‘Thank you,’ said Carlyle.
‘It’s good that you have spoken to Alice about it,’ Myers continued, ‘and we will, of course, look into what she has said. But, remember, this is not a blame game that we are playing here. Everyone makes mistakes. The important thing is that there is no repeat of this incident on Alice’s part.’
‘Yes,’ both parents chirruped in unison.
Myers tapped a thin file resting on his desk. ‘Your daughter is doing very well here, both academically and socially. She is very much a valued member of our community.’
Carlyle glanced over at Helen. Despite the circumstances, his wife was bursting with pride at the praise being handed out to their daughter. He had to resist the urge to smile.
‘However,’ said Myers, ‘we cannot tolerate a repeat performance. The school, as you know, has had its share of problems with drugs over recent years, and we have to show that we deal with such things firmly. So Alice will have to complete her suspension, I’m afraid.’
Pride well and truly burst, Helen hung her head in shame. ‘Yes.’
‘Good.’ Placing his hands on his ample belly, Myers sat back in his chair and told them, ‘That’s all. Do you have any questions?’
Bloody hell
, Carlyle thought,
we
’
ve got a result. Let
’
s get out of here
. Looking at Helen, he jumped to his feet.
‘I was just wondering,’ Helen said, ‘will this affect Alice’s chances of winning a scholarship?’
No
,
no
,
no! Don
’
t start begging for money. Let
’
s just get going
. Struggling to hide his annoyance, Carlyle slowly sank back into his chair.
‘I understand the considerable financial commitment that you have made to send your daughter to our school,’ Myers smiled, ‘but that is true of many parents. As you know, there is a lot of competition for our scholarships. All I can really say is that this incident will not prevent Alice from taking the scholarship exams. However, we do take a wide range of factors into consideration before making any award.’
So Alice being a drugs mule means we’re screwed
, Carlyle thought morosely.
I am going to be broke for the rest of my life paying your bloody school’s fees
. ‘That’s very helpful guidance,’ he said politely, getting to his feet a second time. ‘Thank you for your time today. We will make sure we impress upon Alice the seriousness of the situation.’
‘Good,’ said Myers.
As Helen rose too, Carlyle took her by the arm and gently but firmly steered her towards the door.
‘Inspector?’ Myers had bounced out from behind his desk and made to open the door for them.
‘Yes?’ said Carlyle, wary at this belated use of his title.
‘I was wondering if there was something that you might be able to do for us regarding the drugs issue.’
Bollocks
. ‘Of course.’
‘We occasionally organize outside speakers for the older girls – fifth- and sixth-formers mainly. I was wondering if you might give them a talk on drugs?’
‘Well . . .’
‘He would be delighted to,’ said Helen cheerily. ‘Just let us know when.’
* * *
‘I think that went okay,’ said Helen as they walked slowly, hand-inhand, across the empty playground.
‘Yes,’ Carlyle sighed, ‘as well as could be expected.’ He glanced at the phone in his free hand: it was his private, pay-as-you-go mobile, the one he usually forgot to answer. Tomorrow, this phone would be history – the handset thrown in the bin and the SIM card tossed down a drain in some distant part of London. Now, however, he desperately needed it to ring.
‘Do you think we can afford to keep paying the school fees?’
‘Absolutely.’
‘Are you sure, John?’
‘Look,’ he snapped, ‘if I say we can afford it, we can afford it, all right?’ She gave him a dirty look and dropped his hand. Immediately he regretted being so sharp. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said, planting a kiss on the top of her head. ‘I didn’t mean to shout at you.’
‘There’s no need to be so mean,’ she pouted.
‘I said I’m sorry.’ Trying to avoid compounding his mistake, he took a deep breath. ‘You know how our finances stack up as well as I do. We’ll be fine.’
Before she could answer, the phone started vibrating in Carlyle’s hand. He stepped away from his wife. ‘Hello?’
‘Have you got what we need?’
Carlyle cleared his throat. ‘Yes, I have,’ he said. ‘Let me give you the details . . .’
Looking up from his mug of steaming black coffee, Sol Abramyan invited them to sit down.
‘Want some?’
‘Thanks.’ Under the watchful gaze of Sol’s bodyguards, Carlyle stood up from his chair and stepped over to the counter. Reaching for the coffee pot, he lined up a couple of mugs, filling one for himself and one for Dominic Silver. Placing Dom’s mug on the table in front of him, the inspector returned to his seat. He took a sip and savoured the distinct chocolate flavour.
‘Nice coffee.’
‘Elephant Arabica beans from Guatemala,’ Sol explained. ‘I always pick up a couple of kilos when I’m in London.’
