about Rafa’i’s survival would have become known very quickly and spread like wildfire. News like that would inevitably leak somewhere through friendly sources or careless talk.
‘Nothing. Lamentations about his death, sad loss to Iraq, conspiracy theories about Coalition involvement — all of that. But that’s all.’ He glanced at the two men in turn with a glimmer of understanding. ‘You don’t know where he is,’ he said softly. ‘Do you?’
‘What makes you think that?’ said Rik, defensive.
Ballatyne shrugged. ‘Call it a lucky guess. Somehow, I think if you’d spent any time with him, you’d have developed an opinion about him. He’s very persuasive — even charismatic. I doubt you’ve even met him.’
‘So what’s HMG’s position?’ said Harry.
‘My masters are currently discussing that issue against the wider background in Iraq. There are complications.’
‘Such as?’
‘Exactly what he might be up to is the main one. Why he’s here in the UK and how long he plans staying is another. And what happens if his presence here ever gets out.’
‘I’ll give you another,’ Rik muttered. ‘What if he gets bumped off here? That won’t go down well back home, will it?’
Ballatyne looked pained. It was clearly not the first time he had considered that scenario. ‘That would be. . unfortunate.’
‘Nightmarish, more like.’ Rik gave him a sour look. ‘Don’t patronize us, Ballatyne. We can work out what the damages are just as quick as you. If he gets sliced and diced in central London, there’ll be an international riot. The extremists would use it to the hilt, whether they liked him or not.’
‘How about Jennings?’ said Harry, in the silence that followed. ‘He’s the key to what happens next. If anyone can call Dog and his team off, it’ll be him.’
‘We checked his home address. It’s been cleaned out. And I mean cleaned. He evidently knew how things might pan out. It was only a rental place, anyway; he seems to have been moving around a good deal in the past couple of years.’
‘Surprise, surprise.’
‘But we know he’s out there. We intercepted some of his communications, which is how we discovered the presence of the other two men. He’s clearly controlling all three.’
‘But who,’ asked Rik, ‘is controlling Jennings?’
‘That’s what we’d like to know.’
‘Really?’ Harry gave him a sideways look, and the intelligence officer tilted his head to one side.
‘We have some names. We’re checking them out.’
‘The men with Dog,’ said Rik. ‘Do you know who they are?’
‘No. We haven’t got a line on them yet. We’re working through a list of names.’
‘What list?’
Before Ballatyne could answer, the answer clicked in Harry’s brain. ‘You mean the names on the course, don’t you? The course Joanne Archer was on. Just how many killers were you training at the same time?’
Ballatyne flinched. ‘That’s a bit melodramatic.’
‘So sue me. How many?’
Ballatyne hesitated, then said resignedly, ‘All the members on the course were serving personnel, with the exception of three men.’
‘Don’t tell me — Dog and these other two. What were they training for?’
‘That’s classified. I can’t go into it.’
‘Well, they weren’t army chefs, were they?’
‘It’s not as simple as that. As you know, there are times when we have to use whatever tools we can get.’
‘Subbies,’ said Rik. ‘Private military contractors.’
‘Correct.’
‘So what does that make Joanne?’
‘She was different. Special. My guess is, we’ll find these two men failed the course and Dog approached them afterwards. They’d have been sufficiently demoralized or sour to turn without too much persuasion.’
‘But highly trained, even though they failed,’ Harry countered. ‘How long before you work your way through them?’
‘There are four men unaccounted for. Two are believed to be out of the country with their units. If we can locate them, we’ll know for sure who the remaining two are and have pictures circulated immediately.’
‘Fat lot of good that’ll do us,’ Rik muttered. ‘They could be all over us before we know it.’
‘Why was Dog there?’ Harry asked. ‘According to Marshall, he’d already been through everything Special Forces could throw at him.’
Ballatyne shrugged. ‘Frankly, I don’t know. That’s a question for Jennings. He might have been on a refresher, but I think he was there to shadow Miss Archer. She was always the one going to Baghdad because a woman was the only option to place alongside Rafa’i. The others would have been training for different assignments.’
‘But why would Dog have been watching her?’
Ballatyne lifted an upturned palm. ‘We think this whole operation was planned as soon as news leaked out about Archer’s recruitment as a close protection operative for Rafa’i. The people behind this didn’t just cobble something together on a whim; they were thinking long-term. Whatever it is they’re doing, it’s been carefully thought through.’
‘We?’ Harry raised an eyebrow. ‘You said “we”.’
‘There are more than just the British involved. I can’t say more than that.’
‘So how did the news leak out?’
He glanced at his watch. ‘I’m sorry — I have to get back for a briefing.’ He stood up and walked towards the door, then turned before leaving. ‘If it’s any consolation, I know you two were given a raw deal after that business in Georgia. I read the files and I’ve spoken to some of the people around at the time. I can understand your scepticism, but please bear with me for a while longer. We do need your help on this one.’ His eyes drilled into Harry’s, then he turned and left.
‘Well, cheers,’ Rik breathed as the door closed behind the intelligence officer. ‘That makes me feel better.’
‘Ancient history,’ said Harry, standing up. ‘Come on. We’ve got to locate Jennings.’
‘How do we do that?’
‘How about a spot of burglary?’
FIFTY-ONE
Jennings’ office was locked and silent. The street lights gave no indication of what lay inside, and the passing lights from cars and vans threw too many confusing shadows to allow more than a glimpse of vague furniture shapes through the windows.
‘Are we going in?’ said Rik, face pressed to the glass. ‘Ballatyne’s mob will have been through here already, won’t they?’
‘I know. But did they find anything?’
‘Good point.’ Rik turned away from the door and surveyed the street. He walked along to a builder’s skip thirty yards away and rooted around in its depths. He came back with a short strip of metal pipe and stamped on one end until it was flattened into the rough approximation of a burglar’s jemmy. When he was satisfied, he said, ‘You give me the nod, I’ll get us in.’
Harry shook his head ruefully. Rik was full of surprises. He let it go. It was either this or a brick, or spend too long trying to get through a rear window. Neither prospect appealed to him, and he was not that expert at picking locks. He waited instead for something heavy to come along. Eventually, a delivery truck rattled down the street, its diesel engine echoing loudly off the buildings. As soon as it was level with their position, he gave Rik the nod.
