as a bargaining chip.
The man with the battering ram was watching him, and caught on quick. ‘I’ll get one of the guys to take the temperature,’ he said, and spoke into his radio.
Harry nodded. If nothing else, it would prove Soran was lying about the key. He flicked up the thin mattress on the camp bed. Nothing but canvas and the stale tang of unwashed bodies. The armchair was stuffed with foam, lumpy, misshapen and stained, but that was all. He nudged it to one side, then bent and picked up something lying on the floor.
A triangular metal ring.
There was nothing else to see, so he asked the officer to bag up the mugs, biscuit packet and kettle for prints and DNA testing, and left him to it.
He walked back into the building and dropped the ring on the table in front of Soran. It was clear by the man’s expression that he recognized it for what it was. So did the police officer, whose jaw dropped.
‘This is a pull ring from an M84 stun grenade,’ Harry announced. ‘It was found in your locked storeroom along with traces of recent occupation. Hours recent, in fact. This, along with chemical and DNA analysis, is going to put you right at the centre of an attack on a south London police station by Zlatco Ganic and Milan Zubac, where at least two officers were shot dead.’ He turned to leave, while the officer took out a plastic evidence bag and placed the ring inside, his face grim at what Harry had revealed.
Soran was looking sick and licking his lips. He said nothing.
‘You should have got your people to clean up properly,’ said Harry. ‘Big mistake.’
FIFTY
‘Employ undisciplined thugs and that’s what you get, in my experience.’ Paulton was uneasy at the news of the abortive attempt at lifting Jean Fleming. They should have had her by now. And Tate, too, as he would have galloped to her rescue like an eager bloodhound, no doubt about it. Instead it had fallen apart, following on from the widely circulated news of a terrorist attack on London’s Brixton police station, resulting in the deaths of two officers and the serious wounding of several others. No group had claimed outright responsibility for the raid, but two or three were hinting at it in an attempt to gain credibility. As a separate issue, news of a late night police raid on a house belonging to the Bosnian community in the east of the city was just filtering out, although Paulton had already heard the latest details from a contact in London with connections to the Metropolitan Police.
He, Deakin and Turpowicz had relocated once more while awaiting developments in London and the search for Lieutenant Tan. This time they had moved from Nurnberg to a conference centre hotel near Ghent, in Belgium. Groups of businessmen were the norm here, and the three of them would pass unnoticed amid the comings and goings of corporate parties and trade delegations. The grounds were extensive, encompassing a large lake surrounded by woods, and guaranteed privacy. But it was also close enough to major roads should they need a rapid evacuation, something Paulton had insisted on.
Colin Nicholls had not joined them. He had retreated further into the background, claiming to be busy scouting for Tan and checking on other deserters. It left the other three to look after the current business, a move openly welcomed by Deakin. His irritation with his colleague had been growing more evident, and he had begun to voice his impatience with Nicholls’ lack of energy and his reluctance to trade on the skills of the people passing through their hands. It had been slowing down his own plans to take the Protectory up a level and place it on a more commercial footing, something which had attracted Paulton to join him in the first place.
‘They’ve never missed before,’ Deakin muttered. He was staring into space, unsettled by the repeat failure of his two Bosnian guns.
‘Perhaps because they’ve never previously delegated the work you pay them for to people with no experience. Did they even get inside her flat?’
‘Yes, but something had alerted her. She’d disappeared and left the door open.’
Paulton lifted an eyebrow. ‘Really? It allows them in but they don’t break anything in the process. Clever move.’
Deakin looked sour. ‘Isn’t it just? Are you sure this Fleming woman doesn’t have training? Only it was odd she should bug out just before they arrived.’
‘She most likely saw ’em coming, that’s why,’ growled Turpowicz. He had said little after hearing of the latest setback. ‘Those guys blend into the background like a pair of silverbacks in a toy store.’
‘Cut the sniping, will you?’ Deakin snapped. ‘I hear you — you don’t like Zubac and Ganic. I get that. But they have their uses.’ He slumped back in his chair, chewing his lip in frustration.
‘If you recall,’ Paulton put in smoothly, before Turpowicz could argue back and escalate matters, ‘the whole idea was to draw Tate out by threatening his girlfriend. Then they could have dealt with him. We’ve now lost that advantage. Tate will have moved her to a safe house and he’ll be on his guard against further attacks.’
‘So what do we do?’ asked Deakin.
Paulton hesitated before replying. He’d been disappointed at Deakin’s reliance on the Bosnians and their decision to involve others without consultation first. That was where Deakin lacked management experience, in his opinion. Maybe he’d been out of the army command structure too long. He should have insisted on the two Bosnians being the only ones in play. That way any exposure through mistakes, such as using amateurs, was minimal, as was the trail back to Deakin and himself. ‘We try again, only sooner rather than later. Perhaps the last method was too sophisticated for your pet thugs. I suggest we use them to make a more direct assault and get Tate out of the picture for good so we can get on with business.’
‘Direct?’ Deakin looked uncertain. ‘How direct?’
‘The surest way to defeat an enemy is to hit them when they least expect it.’
‘Which is?’
‘Tate’s a soldier, with a soldier’s mind-set. After a win, the victors invariably let their defences down. It’s human nature. With a man like Harry Tate, it’s ingrained. He won’t expect us to try again so soon.’
Turpowicz sat up, his face showing understanding. ‘Harry?
Paulton wanted to bite his tongue. He’d said too much, allowed his need to exert some control over the situation to take over. However, he had survived worse verbal calamities in tougher company than these two men. He recovered and spread his arms with barely a break in his stride. ‘Mea culpa, gentlemen, mea culpa. I admit it, I fibbed a little, if only because it didn’t seem relevant at the time.’ He held up both hands to ward off their protests. ‘Let me explain. Please. Tate used to work for me. He’s no more a warrant officer than I am — he’s a former MI5 officer who was discharged in disgrace.’ He sniffed. ‘A little shooting incident which killed two civilians and a police officer.’
‘So why’s he still working for the government?’ Turpowicz demanded.
‘Because he’s deniable, Mr Turpowicz. If anything goes wrong. . well, he’s not on the books and nobody knows he exists.’ He stared hard at the American who was looking ready to argue. ‘Isn’t that what Blackwater was all about with their security contractors? Sorry — Xe, I believe they now like to be called. Strange name, but that’s PR for you.’
‘Tate was one of yours?’ Deakin was staring at him. ‘Christ, George, you promised me you were clean. . that they’d forget all about you. That’s why I agreed to let you on board. There’s no risk, you said. Now you’ve got an intelligence operative on your tail! Where the hell does that put us?’
‘Actually, that’s not what Tate’s doing.’ Paulton’s voice dropped a level, pitched deliberately low so that the two men were forced to listen. He was surprised they could be manipulated so easily in this way. Even so, he was on a knife’s edge and knew it. If he didn’t convince them very quickly that he had some control of the situation, they might easily decide to cut their losses and turn against him. ‘I’m reliably informed,’ he continued firmly, ‘that he was taken on by the MOD for one job and one job only — and that was to look for Lieutenant Tan. Tate’s strictly freelance; a contractor. They do it all the time when they’re short of manpower.’
‘That’s supposed to make us feel better?’ Deakin didn’t sound mollified. His body language was tight, his movements betraying his impatience and a need to take action.
