“Likewise, Mr Dillon, we have missed the pleasure of your company, I think?”
“I’ve been working overseas, Pierre. But I’m very glad to be back in London.”
“You are dining this lunchtime with, Mr LevensonJones, I believe. Please let me show you through to the dining room. I’ve taken the liberty of giving you your usual table overlooking the river.”
“Pierre, you are a very gracious gentleman, thank you. And what would you recommend from today’s menu?”
“As you well know, Mr Dillon, everything on our menu comes highly recommended. Although chef tells me that the lobster will most definitely not disappoint even the most sophisticated, and critical palate.”
The headwaiter led him to the table and a few moments later LJ and Annabelle Cunningham joined him.
“Jake, let me introduce you to, Annabelle Cunningham.”
Dillon was instantly taken by her beauty. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Annabelle. I was sorry to hear about your father, how’s he fairing today?”
“About the same I’m afraid, but at least his condition is stable now, and thank you for asking.” She noticed how his whole face radiated charm and warmth when he smiled. “I suppose we might as well have a drink,” LJ said.
Dillon caught the wine waiter’s attention and ordered a bottle of Krug Champagne. He smiled amiably across the table at LJ, who looked back at him with a stiff reprimanding glare.
“LJ, has told me a lot about you, Jake.”
“Has he now, all bad I’ve no doubt?” Dillon said looking across at LJ who was sat opposite him.
“On the contrary, he tells me that you’re a man with a reputation.”
“Really. Well I only hope that I can live up to it.”
“I’m sure you will. But tell me, what is it you actually do?”
The headwaiter came over, and informed LJ, that there was a telephone call from his office, and that he could take it at the bar. Somewhat embarrassed, he excused himself from the table. when he was out of earshot Annabelle gave Dillon a lopsided smile, and said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry, my father is always telling me that I ask far too many questions for my own good.”
Dillon smiled back at her, “Annabelle, I must ask you a question, and please forgive my directness. Is there anything that you are holding back about the location of the U-boat that your father found?”
“As I told, LJ. My father has always been exceptionally good at keeping secrets. All that he really said to me was that under normal sea conditions it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to dive there. Which means that it’s somewhere around the northern coast of Jersey. Which also means, that you should be able to narrow it down considerably once you get over there.”
“That is, unless your father regains consciousness, my dear, in which case we’ll know exactly where to look. That was Guy Roberts on the phone just now. Apparently the hospital left a message with him, Nathan is making good progress and improving by the day which is the best news we could have wished for.” LJ said as he sat down in his chair. “Now, shall we order?”
Annabelle and Dillon both ordered large wild field mushrooms followed by the headwaiter’s recommendation of lobster. LJ had best Aberdeen Angus steak, Pierre knew exactly how he liked it to be cooked, briefly shown the flame on both sides to seal in the flavour, and rare through the middle. All through lunch, Dillon chatted to Annabelle about her life on Jersey, treading carefully around the subject of her father’s discovery. But, subtly fishing for any snippets that she might be able to remember. After an hour of listening to them, LJ said that he had a meeting to go to on the other side of town, and left. Dillon smiled, knowing only to well that his boss would have invented the meeting, so that he could legitimately leave Dillon alone with the girl. The wily old fox was still as sharp and astute as ever, Dillon thought to himself.
There were five people in LJ’s office the following morning. Annabelle sat between Dillon and Vince Sharp on the old leather Chesterfield sofa, while LJ paced around the room like a caged tiger. The upright man, sitting at the head of the long boardroom table, looked comfortable wearing a charcoal grey pinstripe suit over a white shirt and old school tie. Sir Lucius Stagg opened the file before him, and then raised his gaze towards the other people in the room.
“Now then, to business. I see from the report in front of me, that you are no closer to ascertaining the location of the cavern in Jersey. Edward, what the bloody hell is going on man? Why isn’t Dillon already there, doing whatever it is he does? And what is this I see from Mr Sharp’s report that three snooping devices were found at Belgrave Mews as well as your bloody phone being tapped?”
“Yes, we do seem to have picked up a snooper, Sir Lucius. Extremely annoying and unfortunately we are still completely in the dark as to who it might be or what it is they actually want. My guess is that it’s most definitely connected to Nathan Cunningham. I’ve got Guy Roberts scanning all of the wartime databases for any possible connections. In the meantime we’re pushing on, and Phil Allerton will be flying Jake and Vince down to Jersey tomorrow afternoon. A property has already been rented at Bonne Nuit bay, which will serve as an ideal base to work from, and their cover story has already been activated. Obviously, if Commander Cunningham were to regain consciousness, he’d be able to tell us exactly where that cavern is located, and of course that would change everything.” LJ looked over at Annabelle and gave her a fatherly smile.
“Very good, Edward.” Sir Lucius turned to look directly at Annabelle. “Miss Cunningham, I knew your father when he was a serving officer. He’s a good man and you’ve only to ask if there’s anything that I or Edward here can possibly do to help.”
“Thank you, Sir Lucius, you’ve all been so kind and helpful already. I’m very grateful to you all.”
“It’s the least we can do in the circumstances.” Sir Lucius glanced down at the open folder in front of him and then closed it.
“Mr Dillon, it would appear that you and Mr Sharp now have the onerous task of locating that cavern, before I might add, anyone else does.” The old man looked at Dillon, and then got up from his chair. Picking up the file, he tucked it under his arm.
“Miss Cunningham, it was a pleasure to meet you, gentlemen I wish you luck. Edward, keep me posted.”
“Yes sir, I will.” LJ opened the door for the former British Prime Minister as he left.
As LJ came back in to the room, Dillon said, “So, Phil Allerton is flying Vince and I down to Jersey tomorrow afternoon is he? That doesn’t leave us much time to sort out the special equipment that we’re going to need for this assignment.”
“Such as?” LJ asked.
“Explosives; of the underwater variety and of course weapons.”
“Weapons, old son?” LJ said, disturbed by the very suggestion.
“Yes, weapons. I’ll require a Glock automatic pistol, and for good measure a machine pistol with extra rounds. Oh, and a twelve gauge shotgun, preferably sawn off, for Vince.” Dillon knew his boss from old, and added. “Only joking, but we will require the underwater explosives just in case the entrance to the tunnel is blocked.”
“Okay, I’ll speak to my contact over at the Ministry of Defence, I shouldn’t think that will be a problem. But as for the firearms the answer is definitely no, do I make myself clear, Jake?”
“Absolutely crystal clear, LJ.” Dillon and his boss had this conversation every time he embarked on an assignment for Ferran & Cardini. As long as LJ had voiced his disapproval, and rejected Dillon’s request in front of witnesses, he could report to the Partners with a clear conscience. A case of what he didn’t know, didn’t worry him. Dillon as always would procure the weapons that he wanted from his usual source in the East End of London.