The Secret of Excalibur

were dangerously exposed - if any of the Russians took their eyes off Mitchell . . . ‘Come on, get behind that tree.’

They moved into the limited cover of a tree at the edge of the grass and hunched behind it, less than twenty feet from Mitchell as the two Russians slowly closed in on him. Mitchell had seen Dominika and Maximov approaching, but stood his ground.

‘Can you see any more of ’em?’ Chase asked.

He suddenly felt Nina tense behind him. ‘Oh, yeah,’ she said nervously. ‘Eddie, kiss me! Now!’

Chase turned - and Nina locked her lips against his, quickly spinning him round. Kruglov was barely five feet away, on the other side of the garden’s perimeter railings. He strode past, eyes flicking to her - and continued towards Mitchell, having seen only the back of Chase’s head in the evening light.

Nina turned Chase all the way round before releasing him. ‘You’re a good kisser when you’re scared,’ he said quietly. She batted his arm before they both returned their attention to the Russians.

‘Hello, Jack,’ said Kruglov as he stepped round the corner to stand before Mitchell. Dominika and Maximov waited nearby, eyes fixed coldly upon the American.

‘Aleksey,’ Mitchell replied. ‘You mind telling me what the hell you were doing today?’

‘I could ask you the same.’ Kruglov slowly circled Mitchell, glancing at the case in his hand. ‘After what happened in Austria, I had my doubts about your loyalty. So I decided to take charge personally.’

‘I told Leonid I’d bring him the sword,’ Mitchell snapped. ‘He trusted me - why couldn’t you?’

‘Jesus,’ a shocked Nina whispered to Chase, her fears confirmed.

‘Because it’s my job not to trust people,’ said Kruglov. ‘Especially people who are trying to . . . what is the phrase? Take us for a ride.’ He narrowed his eyes. ‘We had the German’s notes; you could have just given us the broken sword in Austria. We would have found Excalibur ourselves, and the IHA woman would have nothing. Instead, you kept it, and now some of my people are dead. We even lost a helicopter! They are not cheap.’

‘I had to keep my cover,’ Mitchell insisted. ‘I would have given your guy the sword right there at the castle if he hadn’t been completely incompetent and let Chase take him out.’

‘You should have let us kill Chase and the woman,’ Dominika said angrily. A passing couple gave her odd looks.

Kruglov spoke in Russian, a command to keep her voice down. ‘But she has a point,’ he went on to Mitchell. ‘Once you had Excalibur, there was no need to keep Wilde alive.’

‘Like I said,’ Mitchell began, exasperated, ‘I had to maintain my cover. I’d be no use to Leonid if DARPA even suspected I was feeding him information. They’d cut me off, put me under a full investigation. But doing everything I could to keep her alive puts me above suspicion.’

Kruglov frowned, considering his argument. Eventually, he nodded. ‘And what now?’ he asked, regarding the case again. ‘Are you prepared to give us the sword?’

‘That’s why I’m here. As far as DARPA’s concerned, they’re going to take delivery of a sword - but not the one they think. I’ve taken care of all the paperwork. Officially, this sword,’ he held up the case, ‘no longer exists. So I’m ready to take it to Leonid.’

‘What’re we gonna do?’ Nina hissed. ‘We can’t let them take it!’ Chase glanced back to where they had entered the garden. ‘I’ll be right back.’

‘What? Where’re you - Eddie!’ She watched in disbelief as he hurried away, then turned back to the scene playing out before her.

Kruglov’s wide mouth twisted into an expression suggesting he had just sucked dry an entire lemon. ‘You want to take it to Leonid?’

‘That was the deal,’ Mitchell insisted. ‘I said I would personally take it to Leonid, and he agreed.’

‘I don’t trust you.’

‘I don’t give a rat’s ass whether you do or not. The point is, Leonid trusts me. I told him I’d bring him Excalibur. Well, I’ve got Excalibur right here, and I’m ready to take it to him. He’s waiting for it, Aleksey. And you know he doesn’t like to be kept waiting.’

A cheer rose from the other end of Leicester Square; somebody famous on the red carpet. Nina looked round to see Chase hurrying back, crouched low to stay hidden from the Russians behind the tree. He had something in one hand. ‘Er, what?’

‘Big Ben was the best I could manage,’ said Chase, holding up a rather poor gilded miniature of the world- famous clock tower, bought from the nearby stall. ‘Wait here.’

‘What’re you doing?’

‘Nina, just stay back here. Please, don’t argue,’ he added as she began to protest. ‘I’ll handle this.’

Lowering his head, he stepped out from behind the tree, casually walking through the other people on the path towards the group. Kruglov’s back was to him, while Dominika and Maximov were both focusing their attention on Mitchell.

Kruglov finally nodded. ‘Okay. We will bring Leonid the sword . . . together.’

‘I can live with that,’ said Mitchell. He smiled. ‘So, let’s—’

Chase stepped up behind Kruglov and thrust the ornament into his back, hoping its shape and hardness would convince the Russian he had a gun. ‘Ay up. How’s things?’

‘Eddie!’ Mitchell exclaimed.

‘Planning a trip, were you? Keep still,’ he warned Dominika as she reached into her coat. ‘Try anything and Toadface here has a nine-millimetre heart attack.’ She lowered her hand.

‘You would shoot me in the back?’ said Kruglov calmly. ‘With all these policemen around?’

‘I’d shoot you in the fucking face for what happened to Mitzi,’ Chase growled. ‘Jack, put down the case. I can’t fucking believe that after everything we went through, you were working for these bastards all along.’

Mitchell put the long metal case on the ground. ‘Eddie, if you’ve got any of the sense you finally convinced me you had, you’d walk away right now.’

Chase pushed Kruglov forward. ‘Guess you were wrong. Okay, everyone back up.’ Still advancing, he watched as Mitchell, Maximov and Dominika warily retreated. He prodded Kruglov in the back with his ‘gun’. ‘All right, shithead. Pick up the case. Very slowly.’

‘So, you are Chase?’ Kruglov asked, voice still not betraying the slightest concern, as he bent and took the case by its handle. ‘You’re as brave - and as stupid - as I’d heard.’

‘Maybe, but I’m not the one with a gun in my back, am I?’

‘No, but Nina is,’ said Mitchell.

Chase grinned mirthlessly. ‘Nice try.’

But the look of malevolent pleasure spreading across Dominika’s face warned him Mitchell might not be bluffing. He risked a brief glance over his shoulder—

And saw the last of Kruglov’s henchmen, the man with the topknot, standing behind the terrified Nina.

It wasn’t a gun he was holding to her back. It was a knife - the one he had used to kill Chloe Lamb.

22

Nobody moved, the group forming a strange tableau amidst the bustle of Leicester Square. Nina was the first to speak. ‘I’m sorry, Eddie. I didn’t see him coming.’

‘Put down the gun, Chase,’ said Kruglov. ‘Or she dies.’

Chase jammed the point of the ornament into his back. Kruglov grunted. ‘If he even twitches, I’ll kill you.’

‘He won’t do it, Aleksey,’ said Mitchell. ‘He loves her too much.’

‘You shut up, you fucking two-faced—’

‘He already blames himself for the death of a friend,’ Mitchell continued. ‘He won’t let anything happen to Nina as well. Even if that means letting you go. Eddie, I’m giving you both a chance here. Just walk away.’

Chase angrily jolted the case with his knee. ‘People have died for this fucking thing. You seriously think I’m going to let you hand it over to this bunch of twats?’