‘You, Sarmatian. I think you know the answer.’
‘Is obvious Centurion. We make signal with body.’
Qadir nodded approvingly.
‘Yes we do. As the man in the following role, once the mark has gone out of sight to the left or to the right, you need to signal to the men behind you that they need to do two things. Firstly, that they need to move up smartly and take up the follow, and secondly …?’
He looked at the Sarmatian soldier again, and Sanga nudged his mate in the ribs.
‘Secondly need to make turn to right or left.’
‘Exactly.’
Sanga had his hand in the air in an instant, the question written all over his face.
‘Centurion?’
‘Soldier?’
‘Well sir …’
Qadir could see the question forming, the soldier’s lips moving slightly as he tried to think of a way to express his curiosity without looking stupid in front of his comrades.
‘When we perform these tricks that I am training you for, Soldier Sanga, there is no stupid question except for the one you don’t ask. So?’
‘I was just wondering, Centurion …’ He paused, still searching for the right words. ‘How it is you know so much about spying on people?’
Once Excingus had been escorted from the headquarters building, Scaurus sat back in his chair.
‘Well?’
Julius’s tone was thoughtful.
‘It could be a set-up, designed to lure the centurion here into a trap, but that feels unlikely to me. Excingus knows that if anything happens to any of us he’ll be the first suspect, and that we’re hardly likely to hesitate to put him to the knife.’
Scaurus nodded his agreement.
‘The question for me isn’t whether this is a genuine opportunity to take down one of these men, but how he came by the information so quickly. Yesterday he didn’t have a clue as to how we could get to Dorso, or not that he was willing to share with Senator Sigilis who, as his employer, you would expect to be the first person to be informed, and yet today he knows the praetorian’s movements for the last week? He’s either playing his own game or there’s something we’re missing in all this, but whatever it is, the sooner we get our men trained and out there to start tracking him around the city the better.’
‘And that’s the other problem.’
Scaurus turned his attention back to the veteran centurion.
‘What is?’
‘Being followed around the city. I wondered yesterday, when Excingus appeared at the front door of the doctor’s house so very soon after she’d arrived, but something he said just now, about newcomers being amazed at how many whores there are in the city, pretty much confirmed it for me. We might be thinking about tracking him around to see who he talks to, but our informant friend seems to have beaten us to the punch.’
‘He’s going to turn this time.’
‘No, he not.’
‘I’m telling you he’ll turn, you barbarian fuckwit … here it comes … come on … shit!’
‘Tell you, he no turn. Next corner.’
Sanga grimaced, speeding up his pace a little.
‘Yeah, good guess Saratos, you lucky prick. Come on, get ready to run.’
Up ahead the centurion’s distant figure was approaching the next cross-street, and Sanga looked quickly across the road at the two men walking on the left side, both of whom were watching Qadir with the same hungry intensity he was feeling. The closer of the two looked back at him and the Briton winked.
‘You ready girls? One gets you two he’ll turn right!’
The closest of them waved a dismissive hand, then tensed as Qadir abruptly turned, looked back and crossed the road from right to left, disappearing out of sight in the opposite direction to the one he’d expected. The men closely following him split up, one of them walking on past the turning as if nothing had happened to cover the next street along in case Qadir turned right again, while the other bent to tie his boot lace, his body turned to indicate the direction the centurion had taken. The men to Sanga’s left smirked at him as they turned their own corner and sprinted for the next junction, knowing that they had to reach the next street along and be settled back into a walking pace before their quarry emerged in order to take up the role of his new tails.
‘Come on!’
Sanga was already halfway across the road, ignoring the entreaties of a tavern owner to sample his meat stew. With Saratos at his heels, the pair crossed to the far side and hurried up the street, closing the distance to the point where Qadir had disappeared from view. They were barely twenty paces from the point where he had disappeared from sight when the centurion reappeared around the corner at a pace close to a run, looking back as if he was being pursued by furies and only seeing the two soldiers at the last moment. Nodding a brief recognition he spoke swiftly as the two men stared at him.
‘I’ve seen you once, gentlemen, so if I see you again then this exercise is over!’ Dodging around them he made off in the direction from which they had come. ‘And next time try not to stare quite so obviously!’
The two men looked at each other for a moment before Sanga tapped his comrade on the shoulder and pointed at the other side of the street.
‘Go!’
Walking swiftly around the corner from which Qadir had reappeared so suddenly, he ran for the far end, crouching to pop his head out at ankle level to peer down the street to his left. Seeing only the bemused-looking soldiers who had turned left to take up the follow, he bounded round the corner and sprinted past them.
‘He’s doubled back!’
They stared after him as he ran across the first junction, sure that Qadir would not have stopped or turned again so soon. Looking to his left he saw Saratos crossing the junction two streets away and running hard, and accelerated to match the other man’s pace.
‘Look at this one, he can’t wait to get down to business!’
A pair of prostitutes stepped into his path, and it took all of the Briton’s agility to avoid crashing into them. Looking about him he saw a stall selling rough wool tunics, and he grabbed a handful of coins from his purse.
‘How much?’
The stall holder leaned back and looked up at the looming soldier, grinning at the handful of money with the look of a man who had seen his chance and intended to grab it with both hands.
‘For a man your size? Five sestertii.’
Tossing the coins at the vendor Saratos snatched up a large blue tunic and ran to the next road junction, skidding to a halt and repeating the crouch-and-peep act, retracting his head quickly as Qadir turned the corner and walked purposefully towards him, shooting a glance back over his shoulder. Backtracking hastily he was still looking round for somewhere to hide himself when the older and clearly more experienced of the prostitutes took matters in hand, pushing him up against the wall and thrusting her body against his, her hands roaming under his tunic to find his hardening member.
‘Come on you dirty bastard, you know you want to!’
Out of the corner of his eye he saw Qadir stride past barely half a dozen paces away, but the desultory flick of the Hamian’s gaze clearly failed to register that the helpless man pinned against the wall beneath yet another of the capital’s money-hungry working girls was one of his men. Finding his penis already erect, she laughed eagerly, tugging hard enough at the organ’s shaft to sorely test his resolve.
‘Come on! I’m fucking starving! Three sestertii!’
‘Just …’ He caught her hands and gently pushed her way. ‘One minute, eh?’
He walked back to the crossroads and waited for Saratos who eventually came past with the look of a man out for a gentle stroll.
‘Put this on, and give me yours!’
The Sarmatian ducked into the side street and pulled off his tunic, much to the amusement of the watching prostitutes, his tattoos bright blue in the afternoon sunlight. He pulled on the new garment and renewed his pursuit of Qadir without a backward glance, and Sanga turned back to find the prostitute standing behind him with a hard smile on her face.