Cramer’s chest heaved and he threw up, the yellow vomit splashing over the wooden toilet seat and dribbling down into the bowl. He groaned. His head was throbbing, his stomach felt on fire. He massaged his temples and spat, trying to get the bitter taste out of his mouth. As the waves of nausea subsided he struggled to his feet and drank from the cold tap, swilling the water around his mouth and then spitting it out.
There was a timid knock on the bedroom door. ‘Yeah, wait a minute,’ he called. He cleaned his teeth, using lots of toothpaste to get rid of the lingering bitterness. He splashed cold water over his face and then wiped the toilet seat with a piece of tissue and flushed it.
When he opened the door, Su-ming was waiting there. ‘Is there something wrong?’ she asked.
Oh yes, thought Cramer, there’s something very wrong. There’s a cancer growing in my guts and there’s an assassin out there with a bullet with my name on it, and if one of them doesn’t kill me soon I’m feeling so much pain that I’ll be putting a gun in my mouth and pulling the trigger myself. ‘I’m fine,’ he said.
‘Mr Vander Mayer wants to speak to us,’ she said.
‘He’s here?’
‘No. We have to telephone him.’
‘The Colonel knows about this?’
‘Mr Vander Mayer has already spoken to him.’
Cramer leant against the door frame. He felt weak but he didn’t want Su-ming to know how ill he was. ‘What’s going on?’ he asked.
‘I think Mr Vander Mayer wants to tell you himself, but it’s about a meeting he wants you to have the day after tomorrow.’
‘In London?’
Su-ming nodded. ‘Are you sure nothing’s wrong?’
Cramer straightened up. ‘Which phone?’ he asked.
‘The Colonel’s study.’ She turned and walked down the corridor. Cramer stood and watched her go, then followed her downstairs.
The only light on in the study was a green-shaded desk lamp which illuminated the desk and little else. The Colonel was sitting behind the desk, a cellular telephone in front of him.
‘I thought he was supposed to keep his head down until this was over,’ said Cramer.
‘Something came up.’
‘Something so important that he thinks it’s worth risking his life?’
The Colonel nodded in agreement. ‘I told him, but he insists. And we do need his goodwill for this to work.’
‘His goodwill? There’s a contract out on his life.’
‘He says that unless you and Su-ming meet this man, he’ll come over himself. And if he appears on the scene, the whole thing’s dead in the water.’
Cramer sat down in one of the armchairs. ‘This man I’m supposed to meet, who is he?’
‘All Vander Mayer would say is that he’s a Russian with something to sell.’
‘And I’m supposed to negotiate with this guy? But I don’t know anything about Vander Mayer’s business.’
‘Which is why he wants to brief you first.’ He handed the phone to Su-ming.
She tapped in a succession of numbers and held it to her ear. Vander Mayer answered within seconds. ‘It’s me,’ said Su-ming. She listened intently. ‘Yes,’ she said, looking at the Colonel. ‘Yes,’ she repeated. She lowered the phone. ‘Mr Vander Mayer asks if we could have this conversation in private.’
The Colonel got to his feet. He picked up his walking stick and tapped it on the wooden floor. He looked as if he was going to argue, but he walked stiffly to the door and let himself out. ‘Okay,’ Su-ming said into the phone. She listened again for what seemed to be several minutes, nodding as she held the phone to her ear. ‘Okay, I’ll put him on,’ she said eventually. She walked over to Cramer and gave him the phone.
‘Yeah,’ said Cramer, laconically.
‘Mike? Is it okay if I call you Mike?’
‘Sure,’ said Cramer. There was a distinct delay on the transmission and he could hear a faint echo of his own voice as he spoke. It was distracting and he concentrated hard.
‘Okay, Mike, has your boss told you what’s happening?’ His voice was over-friendly, the sort of cheerful bonhomie used by double-glazing salesmen and television evangelists. The accent was American, from one of the southern States, Cramer figured. The vowels were long and drawn out and there was a laziness about the voice, as if it was too much of an effort to talk quickly. It was the sort of voice that Cramer could tire of very quickly, he decided.
‘You want me to meet a Russian, that’s all I know.’
‘Okay, great. His name is Tarlanov. He speaks hardly any English but Su-ming is fluent in Russian.’ Cramer raised his eyebrows in surprise. He would have expected her to be able to speak Oriental languages, but fluency in Russian was an unexpected talent. ‘Tarlanov will have something for you, a sample of a chemical I’m interested in buying. Less than a kilo in weight, it’ll be sealed in a metal flask. I want you to look after it for me until I can get to London.’
‘What’s in the flask?’
There was a pause and all Cramer could hear was a series of clicks and faint whistles. ‘How much are you being paid for this job, Mike?’ Vander Mayer asked eventually.
‘What?’ asked Cramer, taken off guard by the direct question.
‘You’re being paid for this, right?’
Cramer realised that he’d never discussed money with the Colonel. When the job had been offered, it had been the last thing on his mind. Even when he’d been serving with the regiment, he’d never been concerned about how much he was being paid and under his present circumstances he hadn’t given it a second thought. ‘I’m not doing this for money,’ he said.
‘You’re doing it out of the goodness of your own heart, is that it?’
‘I was asked to help.’
‘You’re putting your life on the line, that’s what you’re doing. It seems only fair that you should be well paid for that.’
‘What’s your point, Mr Vander Mayer?’
‘Andrew. Call me Andrew. Seeing that you’re taking my place, it only seems fair that we’re on first name terms.’
‘What’s your point, Andrew?’
‘The point is that I’m willing to offer you a substantial fee for your help. Shall we say a quarter of a million dollars?’
Cramer caught his breath. ‘For what?’
‘I want you to work for me. I want you to see this man Tarlanov and to take what it is he gives you. But I also want your discretion.’
‘You want to buy my silence, is that it?’ Su-ming looked at him, a worried frown on her face.
Vander Mayer chuckled softly. ‘You’re not a man to beat around the bush, are you, Mike? All right, yes; I don’t want you telling anyone else about my business. You’re in a very privileged position, you’re going to be seeing and hearing things of a very confidential nature, things that a lot of my competitors would dearly love to know.’
‘Look, Mr Vander Mayer, I’m here to do one thing, and one thing only, and that’s to trap the man who’s been paid to kill you. As soon as he’s taken care of, it’s over. Paying me a quarter of a million dollars isn’t going to affect the way I do my job one way or the other. And I’m going to have to know what’s in this container you want me to take from Tarlanov.’
‘I’d rather keep that confidential,’ said Vander Mayer. ‘And please, Mike, call me Andrew.’
‘I don’t see how you expect me to meet this man if I don’t know what it is I’m supposed to be taking from him.’
‘Su-ming will handle the conversation. All Tarlanov wants is to see a man called Vander Mayer in person. There’s a lot of con men in this business, Mike, and he insists on a face to face meeting. But he’s not going to have much to say at this stage, he’s just giving me a sample to test and some documentation to back it up. If the sample is what he says it is, I’ll follow it up directly.’
‘So there’s nothing you want me to ask him?’
‘Su-ming will ask the questions.’
‘Won’t that seem a little strange, like the tail wagging the dog?’