Andy McNab - Boy soldier

At the bar, Big Kev had taken over the drinks order and was being served. The last pint was pulled and placed on a tray full of glasses. It was an expensive round and Kev handed over two twenty-pound notes. He had a lot on his mind and was deep in thought as he pocketed the change and picked up the tray.

As Danny emerged from the toilets he saw Kev turn from the bar and start to make his way back to the table. Danny had to get there first; he had to get the mobile back into Kev's jacket.

Kev was closer to the table but he also had a tray full of easily spilled drinks to manoeuvre. He reached his friend Tone, who was still with the two veterans.

'Please stop and talk to them,' whispered Danny, looking at Kev and trying to appear as normal as possible. He couldn't rush – someone would want to know why.

But Kev didn't stop, he obviously needed his pint. He moved steadily towards the table: he was going to get there first. Then he heard the shout: 'Kev? Kev?'

Kev turned back as Harry the barman approached. 'You gave me two twenties, didn't you?'

The big man nodded. 'Yeah.'

'Sorry, mate, I gave you change for thirty. We're so busy behind there I don't know my arse from my elbow.'

Kev grinned. 'Leave it on the tray, Harry.'

By the time Kev placed the tray on the table, the mobile was back in his jacket pocket and Danny was sitting in his chair trying to look a lot more relaxed than he felt. 'Think I will make a move after all.'

'What about your drink? Took me long enough to get it.'

'No, I'd better get off.' He stood up and was more prepared for the crushing effect of Kev's handshake this time, but he still winced as the big man gripped his hand.

'I'm sorry about your granddad, Danny. If you want my opinion the best thing you can do is forget all about him.'

Danny nodded. 'Yeah, maybe you're right. Thanks anyway.'

On the way out Danny stopped at the bar and borrowed a pencil from Harry. He went back to the toilets and into the cubicle he'd used before. The telephone number was still there, scrawled in soap on the cubicle wall. Danny copied the number onto a scrap of paper and wiped the wall clean.

He was feeling pleased with himself as he left the bar and headed for the lobby. He'd done it: he had the number and got one over on Big Kev. He'd got away with it. Then he felt the tap on his shoulder. 'Hang on.'

Big Kev wasn't so easily fooled after all. Danny had been rumbled. Slowly, he turned round. But it wasn't Big Kev; it was the staring man, smiling that same exaggerated smile. 'Name's Eddie Moyes. I thought we might have a little chat.'

Danny made his phone call to Elena from a public phone box. The conversation was brief, and fifteen minutes later he was in an Internet cafe. He bought himself a Coke and chose a computer with a view out onto the street. When he went online and logged on to MSN, Elena was waiting for him. She regularly changed her screen name and since her GCSE results had started calling herself 'A star'. Modest as always. Danny stuck to Danny. A star says: (4:34:09 pm) so wots all the mystery, yor call spooked me Danny says: (4:34:18 pm) think im being followed A star says: (4:34:26 pm) o yeah right Danny says: (4:34:47 pm) im serious. a motorbike, u know i always spot bikes. Saw it twice yesday amp; more today. same bike same rider A star says: (4:35:01 pm) y should any1 want 2 follow u Danny says: (4:35:13 pm) dunno… really freakin me tho

Danny glanced out through the window. He was sure he'd seen the black TDM at least three times that day, the last time soon after he left the Victory Club. A star says: (4:35:28 pm) danny calm down yr making me nervos. tell me what happened @ club Danny says: (4:35:43 pm) saw big kev. got a mobile number, sure its my gdads A star says: (4:35:51 pm) wot big kev gave u the number Danny says: (4:36:06 pm) not exactly. kev called him, i got number from his mob A star says: (4:36:15 pm) r u gonna call Danny says: (4:36:27 pm) dunno. not sure wot 2 do A star says: (4:36:40 pm) don't call. might scare hm off. give me number Danny says: (4:36:48 pm) y A star says: (4:37:13 pm) mayb i can trace where kev made call 2, I mean the location, where yor gdad woz wen he took call Danny says: (4:37:24 pm) like how A star says: (4:37:36 pm) police do it. if plod can A star can. gimme number

Danny fished out the scrap of paper and sent the mobile number over to Elena. A star says: (4:37:56 pm) wot u do while i go 4 this Danny says: (4:38:28 pm) this bloke at club, said he might be able help find fergus. names eddie moyes, said id meet 2morrow but dunno if I trust him, gonna check something A star says: (4:38:43 pm) u r getting para!!!!!! Danny says: (4:38:54 pm) maybe but dnt trust any1 but u A star says: (4:39:06 pm) w8 there amp; dnt panic!!!!

They both stayed logged on to MSN but set their status to 'away'.

Danny still felt edgy. At any moment he expected to hear the growl of the TDM as it passed the window or see a man in black bikers' leathers walk through the door. The cafe wasn't busy – just a youngish businessman checking or sending e-mails and a couple of Australian girls online to friends back home. Their online conversations must have been interesting: the two girls kept shrieking with laughter and then whispering to each other. Elena was always up to speed with the latest developments in online technology. She knew all about companies providing GSM location services. It was a relatively simple operation. They just traced which mobile mast the phone was connected to, and from that could locate the phone to within a hundred metres. The police had been operating the system for years and had used the location of tracked mobiles as evidence in court cases.

Now the system was available to the public, and Elena was ready to give it a shot. There were plenty of online companies offering the service. She logged on to one and read the welcome-page boast that from now on parents could keep track of their kids and companies could always know exactly what their employees were up to.

Elena went to the main page and got the bad news: to use the system, subscribers needed not only the phone number but also the phone user's four-figure PIN number. 'Should have realized they wouldn't make it easy,' she said to herself.

She decided to take a chance. She paid her?4.99 fee online using her cash card and got four attempts at the correct PIN number.

'Maybe he's stupid,' said Elena as she tried the obvious combinations: 1234, 4321, 1111, 2222.

But Fergus Watts obviously wasn't stupid. For another?20 she could try twenty more times.

Danny was going back over the website pages about his grandfather.

Ever since Eddie Moyes had introduced himself at the Victory Club, Danny had felt sure he had heard or seen the name somewhere before. And very recently.

Moyes certainly didn't look ex-SAS. He was overweight and well out of condition. But that didn't necessarily mean he wasn't a former soldier, and at the back of Danny's mind there was something telling him he'd seen the name in at least one of the stories about his grandfather.

And there was something else about Eddie Moyes that didn't feel right. At the Victory Club Danny had told him he was the grandson of Fergus Watts and that he was searching for his grandfather.

'Really?' Moyes answered with barely concealed excitement. 'I think I can help you. Look, why don't we get out of here and find somewhere we can speak in private? I know a nice little pub just down the road.'

Danny almost said yes, but something told him to back off. While everyone else at the Victory had recoiled in horror at the name Fergus Watts, this bloke was almost falling over himself to help. It didn't add up, specially as Danny had already convinced himself he was being followed.

He stalled Moyes by saying he had to get away but that they could meet the following morning at a cafe near Foxcroft. Moyes didn't press him to stay, just smiled, and agreed to everything he said. That worried Danny too.