Jack Higgins: The Judas gate

Daniel Holley said, 'Sweet Jesus, now we know, Sean.'

Dillon's face was very dark. 'So it would appear. I should have remembered the old Sherlock Holmes quote: "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." Justin Talbot's war record speaks for itself. He's simply been carrying on, except that he's been doing it for the Taliban and Al Qaeda.'

Mary returned with tea and biscuits and Bellamy said, 'Now then, Mickeen, settle back and enjoy yourself. Do you like sugar in your tea?'

'I do indeed. Three sugars, and those chocolate biscuits look grand.'

'We'll leave you now with Mary to enjoy yourself and we'll be back in a little while.'

Mickeen was already trying a biscuit. 'You won't go, Seaneen, without telling me?'

'Now why would I do that?' Dillon reached over and kissed him on the forehead. 'The terrible scare you gave me. Enjoy your tea.'

They sat in the lounge and Maggie said, 'I'll get some tea on the way,' and went into the kitchenette.

Bellamy said, 'I never cease to marvel at the human spirit. The journey that old man has been on is a miraculous one. So much to learn from it, so damn much.'

'I agree, but it's his past that's important now,' Dillon said. 'The events leading up to all this.'

Bellamy nodded. 'A bad business, I agree, a matter for the police, I'd say. My confidentiality goes without saying, but obviously the name of Talbot is very familiar to me.'

'And to a lot of other people,' Holley said.

'Is what he said about Justin Talbot beyond doubt?'

Daniel Holley said, 'Yesterday he murdered a man in my custody in Algiers.'

'I fired back and shot him in the left side,' Dillon said. 'We've returned by private jet and, I believe, so has he. He has a house in County Down. I expect to find him there.'

Just then, two things happened at the same moment. Maggie Duncan emerged with the tea tray and, down the corridor, the alarm bell sounded, an ugly and frightening sound. Maggie dumped the tray, went off on the run, Bellamy following her. Dillon and Holley went after them.

The crash team had swung into action, working desperately on Mickeen, and through the window, Dillon could see the flat line on the heart monitor. The team worked in a frenzy, but it was fruitless. Finally, Bellamy gave the order to switch off.

'Time of death, two o'clock, Matron, agreed?'

She nodded, wiping her eyes, and went back down the corridor. Dillon stood there, looking through the window. Holley put an arm about him for a moment.

'Come on, Sean, let them get on with what they've got to do.'

They went back to the lounge and Bellamy found them ten minutes later. 'There's absolutely nothing I can say except that the reaction of coming back to life, as it were, obviously put an enormous strain on his entire system, which was weakened already by the brain surgery.'

'I've absolutely no complaint, Professor. This is a remarkable hospital, as I know more than once from my own experience. If you couldn't save him, no one could.'

'I believe you are the only relative?' Dillon nodded. 'So I presume you'll want everything done right, a Catholic burial and so on? Everything above board – not like some of the cases that have come my way from you and Ferguson in the past?'

'Of course.'

'Then that means a post mortem, and a coroner's inquest. Obviously, this would take some time. And it would require that proceedings be brought against Justin Talbot in a court of law.'

'That's how I see it, too.'

'Perhaps you should discuss it with Ferguson?'

'He will want to do what's right for him. I want to do what's right for Mickeen.'

'I understand how you feel, but I really think you should talk to Ferguson. When I start handling this in the way you wish, I don't want to find any roadblocks waiting for me, if you know what I mean.'

'I do, but I intend to have things the way I want them this time, and Ferguson's going to have to accept that.' He got up and shook hands. 'Many thanks, Professor, but we'll be on our way.' Holley drove again on the way back and Dillon just sat there, gazing out at the traffic. Roper called and said, 'A terrible business, Sean. Bellamy's been in touch and filled us in.'

'What do you think of the Shamrock affair now?'

'It's so unlikely that it must be true. There's an imbalance in the man, a kind of madness – there must be, for someone who has everything to risk losing the lot.'

'Maybe it's because he's decided that in having everything, he's got nothing. Then there's the whole relationship with Al Qaeda to explain,' Dillon said. 'Is Ferguson there?' he added.

'He's been called to a Cabinet Office meeting with Harry Miller, and then he's on the list to see the Prime Minister. Told me to tell you he'll see you both early evening.'

'And Talbot?'

'When I raised the matter, he said that since there was absolutely nowhere in the world that Talbot could hide, there was no rush. He's probably right. The way I see it, with all that Talbot money, they'll have a phalanx of the finest barristers in the business working for him. He's a decorated war hero, wounded in Afghanistan – imagine what the psychiatrists will make of that.'

'To hell with the barristers and the psychiatrists – Talbot's mine.' 'If he's still alive, I want to lift him,' Dillon said. He was sitting in the computer room with Roper and Holley at Holland Park. 'Everything according to the law. I want his arrest, a post mortem, a coroner's inquest and, most of all, I want to see him standing in the dock of the Old Bailey. I owe it to Mickeen.'

'I've crossed him off my guest list,' Roper said. 'He deserves everything they can throw at him, but the way things look, you aren't going to get it. I remember during the Cold War, if you arrested a Communist spy, he never ended up in the dock because they wanted to turn him.'

'Are you saying that's what Ferguson wants to do with Talbot?'

'No, Sean,' Roper said. 'What I think is that this might go way beyond Ferguson. We're talking politics here, and on an international level.'

'And you agree with that?'

'Don't insult me, you daft bastard. Just listen, for once in your life. What do you think it's like sitting here year after year in this wheelchair, knowing what's right and not being able to do anything about it because of the system?'

Dillon said, 'I'm sorry, Giles, this business has really got to me.'

Roper reached for his bottle of Scotch, poured a large one and tossed it back. 'Here's the bad news. Ferguson's already been told by the Cabinet Office to invoke the Official Secrets Act when Mickeen's death is put before a special crown coroner. The coroner will give a closed court order. No jury necessary. They'll issue a burial order, and that's it.'

'To whom?' Dillon said. 'Mr Teague and the disposal team?' Roper ignored him. 'It all takes place quickly. I'd say about a week.'

There was a silence between the three of them, and it was Roper who said, 'You know, I did some checking. Talbot International has a Citation X. In the past couple of days, it's flown from Belfast to Algeria and back again. Landed today, just after noon, in Belfast.'

Holley said, 'A great plane that some say is the fastest commercial jet in the world.'

'And the pity of it all,' said Roper, 'is that I haven't been able to tell Ferguson about it.'

'Why not?' Dillon asked.

'I can't go breaking in on him when he's at a Cabinet Office, can I? Or when he's with the Prime Minister?'

'So what are you saying?' Holley asked.

Roper looked up at the clock. 'Twenty to three. It's half an hour to Farley, and you could make Belfast in one hour. If there happened to be, say, a Mercedes waiting, you could be at Kilmartin at five o'clock.'

'How the hell did you manage to arrange all this?'