Gabriel Bland walked quickly, Toby Brookes trotting behind.
Bland had never been to this interrogation centre, a deserted farmhouse in the middle of the Hampshire countryside. It had a well-protected basement where matters were discussed that would never make it on to The Archers. Better all round for him not to visit, though he had made use of plenty of the information that had been extracted here by various means – some of them legal, others decidedly not. Today, however, he had no time for coyness.
‘I want to know everything he’s said,’ Bland told Brookes as they walked through the farmyard, past a faceless security guard and into the house proper. ‘Miss nothing out, Toby.’
‘Redman broke into his house, sir. Tortured him.’
Bland stopped and looked at Brookes, his eyes flashing dangerously. When he spoke, it was in an emphatic whisper. ‘How, Toby?’
Brookes glanced at the security guard, clearly embarrassed by his boss’s rebuke. ‘Removed his fingers, sir. Two of them.’
Bland showed no sign of shock.
‘Seems like Dolohov sang like a canary, sir. Still singing. I guess he doesn’t have the stomach for any more interrogation. That and the fact that we’ve hinted that if he plays ball, we won’t send him back to Moscow.’
Bland didn’t bother to remark on how unlikely that was. ‘Go on,’ he instructed, allowing Brookes to lead the way through the farmhouse kitchen and down a set of cellar steps into the basement. He listened as Brookes detailed what he knew about Dolohov, an intricate story of assassinations and intrigue, with Jacob Redman at the heart of things. The meeting at Piccadilly Circus two days from now.
They walked down a long corridor with a concrete floor and uniform doors on either side. ‘One other thing, sir,’ said Brookes. ‘Dolohov told Sam Redman that he thinks one of the red-light runners has been activated to carry out a hit. Major political figure. No details on who or when, but we’ll get our inquisitors to sweat it out of him.’
Bland stopped in his tracks for a second time. He blinked and looked at Brookes – who sensed that he had once again said the wrong thing – with evident exasperation. ‘Why didn’t you tell me this before?’
Brookes kept quiet, like a schoolboy receiving a telling off.
‘Listen carefully.’ Bland pronounced his words slowly, as if to a child. ‘I want increased security for all members of the Cabinet. Special forces bodyguard assigned to the PM. Alert COBRA and tell them we take this threat extremely seriously. Level 1. Cross reference this information with any other intelligence chatter. Have you got that, Toby, or do I need to repeat myself?’
‘No, sir. Now, sir?’
‘Show me where he is first.’
They walked to the end of the corridor, then turned right. On their left-hand side a pane of glass looked into a room. Next to it was a door above which a red light was illuminated. ‘One-way glass, sir. He can’t see you.’
Bland nodded and Brookes disappeared to make the calls, leaving his boss alone to stare into the room. It was sparse. Just a table and two chairs. At one of them sat a man. His head nodded, as though he kept falling asleep and awakening himself at the last moment; his hands were palm down on the table. They were heavily bandaged.
Brookes returned, a little red-faced and out of breath. ‘All done, sir.’
‘Good,’ Bland replied. His previous frustration had left him and now he felt strangely pensive. ‘Do you believe him, Toby?’
Toby Brookes hesitated.
‘I, ah… I only ask,’ Bland continued, ‘because he gave you a great deal of information in a very short amount of time and with almost no, ah… persuasion. Does that not strike you as odd?’
‘Redman cut two of his fingers off, sir. Cauterised the wounds with a blow torch. Tore off a fingernail. God knows what else he threatened. If someone did that to me, I don’t think I’d be in the mood to play games.’
‘Indeed not,’ Bland murmured, still not taking his eyes of Dolohov. ‘Indeed not.’ His voice trailed off. ‘To think,’ he resumed suddenly, ‘this man has been working under our very noses for all these years.’
‘He hardly looks like an assassin, sir.’
