“Upset,” Dillon said.
“She’ll get over it,” Billy put in. “She shot an IRA bastard dead in the Drumore affair, and she didn’t have any trouble getting over that. Let’s order breakfast.”
“I’ll go and get her,” said Kurbsky. “Would that be all right with you?”
“I don’t own the lady,” Dillon told him.
“Tell the headwaiter I’ll have the same as I did before.”
She was standing at the washbasin in the compartment, looking in the mirror and applying her lipstick. “Well, here I am,” he said. “Are you angry with me?”
“Not anymore. Let me just ask you: Was it necessary?”
“They’d have tried to take me back by force, and it could have been very messy.”
She nodded. “That makes sense. This venture you’ve embarked on, that we’re all involved in, it was bound to bring demands and consequences we didn’t perhaps anticipate.”
“You’re right.”
“I know I am, Alex, and this may not be the last of them. But that’s in the future. Right now, let’s join the others for breakfast.” She brushed past him and led the way down the corridor.
THEY PASSED THROUGH Rennes and, twenty miles later, pulled up at Saint-Denis, a small station in a pleasant market town. It was six-thirty, still that bad March weather, daylight now, a slate-gray sky and the eternal rain. There was quite a press of people waiting to board, obviously going to Brest, the nearest big city.
Parry was waiting with an umbrella and approached them at once. “I’ve got a car waiting with a driver. The airfield is eight miles from here, and we’ve had an order from General Ferguson only an hour ago to bring our departure forward. I don’t know what’s up, but he wants you out of here as soon as possible.”
They piled in the car, and Billy said as they drove away, “You think Roper’s had words with Ferguson?”
“Of course he has,” Dillon said. “And wants us clear of French soil.”
They were at the airfield very quickly, and the driver, obviously obeying instructions, drove straight to the end of the runway where the Chieftain waited.
Parry said, “Straight on board. We have friends here. It’s taken care of.”
So five minutes later, he was heaving up the airstair door and passing along the aisle to join Lacey in the cockpit. They were at ten thousand feet before they knew it, still bad weather, the Chieftain rocking in the turbulence but making steady progress out over the Channel Islands and pushing on toward the Isle of Wight to England.
Parry came back after a while. “Coffee’s back there, a bottle of champagne, Cokes, the usual things.”
“You certainly got us out of there fast,” Billy said. “Good thinking.”
“Billy, I don’t know what you’ve been up to and I don’t want to know, but we had an order from Ferguson to get you out with the fastest extraction since we saved your hides in Iraq.”
He moved away, and Dillon opened the bar box and found the bottle of champagne. As he opened it, he said, “ Ferguson was just being careful. He wanted to get us out of the war zone quickly, as it were. It should be a day or so before those bodies are found. Then it’ll take a while to identify them as Russian GRU and sort out what the hell they have been doing operating in a friendly nation. The lies will start, the deceit, the demands for the bodies, and the story will fade because the public won’t be particularly interested anyway.”
He poured and passed the first plastic glass to Monica, and Billy said to Kurbsky, “There’s a lesson for all of us. We said it would be smooth as silk, dead simple, and it would have been if that bird, the chambermaid, hadn’t happened to be clocking on shift by the taxi rank and seen you.”
“Saw me and heard me, because the doorman asked for my destination to tell the taxi driver.”
“That’s what doormen in top hotels do.” Dillon handed him a glass. “It’s called service.”
Billy raised his glass. “Anyway, we’ve been there and done that. Here’s to what comes next.” He smiled at Kurbsky. “Who knows? You might grow to like it.”
Kurbsky said sharply, “You obviously know what is intended for me. What does come next?”
“That’s for General Charles Ferguson to tell you-he’s the boss.”
“That was never clear to me. The boss of what, exactly?”
“The Prime Minister’s personal security unit.”
“And you’ve obviously dealt with this kind of thing before.”
“Too bleeding right,” Billy told him. “Our rules are there are no rules, not these days, not with all the terrorists and murderers emerging free from court, thanks to stupid laws and clever lawyers.”
“And how did you get involved with him?” Kurbsky asked.
“I used to be a gangster, but it got boring. So did my uncle Harry. Dillon here was a top enforcer with the Provisional IRA, and the two guys flying this plane are decorated RAF officers. The point is, we can be worse than the bad guys.”
Kurbsky turned to Monica. “And you? Are you worse than the bad guys?”
She hesitated. “Now and then, I can be useful.”
Dillon topped his glass up. “Who knows what you could end up doing?”
AT FARLEY, Ferguson ’s Daimler drove straight up to the Chieftain when it rolled to a halt, Parry dropped the airstair door, and Kurbsky went down and got in the rear seat beside Ferguson. It sped away at once, and the General said, “Charles Ferguson,” and shook hands. “Heard about the spot of bother on the train.”
“Yes, rather unfortunate,” Kurbsky said.
“You’re here now, and that’s the main thing. We’re going to the Holland Park safe house. Most of my work emanates from there, and Major Roper is based there. It has the fullest facilities, extreme security, and it’s very high-tech, which saves on staff. I need only a couple of Military Police sergeants to keep things smooth. One of them, Doyle, is driving the car now, and Sergeant Henderson is back at the house.”
“And what about me?”
“We’ve put together some ideas, which we’ll explain to you shortly. I think you’ll find them rather interesting.”
“Excellent,” Kurbsky said. “I can’t wait to see what you have in store.”
BACK AT FARLEY, Harry drove across the tarmac to the Chieftain in his Bentley, put the window down, and leaned out, grinning.
“Let’s be having you. Ferguson wants us all down at Holland Park.” They climbed in and he drove away. “So it worked okay, he’s here. Bleeding marvelous. He must be a right villain, knocking off three like that.”
“ Ferguson told you?” Billy demanded.
“He certainly did. We’re like a club, Billy, the six of us. We’re the ones who know everything. He won’t tell Svetlana about this. Kurbsky being her nephew and everything, she mightn’t like to think of him running around and knocking off people. Let’s face it, though, he’s obviously got a talent for it. I tell you, he’d have done well in the East End in the old days when the Krays were running things. He’ll be giving you a run for your money, Dillon.”
Monica leaned forward and said, “Harry, you’re one of a kind.”
AT HOLLAND PARK, they found Ferguson and Kurbsky with Roper in the computer room. Harry needed an introduction and shook hands warmly.
“You certainly don’t take prisoners, my old son.”
“Only if there is a choice, and there wasn’t.” Kurbsky turned to Ferguson. “What about my aunt? She must be anxious to see me.”
“Of course. I’ve put her and Katya in one of our staff apartments.” He turned to Monica. “Perhaps you could do the honors? You know where it is.”
“Of course.” Monica led the way. “It’s on the ground floor and not far.” A couple of minutes later, she paused at a door. “It’s a big moment, Alex, for both of you.”
“For her especially, I think, because of her age. I must get it right, for her sake.”
“For both your sakes.” She reached up and kissed him on the cheek and held his hand for a moment.
“You are a remarkable woman.” He raised her hand and kissed it. “Sean Dillon is a very lucky man, I think.”
He opened the door, and Monica glimpsed Svetlana on a sofa by the window, Katya beside her. Svetlana got to
