The managing director sat behind a large oak desk. The nameplate identified him as Daniel Chidenko.
‘I’m Major Paluzzi, I believe you wanted to see me?’
The secretary hurried into the room. ‘I’m sorry, Mr. Chidenko, they just walked in–’
‘It’s okay, Margarita,’ Chidenko cut in, his hand raised. ‘It’s not your fault.’
The secretary left the room, closing the door behind her.
‘You don’t have to speak English to me, Major. I may be American but I am fluent in your language.’
‘Mr. Graham here doesn’t speak Italian.’
Chidenko removed a cigarette from the silver box on his desk and lit it. ‘Mike Graham. Our head office in New York told me you were coming.’
‘I’m impressed,’ Graham replied. ‘At least there’s one efficient employee in the company. You should have them transferred out here.’
Chidenko ignored Graham’s sarcasm and looked at Paluzzi. ‘I want to know on whose authority your men broke into the seven offices on this floor, including my own, and went through the contents of the wall safes.’
‘Mine,’ Paluzzi replied.
‘May I see a search warrant?’
‘I don’t need one,’ Paluzzi replied defiantly.
‘Really?’ Chidenko tapped the ash from his cigarette into the glass ashtray on his desk. ‘You’ve been trying to link one, or more, of my management team to Wiseman ever since you took charge of this case instead of getting out there and finding the vial. Well, this time you’ve gone too far. You’ve broken the law and I’ll see to it that you’re taken off the case and replaced with someone who’s prepared to get his priorities right.’
‘Before you do that, Lieutenant Marco has something to show you.’
Marco took the papers he had found in the senior sales manager’s wall safe and handed them to Chidenko.
‘They’re bank statements,’ Chidenko said.
They’re also evidence linking Vittore Dragotti to Wiseman and the virus,’ Marco said.
‘Show me,’ Chidenko said, holding up the papers.
‘These payments have been traced to Nikki Karos,’ Marco said, pointing out the relevant entries on each of the bank statements.
‘And who’s Nikki Karos?’
‘An arms dealer with powerful connections in the Middle East,’ Paluzzi replied.
‘So Vittore did some business with him,’ Chidenko said, hands outstretched. ‘What does that prove?’
‘The money was deposited in his private account,’ Marco stressed.
‘A gift. It happens all the time in this business.’
‘We think it was a payoff.’
‘So arrest him,’ Chidenko challenged. ‘Then let’s see what a court will make of your “evidence”.’
‘No one’s going to be arrested yet. All we want to do is talk to him,’ Paluzzi said.
‘Fine, I’ll have one of our lawyers come over.’
‘No lawyers,’ Paluzzi replied.
Chidenko’s hand rested lightly on the receiver. ‘You certainly believe in flouting the law, Major. First your men break in here without a search warrant and now you want to interrogate one of my managers but refuse to allow him access to a lawyer. I know his rights, and that means having a lawyer present when you confront him with this flimsy evidence of yours.’
Paluzzi crossed to the desk. ‘Get him a lawyer, but I promise you every national paper will carry a front-page story tomorrow morning linking a senior manager at Neo-Chem Industries to an arms dealer whose past deals involving Sarin and Tabun have left hundreds of thousands dead in the Gulf War. It won’t look very good coming so soon after the break-in, will it?’
Chidenko sat back in his chair. ‘Is Vittore here yet?’
‘Not yet, but one of my men is waiting for him in his office.’
The telephone rang. Chidenko grabbed the receiver, listened momentarily, then held it out towards Graham.
‘It’s for you.’
‘Graham speaking.’
‘Mike, it’s Sabrina. Calvieri’s got word from one of his contacts that Ubrino’s been seen in Venice. We’re going up there to check it out. I’ll see you back at the hotel.’
‘Okay. But, Sabrina–’ Graham struggled to find the words to express himself. ‘Take every precaution,’ he said finally in a gruff voice. ‘I don’t trust that bastard an inch.’
‘I will. See you later. Bye.’
Graham replaced the receiver and almost immediately the telephone rang again. Chidenko picked up the receiver again, his eyes darting around the room as he listened in silence. He put his hand over the mouthpiece.
‘Vittore’s here.’
‘We’re on our way,’ Paluzzi said.
Chidenko passed on the message and had to restrain himself from slamming the handset back into the cradle. He stood up and brushed an imaginary fleck of dust from his jacket.
‘Let’s get this over with, shall we? Then I’m going to make sure you’re kicked off the case.’
‘You’re not coming with us, if that’s what you think,’ Paluzzi shot back.
‘I’ve had about all I can take from you, Paluzzi–’
‘I don’t like pulling rank, but you’re forcing my hand,’ Paluzzi cut in sharply. He took an envelope from his pocket and slapped it down on the desk.
‘Read that.’
‘What is it?’ Chidenko demanded.
‘Read it and you’ll find out.’
Chidenko removed a sheet of paper from the envelope and read it. He looked up once, then sank slowly into his chair.
‘There’s a telephone number at the top of the page if you want to take the matter any further. If not, I’ve got work to do.’
Chidenko replaced the paper inside the envelope and handed it silently back to Paluzzi.
Graham followed Paluzzi into the corridor.
‘What the hell’s in the envelope?’
‘A letter, signed by the Prime Minister, which, roughly translated, gives me carte blanche to use any methods I deem necessary to recover the vial. It also says that any complaints about my methods should be reported to him in person.’
‘So why didn’t you show it to Chidenko straight away? It would have saved us all a lot of trouble.’
‘I don’t like to tempt fate. That’s why I only use it as a last resort.’
Graham stopped in the middle of the corridor.
‘What do you mean, you don’t like to tempt fate?’
‘It’s a forgery. The notepaper’s genuine, we get that from a mole inside the Prime Minister’s office. We write the text ourselves, depending on the nature of the assignment.’
‘And you do it for every assignment?’
‘Every difficult assignment. And let’s face it, they don’t come much more difficult than this one. As I said, it’s only used as a last resort.’
‘Has anyone ever challenged its authenticity?’
‘Not up to now. But I’m sure there will be a first time. That’s when I’ll start thinking about writing my memoirs.’
‘I like it,’ Graham muttered thoughtfully. ‘I wonder how I can get hold of some White House stationery?’
Marco looked out from a doorway. ‘Are you coming, sir?’
Paluzzi patted Graham on the shoulder. ‘Come on, Mike.’
Dragotti was standing in front of his open wall safe checking through his personal papers, when Graham and Paluzzi entered the room.
‘Looking for these?’ Paluzzi asked, holding up the bank statements.
Dragotti looked round, momentarily startled by Paluzzi’s use of English. He closed the safe and approached Paluzzi.
‘Who are you?’
Paluzzi introduced himself and said that Graham was from the company’s headquarters in New York, sent out to help with the investigation. Marco spoke softly to Paluzzi, then left the room, closing the door behind him.