Alex Palmer - The Tattooed Man

‘Gone to meet his maker as well,’ Sam replied. ‘Don’t think he can help you now.’

‘How could you do that?’ Elena, staring at Damien where he lay, could barely get the words out. ‘He had a wife and a child.’

‘That’s a joke coming from you. You don’t get to see this sort of thing, do you? Other people do it for you.’

‘You work for me,’ Elena said, dumbfounded. ‘Who are you? Why are you doing this? I don’t understand. I pay you.’

‘It’s a different sort of payday now, Elena. That’s all you need to know. It’ll all become clear soon enough.’

‘Payday for what?’

‘Africa, Elena. The DRC.’ Sam laughed. ‘You know what that means. I can see it in your face. You know what happened there, don’t you? You keep standing. Don’t move a muscle, I’m watching you. Now, Harrigan. Do you have a gun? You do. Don’t try anything with it. Throw it as far as you can across the room. Your phone, turn it off. Then get your wallet and your buzzer. Throw them to the other side of the office. Is there anything else? What about a wire? Let’s see. Come on. Get your gear off. Don’t be shy.’

Slowly Harrigan began to undress. He unbuttoned his shirt to expose the wire he was wearing. Again, Sam laughed. Harrigan saw Elena give him a single look of direct and unforgiving accusation, then she refused to meet his eyes again.

‘You can’t trust anyone these days, Elena. There are some people you just can’t buy. Who’s listening?’

‘No one’s listening. I’m just recording.’

‘Throw it on the floor over here! Go on!’

Harrigan threw the miniature recording device to the floor. Sam smashed it to pieces with the heel of her boot.

‘Put your clothes back on and then lie on the floor away from the desk, face down,’ she said. ‘Stay there. Remember, I’ve got a gun trained on Elena.’

He heard her walk to the dead bodyguard. She disarmed him, taking his gun for herself.

‘All right, Elena, I want your mobile. Where is it?’

‘On my desk.’

‘Hands where I can see them. Wait there.’

Harrigan looked up from the floor. Sam had moved around to Elena and taken her in a grip that made her bend over. She had her gun at the back of her head.

‘Face down, Harrigan. Now! Elena, wait. Someone’s going to call you. You’re going to tell them you’re not going out to Campbelltown today. You’re going to be very calm or you’ll be dead.’

They waited. Harrigan heard the phone ring.

‘Elena Calvo. Hello, Daniel. Why are you ringing me so early? No, I won’t be out there today. I’m too busy here. I won’t be able to help with that, I’m sorry. Goodbye.’

‘What did he say?’ Sam asked.

‘He said he couldn’t get out to Campbelltown today. Could I check with his staff if his test results had come through? I never involve myself with his work. Why would he ask me to do that?’

‘Maybe you’ll find out. Turn off your phone and give it to me. Now sit down at your desk and turn on your computer.’

‘Why?’

‘Just do it. Don’t move, Harrigan. For your information, Elena has her own personal high-speed secure network here and at Campbelltown. It’s separate to the rest of the IT out there and it’s very fast. I want your log-on code and your password, Elena. You have three seconds to give it to me or you can join Damien.’

‘That’s a bluff.’

‘No, it’s not. Because if you won’t do that, you’re useless to me and you might as well be dead. Remember that. You only last as long as I find you useful. Take your choice. Write it down for me.’

Elena did so.

‘Good. Now log on for me and prove it works. Then log out and shut down. Good girl. Now, we’re ready. Where are your car keys?’

‘In Damien’s pocket.’

‘Stand up and get them, Harrigan,’ Sam said. ‘We’re going down to the car park. You walk in front of us out to the lift. Do anything and you’ll have a dead woman on your hands. You can die a hero as well.’

‘What’s the point of this?’ Harrigan said. ‘I’ve got backup waiting for me. This is just going to put you in gaol for the rest of your life.’

‘How much backup and where are they? How do they know when you need them?’

‘Why should I tell you that?’

‘Because if you don’t answer my question, I’ll kill you and I mean that.’

‘They’re at the police building. They’re waiting for me to call,’ Harrigan said.

‘I thought so. My guess is, right now this is the last place anyone would expect to find me. Now get the keys, including the lift key.’

‘How did you get in here?’ Elena asked.

‘I’ve had after-hours access to this office for months, Elena. I don’t know why you’re so surprised. You hired me because I can do this sort of thing. I’ve been watching you for a long time. That’s the good thing about being undercover. No one knows what you’re really up to.’

Harrigan went through the dead man’s pockets. He found the keys and straightened up.

‘Let’s go,’ Sam said. ‘Keep your hands where I can see them, Harrigan.’

They walked through the empty office. The other bodyguard lay dead inside the door. They walked past him to the lift.

‘You get in first and stand in one corner,’ Sam said. ‘Elena and I will stand in the other. Harrigan, when we stop, you get out first. Now, you can feel that gun in your ribs, can’t you, Elena? If either of you does anything, it fires and keeps firing. Down we go. If anyone gets in, everyone act normal.’

‘They’ll pick us up on CCTV,’ Elena said.

‘So what? It’s a Saturday. We’ll be long gone before they do anything about it. Anyway, what’s to see? You with your bodyguard stuck to you like glue and someone who looks like a driver. What’s so different about that?’

On a Saturday morning this early, no one did get into the lift. The only sound was Elena’s shallow breathing and a single, sharp comment from Sam. ‘Keep it quiet, Elena. You’re annoying me.’

There were few vehicles in the car park. They stopped by Elena’s car, a Mercedes with tinted windows. Harrigan glanced at his own car, parked a short distance away. No one would find it here.

‘Open the car, Harrigan. Elena and I are getting in the back. You’re driving. We’re all getting in together. Nice and cosy in the back, Elena. That’s right. Drive, Harrigan. Carefully. Don’t attract attention.’

‘Where are we going?’

‘Where do you think? Campbelltown. We’ve got an appointment.’

‘Who are we going to meet out there?’

‘Maybe we’ve got a date with destiny. You have, that’s for sure. I wasn’t expecting to see you today. You’re a bonus. Otherwise, I might have had to put Elena in the boot.’

‘What’s happening out at Campbelltown?’ Harrigan asked.

‘Wait and you’ll find out. Meantime, have you seen the net this morning, either of you? Bet you have, Harrigan. There should be an email waiting for you, Elena. I wanted to make you watch it but we don’t have the time.’

‘I haven’t seen it,’ Elena said.

‘Yes, you have. Don’t pretend you haven’t. I bet Daddy rang you about it. Guess what? That video we tried so hard to suppress is out on the net. Live with it. People know who you really are now. You and your father.’

‘That video has nothing to do with us and you can’t prove that it does.’

‘We will before we’re finished,’ Sam said. ‘You don’t know how much I know about you. I know who your brother is, for example. Your half-brother, that is. But Jerome’s dead now. Did that upset Daddy at all? You wouldn’t think it would given that he walked out on him. I’m curious.’

‘You’re a sick woman,’ Elena said softly.