“You forgot to add incompetent to his list of qualities.”
“He had an impressive track record.”
“Right up until the point he got himself killed.”
“Be that as it may, he was the only choice for the op given its unique criteria. We needed someone fast, and disposable hitmen aren’t exactly easy to find.”
It was a good retort but Ferguson waved a hand to dismiss the point, and Sykes swallowed down the anger that flared up inside him. He reminded himself who he was speaking to and didn’t press the issue further. Ferguson wasn’t just his boss, he was the architect of their scheme, and he demanded obedience at all times, even when he was blatantly wrong.
“What are you going to do about McClury?”
Sykes already had everything planned out in his mind. “It’ll be a day before he’s identified by the Swiss police, another day at the very least before anyone that matters realizes he’s former agency. That’s more than enough time for me to sour McClury’s reputation. I’ll make it seem as if he’d been taking contracts for some very objectionable people. The kind of people who don’t mind killing the hired help when they’re no longer useful. That’ll be sufficient to muddy any trail. No one will think to connect his death with what’s been happening elsewhere.”
Ferguson seemed to take a long time placing his cup back down. He carefully wiped the corners of his mouth with the thumb and forefinger of his left hand. Somehow Sykes managed to stop himself from smiling. He knew he’d won the old bastard over. Ferguson just didn’t want to give Sykes any praise.
“Things have gone bad so far, I accept that.” A little humility would go down nicely, Sykes thought. “But this thing isn’t over yet. Tesseract is still out there, still with the flash drive I’m sure, so we have options. People are looking for him now, the French, Germans, Swiss, the agency. That’ll help us close in on him. And when we do, I’ve got some more contractors on standby. I know it’s risky, but we can make it look like someone else got to him first. Sure, things won’t have been as clean as we would have liked, but the end result will still be the same.”
“There won’t be a next time.”
“You don’t know that. It’s too early to give up.”
Ferguson paused for a moment. “This is what we’re going to do instead.”
“The plan is still good; we can make it work.”
Ferguson continued. “I’m afraid I don’t share your optimistic evaluation of the circumstances. Your incompetence thus far has made it even more difficult to salvage this operation. Have you forgotten what’s at stake here? Because I haven’t.”
“Of course I know what’s at stake. You’re the one who’s losing sight of the objective, not me.”
“You arrogant little shit,” Ferguson said with a smile. “I’ve spent my entire career moving from one mission to the next without letting anyone get in my way. I’ve never lost sight of an objective. You can count on that. But I’m not going to put my freedom in jeopardy because you seem incapable of killing one man.”
“I think you overestimate Tesseract’s chances.”
“I think you overestimate your own.”
“Nothing has happened so far that cannot be fixed.”
Ferguson shook his head. “Stand the contractors down immediately.”
“What? No, we have to keep them ready.”
“Tell me why exactly? May I remind you of the considerable efforts it took to track Tesseract down in the first place when he didn’t know we were trying? Now that he knows people are after him, do you think that’s going to make him easier to spot? Frankly, I’m amazed you think that’s a workable course of action at this time, and I’m even more amazed that you’re willing to put more people at risk after what just happened to McClury.”
“What else are we going to do? Hope Tesseract dies of natural causes and leaves us the location of the missiles in his will?”
“Comments like that do nothing to reassure me, Mr. Sykes. You don’t leave me any choice. I’m taking it out of your hands.”
“What the hell does that mean? What are you going to do?”
“Something I should have done from the very beginning. Had I known this killer would be quite so adept at staying alive I never would have waited. I’m making a call.”
“What? To who?”
“To someone who can help us. There’s a man I’ve used before. An expert.”
“An expert?”
“A killer.”
“Who?”
“He’s not on our files, he’s SIS.”
“As in the British Secret Intelligence Service? That’s insane. What about the British government?”
“They’ll never know. He’s a contract agent. He’ll just do some moonlighting for us.”
“Moonlighting?”
“Her Majesty can’t pay him what I can.”
“What’s the guy’s name?”
“You won’t have heard of him. His name, or at least the name I know him by, is simply Reed. From this point onward he takes over the hands-on part of this operation.”
“This is ridiculous; we don’t need an outsider. It’ll only complicate matters.”
“I don’t care if it does complicate matters. Getting this mess buried is all I give a damn about. The only way we can proceed is by using an outsider.”
“That’s bullshit.”
“If you can’t speak like a grown-up, don’t speak at all. What else are we going to do? Gather together another bunch of clueless mercenaries? Or just dispatch more former company men and hope no one joins the dots if they don’t come back?”
“We can still make it work.”
“You’re not hearing me. Now that McClury is dead our hands are tied. You’ve had your chance and you’ve failed. Reed is our only hope of getting this situation cleaned up without bringing us into the spotlight.”
“And where are you going to send this Reed? Like you said, we don’t know where Tesseract is anymore.”
“Tesseract can wait for the moment. Reed can be in Paris by the morning.”
“Why Paris?”
“I don’t think we have any time to waste. Do you?” Sykes shook his head, unsure what question he was answering. “Good,” Ferguson continued. “When Reed lands in Paris I want him to meet up with your man on the ground as soon as possible. What’s his name again?”
Sykes kept his face level, trying not to show he didn’t have a clue what was being discussed. “John Kennard.”
“That’s right,” Ferguson said. “Have Kennard supply Reed with a list of everyone who’s had an active role in this operation. Reed will then take care of the rest.”
“What do you mean? Why would he need that list?”
Ferguson didn’t answer, but his eyes, peering through the steam from his cup, said it all.
“Jesus,” Sykes gasped, finally understanding. “All of them?”
Ferguson nodded as if it was of no consequence. “And they will be missed.” He didn’t skip a beat. “But sacrifices must be made for the greater good.”
“The greater good?”
“Alright,” Ferguson admitted with a half smile that Sykes didn’t appreciate. “Maybe not for the greater good, but for the good of you and me. I am still assuming that you don’t want to spend the rest of your life behind bars?” Ferguson paused and Sykes didn’t respond. “I didn’t think so, and that is the price of failure here, Mr. Sykes. You are still aware of that?”
“Yes, sir.”
“This operation of ours has failed.”
“Sir, I think it’s too early to-”
“Shut up and let me finish. This operation has failed. Achieving our original objective is now a secondary consideration. Getting our hands on those missiles is going to take nothing short of a small miracle, so I suggest we focus our efforts elsewhere.”
“What about the list of buyers I’ve been working on?”
“For the time being you can forget the money, Mr. Sykes. Our priority at this moment is to make sure we come out of this with our skins intact. The only way this could’ve worked was to have no loose ends, but we’ve gone way past that now. Now, it’s damage limitation. We can’t have people walking around with knowledge of an illegal op that spectacularly failed.”