As he sat going over a mental progress report, he realized the one issue he hadn't done anything about was the Kurbsky mystery. He looked at his watch. He had time for just a quick look. He left the hotel quickly, hailed the first cab he saw, and told the driver to take him to Belsize Park. He soon found Chamber Court, the residence of Kurbsky's aunt, Svetlana. It was a substantial detached property, early Victorian from the look of it. There was a front gate and a side gate, each with an intercom, but you couldn't see through the gates, and the walls were high, and it looked like an electronic security system ran along the top. a mental progress report, he realized the one issue he hadn't done anything about was the Kurbsky mystery. He looked at his watch. He had time for just a quick look. He left the hotel quickly, hailed the first cab he saw, and told the driver to take him to Belsize Park. He soon found Chamber Court, the residence of Kurbsky's aunt, Svetlana. It was a substantial detached property, early Victorian from the look of it. There was a front gate and a side gate, each with an intercom, but you couldn't see through the gates, and the walls were high, and it looked like an electronic security system ran along the top.

He kept on walking at a steady pace, aware that he was very probably on camera, and then a strange thing happened. The side gate opened, and a man in overalls emerged. He was completely bald, his cheeks hollow, the eyes sunken and staring. Obviously, someone on chemotherapy. It seemed cruel to think it, but he looked like a walking ghoul.

The poor sod, Holley thought, as Alexander Kurbsky ignored him and went into the corner shop on the other side of the road.

Holley kept going and found Abbey Road, increasing his pace and turning up his collar as it started to rain lightly. According to the files, Kurbsky's aunt lived in the house with her companion, Katya Zorin, British born but of Russian extraction. When the original plan had been put in place, Kurbsky had told Luzhkov that his aunt was to be left alone, that he would not visit her because he didn't want her in any way to be involved with the plot that had brought her nephew to London. In all the material Holley had studied, there had been no indication that anyone connected with the GRU had made any attempt to check the situation. Could Chamber Court have been housing Kurbsky all along, perhaps under Ferguson's protection? It was an intriguing thought, just as intriguing as the poor wretch he had just seen. Possibly an odd-job man of some sort.

He continued along Abbey Road, caught a cab at Swiss Cottage, and told the driver to take him to the Albany Regency. There was work to be done.

He sat drawing up the specific plans of action for Caitlin Daly. The number one target was Ferguson. He had that dinner at the Garrick Club, and Henry Pool was the obvious choice there. Pool had been in the private-hire business for several years, and his luxury Amara limousine was already preapproved by the Ministry. It was up to him to discover a way of being Ferguson's driver on Friday night. One of the small explosive devices Caitlin had hidden in the wine cellar would suffice to do the job, aided by an electronic remote control or possibly a pencil timer. the specific plans of action for Caitlin Daly. The number one target was Ferguson. He had that dinner at the Garrick Club, and Henry Pool was the obvious choice there. Pool had been in the private-hire business for several years, and his luxury Amara limousine was already preapproved by the Ministry. It was up to him to discover a way of being Ferguson's driver on Friday night. One of the small explosive devices Caitlin had hidden in the wine cellar would suffice to do the job, aided by an electronic remote control or possibly a pencil timer.

Miller and Johnson in New York were down to Barry and Flynn.

The Salters-he was helped there by the fact that, unusually for such a successful pub, it closed at eleven o'clock, and its comparative isolation would mean it would take time for emergency services to get there. An arson attack after midnight. He wrote down the name John Docherty, and suggested he proceed on foot so that the noise of a vehicle at that time in the early hours would not be noticed in the pub. He mentioned that an old Ford van parked outside the shed had a key in the ignition.

Monica Starling. She would leave Corpus Christi College at seven o'clock and drive six miles to the Raintree House. A photo from Holley's laptop was printed, and he a.s.signed the task to Patrick Murray, the long-distance truck driver. It shouldn't be hard to run Monica Starling's vehicle off a country road.

Finally, Alexander Kurbsky. Something was not right about Chamber Court, he felt it instinctively, and the strange inhuman being he'd seen coming out of the side gate didn't seem right either. So that task he suggested for Matthew Cochran. Cochran would have to get over that wall to discover if it was tenanted only by the two women or not.

He produced each task on a separate sheet and put them together in an envelope with no address on it, as a precaution, and his mobile sounded. He answered.

"It's me, Ivanov, I'm calling from the Emba.s.sy. What's happening?"

"I've been busy, that's what's happening. I really haven't got time to talk now."

"Don't give me that. I'm in charge of you until Colonel Lermov gets here on Sat.u.r.day. I've spoken to Chekhov. He tells me you've contacted the Daly woman and she's interested, but what's all this about New York?"

Holley was angry and bitterly regretted having been so open with Chekhov. "None of your business, sunshine. Don't interfere. If you screw things up, I'll kill you, I swear it."

"You wouldn't dare."

"Try me. Now, be a good boy. You know the rules. We never meet, I'm in charge, and I keep you informed on the telephone."

"f.u.c.k you, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d."

"Why, Peter, I didn't know you cared."

Holley switched off. He might have known. That was the trouble with the military, always wanting to show what big stuff they were, always stealing the good work some junior officer had produced and pa.s.sing it off as their own.

