‘But when push comes to shove… it’s Special Branch they call on when noses need blowing and arses wiping…’
‘And an excellent job you do,’ said Steven.
Jenkins bristled at being patronised. ‘Now are you sure you wouldn’t like us to see you across the road, Doctor?’ he asked Steven. ‘Check to see if there are any bad people out there? I mean, are you quite sure you’re fighting fit again…?’
Before Jenkins knew what had hit him, Steven had his arm twisted painfully up his back, his legs splayed apart and the side of his face rammed hard up against the wall in the corridor so that he looked like a gargoyle on a cathedral wall. ‘Yes,’ said Steven thoughtfully. ‘Everything seems to be working well… but thanks for asking. It’s always just as well to check…’
As the two Special Branch men walked away, Steven heard Ritchie say to Jenkins, ‘You arse, didn’t you know he was ex-Regiment?’
Steven found an official government courier waiting patiently for him in Reception. The man smiled politely and examined Steven’s ID carefully before handing over the package Steven knew would contain the pistol and ammunition he’d requested. He signed three forms and wished the man a safe return to London before following the signs for the ground floor visitors’ toilets where he used a cubicle for privacy while he loaded the weapon and secured it in its shoulder holster which he put on with some difficulty in the confined space. Finally, he adjusted the straps for comfort before putting his jacket back on and coming out to check in the mirror that there was no telltale bulge showing.
He used the exit nearest to where taxis dropped off their passengers and timed it so that he was exposed for the minimum of time before jumping into one that was just about to drive away after dropping off an elderly couple.
‘You’re supposed to wait at the stand,’ growled the driver.
‘Twenty quid says you’ll overlook it this once.’
‘Where to?’
Steven deliberately had the driver follow a circuitous route to the police compound where his car had been taken at Macmillan’s request. He first asked to be taken to the hotel he’d stayed at on his first visit to Leicester, changing his mind half way to ask instead for the French restaurant that he had taken Tally to before finally directing the driver to the police compound when he felt sure that they weren’t being followed.
‘Are you having a laugh?’ the driver growled.
‘Call it the gypsy in my soul,’ replied Steven.
He picked up the Honda and drove back to London without incident but spent the entire journey wondering why anyone should want to kill him, trying his best to work through things logically but without much success. Both attacks had originated in Leicester not London. He was certain that the first had been because of the tracking device on his Porsche — the fact that someone had reported his car stolen in order to get the information on its whereabouts seemed to confirm that. But that couldn’t have been the method employed to trace him for the second attack. The Honda wasn’t fitted with a tracker — at least he didn’t think it was… He called Stan Silver.
‘No, it isn’t. Don’t tell me you’ve lost the bloody thing,’ said Silver.
‘Nothing like that,’ Steven assured him. ‘I was just wondering how somebody knew exactly where I was the other day.’
‘If you think you’ve been followed and the car’s to blame, maybe someone stuck one on?’
‘It’s a possibility,’ agreed Steven.
‘Bring it round.’
Steven glanced at his watch. ‘I’m driving down from Leicester. I’ll be there in about half an hour.’
‘Inside’s clean,’ said Silver, finishing his inspection and edging out backwards. ‘I’ll put her up on the ramp.’
Silver drove the Honda on to the hydraulic ramp and pressed the button to raise it. He lit a cigarette while they waited for the vehicle to clear head-height. ‘So, are you winning?’ he asked Steven above the noise.
Steven shook his head. ‘Somebody wants me out the game and I don’t know why.’
‘Sounds like bad news,’ said Silver. ‘One particular person or a gang?’
‘A gang, east European.’
‘Shit, not been muscling in on their interests, have you?’
‘I almost wish I had, then at least I’d know what it’s all about,’ said Steven.
Silver was examining the underside of the Honda with a powerful torch, using the fingers of his left hand to rub away dirt. ‘Well, well, what have we here?’ he said, pulling something from the offside rear wheel arch and handing it to Steven. ‘Problem solved.’
Steven looked at the tracking device for a few seconds in silence. ‘I didn’t tell anyone about the Honda,’ he said. ‘No one knew I had it.’
‘Someone must have seen you driving it.’
‘I tend not to drive at all in London.’
‘Well, I’ll leave it to you to work it out,’ said Silver. ‘Maybe you should leave that with me,’ he added, nodding to the tracker.
Steven handed over the device. ‘What will you do with it?’
‘I pass a transport caff on the way home. I’ll stick it on one of the sixteen-wheelers heading for the Channel ports. That should keep the buggers amused for a while.’
Steven thanked Silver and headed for his flat. He felt better for having discovered how his attacker had known where he was but was still left wondering how the opposition knew about the car in the first place. He had deliberately opted not to use a pool car and had made a point of not telling anyone what he was using and yet someone had still managed to find and tag it. His blood ran cold when he considered that it could have been an explosive device instead of a magnetic tracker.
Steven was still thinking about this in the bath with a gin and tonic in his hand when the phone rang. Cursing the fact — or was it his imagination? — that it always did when he forgot to take it into the bathroom with him and thinking that it might be Tally — although he had said he would phone her — he got out the bath and padded through to fetch it.
‘Dr Dunbar? It’s Linda Haldane in Edinburgh.’
‘Oh, hello,’ said Steven, remembering with a slight frisson of excitement that he’d asked her to phone him if she recalled anything at all that might throw light on what had angered her late husband so much. ‘How are you?’
‘Well, thank you,’ replied Linda automatically. ‘The children and I are moving out tomorrow. We’ve spent the day packing.’
‘I’m sorry,’ said Steven, remembering that she and the children couldn’t afford to stay on in the house because of the financial problems raised by Scott’s death being treated as suicide.
‘You said that I should contact you if I came across anything, no matter how small…’
‘Yes, I remember.’
‘Scott taped something to the underside of his desk. I found it this morning when I was clearing away his things and dropped something on the floor. I had to crawl under to get it.’
‘What was it?’ asked Steven, aware that his pulse rate had risen sharply.
‘An envelope with two cards in it.’
‘Cards?’
‘Record cards like the ones he used in his file index. I suppose he didn’t want anyone to find these ones.’
‘Like the burglars who came to call,’ said Steven thoughtfully.
‘The police said they were looking for drugs,’ said Linda.
‘Maybe,’ said Steven, suddenly seeing things in a different light. ‘What’s on the cards?’
‘Some sort of code. There are letters and numbers, not telephone numbers. They don’t make a lot of sense to me I’m afraid.’
Steven, who was still dripping wet, wiped his hands on the towel he’d hastily tied round his waist and grabbed pen and paper from his desk before asking for details. He copied down the information as it was read out.
‘First one, C-O-L-E space N-A-T space 4-0-9 space 1-0-0-7 hyphen 1-0-1-1 space 2-0-0-1.’
Steven read it back to her.
‘Second card reads, N-R-G space 2 space 2-3-7 space 2-0-0-1. That’s it, nothing else I’m afraid.’
Once again Steven read the letters and numbers back to her.