Lee Child - Personal

‘Correct,’ I said. ‘Weird things are going to happen, and things are going to change, and the ground is going to move under our feet, but if we keep on thinking fast, we’ll be OK.’

‘You sure?’

‘Like you said before, it’s all comparative. Bottom line, it’s about thinking faster than Joey Green. And the data was in on that a long time ago. Modern humans outlasted Neanderthal Man.’

‘What did you mean when you said weird things are going to happen?’

‘Just that nothing turns out like you think it will.’

‘It sounded like you meant something more specific. Do you know things you’re not telling me?’

I didn’t answer.

Then Bennett showed up again in person, and raised the stakes. We got a call in Nice’s room that he was downstairs. He asked us to meet him in the restaurant. He said he would buy us lunch. Nice shut down the tablet computer, which locked his semi-useful pictures behind our twin passwords, and then we rode up in the elevator, and we found him at a table by the window, with our drinks already ordered, bottled water for Nice and black coffee for me, at which point I knew he was about to ask for some real big favour.

Which he did.

He said the behavioural psychology subcommittee had met again, to review the report he had submitted that morning. And apparently the subcommittee had exceeded its brief, by thinking for itself. It had started from the same feeling I had gotten about internecine strife. If Miller or Thompson went down, then depending on the exact distribution between Charlie White and his lieutenants, which was an unknown at that point, then somewhere between perhaps 15 and 20 per cent of the Romford Boys’ net profit was up for grabs. Which would be interesting.

But not as interesting as it might perhaps become, if the stakes were somewhat higher still, and certainly more Oedipal. Suppose our initial attack was on Charlie White himself? That would cut the head off the octopus, not just an arm. And it would certainly bring all three lieutenants to the scene, and even if I didn’t get them all there, then they might well take care of each other later, because there would be an immediate war of succession. The two old heads against the young usurper, for the whole enchilada. The old heads knew all the business details, and the young usurper was nearly seven feet tall, which would make their opening skirmishes lively, which might make them all forget for a minute that old Charlie paid his cops and his councillors weekly, which might lead to a brief bribe-free window, during which time arrests could be made and prosecutions sought.

So, what did we think?

I said, ‘How are you doing with my information about the bulletproof glass?’

Bennett said, ‘It’s coming.’

‘When?’

‘How urgent can it be?’

‘I want it one minute after you get it. And I want you to get it soon.’

He nodded. ‘So what are we going to do about Charlie White?’

‘We?’

‘OK, you.’

I said, ‘Where does he live?’

‘He’s still in Romford. Born and bred. He fancies himself an authentic man of the people.’

‘Single-family house?’

‘What does that mean?’

‘Detached,’ Nice said, like a translator.

‘Of course,’ Bennett said. ‘Normal size, but it has a wall just like Joey’s. Or a fence, or whatever you want to call it. Brick and wrought iron. To keep the grateful proletariat out.’

‘Security?’

‘Six guards and a driver.’

‘Pick of the litter?’

‘Competitive.’

‘Does he go out much?’

Bennett said, ‘He’s going out tonight, as a matter of fact.’

‘Where?’

‘To meet with the Serbians. To express his condolences.’

‘Is that one of the elaborate courtesies?’

‘One of the most fundamental. They’re in business together, and the Serbians suffered a casualty. The same thing happened last night, but in reverse, because of the guy you hit in the throat.’

‘An hour from now, is the behavioural psychology subcommittee going to come back to us and say we have to take out the Serbians too?’

‘We would like nothing better, but realistically you shouldn’t take them on all at once.’

I said, ‘We haven’t agreed to take them on at all.’

‘The committee asked me to point out that we might have understated the quality of the security details protecting Miller and Thompson. They’re better than we said. The point being, it’s not much of a step to go for White instead.’

‘Is any of that true?’

‘No. It’s a very big step.’

‘But they have to be psychological.’

‘Whatever works.’

‘Works better with prior insight. Have you seen our files?’

Bennett smiled and said, ‘You got my heavy hint? With the passwords? O’Day supplied your files.’

‘Why?’

‘Because we asked.’

‘Back in the day he would have told you to get lost.’

‘He’s not what he was. He’s feeling his way back. His star was fading, for a couple of years.’

‘Khenkin said the same thing in Paris.’

‘We could help you, if you need it. Four of Charlie’s guards will be in a separate car, obviously. We could pick it off. A traffic stop, or something. Then you’d only have two to deal with, plus the driver, plus Charlie himself.’

‘One guard in the front with the driver, and the other in the back next to Charlie?’

‘That’s how they do it.’

‘What kind of car?’

‘A Rolls-Royce.’

‘Black?’

‘Of course.’

‘Armoured, like Karel Libor’s Range Rover?’

‘Only the back doors and the back glass. And only against handguns. I guess they call it the anti-opportunistic assassination option. For the kind of customer who has enemies walking by.’

‘And the chase car is a Jaguar?’

‘They have dozens of them.’

I said nothing.

Bennett said, ‘Traffic stops are expensive. Not just in money. There’s exposure, and risk, and liability. Suppose a pregnant lady couldn’t get through to the hospital? Suppose an old man had a heart attack because of all the excitement? Questions would be asked. It’s a tactic we couldn’t justify unless there was a significant potential reward.’

My turn to smile. I said, ‘You didn’t rule the world by being nice, right? You’re saying if we go after Charlie White, you’ll handle the chase car for us. But not if we settle for Tommy Miller or Billy Thompson. So our choice is fight two of Charlie’s guards, or four of theirs. Charlie’s will be better, but probably not twice as good. Therefore, what we have here is an incentive. Proposed and recommended by the behavioural psychology subcommittee. Am I right?’

‘We’re here to help each other. That’s how it’s supposed to work.’

‘When am I going to get my information about the bulletproof glass?’

‘One minute after I get it.’

‘Which will be when?’

‘Very soon.’

‘What time will old Charlie start out for his condolence visit?’

‘Late. The sun has to be down. It’s some ethnic thing. They have their rituals too. We have some details, including a likely route. And we think we’ve found a spot for the thing with the chase car. I’ll send over what we’ve got, on another computer.’

Then he left.

Casey Nice asked, ‘Is this one of the weird things that were going to happen?’

I said, ‘No, this part was predictable.’

THE NEW COMPUTER arrived, with the same people as before. They said in Nice’s case, her new password was the customer helpline number at her mother’s health insurance company, and in my case, my new password was the name of the other guy Shoemaker had seen me shoot. Then they left, and as before we carried the computer up to Nice’s room, and we entered the private information, and the screen opened up with a long list of files and folders.