Frank Schätzing - Limit

‘You can’t control companies like Zheng or Orley; not even the Party can do that, nor do they want to. The Chinese prime minister has shares in Zheng, so that would have meant keeping an eye on himself too. On the contrary, Beijing welcomed the fact that Zheng responded to the invitation to tender, because it made espionage there easier.’

‘So why did you become suspicious?’

Vogelaar smiled thinly.

‘Because I’m always suspicious. That’s how I found out that Kenny left Zhong Chan Er Bu in 2022. He now works purely on a freelance basis for the military Secret Service.’

‘Just a second,’ said Yoyo. ‘The coup that brought Mayé to power—’

‘Was financed by Chinese oil companies, ratified by Beijing and executed by the Chinese Secret Service, with our help.’

‘And the launching pad?’

‘That had nothing to do with it. The launching pad just brought new protagonists onto the scene. Beijing was only ever concerned with commodities. The people that talked us into the launching pad had other interests.’

‘So Kenny changed camps?’

‘I’m not sure whether he did or not. Perhaps he just broadened his circle of activity. I don’t think he explicitly contravened Beijing’s interests, rather that he saw someone else’s interests as being more important.’

‘And the Mayé coup?’

‘The launching pad people were to blame for that. It’s possible that the Party approved of it. But they were certainly never asked.’

‘Is that what you believe or what you know ?’

‘What I believe.’

‘Vogelaar,’ said Yoyo insistently. ‘You have to tell us what you found out about the launching pad, do you hear?’

Vogelaar put his fingertips together. He fixed his gaze on his thumbs, brought them towards the tip of his nose and then looked at the ceiling. Then, slowly, he nodded.

‘Okay. Agreed.’

‘Tell us.’

‘For a quarter of a million euros.’

‘What?’ Jericho fought for air. ‘Have you gone insane?’

‘For that you’ll get a dossier, everything’s in it.’

‘You’re crazy!’

‘Not in the slightest. Nyela and I have to go underground, and right away. A large part of my fortune is frozen in Equatorial Guinea. What I was able to take with me is tied up in Muntu and the apartment upstairs. By tomorrow I’ll have flogged whatever I can, but Nyela and I will have to start again from scratch.’

‘Damn it, Vogelaar!’ exploded Yoyo. ‘You truly are the most filthy, ungrateful—’

‘One hundred thousand,’ said Jericho. ‘Not a cent more.’

Vogelaar shook his head. ‘I’m not negotiating.’

‘Because you’re not in a position to. Think properly now. It’s a hundred thousand or nothing.’

‘You need the dossier.’

‘And you need the money.’

Yoyo looked as though she wanted to drag Vogelaar straight off to the slicing machine. Jericho kept an eye on her. If it came to it he was prepared to give the South African a good going over with the Glock, but he doubted that Vogelaar would let it go that far again. They had to reach an agreement with him somehow.

He waited.

After what felt like an eternity, Vogelaar breathed out, long and slow, and for the first time Jericho sensed the big man’s fear.

‘One hundred thousand. In cash, to be clear! Money in exchange for the dossier.’

‘Here?’

‘Not here. Somewhere busy.’ With a nod of his head, he gestured outside. ‘Tomorrow at midday in the Pergamon Museum. That’s right around the corner. Take Monbijou Strasse down to the Spree, then go over the river to Museum Island and to the James Simon Gallery. That’s where the stream of tourists divides between the museums. We’ll meet at the Ishtar Gate opposite the Processional Way. Nyela and I will leave immediately afterwards, so make sure you’re on time.’

‘And where do you plan to go?’

Vogelaar stared at him for a long time.

‘You really don’t need to know that,’ he said.

‘Fantastic! So where are you going to get a hundred thousand euros from?’ Yoyo asked as they crossed the street to where the Audi was parked.

‘How should I know?’ Jericho shrugged. ‘It’s still better than a quarter of a million.’

‘Oh, much better.’

‘Okay.’ He stopped abruptly. ‘So what do you think I ought to have done? Tortured the truth out of him?’

‘Exactly that. We should have beaten it out of him!’

‘Great idea.’ Jericho felt his ear where it had been bandaged up. It was thick and puffy. He felt like a plush toy rabbit. ‘I can just imagine the scene. I hold him down while you beat him to a pulp with an antelope haunch.’

‘Good of you to mention it. I—’

‘And Vogelaar would have just let us do that to him.’

‘But I did beat him to a pulp with the antelope haunch!’

‘So you did.’ Jericho walked on, and opened the car door. ‘How did you get here anyway? Weren’t you supposed to be keeping an eye on Nyela?’

‘That just about beats everything.’ Yoyo flung open the passenger door, flopped down in her seat and twisted her arms into a knot. ‘You’d have ended up as cold cuts if I hadn’t come along, you arsehole.’

Jericho kept quiet.

Had he just made a mistake?

‘I don’t know where we’re going to get the money either,’ he conceded. ‘And I don’t want to count on Tu’s help, not automatically.’

Yoyo grumbled something he didn’t catch.

‘Well then,’ Jericho said. ‘Let’s go to the hotel, shall we?’

No answer.

He sighed, and started the car.

‘I’ll ask Tu, in any case,’ he said. ‘He can lend it to me. Or give it as an advance.’

‘Whver.’

‘Maybe he’s got some news for us. He’s been playing about with Diane since this morning.’

Silence.

‘I called him before I went into Muntu. Very interesting stuff he’s found out. Confirms everything that Vogelaar said. Should I tell you what Tu told me?’

‘’f y’wnt.’

He couldn’t get anything else out of her. All the way to the Hyatt, all she would do was spit out knotty strings of consonants. Jericho reported his conversation with Tu, in the cheery tones of a man pushing water uphill, until in the end he couldn’t keep up the pretence that nothing was wrong. In the Hyatt’s underground garage, he finally gave up.

‘Okay,’ he said. ‘You’re right.’

Arms folded, she stared dead ahead.

‘I behaved very badly. I should have thanked you.’

‘N’wrries.’ On the other hand, at least she wasn’t jumping out of the car.

‘Without you, Vogelaar would have killed me. You saved my life.’ He cleared his throat. ‘So, umm – thank you, okay? I mean that, really. I’ll never forget it. It was extremely brave of you.’

She turned her head and looked at him, her brows drawn down like thunder.

‘Why exactly are you such a halfwit?’

‘No idea.’ Jericho stared at the steering wheel. ‘Maybe I just never learned.’

‘Learned what?’

‘How to be considerate.’

‘I think that you can be, though. Very considerate.’ Her arms, folded tight, relaxed a little. They even slipped apart a bit. ‘Do you know what else I think?’

Jericho raised his eyebrows.

‘I think that you’re least considerate towards people you actually care about.’

He caught his breath. Not stupid, this one.

‘And who helped you with that little insight?’ he asked, nursing a suspicion.

‘What do you mean?’

‘I was just thinking it’s the kind of thing that Joanna might have said.’

‘I don’t need Joanna for that.’

‘You didn’t happen to talk to her about me, then?’