“Well, with being back in a military atmosphere, I suppose,” he said now, careful. “I wasn’t sure how you’d react.”
“So why did you send me?”
“I didn’t send you, Charlie,” he said, and there was no mistaking the mild reproof. “I asked you to go.”
Same difference, I thought. “So why didn’t you ask Madeleine instead,” I snapped. “I’m sure she would have coped just fine. If you’re worried I can’t hack it out here, Sean, tell me now.”
He sighed. “I know you can cope, Charlie,” he said, ignoring my latest dig about Madeleine, as he always seemed to do. I wondered if that was why I kept making them. “I’m just worried about what it’s costing you. I can imagine how difficult it must be for you, that’s all. Pretending, holding back. I think that’s the part I’d find hard. I don’t like deceit.”
I stiffened, as though he was talking on another level. As though he’d guessed that I hadn’t told him the truth about Kirk and what had happened before I’d left the army.
I searched for the right words to begin to tell him, but they wouldn’t come. It really wasn’t the kind of thing you could do over the phone. Mind you, I didn’t think I’d have the bottle to tell him face to face, either. Stalemate.
The silence hummed along the wires between us.
At last, he said, “Yesterday you asked about the Heidi Krauss kidnap.”
“Yes,” I said, realising almost with relief that I’d missed my chance.
“Madeleine’s been doing some digging. Apparently Heidi isn’t the first to have been taken. There have been six abductions in the last year that match the same pattern. Snatched by a small but heavily armed group who aren’t afraid to shoot first and ask questions later. They’ve left a trail of bodies halfway across Europe.”
“Elsa said the housekeeper and one of the bodyguards was killed in the raid,” I agreed. I glanced up. The wind was sending clouds rushing past the face of the moon, making the light level rise and fall across the roof like a swinging lantern.
“It isn’t just bystanders.” I could feel rather than see Sean shaking his head. “According to my source, four of the victims turned up dead as well, regardless of whether the ransoms were paid or not.” He paused. “Not encouraging odds as far as the Krauss girl is concerned.”
“So why did Gilby’s bunch go off at the deep end when Elsa brought the subject up?” I wondered aloud.
“That’s not a difficult one,” Sean said. “The bodyguard who died was one of his former pupils. So was the lad who lost a leg.”
“Nasty.” Hardly surprising that the Major had reacted like someone had just jabbed him with a cattle prod. I wondered if Elsa knew the connection when she prepared her little speech and, if so, what she’d hoped to gain from it. I made a mental note to ask her the first chance I got.
“Yeah, that’s what happens when you get shot with a hollowpoint,” Sean said. “It tends to do a lot of damage.”
“Just like Kirk. Is there a connection, or are hollowpoints just this year’s dumdum fashion accessory?”
I heard the smile in Sean’s voice. “I doubt it,” he said. “There are a lot of them about. People prefer them because they dissipate their energy into the first body they hit, rather than passing on through to the next man. Less chance of hitting someone on your own team.”
I pondered on that one for a moment. “Any ideas who’s behind the kidnappings?” I asked.
“It looks like the handiwork of a guy called Gregor Venko.”
“I’ve never heard of him,” I said. “What kind of name is Venko?”
“I’d be worried if you had heard of him. Nobody seems to know exactly where he came from, but he walked out of the ruins of the former Yugoslavia with a dubiously-acquired personal fortune and an organisation that the Mafia would – and have tried to – kill him for. He’s involved in everything from gunrunning to political assassination, drugs, prostitution, illegal immigrants. If there’s money to be made out of it, just about any place in eastern Europe, then good old Gregor’s had a hand in the deal somewhere.”
“Sounds like a real charmer,” I said. Another vicious blast of wind sliced its way through my jacket and embedded itself firmly in my ribs. I shivered, pulling my collar up more tightly around my chin.
“He is, by all accounts. His ex-wife spends all her time sozzled out of her skull in a resort on the Black Sea, and his son—”
As he spoke there was a noise from somewhere below. A bang like that last gust of wind had caught an open door and slammed it shut.
“Wait one,” I interrupted. I put the phone down next to the chimney and rose cautiously to my feet. I crept over to the low wall that looked down over the back of the house and peered over the top of it.
Below me, walking quickly along the path that led away from the house towards the armoury and the ranges, was the figure of a man. The moon had darted out into view and was bright enough to lay a sharp-edged silhouette along the ground behind him.
The man was wearing a greatcoat that came almost down to his ankles, but even so I recognised Gilby’s distinctive upright gait. He was carrying something, but I couldn’t quite make out what it was.
I watched for a few moments longer and was just about to move away when another figure detached itself from the shadows of the house and made off after the Major. This second man kept to cover like a pro, moving swiftly and quietly.
As though warned by some sixth sense, Gilby stopped, circled slowly as though expecting to find someone behind him. I saw his head rise, scanning the windows of the house and even the roof line. My imagination made him pause over my location, made my heart bounce with fright. Then he turned and carried on.
I let my breath out shakily and edged back over to my chimney.
“What is it?” Sean demanded, tense, when I was back on the line.
“I heard a door. Looks like Gilby’s off to the ranges, though it’s a bit late for weapons’ practice. Somebody’s following him.”
“Did you see who it was?”
I shook my head then realised, as Sean must have done, that it was a pointless gesture. “No. It’s too dark and whoever it was he wasn’t trying to be seen, if you get me. If he goes again tomorrow night, I might try to get a closer look.”
I could have been mistaken, but I thought I heard Sean suck in a breath. “You be careful,” he said.
I frowned. “It’s what I’m here for, Sean.”
“I know it is,” he said, and there was no doubt about his serious tone. “But just remember it was what Salter was there for, too.”
“I hardly think,” I said dryly, “that I’m likely to forget.”
“Has anyone mentioned Salter?”
I paused. So much seemed to have happened since my arrival in Germany that the death of Kirk Salter had almost been pushed to the back of my mind.
“No,” I said at last, “but we don’t get out onto the gun range until tomorrow. I thought that might be a good time to bring the subject up.”
“How are you going to play it – with the shooting?”
“Like one of the hopeless and pathetic females they already assume me to be,” I said, and couldn’t entirely help the sneer in my voice.
“More fool them for underestimating you,” Sean said softly. “You watch your back though, Charlie.”
There was a warmth there that threatened to turn my brain a little mushy.
I shook it off.
“Don’t worry,” I said. “I always do. And speaking of watching my back, I picked up an interesting tail during my driving lesson today.” And I told him all about the four men in the Peugeot.