Personal

‘Relax,’ I said. ‘At least for a couple of weeks. This thing isn’t September eleventh. I know Scarangello is full of doom and gloom, but suppose she’s wrong? Some politician gets whacked, exactly half his country will be throwing a street party. They’ll be buying beer and flags. Could spark an economic miracle.’

‘I’m sure that possibility was investigated. But I think Deputy Deputy Scarangello’s position represents the majority view.’

‘Is that what you call her?’

‘That’s what she is.’

I asked, ‘Is your gun waiting at the hotel?’

She said, ‘What hotel?’

‘Where we’re staying. Or do you pick it up someplace else?’

‘There is no gun. I’m unacknowledged. The government can’t arm me. You either.’

‘So what are we supposed to do?’

She said, ‘Standard procedure would be to supply ourselves locally, by foraging.’

I forced my head left and right, to push back the wings on my headrest. I said, ‘Which might be easy enough to do, because presumably the Romford Boys are being vigilant, on behalf of Kott and Carson, and sooner or later we’re going to touch their outer cordon, like tweaking the edge of a spider’s web, and presumably the outer cordon is armed, which means we’re about to be, because we’re going to take the guy’s weapon away.’

‘I think that’s one possibility they would want us to consider. Plus General Shoemaker thinks contact with Romford’s outer cordon is a good tactic in its own right. In the form of an invented approach on a business matter, he suggested. If we get past one layer, we can triangulate against the second layer and get a sense of where the centre is. Where Kott and Carson are, in other words.’

‘If I ask you a question, will I get an honest answer?’

‘Depends.’

‘How many other unacknowledged assets is the United States sending?’

‘Five.’

‘How many undercover Brits?’

‘Last I heard, thirteen.’

‘And what about the other six countries?’

‘They’ll send two each, except for Russia, who will match us with seven.’

‘When will they all arrive?’

‘Ahead of us, probably. We might be late to the party.’

‘And how busy are these boys in Romford?’

‘Busy doing what?’

‘Doing deals. With suppliers and wholesalers and retailers and stuff like that.’

‘I have no idea.’

‘At least moderately busy, right? Drugs and girls and guns is all about buying and selling. And there’s always some new face on the scene with a better price, at one end of the deal or the other. So from time to time they talk to unknown people. They’re somewhat accustomed to it. So if some stranger shows up dressed like a tough guy with a bullshit deal, they won’t think too much about it. Maybe not with the second guy, even. But you just counted thirty-seven people who are all going to have the same idea as Rick Shoemaker did. After the third or the fourth the cordon is going to start shooting on sight. So we’re not going to do the spider-web thing. We’re going to do something else.’

‘What else?’

‘I’ll explain it later,’ I said, because at that point I was drawing a blank, and she had only five pills left.

TWENTY-FOUR

I SLEPT FOR maybe three hours, bolt upright, head clamped, and then about ninety minutes before arrival the lights came on and a whole lot of crashing and banging started up in the galleys. Casey Nice had the look of a person who hadn’t slept at all. She was a little pale and shiny and feverish. The joys of all-night travel. She said, ‘Have you been to London before?’

‘A few times,’ I said.

‘What do I need to know?’

‘You haven’t been before?’

‘Not for work.’

‘This isn’t work. We’re unacknowledged, remember?’

‘Exactly,’ she said. ‘I’m about to walk into a foreign country and break about a hundred laws and treaties. They take a dim view of that.’

‘Scarangello told me.’

‘She was right.’

‘In which case the airport will be your biggest problem. We should assume they’re on heightened alert. And they’re paranoid anyway. They have cameras and one-way glass everywhere. They’ll be watching us from the minute we step out the plane. From the jet bridge onward, literally. Us and everyone else. They’re looking for nervous or furtive behaviour. Because this is their first and best chance to catch people. And it doesn’t help us if we’re turned away at the border or locked up for questioning. So don’t look nervous or furtive. Don’t think about the hundred laws or treaties. Think about something else entirely.’

‘Like what?’

‘What would you most like to do in London? Like a secret desire. As stupid as you want.’

‘You really want to know?’

‘I want you to imagine you’re doing it. Or heading straight for it. That’s why you’re here. You’re going to catch a cab and go right there.’

‘OK.’