‘Name?’
‘No,’ Procter said. ‘I won’t do that.’
‘You should seriously reconsider that stance.’
‘Listen, I don’t know why all this has happened, but I’m not handing him over to be killed. He’s my friend.’
‘Not much of a friend. He betrayed you too.’
Procter sat up. ‘He was just trying to protect us both. It was stupid, but I get why he did it. I’ll talk to him. You’re not touching him. So, forget about that.’
‘I interrogated the kill team’s leader,’ Tesseract added. ‘He told me that before they were hired to kill me they’d completed another job for the same client. In Beirut. They kidnapped Baraa Ariff and his family, tortured and killed them. And filmed it.’
‘What?’ was all Procter could manage to say.
‘Now, that doesn’t sound to me like a typical assassination. But it does sound like the kind of thing someone would have done for revenge if that someone really hated Ariff. Every job I’ve done for you has revolved around him and Kasakov. At the start of all this you had me save Kasakov’s life, otherwise with Kasakov dead it might have been hard to convince Ariff that it was Kasakov who sent me after Yamout in Minsk. And I imagine the specific explosives I used to kill Farkas somehow convinced Kasakov to go after Ariff. I’ve got to hand it to you, it was a decent plan: trick the world’s biggest trafficker of small arms and the biggest dealer in heavy munitions to wage war on each other.’
‘It was a good plan,’ Procter corrected.
‘Then why did your partner send the American kill team after Ariff? Surely you would have sent me to kill whoever survived the war. You didn’t just want Ariff and Kasakov to kill each other. You could have sent me to do that weeks ago. You wanted them to bludgeon each other’s networks first, damaging the arms trade instead of simply removing its replaceable figureheads. So it makes no sense for your partner to have acted against Ariff at that time. Unless he had some reason for wanting Ariff to lose the war, not Kasakov. He’s not in league with Kasakov himself, however, because Kasakov wouldn’t send a team to kill me only after I’ve already killed him. So, it’ll be one of his lieutenants, hoping to take over from Kasakov after I’d killed him. I’m sorry to be the one to tell you, but your friend has been playing you this whole time.’
Procter put his face in his hands and pulled his fingers down over his eyes and cheeks.
‘Are you quite sure you don’t want to tell me who he is?’
When Procter spoke his voice was quiet, deliberate. ‘I’ll deal with him.’
‘You better had,’ Tesseract said. ‘Because I’ve got some more bad news for you.’
‘Let’s hear it.’
‘You were wrong when you said it would take a month for me to find you.’
‘What?’
‘It took forty-eight hours. Not as many places selling steak sandwiches within lunchtime driving distance from Langley as you might think. I stopped by Nelson’s Diner this afternoon. The staff were very helpful when I told them I wanted to find my long-lost uncle. I can see why you like their food. Very tasty, but every day? That’s not good for your arteries. With your weight you should be more careful and get plenty of exercise. I’ll email you a workout programme.’
Procter’s eyes were wide. ‘ What? ’
‘I’d check under your Buick before you next start the engine. Make sure you cut the green wire, not the blue.’
The line disconnected.
Procter shot up from his seat, went to the window and heaved the blind open. His car sat on the driveway as usual. Nothing appeared suspicious. In the garage he grabbed a set of clippers and a flashlight and hurried out front. He lay on his back and used the flashlight to check under the car. Sure enough, there was a bomb set beneath the driver’s seat, wires linked to the starter motor.
Procter took a huge breath, held it, and cut the green wire.
Nothing happened. He exhaled and carefully removed the device.
Back in his study, he put a hand to his chest. It was a long time before his pulse steadied. He poured out the last of the wine and drank it down. In one short conversation his life had been turned upside down. Clarke had betrayed him. Tesseract had threatened to kill him. He didn’t take kindly to either.
A click of the mouse re-opened the email he had been about to send. He scratched his chin for a moment. Tesseract was a dangerous operator, unpredictable. Procter had believed he could control him, but he had just been proved very wrong. If he clicked the mouse, Tesseract wouldn’t be able to put any more bombs beneath his car.
But, under the circumstances, that had been almost understandable. And dammit, Procter was starting to like the guy.
He deleted the email and got up to find another bottle of wine.
CHAPTER 58
Potomac River, Virginia, USA
The fish thrashing wildly on the end of the line was a smallmouth bass. Clarke reeled it in with a modicum of triumph. It wasn’t particularly big — maybe twelve inches long, maybe three pounds — but a catch was a catch. He sat alone in his fishing boat, feeling the morning sun on his bare forearms and face. There was little wind. The water was calm. Trees lined the riverbanks. No one else was in sight.
Clarke’s dad had taught him fishing at a young age and though Clarke didn’t fish often, he did enjoy it when he found the time. Good for the blood pressure too, his physician often told him. Clarke held up the smallie to take a good look. Its mouth opened and closed continuously in a futile effort to breathe.
‘You are one ugly fish,’ he said.
He threw it back in and took a can of Heineken from his cool box. He held it against his forehead before popping the tab. He took a drink. It was cold and crisp and momentarily helped Clarke forget that he’d almost succeeded in doing the impossible and regulating the arms trade. But he hadn’t. Clarke took another long drink.
His cell rang. He was surprised to see the caller was Procter.
Clarke answered it and said, ‘I thought we were going to stay away from each other for a while.’
‘This can’t wait,’ Procter replied. ‘Where are you?’
Clarke found Procter waiting by his car, dressed in his office suit and sunglasses. It was parked on the side of a rural lane, a couple of hundred yards from the riverbank. No one was nearby. Procter looked pissed.
‘You screwed me, Peter. You really screwed me.’
‘I beg your pardon.’
Procter stormed closer. ‘Don’t even try and deny it. I know what you’ve been doing this whole time.’
‘I’ve been fishing.’
Procter smirked. ‘Nice. I’m glad you’ve kept your sense of humour, but I’m talking about your little arrangement with Yuliya Eltsina.’
Clarke did well to keep the colour in his face. ‘Say again.’
‘You had a team go after Tesseract while he was on the Kasakov job, to protect us from the Mossad threat, didn’t you? I’m not happy about that, Peter, but I can understand it, even if in sending them you stopped Tesseract killing Kasakov. Funny thing is, it turns out this was the team who kidnapped Ariff and his family. What are the odds?’
Clarke held up his hands. ‘I don’t know where you’re getting your information from, but it’s wrong.’
Procter shook his head. He was furious. ‘Want to tell me why you were at Heathrow two weeks ago at the same time as Yuliya Eltsina? Did you think I wouldn’t find out? I’m offended you think so little of me.’
‘Roland, please…’
‘Shut up, Peter. Just shut the hell up. All this time you’ve been using me. You were never on my side, were you? What were you really trying to do, help Eltsina seize power?’
Clarke took a breath. He squinted into the sun. ‘That was only half of it.’
‘What was the other half? Don’t tell me you did all this for a blowjob.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous. After she was in control of Kasakov’s empire she would only sell arms to buyers I approved.’