Quintin Jardine: Skinner's festival

'No, son,' he said calmly and steadily. 'You don't understand.

It ends here. You just said you weren't crazy. So work this out. I know for certain that if you take Alex away from here, you'll kill her just like you killed the girl in the farmhouse, and your driver there. So I will not let you take her away. If she is to die, she will die with me, her father, beside her. But if you do kill her, even if you harm just a single hair on her head, then I will shoot you at that very moment. Believe me, that is my solemn promise. If you're not crazy, you don't want to die. So let her go. Now!' The last word was as soft as a whisper, but it carried the force of a shout.

Death stood surely before him, and yet Ingo Svart laughed in its face. And in that second Skinner looked at his daughter, and saw only her concern for him, not fear for herself.

'Pops,' she mouthed silently.

'No, poor old Bob,' said Ingo, 'it is you who don't understand your situation. Time for our last surprise, I think.' He called over his shoulder. 'Ariel!'

The near-side passenger door of the Senator opened, and a woman stepped out slowly. But it was not Ariel – not yet.

It was Sarah.

She looked helplessly at Bob, then shook her head.

And then another woman stepped out. Julia. But not Julia – Ariel.

The doe-eyes which Skinner had come to know so well were now hard as flints as they stared across at him. Her smile, previously warm and wide, was cold, tight and controlled. She held a gun to Sarah's side, and stood pressed close to her.

'So now, I think, you will take your pistol off my brother, and we will see if we can reach some agreement.' Her voice was as dark as her eyes.

Her accent seemed to have changed too. It was clipped, more European in origin. Her hair, usually flowing, was pulled back into a long heavy pony-tail. She was dressed functionally in jeans and a white short-sleeved top, far removed from either the flowery or the formal styles of the Julia Shahor that he had thought he knew.

'So how did you…?' he began. But he could guess.

'Don't blame Andy, Bob. He told me nothing we didn't know already – until he picked me up tonight. I was just about to leave his place to meet up with Ingemar when he called to tell me of your excellent idea that Sarah and I should look after each other. Then he said that he had to go catch a helicopter. Not a plane, a helicopter. That's when I knew for sure that you hadn't bought our escape story, and that you wouldn't just set an ambush at the airport but would try to trace us to wherever we were heading. We expected you'd probably find some way to track us in the end. I know you're a very dangerous man, especially where your beloved Alex is concerned. So when Andy said that, I decided we had to take Sarah too, just to make sure.'

A self-satisfied smile crept across her face. 'Did our little surprise give you a scare last night? Sorry about that. but you have really annoyed us. We have been planning this operation for two years. We committed finally when I was offered the Film Festival contract. Imagine, to be running an operation, and to be in on the police security briefings. We planned every detail, down to the last little item, even to "Auntie" staying with me, to give me an excuse to get away from Filmhouse at odd hour?.'

She's enjoying this. thought Skinner. Keep her talking, boy. Wait for the moment, then take it. By God, you take it. The thought sent a thrill of anticipation running through him.;?

Ariel went on. 'We ran this type of operation once before inp South Africa. It worked so well there, we really didn't think we'dj need a back-up plan this time. But when we did, Alex working in the same show as Ingo was such a gift, and my getting involved with Andy was the icing on the cake. The break-in thing at my house was clever, wasn't it. Poor Ray staged that one for me, and Andy was hooked. That's Andy's one weakness, you know. He's vulnerable to love. Such a pity, because he turned out to be my one weakness too.'

For a moment Ariel paused, her boasting turned to wistfulness.

If it had worked, I was going to stay here, not leave with Ingemar. I could have married Andy. How's that for funny. But when I had to let Alex see me last night, I lost that chance.'

Ariel, enough. We have to go.' For the first time, anxiety showed in Ingo.

She nodded. 'Yes, we must. So here is he deal. Bob. We leave the ladies here. But we take you. Just you. Not your little friend – he's the soldier Andy mentioned, I imagine – we couldn't handle you both in that little plane. And we take our prizes here, of course – the Crown, the Sceptre and he Sword. We have a delivery to make to our client.

'You.' She turned to Arrow. 'Fetch the bags from the car and load them into the plane. Then we take off – and you make sure there is no attempt to stop us.

Bob. you take your chance at the othel end. Now throw down your gun. Let's get moving!'

Arrow looked across to Skinner, who nodded to him, arid at the same time dropped his Browning on the ground. The little soldier moved past Sarah and Ariel, behind the car, and took the holdalls from the boot. He carried them across to the hangar, shoving its doors further apart with his shoulders, and placed them on one of the two rear seats of the plane.

That's good,' said Ariel. 'That's the most important part.

Now, Bob, you get on board, please.'

Skinner shook his head. 'Not till the girls and Adam are free and clear.'

'Oh no, Adam is not going anywhere.' Barely looking to take aim, she snapped off a single shot. Arrow crumpled and went down.

'So that just leaves the five of us. Now, do you get on that plane or…?' She stopped and shrugged her shoulders, impatiently.

'But why bother? It's much easier if we just kill the lot of you.

Ingemar. I'll shoot the women. You take Skinner – now!'

As she called to her brother, she pushed Sarah away from her and levelled her gun at her chest.

The shot was still cracking all around the airfield, even as she fell.

Andy Martin lay on the damp grass. He saw the car's approaching headlights, and saw it swing to a halt with its beams shining into the hangar.

He saw the muzzle-flash and even at that distance, heard the sharp sound as Ingo dispatched the driverHe saw him pull Alex from the car.

He saw the eye-to-eye, gun-to-gun stalemate between Skinner and the Swede.

And then he saw Sarah's head and shoulders emerge from the far side of the car, and saw the profile of the woman who followed, pushing her forward but staying close, holding something to her side.

It was the profile he had come to know so well, in the moonlight not so long before, but different somehow. The truth came to him in a flash, and his heart sank. He had taken the devil into his bed and into his heart, in the guise and the garb of an angel.

He watched, helpless. Seeing her lips move, he strained to hear what she said, but of course he was too far away.

He saw Arrow take the bags from the car and carry them into the hangar.

He started in horror as she shot him down.

And then, still through the telescopic sight of the sniper's rifle which Skinner had taken earlier from Brian Mackie, he saw her push Sarah away from her, and knew instantly what she was about to do.

Tears flooded his contact lens, but only in the second after he pulled the trigger.

Ariel – who had been Andy's beloved Julia – twisted like a corkscrew as the heavy rifle bullet tore through her.

Ingo looked across in horror as his sister fell. His gun, which had been swinging towards Skinner, wavered aimlessly for a moment… And in that moment Skinner was upon him.

Not the affable if inquisitive Skinner whom he had met before as Alex's Pops. This was another Skinner: the cold, deadly Skinner he had glimpsed a few minutes earlier. The executioner Skinner, with no mercy in his eyes.