offered up the neck of his. ‘Sorry we’re not getting together under better circumstances,’ he said.
Stratton tapped Seaton’s bottle with his own and they both took a swig.
‘Let’s see what the old gal has knocked up, as you guys say,’ Seaton said as he opened the oven. Lifting out a pot with a pair of oven gloves on his hands he removed the lid and looked inside. ‘Hmm. She’s not the best cook in the world,’ he said, keeping his voice low. ‘But she has a couple of dishes she’s worked on over the years that are pretty good. She wouldn’t dare attempt anything new with guests.’
Seaton put the pot on a breakfast table, took a couple of plates from a cupboard and dug some cutlery out of a drawer. ‘Sit down. Make yourself at home.’
Stratton sat at the table as Seaton spooned what looked like a stew onto the plates. It smelled good and Stratton suddenly felt properly hungry.
‘You got family?’ Seaton asked.
‘No,’ Stratton replied.
‘You live alone?’
‘Yes.’ Stratton didn’t particularly want to talk about his personal life but he knew that it would help to create a more relaxed atmosphere with Seaton. ‘My parents died when I was young. I was an only child.’
‘Never been married?’
‘No.’
‘Not even close?’
‘Once – maybe. Looking back, I think I was kidding myself. Not her, though, just me. She was a lot smarter.’
‘Sounds like that was some years back?’
‘Yeah. Family life and this job mix like oil and water; for me at least.’
‘You have to work at it, that’s for sure. We’ve had some rough rides but the kids changed everything. You take fewer risks when you’ve got a kid, let me tell you. And coming home means a helluva lot more.’
Stratton’s thoughts went to Josh and Jack – and to Sally. His only significant experience of a family.
‘You go to state or private school, whatever it is you call it in the UK?’ Seaton asked.
‘What we’d call a state school – in London,’ Stratton replied, taking a mouthful of the stew. ‘Like most guys I joined up soon as I left school, in my case to get away from the city.’
‘You don’t like cities?’
‘I don’t like crowds.’
‘I’m a country boy myself. Upstate New York. Ever been there?’
‘Nope. Haven’t been to very many places in the States. Mostly Norfolk, Virginia.’
‘Navy SEALs?’
Stratton nodded as he took another mouthful of food.
‘I almost joined the SEALs.’
‘You were in the navy?’
‘No.’
Stratton thought that was strange since, as he understood it, you had to be a member of the US Navy to join the SEALs. Seaton picked up on his curious look.
‘I went to Chicago University,’ Seaton explained. ‘Got an MBA in Mideast studies and joined the Rangers. Did two years as an LT when I had an urge to be a navy SEAL. I was about to transfer over to the navy when I got the call to join the agency. I’m telling the story kinda back to front but – well, I had an uncle who was a CIA deputy in Cuba at the time. We got drunk together at my father’s wake, while I was in the Rangers, and I told him I wanted to be a CIA agent. I only half meant it – kinda sorta. The SEALs were my first choice but the truth was anything that was, you know, special would do. I didn’t know much about special forces or the CIA. Next thing I know my CO calls me into his office and tells me I’m not joining the navy and I’m off to Camp Peary to do CIA selection. Fifteen years later, here I am.’
Seaton went back to his meal. ‘Well, so much for how we end up doing what we end up doing,’ he said, struggling to be philosophical.
Something was obviously bothering him and Stratton decided to leave it alone.
‘I was surprised that the Albanian syndicates would still want to have anything serious to do with Islamic terrorists,’ Seaton went on as if eager to change the subject. ‘But I guess they have to keep their trade routes moving and al-Qaeda, or whatever you want to call them, do have a lot of control over product. This whole business of trying to nail the syndicates and put them out of business is bullshit, though. It’s expensive, takes up a lot of manpower, and soon as you put one group away another moves in to take its place. You want my opinion, it would be best to leave them where they are and work on controlling them.’
‘Maybe that’s what the FBI is doing with Skender,’ Stratton said.
‘Hail to them if it’s true.’
‘So you agree with letting the syndicates get away with crimes, then?’ Stratton asked dryly.
‘Okay. I ran into that one but you know I don’t want anyone to get away with Sally’s murder. Look at it objectively for a moment if you can. Don’t let your anger cloud the reality. Truth is, everyone’s allowed to get away with something now and then.’
Stratton nodded while trying to control a rising feeling of combined anger and helplessness. All this talk of criminal giants and mega-injustices was making him feel insignificant. He took a long swig of his beer.
‘Of course, the goal must be to eventually eradicate these criminals,’ Seaton went on. ‘But you’ve got to do it at the source, control the way they make and secure their wealth so that no matter who steps in to take their place the squeeze remains.’
‘Sounds great, but it’s not likely to happen by tomorrow, right?’
‘Nope,’ Seaton said. ‘But it evolves … Our biggest fight at the moment is against Islamic fundamentalists but the mechanisms that we are putting in place against them work against the syndicates too.’
Stratton nodded, hiding his true feelings. Seaton was on the side of the FBI as far as Skender was concerned, although Stratton did not doubt his sincerity regarding retribution for Sally’s murder. Stratton was only looking at it from a personal point of view but he could see it no other way.
Seaton got to his feet. ‘Well, I’m gonna hit the sack,’ he said, stifling a yawn. ‘You know where the beer is and the TV’s in the lounge. Your room is at the top of the stairs, straight across the hall.’
‘I don’t mind crashing on the couch,’ Stratton said, feeling awkward about being a house guest.
‘Julie will. Bed’s made up and ready to jump in. Shower’s at the end of the hall. See you in the morning,’ Seaton said as he walked out of the room. Then he paused in the doorway and looked back at Stratton. ‘What I said about controlling people like Skender – I didn’t mean they should get away with murder. Those freaks who killed Sally should fry.’
As Seaton made his way upstairs Stratton found himself unsure about the man’s sincerity. He felt alone in his desire to see justice done in its most basic form. He got to his feet, picked up the file and his pack and made his way through the house and up the stairs. He was tired, having slept little since arriving in the States. But there was far too much on his mind and the more he thought about things the more daunting it all appeared. Dealing with the rules for getting Josh home was going to be difficult enough but pressurising the FBI into prosecuting Sally’s killers felt beyond him. The more Stratton thought about the legal processes, the more he was tempted by the darker solutions, such as kidnapping Josh and killing Sally’s murderers. Due diligence was beyond him but cold-blooded execution was not. If Jack could speak he’d beg Stratton to tear those two creeps apart: the world could only be a better place without them.
After a couple of hours spent lying on the bed and reading through the file Stratton nodded off. But he awoke a few hours later because of the combination of jet lag and strange surroundings. Before he could get back to sleep he found himself speculating about how to deal with the two Albanians if he chose to – physically, not legally. It would not be the first action of its kind for Stratton although it would be the first time he had planned such a thing outside the remit of British military intelligence. The important difference was not lost on him: he would be operating without the support of his government so he’d be out in the cold and alone if anything went wrong. But that safety net had always been largely a psychological one because in just about every operation of its kind that he’d been part of in the past he would have been killed if he’d been caught.
Stratton kept pushing the idea out of his head, believing it to be bravado, but it returned each time demanding further examination. He eventually decided to humour the demons for one reason, namely that the best
