Charles Cumming - The Trinity Six

Grek raised his face to the sky and sniffed at the chill evening air as though he had no intention of responding.

‘What was it for?’ Gaddis wanted to grab Grek by the arms and to shake an answer out of him. ‘I just don’t see how you rationalize it, how you square it with your conscience.’ He took a step backwards and found that he was almost smiling. ‘I don’t believe that people have no conscience. I can’t believe that. Otherwise such people are just animals, no better than a vulture or a snake, no? They say that everybody has their reasons, but it’s a mystery to me why you would destroy lives as freely as you do. There are so many other choices available to you. Is it just the thrill of it, the sense of power? Or are you so loyal to your country, are you such a patriot, that it short-circuits your decency? Perhaps it’s about status. Enlighten me. I’d really like to know.’

‘You are an interesting man,’ Grek replied, because he was too self-assured ever to be drawn into such a game. ‘Tell me about yourself. How did you become involved in these things?’

Only then did Gaddis realize that Tanya had been right all along. The Russians really did know very little about him. He said: ‘You know exactly who I am,’ but only because he was so surprised by what he had heard.

‘Really, I don’t,’ said Grek. ‘You are a mystery to us.’

‘And yet you want to buy a tape from me, a tape that is worth a lot of money.’ Gaddis finally caved in to his desire for a cigarette and extracted one from the pocket of his coat. Grek immediately rolled the Zippo lighter across his hip and held out the flame. Gaddis snubbed it and struck a match of his own, cupping it steadily against the easterly wind.

‘We would like to buy that tape,’ Grek said.

‘Yes? What do you think it’s worth?’ Gaddis had taken himself beyond any further attempt to appeal to the Russian’s conscience; it was pointless. Better to conclude their ‘business’ as quickly as possible and to get back to Holly.

‘One hundred thousand pounds.’

Gaddis winced, remembering the typed note, the photographs of Min and Natasha, and he realized that Tanya had been right about Brennan as well: the FSB and MI6 had joined forces against him. For a strange and terrifying moment, like a waking dream, he imagined that Grek was about to produce yet more pictures of his daughter, only this time in the nightmare of some terrible captivity. He knew in his bones that the Russian would stoop to such a thing as easily as he could hail a passing cab.

‘How did you arrive at that price?’ he asked.

‘We can arrive at any price you like.’

‘ Any price?’

Another jogger grunted by, a man in late middle age with a glowing face and a pot belly. Grek ignored him.

‘Does your British conscience tell you that you cannot accept money of this kind from the Russian government?’

Gaddis was grateful for the chance to strike back. ‘Why would my conscience tell me that? I would happily take as much money from the Russian government as I possibly can.’

Grek detected no irony. ‘So the sum offered to you for the protection of your child is not enough?’

If Gaddis had possessed any doubts about the wisdom of his plan, they were extinguished by this casual threat to Min. ‘No, it is not enough,’ he said, and spoke in Russian so that no idiosyncrasy of his reply would be lost in translation. ‘I want half a million pounds. A hundred thousand each to the families of Benedict Meisner, Robert Wilkinson and Calvin Somers. One hundred thousand pounds for Paul Berg. And one hundred thousand pounds for myself. You will also guarantee that no harm comes to my daughter, to Holly Levette, to Tanya Acocella or to my ex-wife. Do I make myself clear?’

‘These things can be very easily guaranteed.’

‘Don’t forget about my wedding.’

Tanya’s voice took both men by surprise. She had appeared from within the shadows of a tree, the sound of her approach obscured by the noise of the rush-hour traffic.

‘Excuse me?’ Grek looked as though he was having trouble bringing Tanya into focus.

‘Just a private joke between myself and Doctor Gaddis,’ she said, moving towards them. She was also speaking in fluent Russian and, for a wrenching moment, Gaddis thought that they were working in tandem. ‘I’m getting married,’ she said. ‘Could do with the extra cash if you’re doling it out. Sam, would you introduce us?’

Startled, he began to say: ‘This is Alexander Grek-’ but Tanya interrupted him.

‘I know who he is.’ She reverted to English. ‘And I know his friend in the Mercedes parked just over there.’ She gestured in the direction of Tite Street. ‘In fact, a colleague of mine is currently asking to see the friend’s identification.’ It was a lie, but Grek’s impassive demeanour finally cracked.

‘What is going on here?’

‘What is going on here is that you are going to do exactly what Doctor Gaddis asks. You are going to give him five hundred thousand pounds. In return for this, Doctor Gaddis will guarantee that the copy of the tape in his possession will never be shown or distributed during his lifetime. Is that the case?’

Gaddis felt as though a vest, heavy as lead, had been lifted from his body. ‘That is the case.’

Grek adjusted his stance, his hips shifting forward in a way that looked awkward. He was struggling to maintain his equanimity, a climber slipping on a wall.

‘We will need that tape,’ he said.

‘Fine.’ Gaddis found the courage to be almost dismissive with the tone of his reply. ‘But it won’t be any good to you. I made several copies. Each of them will be kept in a secure location. Should anything happen to me, the people charged with looking after them will release the Platov footage to the media.’

Grek looked hard into Gaddis’s eyes, because he sensed that he was lying.

‘You had time to make several copies?’ It was an opportunity to claw back some lost pride. ‘I doubt that very much. I imagine that the only copy of the tape is currently at the bottom of a letter box not five hundred metres from where we are standing. I think you are bluffing.’

‘Try me,’ Gaddis replied.

A teenage girl with what looked like a cold sore on her lip walked past them on the arm of her boyfriend. Gaddis saw that it was a lip-piercing and smiled to himself.

‘Something funny?’ Grek said.

At that moment, his mobile phone pulsed in the inside pocket of his coat. The Russian reached for it and both Gaddis and Tanya flinched, assuming that he was going for a gun. But he reassured her by unbuttoning the coat slowly and retrieving the phone with the tips of his fingers.

‘Relax. You assume that I would shoot you? What do you think of me?’

He looked down at the screen. It was a message from Kepitsa. Gaddis used the moment to glance across at Tanya, who reassured him with a nod. Grek looked up and spoke.

‘It would appear that you are right, Doctor Gaddis.’ In Russian, he added: ‘My instructions are to leave you in possession of the tape. I have your word that our business is concluded?’

‘You have my word,’ he replied.

Grek replaced the phone and turned in the direction of Chelsea Bridge, so that his back was facing them. He seemed to consider the possibility of a parting remark but thought better of it and walked away. Within moments he had disappeared into the glare of the London night. Almost immediately, Des materialized beside Tanya and said ‘Hi’ to Gaddis as though they were still in Berlin.

‘Get to the Mercedes,’ Tanya told him. ‘Go back and keep an eye on Holly. And find someone to take a look at that postbox.’

‘Don’t bother,’ Gaddis told her. ‘It’s a decoy. It’s a DVD of Holly’s showreel. I gave one of the real copies to a cleaning lady in the lobby. She told me she was going to post it to Princeton on her way home.’