Andy McNab - Dark winter

'Yep, got it, just seen Navy pass. See you soon.'

The source walked past the pub, doing a good job of blending in with the world around him.

'They've just passed me.'

'OK, I've got that.' Suzy spoke as if she was chatting to her mum about the prices in Sainsbury's. I could still hear the violin music, and also catch some loud Italian gobbing off over the counter as people ordered coffee. Then an edge of concern crept into her voice. 'Why don't you come and have your coffee now?' Maybe she'd seen something.

'You OK?'

'Don't trust him, that's all.'

I could hear Suzy talking to the source as I left the pub. 'Oh, hello – I didn't expect to see you here.' I could just imagine them exchanging surprised smiles. I heard the scrape of chairs, and by then I was passing the front window. I glanced to my left. They were both seated at the table Suzy had described. She was in a leather chair and he was perched on a stool, facing her with his back towards me.

I carried on past, turning left just a few metres later, and down the alleyway. As I came out into the square I made sure I kept looking dead ahead. Out of the corner of my eye, off to my half-right, I caught Navy, sitting on one of the steel benches. He was eating a sandwich, alongside a group enjoying their lunchtime break.

I went in through the glass door and Suzy flashed me a smile. The two women next door to her looked up nosily to see who'd come in, then settled back to their gossip. I pulled up a seat next to Suzy and faced the source.

Suzy took charge. 'We're here for the same reason as last time, OK? Any problems, we're going to go out the back way, and I want you-'

She was pointing at the source, but before she could complete her sentence I cut in: 'No, we'll go out the front door, he goes out the back.'

She knew better than to ask why just now; she could do that later. 'OK, that's what we'll do.' Then, with a smile, as if she was asking him to pass her the sugar, she said, 'So, what do you have for us?' She leant forward and took a sip of coffee, and I did the same.

The source also leant forward, and started playing with his sachet of sugar. 'The ASU – I know where they are.'

I said, 'Do they have what we want?'

'Of course.'

We waited for him to carry on, but there was nothing. He just played with the sachet on the tabletop with his massive hands. I wondered what he really did for a living.

Suzy had soon had enough. 'Well, where are they?'

He looked up sharply. 'Why did you follow me last night? You could have just asked me.'

'Why have you got two men outside if you're on your own? Who's following who?'

He quite liked that, sitting back a little and taking a sip of his coffee while he thought it over. 'The terrorism you're dealing with now, the kind I know, it's not about tactical attacks to get a government to the bargaining table. It's about killing as many people as possible. You're now fighting men and women who pray five times a day to die a noble death.' He paused for effect. '"As you kill us, we kill you."'

I raised my hands. 'Hey, listen, whatever.'

'You people know nothing. You're all about now, all about nine/eleven. You have no understanding of history. You talk about jihad ists as if they inhabit a world where time is compressed, and all the murders and wrongs that their people have suffered for hundreds of years can be righted with just a few years of martyrdom. This is just the beginning of the third wave…'

'Where are they?' Suzy was getting as pissed off as me, but was starting to show it. He liked that. He closed his eyes. 'They're in a city called King's Lynn.'

Suzy looked surprised. 'What? East Anglia?'

He hunched his shoulders with irritation, went back to the sugar. 'How do I know where it is? All I know is that's where they are.'

'Is that all you've got?' I said. 'It's a big place.'

His eyes swivelled. They were so bloodshot I thought they might fall out of their sockets. 'The house is in Sir Lewis Street. Number eighty-eight.'

'How many are there?'

'I don't know anything else. Nothing.'

I continued to hover over my cup. 'Are they armed?'

'Enough! I've told you everything I know.'

Suzy had one other question. 'How did you find out about King's Lynn?'

Without answering, he stood up, made his polite goodbyes for the sake of appearances, and left via the back door.

I nodded at him. 'That's where Navy was as I came in.'

A pen came out of her bag and she wrote down the King's Lynn details before we left through the front door and walked towards the car. I tapped her bag. 'Better give a sit rep.'

'Don't you want to?'

'Nah. My horoscope advised me to minimize communication with arsewipes.'

She powered up and made the call as we walked through Smithfield. 'We've just had the meet.' There was a pause. 'King's Lynn.' Another pause. 'Yes, that's right. Eighty-eight Sir Lewis Street.' She shook her head. 'I don't know, maybe four or five hours?' She nodded. 'Yes, sir.'

I held up three fingers and mouthed three.

'Sir, we should be there in three hours.' It was a while before she could get another word in edgeways. 'OK, sir, yes, we will.'

I beckoned the phone over.

'Sir, Nick wants to talk.' She handed it to me.

'What is it?'

'What do we know about the source? Is this int reliable – is he reliable? It sounds bullshit to me. Only yesterday he was telling us how hard it is for him. Why should we rush up there on what could turn out to be-'

'Because no matter how unreliable the information or even he may or may not be, there is no other option. So, until the decision is made to inform others about this, you will rush wherever I want you to. Do you understand?'

'Yes.'

The line went dead.

'You know King's Lynn, then? You don't sound like a Norfolk boy.'

I ignored her and told her what the Yes Man had said as we got to the car. She rubbed her hands with what looked almost like excitement. 'Which way, then?'

'Just get us to the M11.'

We stopped at a garage once we were on the North Circular and bought sandwiches and a bottle of Coke for me, and four apples and a yoghurt for her. Eventually we got on to the motorway towards Cambridge. I'd been brooding about the reasons the ASU might have chosen Norfolk, and it suddenly dawned on me. 'If Fuck-face back there is right, King's Lynn could make sense.'

She took her eyes off the road for a second and turned to look at me through her light blue sunglasses.

'The train goes direct from there to Liverpool Street and King's Cross. Good stand-off location, considering the state of alert around the City.'

'So they'd rig everything up in King's Lynn, take the train to King's Cross, and start sprinkling – maybe even splash some about on the way?' Suzy indicated to overtake a truck. 'But wouldn't a few Malaysians, Chinese or whatever stick out up there?'

What did I know? 'There are some docks up there, and one or two takeaways. Fuck-face better be right.'

We left the motorway and began to drive through the flat, boring fields of Cambridgeshire. I got the blister pack out of my jeans and threw two more capsules down my neck mixed with by now very warm Coke, then waved it at Suzy.

She shook her head. 'Had some before picking you up. Listen, maybe Fuck-face knows the ASU, maybe he's taken the train up – that's why he's staying in St Chad's? Whatever – if he's right, we get this done quick, you get to sort your shit out, and I get to be in the cadre, know what I mean?'

She nodded away as I pushed the antibiotics into my back pocket, then obviously decided it was time to get off the subject of Fuck-face. 'So what's her name, then? How old is she?'

Ignoring the question, I got myself comfortable, but she wasn't giving up. 'Come on, I know you want to tell me. Besides, we may not see each other after tomorrow if Fuck-face is right, eh?' She turned back to the road and gave me some space.