Jack Higgins - The wolf at the door

"Caitlin?"

"Just listen," she said. "We've got trouble." She quickly told him what had taken place. "What are we going to do?"

"How did Murphy take it?"

"How do you expect? He's too good for this bloody world. All he feels is pity for Dillon."

"Well, he would, wouldn't he? Leave it with me, I'll handle it somehow." The church was very quiet now when she returned, and Murphy knelt before the altar, his head bowed in prayer, and she sat in a front pew and waited. When he stood up and walked to her, she said, "You've been praying for Dillon, haven't you?"

"Of course. So sad, that business of his father's death in Belfast all those years ago. His life has so obviously been a hard and bitter one. What else can I do but pray for him?"

She stifled her anger with difficulty. "Sometimes, Monsignor, I think you're much too forgiving. But take my arm, and we'll go back to the presbytery for tea."

He did as he was told, and as they walked away he said, "Poor boy, he seems completely unhinged."

A little earlier, Miller and his sister had been on their way to Dover Street. Since becoming aware that her dearly loved brother was a man of dark secrets, Monica had also learned that anything he told her, however dangerous and extreme, was very probably true. For an academic like her, there was an undeniable thrill to it all, especially her involvement with Sean Dillon. When Miller picked her up at her rooms in Cambridge, she was already packed and waiting for him, and he filled her in on everything, as he knew it, right up to that moment.

Her reaction to the event in Central Park was highly practical. "Well, all I can say is, thank God you were carrying."

He grinned. "I see you've picked up the slang of our dark trade already."

"I don't have any option, not with you and Sean round. I've checked on George Dunkley, by the way, and he's doing fine. Thank God."

They were halfway to London when Roper called him and filled him in about Belsize Park and what was to happen.

"What about Sean?"

Roper said, "He went to see what he could dig up in Kilburn, took Billy with him."

"Is something wrong?" Monica asked him when he hung up.

"You could say that." He told her about the intruder at Belsize Park. "So this guy Cochran got away but lost his wallet, and they found another copy of that prayer card. We might as well call in at Holland Park instead of going straight to the house. They'll be finalizing the Gulfstream's departure from Farley this evening, and then there's Sean. God knows what he's getting up to in Kilburn, but, knowing him, it's bound to be interesting." He leaned over and said to Fox, "Change of plan, Arthur, as you've just heard."

"As you say, Major."

"Poor Svetlana," Monica said. "That beautiful house and all those lovely antiques and paintings. It's going to break her heart."

"I appreciate that, but it's not going to be forever, and she's got Katya to support her. And they'll be safe, that's the important thing. Whoever we're up against, they're pretty nasty."

"And Alexander?"

"Maybe in America he can get back to writing. Another War and Peace perhaps?"

"Which he's perfectly capable of producing," she said primly, and the Mercedes, approaching the Holland Park safe house, pulled up at the security gates and waited for them to open. They found Roper in the computer room and Ferguson on his phone. He waved to them, then walked out, still talking.

Roper said, "He's been on and off the phone all afternoon. Half a dozen times with Clancy, but everything is set now. We pick them up at Belsize Park at seven. It'll take forty minutes to get to Farley Field, and they're all off by eight."

"Where are they heading?" Miller asked.

"Andrews Air Force Base, where they'll refuel, and then move on to another base in Florida, and then proceed by helicopter to the island."

Monica went and kissed him and ruffled his hair. "You look tired, love."

"I always do, these days, it's my new look. Sorry about Dunkley, there seem to be bad people out there. Are you okay?"

"A few bruises here and there. It could have been worse."

"I suppose so. At least with Kurbsky and the ladies out of it, we'll have a level playing field, and we can just concentrate on discovering who these people are."

Maggie Hall appeared from the kitchen, face beaming. "And how are you, Lady Monica? It's real nice to see you again. Mr. Dillon will be smiling, I know that. Can I get you some tea? I know you've been traveling."

Ferguson loomed up behind her. "We'll all have tea, my dear, and some of those delicious chocolate biscuits that you seem to have an inexhaustible supply of."

"You can have anything you want, General."

She departed, and Ferguson held Monica for a moment and kissed her cheek. "Sorry about having to drag you away from Cambridge like this, but it's for your own good, I'm afraid. Has it been made plain to you what we're up against?"

"It's been made plain to me what's happened. The behavior of the wretch who drove his truck into me was proof enough of what we're up against."

"You're armed, I trust?" Ferguson asked.

She opened her shoulder bag and produced a Colt.25. "As provided by Roper when I first signed up."

"Hollow-point cartridges at all times. We are really going to war, my dear."

He turned to Roper. "Any sign of Dillon and Billy?"

"Not yet. I'll call them, if you like."

"No need," Ferguson said. "Here's the tea."

Maggie put her tray on the table and poured tea for everyone and distributed biscuits, smiling and cheerful, and made Ferguson, Roper, and Miller all laugh, too. Monica thought how strange it was that these men she had come to know so well, including the brother she had never really known properly until now, these men who were so civilized and jolly, were all in the death business, had all killed people.

She felt slightly unreal for a moment, and Roper, with that ravaged face, glanced at her and stopped smiling. "Are you all right?"

"Yes, fine. I'll have a drink, if you don't mind. Long journey, and I'm tired."

She moved to the drinks cabinet, found a shot glass, opened a bottle of whiskey, filled the glass, and swallowed. It went straight to her head, releasing some lightness in her, and, as she turned, Dillon entered, along with Billy.

He had a paleness to him, the eyes dark, a look that she had never seen before. This man she had got to know well enough to love was suddenly a stranger, and she knew something must have happened.

He came and put a hand around her waist and kissed her lightly on the mouth. "It's good to see you, girl. I'd like to kill that bastard in the truck for what he did to you."

She ran her hand up and down his arm a couple of times. "It could have been worse, he could have succeeded. George is knocked about a bit, but he'll get over it." She looked at him searchingly. "You're angry, I think?"

"You could put it that way."

"Then tell us about it," Ferguson said.

"Billy and I went hunting, first of all in Camden in search of Cochran. Turns out that address has been a brickfield since last year, waiting for a housing project. A helpful Indian storekeeper in the next street told me he remembered the address well because there used to be a lodging house there."

"I already checked on the computer," said Roper. "It only threw up two Matthew Cochrans, one a chemist at the School of Oriental Medicine and the other a headmaster at a high school in Bayswater."

"So another false name," Ferguson said. "What else is new. What about Kilburn? Did you discover anything useful?"

"I think you could say that."

"For God's sake, Dillon," Billy exploded. "Get it off your chest." He turned to the others. "That priest you found, Roper, near Pool's address…"