‘You should try some Monsoon Malabar,’ said Dom, gripping his mug nervously. ‘It’s very nice. Just a little smoother.’ He tried to smile but didn’t quite manage it. Carlyle didn’t think he’d ever seen his friend looking so wired. Maybe more caffeine wasn’t such a good idea.
Sol took another sip. ‘So,’ he eyed the inspector carefully, ‘here you are sitting in my kitchen once again.’
Carlyle nodded.
‘Only this time, as far as I can judge, you have nothing to trade.’ He glanced at the Somalis who stood impassively by the back door, giving no impression of understanding any of what was being said. ‘In fact, it seems like the only thing you’ve managed to do is derail my current business plans, costing me a lot of money in the process.’
Taking another mouthful of coffee, Carlyle shook his head. ‘That was not my fault.’
Sol held up a hand. ‘Look, to be honest, I don’t really care who did what to whom or when or how and least of all, why. Regarding the politics of it all, I couldn’t give a damn. Apart from anything else, my Israeli clients are far more lucrative than my Arab ones. Money is no object to those boys; they can afford any shit they want, and they always want the best.’
‘The best kind of clients,’ Dom quipped. Sol gave him a sharp look and he quickly returned his gaze to his cup.
‘I have no problem with Mossad, or whoever the fuck it was, nailing whoever they like. My only wish is that they wouldn’t liquidate clients before they’ve settled their accounts.’ Sol shrugged. ‘It’s a simple business principle: you gotta get paid.’
Carlyle nodded, happy to let Sol continue spouting off for as long as he liked.
‘I’ve got nothing against the Israelis – apart from the little shit downstairs,’ he nodded to a small door in the far corner of the kitchen, ‘but then he tried to fucking kill me. They are great people to deal with, hard but fair.’ He grinned at Carlyle. ‘If I may be so bold as to give you a word of advice, I think that you have been rather too aggressive in your dealings with them. They will fuck you royally in the end.’
Carlyle gave him a
what
’
s-done-is-done
type of a shrug.
‘So, what have you got for me?’
‘Well,’ Carlyle smiled, ‘I’m going to let you walk away . . . live to fight another day, as it were.’
Sol looked at Silver and frowned. ‘Excuse me?’
Silver just stared into his mug.
‘I need you to hand over the captive downstairs,’ said Carlyle evenly. ‘He needs to be taken into custody and processed.’
‘Oh yes?’ said Sol, a mixture of amusement and annoyance in his voice. ‘He’s going to be
processed
all right. He’s going to be processed all the way to Hell. And if you don’t start talking some sense, you’ll be going with him.’
Carlyle ignored the threat. ‘I’m sure that if I were to have you arrested,’ he continued, ‘that would prove to be only a temporary inconvenience. Anyway, I assured Dominic here that I would respect you, being his client. Like I said, you can walk away. Sure, the deal fell through, but these things happen. It certainly wasn’t my fault and I am doing you the very great favour of overlooking the fact that what you are doing is completely fucking illegal.’
‘How very kind of you.’
‘That’s a more than fair exchange for a man you don’t really have any use for anyway.’
Sol sat back and crossed his arms. ‘And if I say no?’ Behind him, the two bodyguards, sensing the meeting had taken a downward turn, swayed forwards on the balls of their feet, ready for action. As they did so, there was a gentle tinkle of breaking glass, and the kitchen window disintegrated.
‘What the fuck?’ Before Sol could get out of his chair, the Somalis were both lying face down, blood leaking out of almost identical head wounds, brain matter splattered over the wooden floor and the fridge door. Reaching over to the nearest one, he tried to retrieve the Uzi pistol sticking out of the dead man’s Wrangler jeans.
‘Step away from the body!’ Sid Lieberman edged his way through the door, the Browning Hi-Power that had killed DI David Ronan – now with an outsized suppressor attached to the end of its barrel – pointing at Sol Abramyan’s head.
Carlyle looked over at Dom, who was gripping the table in order to stop himself shaking. The inspector gave him a gentle pat on the arm, and Dom almost jumped out of his skin. ‘Just stay calm,’ Carlyle murmured, ‘and we’ll walk out of this.’
Dom let out a constipated grunt that suggested he wasn’t entirely reassured, in view of the evidence in front of him.
Sol moved away from Lieberman, until he was standing next to Carlyle. ‘You are one fucked-up policeman,’ he hissed, just before a .40 S&W round punched straight through his skull and sent him flying backwards.
