Adrian Magson - Deception

He told Rik to count to ten, then play the message again, giving him time to set up the recorder on his own mobile. Once that was done, he played the message over and over, pausing for coffee and prowling the terminal lounge, trying to read in the deep, slow voice a sign as to the identity of the caller. Educated, obviously. Articulate, too, although English wasn’t his first language. Maybe not used much. Middle-aged by the tone and depth, even courteous in his request. And then the word Handy : it was what they called mobiles in Germany.

He dialled the number.

It was answered on the tenth ring, as he was about to give up.

‘ Ja ?’ A man’s voice, flat and hesitant. In the background Harry heard someone whispering urgently. A woman’s voice, cut off by the man saying something sharp.

Harry introduced himself. ‘You were kind enough to call about this phone, the Handy ,’ he said carefully, avoiding any sign of accusation. ‘And the passport. Are you willing to trade?’

‘Trade?’ the man sounded wary.

‘Sell. Are you willing to sell them to me?’

A whispered conversation and the man came back. ‘ Ja . . Yes. . We wish to return both items. Your name is Harry?’

‘Yes. Harry Tate. What about the man who owns these things? Is he hurt? Have you seen him?’

‘ Nein . . no. We have not seen the man in the Pass — the passport. Only this and the telephone.’

Harry decided to cut to the chase before the man lost his nerve or the phone died on him. ‘Where can we meet?’ he asked. ‘Can you give me your name?’

There was a silence, and for a second or two Harry thought he had gone. Then the man said, ‘Schwedt. You must come to Schwedt. You will bring money?’ His voice faded on the last question, suddenly unsure. . or embarrassed.

‘Where is Schwedt?’

‘Near the Oderbruch,’ the man said. ‘Fifty kilometres north-east of Berlin, by the border with Poland. You must come to Tegel, I think, then by car to here.’

Berlin. Barrow hadn’t gone far, then.

‘Mr Harry. . are you there?’

‘Yes, I’m still here. How will I know you? Where will we meet?’

A second or two of silence, then the man said briefly, ‘You come to the church in Oderstrasse. Then ring this number and I will find you.’

The phone went off.

Harry returned to the main concourse and bought a ticket for Berlin on an early Air Portugal flight the following morning. It meant an overnight stay, but at least he could get his head down in a hotel, ready for whatever lay ahead. Next he went to the bureau de change and bought a thousand US dollars. With no idea what the mystery man in Germany might be asking for the return of phone and passport, it was better to be on the safe side.

He called Rik and told him of his plans, then Ballatyne. The MI6 man was concerned.

‘You might have dug a stick in the wasps’ nest, Harry.’

‘That was the intention. I’ll never get anywhere following vague trails. I need them to come to me.’

‘If Paulton is involved with the Protectory and this is a trap, he might bolt the moment he hears your name.’

‘That’s the risk I have to take. I’ll call as soon as I hear anything.’

In the flat in Schwedt, Ulf Hefflin sat back with a sigh. His chest was hurting with the strain of making the call, but he felt good. He glanced at his sister. She seemed to have gone into a trance, eyes fixed on some distant horizon, and he wondered how many of the blue tablets she had taken. Too many for her own good, probably. On the other hand, he wasn’t the one fighting the pain.

‘He will come,’ he said softly, and went to make more coffee. He would have liked something stronger, but once he started down that road, it would be hard to stop. The stress of getting Sylvia’s tablets was burden enough; now he had to meet this Englishman and go through the humiliation of asking for money for the phone and the passport. ‘Harry Tate will come.’

Back at the Continentale Cafe, the barman, Daniels, was staring at the screen of the security monitor in the back office which showed a still picture from the CCTV camera over the front entrance. It was the British guy, frozen as he stepped through the door. It was a good shot, and should be easy to get a make on him for someone with the right contacts.

And the man he’d been talking to earlier, the one he knew as Deakin; he would have the contacts.

He took a copy of the frozen frame and added a brief identifier: ‘ The Brit who came in asking questions. D. ’ Then he sent it off to a Google Mail address where Deakin could pick it up.

Staff Sergeant Gerry McCreath stood by the door of his bedroom and listened for sounds of movement. The hotel he was being kept in was large, square and anonymous, fancy enough to be expensive, yet still a soulless block of glass and steel, a couple of miles from Brussels city centre. He hadn’t slept more than a couple of hours straight in the past three days, but that wasn’t down to the bedding or the decor. First had been the unfamiliar, of not being constantly under orders. Even in Selly Oak Hospital, his timetable had been fixed from morning until night. Second came the pricking of conscience after agreeing to do what he’d never thought himself capable of. Now it was fear, plain and simple.

Oddly enough, fear was something he could deal with. Christ, he’d known enough of it recently.

He scooted across to the bedside cabinet and gathered his few belongings together. Cash, watch, wallet, a cheap paperback he couldn’t get into. He tossed the book aside and dropped the rest into his pockets, resolve suddenly spurring him on. Then he picked up his overnight bag and paused to take stock. He was dressed in a jacket, white shirt and dark slacks, which the men who’d brought him here had made him wear. It fitted the ambiance better, one of them had joked. A man named Deakin, ex-British army. He seemed to think it was amusing, a serving soldier agreeing to trade the information in his head in exchange for cash and a new identity. Like it was some kind of game.

He was breathing fast — too fast. He had to keep control. Ever since his wounds had been patched up, he’d been getting anxiety attacks. The slightest thing could set them off, from a door slamming, to the sound of someone shouting. . The medics said it was normal and they’d subside in time. But if anything they seemed to be getting worse. And now this situation wasn’t exactly helping. He forced himself to calm down, focussing on the wall and trying to find a picture of somewhere serene. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t. Right now it had to.

Since deciding to seek the Protectory’s help, he’d been doubtful about what he was getting into. Going on the run had been done on a whim, high on prescription drugs and the after-effects of his injuries, when he was desperate to be away from the stuff he’d been doing with 16 Air Assault Brigade. It wasn’t going to work out over there, he told himself. The lads would be at it for years, slowly losing numbers. Eventually the politicians would have to admit defeat, or have Afghanistan as a permanent killing ground, a gross war of attrition. How could you fight an enemy you couldn’t even see most of the time? Where they hid among civilians and came at you out of nowhere, and the next time you stepped down from a Chinook in a swirling dust cloud you could be right on top of an IED-

He breathed deeply until the thoughts receded. Too late for all that. Focus . He’d made the jump and now he had to face the consequences. Whether he did the trade the Protectory wanted him to, emptying his head of everything he knew or. . he did what his brain was telling him to do right now , before anyone came back, he was out on a limb and would have to make the best of it. Trouble was, he now knew, after what he’d just heard, changing his mind might be the last thing he ever did.