Gerald Seymour - The Untouchable

They went into the depths of the trees.

The guns were cocked. Salko, Ante and Fahro carried Kalashnikovs, and Ante's had a night sight screwed onto the top of the barrel. Muhsin had a pistol at his belt alongside a big water bottle and the leash in his hand. The dog had a dried, weather-desiccated bone in its mouth. They were in front.

Frank lugged Maggie's box of magic tricks. She walked with Joey. They went towards the brightness where the sun hit against the last line of the trees. At the edge of the wood they looked down and saw the house.

The track with the tyremarks ran down the hill in front of them and reached an oasis of green. There was a rich garden around the house, clawed back from the stone and the scrub. Sprinklers played over it and made small rainbows. Four Mercedes cars were parked on swept gravel in front of the building, along with the white Mitsubishi. It was Spanish hacienda style, with walls of white stucco and closed shutters covering the windows. A carrion crow soared above it and cried gratingly. Two men, dressed in black, worked on the cars – but not the Mitsubishi – polishing away the roads' dust.

Frank was beside him, and murmured, 'Now we're here, can I ask something?'

'Ask away.'

'What are we here for?'

Joey thought before he spoke, as if an immediate answer eluded him. Then said, 'To force mistakes.'

'Yes, yes – OK, very funny man. I'll say it slowly – what do we hope to achieve by being here?'

Joey shook his head slowly. ' I don't know.'

'Wait a minute, steady down,' Frank said evenly. 'If you want to play this out, don't mini! me there are six of us here, and you. You must have an idea where this is going?'

'Regardless of whether you'd come, any of you, I'd have been here.'

Frank stared at him, brow furrowed, and the scratch was in his voice. 'Tell me, if you'd be so kind, what is there that I should know?'

'All you need to know right now is that Judge Delic has withdrawn the authorization for intrusive surveillance on Target One.'

The hiss. 'So, it's not legal, any of it? Jesus – you picked a fine time…'

Joey looked away, back to the house and the men cleaning the vehicles.

'Are you stupid, an idiot? What are you? No legality, can't gather evidence, can't put anything before a court, no time for handcuffs. Why are we here?'

'Because I gave my promise to follow this man wherever he led,' Joey said, as if that answer was adequate.

They scrambled down the slope towards the fence that hugged the green of the oasis. Joey saw that the dog never lost hold of the bone. The sun was at its zenith and threw their shadows down under their bodies. They closed on the fence. When one of their bodies, or the dog's paws, caused small stones to cascade down, they all froze, then went on when they saw that the two men had not broken from the work of cleaning, the cars. A dozen paces from the fence there was a gully and they sagged into it. Muhsin poured waler sparingly into the dog's throat. Masking them from the house was a flat stone, storm-smoothed.

Down on the earth, pressed close to him, Frank murmured, 'You know what? Obsession is dangerous for health yours and ours.'

' I gave my promise,' Joey said, open-faced.

It was, the Eagle recognized it, Mister's finest hour.

He did not apologize for his lateness. That they had waited for him was obvious from the used plates and dirty knives and forks on the table, the colter cups and glasses beside the empty water bottles. There had been no hint of apology. Effortlessly, he had created an atmosphere of an equal among partners. They would have fidgeted, cursed, they would have queried the arrangements of Ismet Mujic, they would have listened for the crunch on gravel of the late arrivals' vehicle. 'Don't bend the knee to them,' Mister had said, as the front door was opened for them. 'Let them know it's their privilege to be meeting us.' It was high risk, the Eagle had thought, but Mister always won because he always risked. They'd gone inside, into the dim cool of a wide living room, and Mister had, per-functorily but with charm, shaken their hands. 'I'm Mister, and this is my legal adviser, Eagle, and I have also brought with me my associate, Atkins. They're fine men, both of them, and as committed as I am to the principles of honest business dealing.' He had been asked by Ismet Mujic if he wished to eat, and had brusquely declined. He had then belittled Ismet Mujic. 'Now, Serif, has this room been scanned?' It hadn't… Mister's eyebrows had been raised fractionally in surprise, and the others had gazed at him in a marginal moment of suspicion. Mister had nodded to Atkins. Atkins had left the room. Radios had started to blare through the ground floor of the building, and upstairs. Mister had said nothing until Atkins had returned, then Mister had pointed to the stereo system in the room; that had been turned on, volume up. 'Now can we get to work.' Then he had snapped his fingers at the Eagle and Atkins and had pointed to the table. They'd started to clear it, the Italian began to help, then the Russian and last the Turk, and Ismet Mujic was shouting towards the kitchen for his people, but by the time they came the plates were stacked and the cutlery gathered together, and Ismet Mujic was further belittled.

'We need, my friend, a cloth to clean the table.'

When the table was cleared and wiped, Mister sat down. With the Eagle and Atkins, he took one side of the table, made the living room into a board room with him playing the part of chief executive officer.

Mister had said, the last thing before they'd hit the gravel in front of the house, 'We find a room with a table, we sit down one side of it. We do not take off our jackets or loosen our ties. We are not slumped in easy chairs. We are in control – they are bloody lucky to have us.' They sat opposite. They were casual in dress and posture, and their jewellery dripped from them. The contrast was powerful, as Mister had wanted.

It was the nearest he would come to an apology in that finest hour. ' I regret that I do not speak Italian, Russian or Turkish. Neither do my colleagues. I hope we can manage in the English language.'

They gazed at him impassively.

'That's taken, then. Two things I want to say first. I am grateful to you, Serif, for making this meeting possible. I appreciate that it has not been easy for you to bring together three gentlemen with differing schedules, all important. You have, Serif, my sincere thanks.' The Eagle wondered whether they had carried guns into the house. Atkins had left their own weapons in the Mitsubishi, as Mister had instructed, and each of them during the introductions had, offhand, flapped back their jackets to show they were not armed, as Mister had ordered. ' I work on one strong principle that is not negotiable. My word is my bond.

I make a deal and I guarantee that, to i he best of my ability, the deal is carried through, and the "best of my ability" is good. Serif will tell you that I have done a deal with him and that the promised monies are now lodged in his account in Nicosia, as I said they would be. You will all have associates in London. You will have checked with them. You will have asked about me. You will have been told that I am a serious player. So, gentlemen, do I have your attention for my proposals?'

The Eagle could not decide which of them had the cruellest eyes.

'You will allow me to give you my evaluation of the common factor affecting all three of you. In London you do not fulfil your business potential – you fall far short of what could be achieved. That's where I can help, where I can make a difference in your profitability.'

The Italian had the youngest eyes, but there was no sparkle in them to match his smile.

'You bring in, Marco, product from Venezuela and Colombia, but your difficulty is getting it into the European marketplace. I suggest you ship direct to the ports of Montenegro, then take a series of options.