Andy McNab: Payback

‘What about Fincham?’ said Danny. ‘Did he get away?’

Dudley got up from his chair and moved around the desk. ‘George Fincham is dead. Your grandfather’s explosive device was extremely effective.’ He glanced as the assorted cuts and bruises on all their faces. ‘Perhaps a little too effective. But the whole matter is now satisfactorily concluded. The Secret Ultra file was erased, and as far as we are concerned it never existed.’

‘What about the other ones who’ve been after us for the past six months? What happens to them?’

‘Fran and her team were completely unaware that they were operating illegally for Fincham. Their future is secure.’

‘So that’s it?’ said Danny. ‘Can we just go? Are we free?’

Dudley paused for a moment. ‘Your grandfather and I have been having a long conversation about that.’

Danny and Elena looked at Fergus, and he nodded at them reassuringly before Dudley continued.

‘You see, we need your help.’

‘Our help?’ said Elena.

‘You’ve shown remarkable skill and ingenuity over the past few months. We would like you to work for us, on a temporary basis to begin with, and on a very specific operation.’ He glanced across the room. ‘With Miss Deveraux.’

Danny stared at his grandfather. ‘Is this for real? She wanted to kill us – all of us.’

Deveraux didn’t appear any happier about the prospect of teaming up with her former adversaries than they were. But she was a professional. ‘That was in a previous mission. That mission is now concluded satisfactorily.’

‘And it’s as easy as that for you, is it?’

Deveraux’s face gave away nothing.

Fergus shifted slightly in the bed. ‘Just listen to what Dudley has to say, then I’ll have my say.’

Dudley nodded his thanks to him. ‘The teenage suicide bombings – I’m sure you’ve heard about them.’

‘Yeah, we’ve heard.’

‘We want you to help us catch the person orchestrating these attacks,’ said Deveraux.

‘But why us? What can we do?’

Dudley walked back to his desk and sat on the corner, with his hand resting on Elena’s laptop. ‘You see, all three of the unfortunate young men were recruited through the Internet, and as we now know, Miss Omolodon is quite an expert on the Internet.’

‘There are plenty of experts out there,’ said Elena. ‘And I prefer to be called by my first name.’

Dudley smiled. ‘Before each bombing, the young men tore out the hard drives of their own computers and destroyed them. But our own experts have managed to find a link between them by studying the screen burns on the computers themselves. All this modern technology is beyond me, but I’m sure you understand, Miss Om- Elena.’

‘Yeah, but I still don’t see why you need us.’

‘Not only me. The Prime Minister himself has requested that you help us in this mission.’

Danny laughed. ‘Yeah, right. The Prime Minister needs our help?’

But Dudley wasn’t laughing. ‘The whole nation needs your help, Danny.’

‘They’re asking a lot of you, Danny,’ said Fergus. ‘To my mind, too much. But I can’t tell you what to do: I’ve run your life and made your decisions for long enough. It’s up to you now. Both of you.’ He looked at Dudley. ‘Tell them about the screen burns.’

‘Yes, of course. The screen burns revealed exactly why we need you to help us in this crisis. Just two words.’

Danny looked at Elena and then back at Dudley. ‘What were they?’

‘Black Star.’