"Not sure that's a good idea, Ding," Clark objected weakly.
"Why not? Feels pretty good to me right now, man." Chavez got out of his chair and walked up to O'Neil. Then he lowered his knife hand to the chair. "Ain't hard to do, man, just flick, and we can start your sex-change operation. I ain't a doc, you understand, but I know the first part of the procedure, y'know?" Ding bent down to press his nose against O'Neil's. "Man, you don't ever, EVER mess with a Latino's lady! Do you hear me?"
Timothy O'Neil had had a bad enough day to this point. He looked in the eyes of this Spanish man, heard the accent, and knew that this was not an Englishman, not even an American of the type he thought he knew.
"I've done this before, man. Mainly I kill with guns, but I've taken bastards down with a knife once or twice. It's funny how they squirm - but I ain't gonna kill you, boy. I'm just gonna make you a girl." The knife moved tight up against the crotch of the man cuffed to the chair.
"Back it off, Domingo!" Clark ordered.
"Fuck you, John! That's my wife he wanted to hurt, man. Well, I'm gonna fix this little fuck so he never hurts no more girls, 'mano." Chavez turned to look at the prisoner again. "I'm gonna watch your eyes when I cut it all off, Timmy. I want to see your face when you start to turn into a girl."
O'Neil blinked, as he looked deep into the dark, Spanish eyes. He saw the rage there, hot and passionate-but as bad as that was, so was the reason for it. He and his mates had planned to kidnap and maybe kill a pregnant woman, and there was shame in that, and for that reason there was justice in the fury before his face.
"It wasn't like that!" O'Neil gasped. "We didn't-we didn't-"
"Didn't have the chance to rape her, eh? Well, ain't that a big fuckin' deal?" Chavez observed.
"No, no, not rape - never, nobody in the unit ever did that, we're not-"
"You're fucking scum, Timmy-but soon you're just gonna be scum, 'cuz ain't no more fuckin' in your future." The knife moved a little. "This is gonna be fun, John. Like the guy we did in Libya two years ago, remember?"
"Jesus, Ding, I still have nightmares about that one," Clark acknowledged, looking away. "I'm telling you, Domingo, don't do it!"
"Fuck you, John." His free hand reached to loosen O'Neil's belt, then the button at the top of his slacks. Then he reached inside. "Well, shit, ain't much to cut off. Hardly any dick here at all."
"O'Neil, if you have anything to tell us, better say it now. I can't control this kid. I've seen him like this before and-"
"Too much talk, John. Shit. Grady spilled his guts anyway. What does this one know that we need? I'm gonna cut it all off and feed it to one of the guard dogs. They like fresh meat."
"Domingo, we are civilized people and we don't-"
"Civilized? My ass, John, he wanted to kill my wife and my baby!"
O'Neil's eyes popped again. "No, no, we never intended to-"
"Sure, asshole," Chavez taunted. "You had those fucking guns 'cuz you wanted to win their hearts and minds, right? Woman killer, baby-killer." Chavez spat.
"I didn't kill anybody, didn't even fire my rifle. I-"
"Great, so you're incompetent. You think you deserve to have a dick just 'cuz you're fucking incompetent?"
"Who's this Russian guy?" Clark asked.
"Sean's friend, Serov, Iosef Serov. He got the money and the drugs-"
"Drugs? Christ, John, they're fucking druggies, too!"
"Where's the money?" John persisted.
"Swiss bank, numbered account. Iosef set it up, six million dollars-and-and, Sean asked him to bring us ten kilos of cocaine to sell for the money, we need the money to continue operations."
"Where are the drugs, Tim?" Clark demanded next.
"Farm-farmhouse." O'Neil gave them a town and road description that went into Chavez's pocketed tape recorder.
"This Serov guy, what's he look like?" And he got that, too.
Chavez backed off and let his visible temper subside. Then he smiled. "Okay, John, let's talk to the others. Thanks, Timmy. You can keep your dick, 'mano."
It was late afternoon over Canada's Quebec province. The sun reflected off the hundreds of lakes, some of them still covered with ice. Popov had been sleepless for the entire flight, the only wakeful passenger in first class. Again and again his mind went over the same data. If the British had captured Grady, then they had his primary cover name, which was in his travel documents. Well, he'd dispose of them that very day. They had a physical description, but he looked not the least bit remarkable. Grady had the number of the Swiss account that Dmitriy had set up, but he'd already transferred the funds to another account, one not traceable to him. It was theoretically possible that the opposition could pursue the information Grady was sure to give them-Popov had no illusions about that-perhaps even secure a set of fingerprints from… no, that was too unlikely to be considered a danger, and no Western intelligence service would have anything to cross-match. No Western service even knew anything about him if they had, he would have been arrested long before. So, what did that leave? A name that would soon evaporate, a description that fitted a million other men, and a bank account number for a defunct account. In short, very little. He did need to check out, though, very quickly, the procedures by which Swiss banks transferred funds, and whether that process was protected by the anonymity laws that protected the accounts themselves. Even that the Swiss were not paragons of integrity, were they? No, there would be an arrangement between the banks and the police. There had to be, even if the only purpose was to enable the Swiss police to lie effectively to other national police forces. But the second account was truly a shadow one. He'd set it up through an attorney who didn't have the ability to betray him, because they'd only met over the telephone. So, there was no path from the information Grady had to where he was now, and that was good. He'd have to think very carefully about ever accessing the 5.7 million dollars in the second account, but there might well be a way to do it. Through another attorney, perhaps, in Liechtenstein, where banking laws were even stricter than in Switzerland? He'd have to look into it. An American attorney could guide him in the necessary procedures, also under total anonymity.
You're safe, Dmitriy Arkadeyevich, Popov told himself. Safe and rich, but it was time to stop taking risks. He'd initiate no more field operations for John Brightling. Once he got into O'Hare, he'd catch the next flight to New York, get back to his apartment, report in to Brightling, and then look for an elegant escape route. Would Brightling let him go?
He'd have to, Popov told himself. He and Henriksen were the only men on the planet who could link the executive to mass murder. He might think about killing me, but Henriksen would warn him not to. Henriksen was also a professional, and he knew the rules of the game. Popov had kept a diary, which was in a safe place, the vault of a law firm in New York, with carefully written handling instructions. So, no, that was not a real danger, so long as his "friends" knew the rules-and Popov would remind them, just in case.
Why go back to New York at all? Why not simply disappear? It was tempting… but, no. If nothing else, he had to tell Brightling and Henriksen to leave him alone from now on and explain why it was in their interest to do so. Besides, Brightling had an unusually good source in the American government and Popov could use that person's information as additional protection. You never had too much protection.
With all that decided, Popov finally allowed himself to relax. Another ninety minutes to Chicago. Below him was a vast world, with plenty of room to disappear in, and now lie had the money for it. It had all been worth it.