The window got powered up and she laughed. ‘Come on, you know how to use this shit, don’t you? You want me to—’
‘I know – sort of. Not that it mattered much then. I reckoned that if I was in the middle of getting zapped with anthrax or whatever, trying to pull one of those things on was definitely shutting the stable door after the horse had bolted.’
‘But they work.’
‘Sure, but the fucking things also start to fall apart after a day. The only benefit I ever got from mine was that it kept me warm at night. But this time,’ I levelled my hand above my head, ‘I’m going to be up to here in charcoal and rubber.’
Twenty minutes later we found a parking space in Smithfield. I pumped in enough coins to take the whole two hours on the meter while Suzy put my shopping bags with the rest of the kit and locked up. The congestion charge wasn’t a worry for us because the cover company paid a yearly fee, but getting towed away would ruin our day. Those guys just slap on a ticket and the tow truck is there in quick time. We both double-checked inside the Peugeot before moving off.
‘Same as before?’
She nodded, extracting some more gum from her bag, and I dialled her phone to check comms. She pushed the hands-free into her ear and I waved her goodbye with a smile as we passed Starbucks and she went inside. There were fifteen minutes to go until the RV.
The pub wasn’t as packed as last time. I got myself a Coke, and could hear the Starbucks espresso machine gurgling and gasping in my ear as I headed for a seat back from the window. Over the sound of soft violin music Suzy ordered two cappuccinos. A minute or so later she sparked up. ‘Hello, I’m facing the main door, half-way up on the left.’
‘That’s me in position too.’
With three or four minutes to go a familiar face came out of the station and turned left, towards me. ‘Hello, stand by, Navy is here, same jacket on jeans. Approaching Turnmill.’
‘OK, that’s great, I’ll see you soon, then.’
Navy crossed the junction and looked into the pub as he passed. At that moment, things got even more interesting. ‘Here we go, Suzy. Our man is out of the station, towards me, same raincoat, now on. Grey is behind him, still suede on jeans, crossing over the road. Both heading your way.’
‘Yep, got it, just seen Navy pass. See you soon.’
The source walked past the pub, doing a good job of blending in with the world around him.
‘They’ve just passed me.’
‘OK, I’ve got that.’ Suzy spoke as if she was chatting to her mum about the prices in Sainsbury’s. I could still hear the violin music, and also catch some loud Italian gobbing off over the counter as people ordered coffee. Then an edge of concern crept into her voice. ‘Why don’t you come and have your coffee now?’ Maybe she’d seen something.
‘You OK?’
‘Don’t trust him, that’s all.’
29
I could hear Suzy talking to the source as I left the pub. ‘Oh, hello – I didn’t expect to see you here.’ I could just imagine them exchanging surprised smiles. I heard the scrape of chairs, and by then I was passing the front window. I glanced to my left. They were both seated at the table Suzy had described. She was in a leather chair and he was perched on a stool, facing her with his back towards me.
I carried on past, turning left just a few metres later, and down the alleyway. As I came out into the square I made sure I kept looking dead ahead. Out of the corner of my eye, off to my half-right, I caught Navy, sitting on one of the steel benches. He was eating a sandwich, alongside a group enjoying their lunchtime break.
I went in through the glass door and Suzy flashed me a smile. The two women next door to her looked up nosily to see who’d come in, then settled back to their gossip. I pulled up a seat next to Suzy and faced the source.
Suzy took charge. ‘We’re here for the same reason as last time, OK? Any problems, we’re going to go out the back way, and I want you—’
She was pointing at the source, but before she could complete her sentence I cut in: ‘No, we’ll go out the front door, he goes out the back.’
She knew better than to ask why just now; she could do that later. ‘OK, that’s what we’ll do.’ Then, with a smile, as if she was asking him to pass her the sugar, she said, ‘So, what do you have for us?’ She leant forward and took a sip of coffee, and I did the same.
The source also leant forward, and started playing with his sachet of sugar. ‘The ASU – I know where they are.’
I said, ‘Do they have what we want?’
‘Of course.’
We waited for him to carry on, but there was nothing. He just played with the sachet on the tabletop with his massive hands. I wondered what he really did for a living.
Suzy had soon had enough. ‘Well, where are they?’
He looked up sharply. ‘Why did you follow me last night? You could have just asked me.’
‘Why have you got two men outside if you’re on your own? Who’s following who?’
He quite liked that, sitting back a little and taking a sip of his coffee while he thought it over. ‘The terrorism you’re dealing with now, the kind I know, it’s not about tactical attacks to get a government to the bargaining table. It’s about killing as many people as possible. You’re now fighting men and women who pray five times a day to die a noble death.’ He paused for effect. ‘“As you kill us, we kill you.”’
I raised my hands. ‘Hey, listen, whatever.’
‘You people know nothing. You’re all about now, all about nine/eleven. You have no understanding of history. You talk about
‘Where are they?’ Suzy was getting as pissed off as me, but was starting to show it. He liked that. He closed his eyes. ‘They’re in a city called King’s Lynn.’
Suzy looked surprised. ‘What? East Anglia?’
He hunched his shoulders with irritation, went back to the sugar. ‘How do I know where it is? All I know is that’s where they are.’
‘Is that all you’ve got?’ I said. ‘It’s a big place.’
His eyes swivelled. They were so bloodshot I thought they might fall out of their sockets. ‘The house is in Sir Lewis Street. Number eighty-eight.’
‘How many are there?’
‘I don’t know anything else. Nothing.’
I continued to hover over my cup. ‘Are they armed?’
‘Enough! I’ve told you everything I know.’
Suzy had one other question. ‘How did you find out about King’s Lynn?’
Without answering, he stood up, made his polite goodbyes for the sake of appearances, and left via the back door.
I nodded at him. ‘That’s where Navy was as I came in.’
A pen came out of her bag and she wrote down the King’s Lynn details before we left through the front door and walked towards the car. I tapped her bag. ‘Better give a sit rep.’
‘Don’t you want to?’
‘Nah. My horoscope advised me to minimize communication with arsewipes.’
She powered up and made the call as we walked through Smithfield. ‘We’ve just had the meet.’ There was a