‘That was neat!’ Sylvia Swain stepped from behind Lieberman and trained a second silenced Browning on Carlyle. She had that glazed expression on her face that suggested she was high on either drink or drugs. ‘Can I do the copper as well?’
‘First things first,’ Lieberman scowled. He turned to Silver. ‘Who are you?’
‘A civilian,’ explained Carlyle quickly.
‘There
are
no fucking civilians,’ Lieberman snarled. ‘He dies here with you.’
‘Kill him and you get nothing,’ Carlyle said quietly.
‘Give me my man right now,’ Lieberman screamed, ‘or I will fucking kill you both right this second. Then I will go straight to your home and kill your fucking family.’
‘Cool!’ trilled Swain.
Carlyle glanced at Dom, who was staring at a spot somewhere out in the darkness beyond the shattered window. There was something that might have been a smile on his face, and Carlyle realized that he was thinking about his kids and his wife, and all the things that made his life worthwhile. Fighting back a tear, he felt a flood of overwhelming gratitude towards the man who was at his side. If he was going to die, at least he wouldn’t die alone.
‘Where’s Goya?’ Lieberman demanded.
Carlyle gestured at the door in the corner. ‘In the basement.’
‘Well, what are we waiting for?’ Swain demanded, pointing the way with her semi-automatic. ‘Let’s get down there.’ Rising from his chair, Carlyle hauled Dom after him. ‘Hurry up,’ Swain shouted. ‘Open it!’
The small wooden door, only about five feet by two feet, looked like it should give access to a cupboard or pantry. Grabbing the handle, Carlyle tried pulling and then pushing. ‘It’s locked.’
‘No problem,’ Swain grinned. ‘Step aside.’
Carlyle barely had time to jump out of the way before she blasted the lock three times. The door disintegrated and they were left looking at a steep set of narrow wooden stairs, leading down into darkness.
‘On you go,’ the military attaché said. ‘Both of you.’
Carefully taking one step at a time, Carlyle led the way, followed by Dom. When he reached the bottom, he groped for a light switch. Flicking it on, the space was illuminated by a single bare bulb hanging from the middle of the ceiling itself. A couple of large flies buzzed around it before settling for the view from the ceiling. The large, windowless room smelled of damp and decay. The walls were whitewashed brick, and the floor of rough, untreated concrete was covered in plastic sheeting. In the centre, a man sat tied to a chair. Slumped forward, he did not respond in any way to Carlyle’s presence. Naked to the waist and barefoot, the smell coming from his jeans suggested he had been left alone there for a long time. The blood on his head and chest were evidence of multiple beatings, presumably at the hands of the Somalis.
Breathing through his mouth, Carlyle stepped over to the chair and placed a hand on the man’s neck until he found a pulse. What had Lieberman called him? Goya? Carlyle gingerly pulled back the man’s head by the matted hair. Even through the blood, it was easy to recognize the face. He glanced at Dom. ‘That’s the guy who shot Joe.’
‘Result,’ Dom grunted without enthusiasm.
‘Is he alive?’ Swain pushed Dom further into the room and stepped away from the stairs, allowing Lieberman to follow her down.
‘Yes,’ Carlyle nodded, ‘but he’s in a bad way.’
‘Let’s get him upstairs,’ Swain commanded. ‘Quickly.’
Carlyle grabbed the front legs of the chair and signalled for Dom to get hold of the back.
‘When you reach the top,’ Lieberman barked, ‘untie him and put him on the kitchen table.’ Turning, he disappeared back up the stairs.
‘Then the pair of you get yourselves back down here,’ Swain added, ‘and we’ll have some fun.’
Carlyle let Dom take the lead and they shuffled awkwardly towards the stairs. With his front foot on the bottom step, Carlyle thought he heard a noise upstairs. Pushing forward, he knocked Dom off-balance.
‘Hey!’ Dom half-tripped on the stairs but didn’t lose his grip on the chair.
‘Sorry.’
‘Get on with it!’ Swain pushed the muzzle of the Browning’s silencer into the nape of Carlyle’s neck.
‘I’m trying,’ the inspector protested, ‘but he’s heavy.’ With another large grunt, he began the climb.
At the top of the stairs, Carlyle quickly dropped the chair and skipped away from the door, leaving Goya blocking Swain’s view into the kitchen. Stepping round the table, he saw Sid Lieberman lying face down between the two dead Somalis, his hands tied tightly behind his back with plastic cuffs. The size-ten boot of Gideon Spanner was placed firmly in the small of the military attaché’s back. Spanner had a SIG Sauer P226 pointed at Lieberman’s head and a bored expression on his face.