebody else set that damned fire alarm off. You do know you’ve got the German security services on your tail, don’t you?”
“I couldn’t ignore the possibility,” he acknowledged, but his face darkened at this new infringement on his territory. “They indicated that they would allow me to act with autonomy in this matter until Heidi was released. I should have known they wouldn’t play by the rules.”
Startled, I asked, “They
The Major inclined his head reluctantly. “Not officially, of course, but yes, they know we’ve got him, all right. In the manner of governments the world over,” he added, his voice sour, “they’re more than happy to overlook it – providing I hand him over when the girl is safe.”
I sat up straight, feeling my scalp prickle with apprehension, ignoring the aching protest of all corners of my body. “Does that mean you’ve no intention of going through with this exchange?” I said carefully.
Something like a spasm twisted across the Major’s face. He passed a hand across it, then let it drop into his lap, his shoulders rounding in defeat.
“God knows,” he said. He tried a smile but couldn’t really raise it. “The words ‘rock’ and ‘hard place’ spring to mind. I’m down on manpower and running out of options.” He eyed me again. “You seem to be the one with all the answers today,” he said with heavy irony. “Any suggestions?”
It was thrown down carelessly, so he could snatch it back without dishonour, but underneath I knew the Major wasn’t joking. He was deadly serious.
For a few moments I sat without speaking, then said, “Have you heard of a man called Sean Meyer?”
“Of course,” Gilby said promptly. The name had resonance for him, I saw. It changed things. “After that business in Colombia last spring, how could I not? The whole industry was buzzing with it.”
I’d no idea what had gone on in Colombia, or what Sean’s involvement might have been, but now didn’t seem the time to ask.
Instead I said, “Well Sean’s the reason I’m here. He asked me to come and find out what happened to Kirk.”
He looked surprised at that, and not a little sceptical. “But why, of all the highly-trained personnel undoubtedly at his disposal, did someone as good as Meyer choose
I shrugged, and learned that I hadn’t loosened up much since the last time I’d tried it. “Sean was one of my instructors in the army,” I said. “He felt that someone from outside the industry, as you put it, would stand a better chance of passing unnoticed.”
The Major said, “Ah,” and the way he said it spoke volumes. I remembered, too late perhaps, our conversation after the abortive first-aid sim, and the excuse I’d given then for leaving the services. I knew I couldn’t deny the link he’d just made without it seeming that I did protest too much. Better to keep quiet and hope I could gloss over the significance.
“Sean’s here,” I said now. At Gilby’s raised eyebrow, I added, “In Germany. I can give you his number. Call him.”
Still he hesitated. I leaned forwards in my seat, picked up a pen and scrawled the digits across the corner of his virgin blotter.
“Look, you’ve just said yourself that he’s good. Let’s face it – against Gregor Venko’s private army you’re going to need all the help you can get.”
“Including you?” the Major asked, and his voice was wry again.
“Including me,” I concurred.
I got to my feet, trying not to stagger, trying not to groan out loud. Movement outside the window caught my eye. When I looked, in the distance I saw the first of the pupils beginning to straggle back from the assault course.
The Major caught my distracted gaze and turned his head, following their progress across the grounds.
“You might have a bit of a problem with Todd about keeping me on,” I admitted, somewhat belatedly. “That’s the reason I’m back early. He thinks you’re going to send me packing because I’m injured.”
The Major turned back to me, raked dubious eyes up and down. “Injured?”
I explained briefly about my fall from the rope bridge and the cracked breastbone such a move had exacerbated.
“Well, I wouldn’t have guessed, but perhaps it might be best if you weren’t in this fight,” he said, but there was no enthusiasm in his tone. “You’ve done enough.”
“Oh no,” I shot back, fast and fierce. “I’m the one who gave Gregor my word on this. It’s my neck on the line just as much as yours. I hardly think he’s the kind of man who’d accept a sick note from my mother if I don’t show. I’m in this now, whether you like it or not, and I’ll see it through.”
For an agonising few seconds Gilby hesitated, then he nodded slowly. “All right, Miss Fox,” he said and, more purposeful, “Leave Mr Todd to me.”
I started for the door. If I could manage to break into a jog up the stairs I might even be able to snatch the bathroom before Elsa and Jan got back. I wasn’t banking on it, though.
“Oh, Miss Fox.” The Major’s voice caught me when I’d nearly made my exit. “If what I’ve just seen is anything to go by, I’d rather have you when you’re injured than half the men I’ve worked with when they’re fully fit.”
He was back on top, his voice clipped, shoulders straight. Any hint of weariness was gone. He was already reaching for the phone to dial the number I’d given him for Sean.
In his eyes I read a new determination. For the first time since Gregor Venko had left that study, I could see that Gilby really believed he might win this.
I hoped to God he was right.
Twenty-two
Even with a head start, I didn’t make it to the shower first. Elsa easily beat me to it without having to resort to any undignified elbowing techniques. While she was in there, Jan collared me with all the concentrated determination of an average domestic cat faced with a wounded sparrow.
“Come on then, Charlie, what happened when you got back here?” she demanded. “Give me all the gory details!”
For a moment I stared stupidly at her, thinking she somehow knew about Gregor Venko’s armed invasion. It took a couple of seconds for my brain to click round into the right gear.
Actually, I thought she was being thoroughly nosy considering how closed-mouthed she was about her own motives for being on the course, but I refrained from saying so. In truth, I suppose I was glad of the opportunity to try out the rhythm of my concocted story on her before I faced the third degree from Elsa. The German woman, I’d discovered, was not easy to lie to. Maybe I just found the fact that she’d been in the police instinctively intimidating.
So, I told Jan how Major Gilby had decided to exercise his executive power and let me stay on, as he had done when McKenna had concussed himself during the ambush in the forest. It was a recall of a conversation Gilby and I had never spoken, but I was pretty sure it was what he
I told her how it was up to me to prove I was fit enough to complete the course, how there’d be no quarter asked nor given. There was a certain ring of truth to that last bit, bearing in mind the kind of stick I just knew I was going to have to take from Todd, but still she frowned at the rest of it. I shrugged and didn’t try too hard to persuade her. I was too tired to put up much of a fight, in any case.
My near-indifference must have worked, though, because when Elsa appeared, her wet hair combed back flat from her face, it was Jan who told her I was staying, with hardly a hint of cynicism in her voice. Elsa raised an enquiring eyebrow in my direction and I repeated the bones of my story for her benefit.
