‘Mick doesn’t work for anyone any more,’ said Leavey. ‘He’s dead.’
MacLean was shocked. ‘What happened?’ he asked sadly.
‘Accident on the rig, washed overboard in a force nine, no chance.’
‘Poor Mick.’
‘One of the best,’ said Leavey. He raised his glass and toasted, ‘Absent friends.’
MacLean raised his own glass silently.
‘What’s your problem?’ asked Leavey.
‘You must be dog tired,’ said MacLean. ‘Maybe you would rather wait until tomorrow?’
Leavey examined MacLean’s face and said, ‘So time is not a factor then?’
‘Actually it is,’ said MacLean.
‘Then tell me now.’
MacLean told Leavey about Carrie and how the attack had been intended for him. He told him that there was a chance that he could repair the disfigurement if he could get his hands on Cytogerm but that was proving difficult.
Leavey sipped his drink and began to recap on what MacLean had told him. ‘If I understand you right, you have to steal this Cytogerm from this drug company but you don’t know where they keep it. You do know the name of the guy who’s in charge of it so you want to break in to the company’s offices to find out where he works. Your only alternative is to find this woman, May… ‘
‘Haas.’
‘May Haas, but you have no lead to her either. On top of that the opposition doesn’t think twice about killing people. How am I doing?’
‘About sums it up,’ agreed MacLean.
Leavey examined the bottom of his glass in silence then said; ‘There is another way.’
‘Tell me.’
‘You mentioned a regular meeting of the company’s directors at a hotel in Geneva?’
‘The Stagelplatz,’ said MacLean.
‘These men must know the whereabouts of X14. We could grab hold of one and ask him.’
MacLean had to admit that the idea was simple and straightforward and that he hadn’t thought of it himself. They didn’t even have to use the Stagelplatz meeting place because the names and addresses of the directors were no secret. They could get to most of them without too much trouble he reckoned. Then he saw the drawback and told Leavey. ‘I can’t believe that all the directors are involved in this affair,’ he said.
‘You mean we might approach the wrong one?’
‘Precisely, and once we’d done that the cat would be out of the bag. We couldn’t keep an innocent man quiet.’
Leavey nodded as he took MacLean’s meaning. ‘So it’s back to breaking and entering in Geneva.’
‘I think so.’
‘This kid of yours, she’s really bad? I mean, there’s no other way of fixing her up?’
MacLean shook his head and said, ‘There’s skin grafting but she will be severely disfigured for the rest of her life. Cytogerm surgery is her only chance of being restored to normality.’
‘How old is she?’
‘Five.’
‘Shit,’ said Leavey. He suddenly drained his glass in one go and said, ‘All right, count me in. I’ll have a double.’
‘Thanks Mick,’ said MacLean. ‘You can have as many doubles as you like.’ He got to his feet to go to the bar but Leavey stopped him saying, ‘Not just yet, I have to go out for about fifteen minutes. Wait till I get back.’ Without saying any more, he got up and left.’
THIRTEEN
True to his word, Leavey returned fifteen minutes later but not alone. He was accompanied by a short, smiling man with a barrel chest and thinning fair hair who MacLean thought he recognised from somewhere but couldn’t remember where. Unfortunately the look on the man’s face said that he knew him well enough. MacLean’s embarrassment was cut short by the man opening the front of his shirt to reveal a jagged scar. ‘Willie MacFarlane,’ he said. ‘You saved my life.’
‘Of course,’ exclaimed MacLean. ‘You got hurt on the rig; I never saw you again. How are you?’
‘Right as rain, Doc,’ said MacFarlane, fastening up his shirt and sitting down at the table. ‘I never got a chance to thank you properly.’
‘No need,’ insisted MacLean. ‘I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. He got up to go to the bar but MacFarlane stopped him with a hand on the arm. ‘The very least I can do is buy you a drink,’ he insisted.
MacLean agreed with a smile and MacFarlane went to the bar leaving Leavey and MacLean alone. MacLean asked the question with his eyes and Leavey said, ‘I think he would be useful to have along.’
‘Ex-serviceman?’
‘Ex-safe-breaker.’
‘You’re joking!’
‘I’m perfectly serious,’ said Leavey. ‘Willie can open locked doors with his feet. He sees every lock as a personal challenge and what’s more, he’s moved with the times. As electronic protection systems have got better so has Willie. On one occasion he even managed to break into a safe that was monitored by close-circuit television 24 hours a day.’
‘How did he do that?’
‘He took along a video recorder, cut into the close-circuit cable and recorded the picture. The he connected the video playback to the cable and cut it beyond the join. He emptied the place while the guards watched a video of a closed safe.’
‘Ingenious,’ admitted MacLean but he had doubts about taking MacFarlane along and it showed.
Leavey said, ‘Face it Sean. We can go a long way together but when it comes to breaking into locked buildings equipped with fancy alarm systems we’re going to be babes in the wood. We need someone like Willie.’
‘We don’t know that he’d go,’ said MacLean.
Leavey smiled and said, ‘There are two things in this life that Willie MacFarlane would die for. One of them is Rangers Football Club and the other is you. He’s never forgotten what you did for him out there.’
‘I suppose I should say, I don’t want him coming along out of a sense of obligation, but the truth is, I need this stuff real bad. I’m prepared to play any card I’ve got,’ said MacLean. ‘That’s something you have to consider too.’
Leavey put his hand on MacLean’s arm. ‘I already have.’
MacFarlane returned with the drinks. The bar was beginning to fill up and the sound of male laughter reminded MacLean of his own time on the rigs. The first night back was always something special, a shower, a change of clothes and off to the pub with plenty money in your pocket. Even the married men would come to the pub before going home. Domestic bliss could wait; there was an important male ritual to be observed. The earlier damp smell of the place had given way to after-shave and cigar smoke. Faces were animated: eyes were bright.
MacFarlane did most of the talking at the table, keeping them laughing with a seemingly endless fund of stories from the rigs. Much of the humour was directed against himself and MacLean found himself warming to the man. He noticed that, at intervals, Leavey would slip in a question relating to MacFarlane’s personal circumstances. It was done so cleverly that MacFarlane did not realise that he was being interrogated So far, Leavey had established that he was married but had no children. He had also exposed an undercurrent of bitterness in the man.
After a few more drinks Leavey said, ‘So you’ll be off home to the wife then Willie?’
