Adrian Magson - Retribution

Harry agreed. ‘Any more news on the rape story?’

‘Some. A couple of UN interpreters in Mitrovica have picked up stories about a dead girl found years ago outside a KFOR compound. It blew over because of ethnic violence in the area. . and what was another death among so many? But now it’s coming back. There’s still no hard information, but it’s beginning to take on a reality that’s hard to shift.’

‘The killings aren’t going to help,’ Harry said grimly.

‘Yeah. Paris, Brussels and now New York. . maybe this guy’s just following his nose.’

‘I don’t believe that. He got his information on the CP team from Demescu. Find her and we might find out who else is involved. That might lead us to the killer.’

Deane sighed. ‘Yeah. I wish I knew where he was right now.’

‘On the move,’ said Harry. ‘I would be if it was me.’ He saw a man in crew uniform waving to him. ‘I’ve got to go. I’ll be in touch.’

‘OK. Listen, if you do go to Moscow to see Koslov, you might swing through Kosovo. Our man on the ground in Pristina is Archie Lubeszki. He can fill you in on any local background. At this stage every little bit helps. And Harry — ring me any time, you hear?’

Harry switched off his phone and followed the crewman on board his flight, a US Army Cessna UC-35. It was classed as a utility flight, and he’d got company in four senior officers, who all stopped talking the moment he walked aboard, their inbuilt antennae warning them of a civilian presence. He ignored them and sat down, closing his eyes. Over the years he’d developed the soldier’s facility of snatching sleep whenever the opportunity arose, and right now he needed to pack away as much as he could. He was going to need it.

Harry found the Holiday Inn a short car ride from Columbus airport. A large, 222-room building with conference facilities, fitness room and satellite television, it still managed to look like a hundred other similar hotels.

He parked his rental car near the front entrance and walked into an air-conditioned chill. The lobby was full of men and women dressed in suits or blazers, with sharp creases and little jewellery, badges pinned to their chests.

Harry checked in, then skirted the melee and headed for the lobby bar. He needed a cold drink and to check the lay of the land. The bar already held a collection of serious drinkers — presumably colleagues of the group outside — and he found a spot away from the noisiest group. He ordered a beer and nodded towards the lobby. ‘Sales conference?’

‘Yes, sir.’ The bartender placed a beer in front of him. ‘You from out of town?’

‘New York,’ Harry said. ‘Down to see a friend.’

‘Uh-huh.’ The man nodded, as if being from New York explained it all.

‘My name’s Harry Tate. I’m here to see Carl Pendry.’

The man dunked a glass into a basin of water. ‘Carl? Yeah — I know Carl.’ He excused himself and moved along the bar to serve another customer, leaving Harry with the uncomfortable feeling that he’d breached some local code of conduct.

Moments later he sensed a movement nearby and detected a trace of perfume. He turned and found a young woman looking up at him.

‘Hi,’ she said brightly. ‘You’re Harry, right?’ She spoke with an attractive, soft drawl, and was small and slim, dressed in a dark trouser-suit and a frilly blouse. A mass of blonde hair topped a pert face with large, alert eyes.

‘Yes,’ he said, assuming she was a member of staff. Ten feet away the bartender was watching from the corner of his eye. ‘Is there a problem?’

‘Not at all,’ she replied. ‘You’ve come to see Carl.’

‘News travels fast.’

‘Only when it has to. I’m Gail Tranter. Carl’s a friend.’ She signalled to the bartender, miming a drink. ‘He asked me to meet you and make sure you were comfortable. He’s been delayed at the base, but he won’t be long. They have a lot of new arrivals to deal with.’

She collected her drink, which looked to Harry like a straight tonic, and led him to a table away from the other guests.

‘Sorry about the crush — when we don’t have corporate meetings, we get a lot of military personnel and their families passing through.’ She sat neatly and sipped her drink. ‘Our policy is to support the military at all times. Carl tells me you were with him in Kosovo?’ Her tone ended each sentence on a rising inflection, and Kosovo was pronounced with soft and rounded Os.

‘That’s right.’ Harry wondered how much Pendry had told her.

‘Close protection?’ she said with no trace of irony. ‘Does that mean you’re like the Secret Service, you have to put yourself in front of the — what is it? — the veepee?’

‘Actually, the industry standard is to duck for cover and let the veepee take the bullet.’

‘That’s what Carl said. I didn’t believe him, either.’ The look she gave Harry warned him she wasn’t a weak, fluffy-headed female who needed protecting from the harsher truths of the world, so he could cut the bullshit. He decided he liked her.

‘Have you and Carl been friends for long?’

‘Sure. We were at school together. Then he joined the army and moved away. I stayed around here and did college and majored in business studies. We bumped into each other again in Columbus about a month ago.’ She grinned at the memory. ‘He’d put on about fifty pounds of muscle and grown another ten inches. I hardly recognized him. But we get on pretty good.’ She smiled meaningfully.

Then a shadow loomed over their table and a voice growled menacingly through the background hubbub. ‘Say, what’s a good southern gal doin’ with some skinny-assed white dude from England?’

In Columbus airport, Kassim made his way through the arrivals hall and found a cab. He asked to be taken to the city centre.

The driver nodded without a word. He was a skinny Asian with a scrub of jet-black hair over a pale, pockmarked face. He drove single-handed, the other beating time on the centre console to the radio, pausing only to answer incomprehensible bursts of chatter from his dispatcher. Other than an occasional glance in his rear-view mirror, he ignored his passenger completely.

Kassim was happy enough to sink into the rear seat and keep his head down. He was thinking about the Hotmail message he’d picked up in the internet cafe in New York. He had deleted the words immediately after reading them, but he could still see the text in his mind. It had warned him that the Americans were looking for him, that a pursuer was already out there, waiting for him to make a mistake. The message had also confirmed where he needed to go next.

He stared out at the garish lights of a Holiday Inn as they passed, and toyed with the idea of booking in for the night. At least here there would be no danger; he’d be just another weary traveller looking for a bed. After his night in the deserted building and the fight with the derelict, he needed a shower and some rest. But the faint lure of comfort gave way to the need for action. . to prepare for what lay ahead.

After a couple of miles the cab stopped behind a line of vehicles edging past an auto wreck. Emergency crews were clearing up the debris, and an ambulance was just leaving. The cab driver applied his brake and sighed resignedly.

‘We wait,’ he explained shortly.

Kassim leaned forward and said, ‘I have to hire a car. You know of a person?’

The driver looked back at him in the mirror. A person, not a place. This passenger hadn’t been to the rental agencies at the airport, which had to be for a reason. A bad credit risk, maybe. He nodded. ‘Sure. I know. What kind car?’

‘Ordinary. Not big.’

‘Compact?’ The driver slapped the wheel. ‘Like this?’