Adrian Magson - Retribution

Harry looked at Rik. He had a flush to his face and seemed edgy. Something had happened. ‘What is it?’

‘Nothing, why?’

Harry waited, eyebrows raised, until Rik relented and told him about the four men. ‘It was nothing. Just a bunch of guys trying it on.’

Harry held out his hand. ‘You’d better give me the gun. I’m on a military flight to LA, so I can get them checked through. We’ll meet up there.’

Rik handed over the Ruger and spare magazine. ‘Did you get a look at him?’

Harry shook his head. ‘Not really. Taller than average, slim. . we already know he can move fast. But I didn’t see his face; he’d taken out the light in the corridor. When will you get anything on Bikovsky?’

‘Ripper said a couple of hours.’

‘ Ripper? What’s his real name — Malcolm?’

‘Very funny. They use tag names to protect themselves. I’m sure he’ll come through.’

‘It would be nice if he did before I set off for LA. I don’t want to trek all the way over there for nothing.’

‘But you’ll go, anyway.’

‘I have to. Bikovsky’s likely to be the next one on the list.’

Harry dropped his bag by the reception desk and waited to check out. He was booked on a military flight to the Los Angeles Air Force Base at El Segundo at nine thirty, courtesy of the UN. Deane was pulling strings to move him around with the minimum of fuss and paperwork, and other than having to check in the Rugers to a secure box, he was going to face minimum questioning.

He’d told Rik to make his own arrangements about getting to LA on a commercial flight. The more they were in the same area, the more risk there was of someone making a connection. He didn’t think it likely that the killer had someone watching his back, but he didn’t want to take the chance.

He was surprised to see Carl Pendry stride through the hotel’s main entrance, dwarfing the slim shape of Gail Tranter alongside him. The Ranger was stuffing his military ID into his pocket after being checked through the police cordon outside.

With the coming of daylight, several crime scene investigators and forensics personnel were now quartering the car park for clues, and questioning guests about the previous night, while coloured tape fluttered in the morning breeze, shutting off all non-essential access to the area. So far, though, they had turned up nothing substantial.

Gail was the first to speak, her eyes flashing spiritedly at Harry.

‘He won’t tell me anything,’ she said, nodding at Pendry. ‘I know something bad happened out at the training grounds — and here last night with two men being attacked. The whole town’s talking about it, what with the helicopters coming and going, and the state and city cops on every route through here. They’re saying a trainee got killed. . is that right?’

Harry studied her for a moment. She was evidently smart and the bond between her and Pendry was close. It would be fair to tell her what was happening, but he wondered if she would react well to hearing that her boyfriend was a target for a killer. He glanced at Pendry, who was impassive and brooding, annoyed by the senseless loss of one of his charges and their failure to catch the man responsible.

‘Carl can tell you as much as we know,’ he said. ‘After that, he should find you somewhere on the base to stay for a few days. Somewhere safe.’

Gail shot a keen look between the two men. ‘Why? Is he in danger?’

‘Possibly. But if you take precautions you’ll be fine. And I can do my job a lot easier. Carl?’ He looked meaningfully at the Ranger and stuck out his hand, drawing him to one side. ‘I’m off to see if I can find Bikovsky. Get Gail away from here and keep your head down. He failed this time but he might try again. Don’t give him Gail as leverage.’

The Ranger nodded. ‘Sure thing. But say — any chance I can help? I’d sure like to nail this sonofabitch, and I’m sure I could get a release after what happened to Lloyd.’

‘Sorry. He’ll spot me eventually; with us together he’d do it even quicker.’

Pendry nodded ruefully, desperate to do something to redress the balance. ‘OK. Let me know how it goes, though, huh?’ Then he stopped, looking awkward. ‘I thought about a couple of things last night. Could be important.’

‘Like what?’

‘One was the Marine, Carvalho. You thought he was one of the compound guards who went to Pristina, right?’

‘So?’

‘He wasn’t. I remembered he was sick that night and switched with another guy — a Brit. Carvalho knew he’d be no good in a fight, so the Brit agreed to go instead. I don’t think they told anyone in the rush to get out, so it wouldn’t have been official — at least, not until later when the rosters were checked.’

Harry tried to recall the British soldier, but he’d had his hands full that night and the compound guard had been out on patrol. Then he remembered something from Deane’s briefing: the man had been one of two British soldiers, a member of the Royal Military Police. He had since died of natural causes.

Either way, the fact that Carvalho had switched duties at the last minute had eventually found its way into the roster records, and had been picked up by Demescu.

‘What was the other thing you remembered?’

‘The guy Bikovsky.’ He looked awkward, then ploughed on. ‘I don’t like saying this about another man, but there was some talk around the table the night Kleeman left, before we rotated back to our units.’

‘Talk?’

‘Bikovsky was being derogatory about the locals, saying they’d steal anything that wasn’t nailed down and the women were little more than whores. The guy had a real attitude problem. He was also bragging about not going back to the US at the end of his tour, saying he was going to bug out as soon as he could. I figured it was drunk talk. We’d all had a couple to loosen up, but he’d picked up some extras. Later on he told another guy he’d got into trouble before enlisting and was scared to go back.’

‘What sort of trouble?’

‘He’d been accused of raping a minor in San Diego.’

Harry said his goodbyes to Pendry and Gail, then walked over to the in-house phone and rang Rik’s room. There had been no news from Ripper.

‘Tell him to look at sex crimes records,’ Harry suggested. ‘I’m heading for the airport.’

On the way, he rang Deane, but the security officer was out, so he left a carefully worded message. The rumours about Bikovsky’s past, if true, wouldn’t brighten his day.

He had just checked in for his flight to LA when Rik called. He sounded puzzled.

‘Ripper hit a wall. Bikovsky has two arrests for DUI — drink driving — and a couple of misdemeanours as a teenager, but after that, not a thing. Nothing in the sex crimes files, either.’

‘So he’s clean.’ Pendry’s man must have got it wrong. Barrack-room chatter building rumours out of speculation.

‘That’s the thing. He said there are files, but they’re marked restricted access. It would take some major work to get inside, and even then there are no guarantees. For some reason Bikovsky’s off-limits.’

Harry felt a stirring of interest. He’d heard of records being locked before, but only for security reasons, usually in connection with a government department or the military.

He thanked Rik and rang off, and his mobile buzzed immediately.

It was Deane. ‘Harry, I’m getting heat from the US Army Criminal Investigations Command, the Department of Defence and Homeland Security. Your name’s bouncing all over the wires.’

‘What are they saying?’

‘They want to know why you’re involved and have asked that you stay put in Columbus until they’re satisfied that what happened down there is not terrorist-related. I’ve hedged as much as I can, but they’re feeling antsy and my influence only goes so far.’