Bland nodded slowly. ‘You’re too young to remember the Cold War, Toby. It was a lesson well learned in those days that the person you were looking for was likely to be the last person you expected. The char ladies. The postman.’ He narrowed his eyes. ‘The Cold War is supposed to be a distant memory,’ he said. ‘But you know, Toby? Sometimes I wonder. Sometimes I really do wonder.’
‘Yes, sir,’ Brookes said, obviously uncomfortable with his boss’s moment of reflection, looking like he didn’t know whether to stay or go.
They continued to stand in silence, still looking at the nodding foreigner.
‘I find myself,’ Bland mused, ‘in the curious position of having to readjust my opinion of Sam Redman. If it weren’t for him, we’d still be groping in the dark. Speaking of which…’ He looked hopefully at Brookes.
Brookes shook his head. ‘No sign of him, sir. The SBS made chase, but he got away. We’ve got eyes out in Hereford and Clare Corbett is still being trailed, but I don’t hold out much hope. He just seemed to vanish.’
‘Nobody just vanishes, Toby,’ said Bland angrily. ‘I think we can safely say where he will be in two nights’ time.’
‘Piccadilly Circus, sir?’
‘Piccadilly Circus, sir. Along with Mr Dolohov, ourselves and, of course, Jacob Redman. It sounds to me like quite a party.’ He continued to gaze through the one-way glass at Dolohov.
‘Yes, sir.’
‘Jacob Redman has to enter the country somehow. No doubt he will have a false passport. You are sure that his photograph has been disseminated to all the ports?’
‘Quite sure, sir.’
Bland sniffed. ‘Then let’s hope our immigration officials are feeling alert.’ He bit his lower lip. ‘I think I’d like to have a little chat with our friend Dolohov, as he’s feeling so compliant. I’ve been playing cat and mouse with the FSB for some time now. I’m absolutely positive that we’ll find plenty to talk about, aren’t you? And in the meantime, Toby…’
‘Yes, sir?’
‘In the meantime, I want to make sure everything is done to catch up with these infuriating brothers. They are running rings round us and it’s becoming embarrassing, not to mention dangerous. Find Sam Redman, Toby. And I want his brother the moment he sets foot on UK soil.’
It took ten hours hard driving up the autoroute to reach the bland flatness of northern France. At one point Jacob took a detour and drove off into the middle of nowhere. In a deserted field, far from any sign of habitation, he test-fired the Armalite, zeroing it in to his eye. Thanks to the suppressor, the weapon barely even disturbed the birds in the trees. Back on the autoroute, he paid for his petrol and tolls with cash; when he pulled off the motorway into some faceless French town to buy a sturdy rucksack, a high-quality windproof Goretex jacket and waterproof trousers from a camping shop, plus a pair of heavy-duty lopping shears from a DIY place, he paid cash for them too. It raised an eyebrow or two in the camping shop, but that was better than leaving an electronic trail with Edward Rucker’s credit cards, no matter how safe he believed the identity to be.
Night had fallen by the time he started seeing signposts for Boulogne. He eased off the accelerator. Nothing was going to happen before midnight. He had a few hours to kill.
He headed for the centre of town. Parking up outside a small épicerie he bought bananas and chocolate for energy, as well as water. Not much. Just enough to see him through till morning. Back in the vehicle he ate ravenously, sank a litre of water, then drove off. He followed signs for the marina and it only took him minutes to arrive.
There were hundreds of boats here. Yachts, motorboats, some of them old, some of them expensively new. Jacob parked up, shoved his hands in his pockets and – with the air of a tourist enjoying a late evening walk, while ogling at the pastimes of the idle rich – he headed down into the throng of vessels. The salty air was filled with the sound of halyards clattering against their masts – a good sound because it meant there was a decent wind; lights glowed from a nearby clubhouse, reflecting on the shimmering water; there were very few people about and those that were nodded at Jacob in a friendly, comradely way. He felt relieved that he had cleaned himself up before leaving Moscow. Had he looked a state among these well-heeled boat owners, he’d have stuck out; but in his Goretex he felt he fitted right in. He nodded back. In another life and under other circumstances, this would have all the hallmarks of a relaxing holiday stroll.