“That’s right,” I agreed. “And you are?”
The man smiled, a white bright smile. “My name is Gregor Venko,” he said. “And the good Major here has kidnapped my son.”
Twenty
I let out a low whistle and raised my eyebrow in Gilby’s direction. “You are either a very brave or a very stupid man, Major,” I said, “but right now I’m not sure which.”
Having subsided back into his chair, the Major had gone still again. The kind of stillness only rage produces. I had a feeling my only possible ally in the room was changing his mind about who he would choose to shoot first if it came to it.
I glanced at Dieter Krauss, who was visibly unravelling in front of me.
“So what’s your story, Herr Krauss?”
“Please,” he said. He twisted his hands together in his lap, sounding close to tears. His high forehead was shiny with sweat. “You don’t know what you’re doing. He will kill my daughter!”
“I see,” I said. I waited half a beat before asking, “Who will?”
He floundered for a moment, then folded into himself and closed his mouth with a snap, as though he realised that he’d already said far too much, but just hadn’t been able to help himself. Fear jumped in his eyes. Flames behind glass. Gilby and Venko, meanwhile, were trying to outdo each other with the Sphinx impersonations.
“I don’t suppose you’d care to enlighten me?” I said to Venko.
He considered my request, weighed it up carefully. The fact that I had a gun on him was of no consequence. “I am a businessman, Miss Fox,” he rumbled at last. His voice had the projection of a Shakespearean actor, designed to be clearly audible even in the cheapest seats. “Let us just say that we each of us have a product which the other desires. I am here to propose a simple exchange.”
Out of the corner of my eye I caught Sideburns’s companion shifting stealthily. Without taking my eyes away from Venko’s, I stepped sideways far enough to prod the bodyguard in the back of his head with the barrel of the Desert Eagle. I made sure I did it just hard enough to bump his nose against the wall.
“Ah, ah,” I said. “No cheating.”
I moved back to my original position again. “I hear what you’re saying,” I told Venko, “but I’m afraid I’m inclined to believe that you were intending to leave without paying up your half of the bargain.” I tilted my head towards the two men kneeling. “For a businessman you travel with unusual associates.”
Venko shrugged, momentarily causing his neck to disappear entirely. “My line of business often takes me to dangerous places,” he said. He still had his hands flat on the desk in front of him. Not a coward, but too experienced to want to make me nervous, either. There were heavyweight gold rings on three fingers. “These men are simply my insurance. To enable me to arrive and depart without hindrance.”
I stared at him without blinking for several seconds then said, “Not very good, are they?”
He laughed. A deep belly laugh, a burst of genuine amusement despite the tension, or maybe because of it. “No, you are quite right,” he said. “But this is something that will be remedied very shortly, I assure you.”
I had the feeling that when a man like Gregor Venko terminated your employment, your cards came pinned to a wreath.
Venko had tired of sparring with me. His deceptively sleepy eyes flicked across to Gilby and any trace of humour faded from his features.
“So Major, can we come to some mutually agreeable arrangement in this matter? You, more than anyone, must appreciate my distress as a father at having my son taken from me in such violent circumstances.”
The deliberate tone set the hairs up on the back of my neck.
Gilby stared at him coldly for a moment, forcing himself to relax even though it clearly cost him to do so. He crossed his legs, taking his time to make sure the crease in his twill trousers was perfectly aligned.
When he didn’t immediately throw Venko’s offer back in his face Dieter Krauss half-lifted from his chair in protest. “What are you talking about?” he cried. “Valentine, for God’s sake. You’re not seriously thinking of trusting this – this murderer?”
“Shut up, Dieter,” Gilby said softly, and the other man fell silent as though he’d shouted. “Just what do you know of my son?”
Venko met, matched, and maybe even outplayed the Major’s stare. “That he followed you into the army and was blown up by an Iraqi mine,” he said calmly. “I understand you were present at the time. Very unfortunate.”
My God, I thought.
“My family is my business,” Gilby said, still quietly, but there was a brittle quality to his voice now. “I’d thank you not to mention the subject again. That is not the issue here.”
“Of course.” Venko nodded, allowing his eyelids to droop briefly. To cover what? Triumph as the barb went home? He opened them again and returned his gaze to me. I braced under the force of it. “So, Miss Fox, you are the one with the guns here. How do you propose that we solve this unpleasantness?”
“Solve it? We don’t have to solve it!” Krauss squeaked, flapping his hand towards me. “You’ve just said yourself that she’s the one with the gun. She will shoot you if you do not give me my daughter!”
I raised my eyebrows a fraction at that. “I hate to break this to you,” I said, “but things may not be quite so black and white. I saw at least two men patrolling the outside of the Manor, plus another two who have the domestic staff held at gunpoint in the dining hall. I shouldn’t imagine they’re the only ones. The moment I start shooting anyone, I expect they’ll come running.”
“Quite so,” Venko agreed, taking the possibility of his own demise with graceful equanimity. “So, it would appear that we have something of a stand-off situation, no? But, this can be easily resolved,” he went on. “Give me my son now, and don’t try to prevent us leaving, and your daughter will be released within twenty-four hours.”
It would have been an impressive speech, cold and commanding, but there was just the faintest suggestion of a tremor underlying Venko’s sonorous tones.
“Please,” Krauss begged, pouncing on the words regardless. “I just want my little girl. I’ll pay your ransom, anything! I just want her back. I didn’t know what they—”
“No deal,” Gilby sliced across him curtly. He sat back, calmer now, smoother, more confident, and I knew he’d seen that tiny waver too. “Release the girl now, or no deal.”
“You are hardly in a position to bargain, Major.”
Gilby cocked his head in my direction. “Neither are you,” he said.
Venko leaned forwards, resting his thick forearms on the desk. The cuffs of his wool cashmere overcoat rode up to reveal a gold Rolex plastered with diamonds. He stared straight at the Major as he spoke, trying to hypnotise him into capitulation by a sheer act of will.
“Give me my son. You have my word that Heidi will be released unharmed.”
Gilby gave a short, harsh bark of laughter. “Not good enough,” he snapped. “He isn’t here. It will take a little time to retrieve him. And even if he was, Europe is littered with corpses as testament to the value of your word.”
“Then, indeed, we have a problem.” Venko sat back and just for a second he allowed his frustration and his anger to show through in a swirling heaving mass. Under that unruffled surface, it would seem, the currents were as diverse as they were deadly.