He pulled on his raincoat, stuffed the large envelope in a plastic bag, and went out in search of a cab.

It was late afternoon now, shadows drawing in, and close to five. He was just in time. It would give her a chance to look at his plans. He called her from the High Street in Kilburn. shadows drawing in, and close to five. He was just in time. It would give her a chance to look at his plans. He called her from the High Street in Kilburn.

"I'm here. You don't need to spend time with me. I'll just pa.s.s you the envelope."

"Wait for me in the church. I'll walk from the presbytery and come in through the back door."

He did as he was told, pushed the great front entrance open and ventured in. There were five or six people over on the right waiting by the confessional boxes. He stood at the back, and she appeared outside the sacristy and waved, and he went to join her.

She pulled him in, took the envelope, and opened it. "I'll give it a quick read." She finished the sheets in five minutes and put them back in the envelope. "It all seems to make sense. I'm sure Pool can sort something out with the car. He once told me he's very well in with the Ministry. It's a starting point anyway."

"Good."

"What about Roper and Dillon? I don't see them here."

"We haven't got enough manpower at the moment. But we can take them soon. For Roper, I thought we'd blow up the Holland Park safe house. The man in the wheelchair never seems to leave it these days."

"And Dillon?"

"I'll shoot him. He's a loner, which simplifies things. Someone alone in the street on a rainy night, someone behind . . ." He smiled, and she took a step back.

"Someone walked over my grave when you said that."

"Not you, Caitlin, not for years. Call me when you're ready."

He went out and straight up the aisle, opened the door wide, and started down the path. Peter Ivanov, dressed in a trench coat and trilby, stepped out of a monumental archway and faced him.

Holley stood there looking at him. "So you knew about the church and where it was even when we were in Moscow. You're not supposed to interfere, Ivanov. You'll ruin everything."

"Come with me," Ivanov told him. "We're going to have a little discussion. I wouldn't argue with Sergeant Kerimov here. He doesn't like it, and he's bigger than you."

Holley walked towards the car, where Kerimov, large and lumpen, stood on the other side waiting to get behind the wheel. He looked formidable. "Come on, get in." Ivanov opened the front pa.s.senger door. "I'll sit behind you."

Kerimov was smiling when he eased behind the wheel. Holley leaned down as if to sit on the pa.s.senger seat, pulled the Colt from his ankle holster, and shot Kerimov through the back of the left hand. He cried out, tried reaching for his gun with his right hand, and Holley rapped him across the head. Kerimov slumped across the wheel.

"Oh, dear, you'll have to get him in the backseat and drive him somewhere. Better not make it an emergency room. They call the police to a gunshot wound. Of course, there's always the medical facility at the Emba.s.sy," Holley said.

"G.o.d d.a.m.n you," Ivanov told him.

"Next time, I'll kill you, you, remember that. Especially if I find you've come back here and interfered with Caitlin Daly." remember that. Especially if I find you've come back here and interfered with Caitlin Daly."

He walked briskly away and left them to it.

12.

On the way back, he reviewed the situation. He wasn't bothered in the slightest by what he had just done. Ivanov could hardly call in the law. All he could do was haul the wretched Kerimov back to the Emba.s.sy's sick bay. Lermov would have to hear about what had happened, of course, but it was obvious that Ivanov had broken the rules they'd all agreed on. What would Lermov make of that? Not very much, Holley concluded. He'd probably tell Ivanov to stop being an a.s.s. Holley had made his point, drawn a line in the sand, and that was that.

He got out at the hotel but didn't go in. There wasn't much he could do right now, waiting on news of the meeting and which way things would swing. He also needed to give Chekhov the addresses and phone numbers of Barry and Flynn so Chekhov could speak to Potanin and get things up and running, but there was the same problem there. Frustrated, he went along to Shepherd's Market to visit Selim.

Sitting in the study, darkness falling outside, a gas fire burning in the Victorian fireplace, Holley fidgeted while waiting for the call. Selim had once again provided champagne, but Holley's was untouched. darkness falling outside, a gas fire burning in the Victorian fireplace, Holley fidgeted while waiting for the call. Selim had once again provided champagne, but Holley's was untouched.

"You really should drink up, Daniel," said Selim. "It'll help you relax. What's wrong? Can you tell me?"

"Not in any detail," said Holley. "It's just . . . I'm on the verge of satisfactory resolution to my job here, but-"

"But someone is interfering?"

"How do you know?" Holley asked.

"Because you always do things on your own. You hate any interference, and I can just bet that whoever you're doing this job for doesn't see it the same way."

"We agreed that we should never meet, that we should only make contact by encrypted mobile, and just now I had some eager young b.a.s.t.a.r.d, together with a sergeant the size of a brick wall, try to put me in a car in Kilburn."

"Ah, a sergeant. The military's involved, then. Men in uniform, they need to take charge, give orders."

"Well, not to me." Holley took the gla.s.s and drank it down in one gulp.

"So what did you do?"

Holley reached to the ankle holster and took out the Colt .25 and laid it on the bra.s.s table. "Shot the Sergeant in the back of the hand as he gripped the wheel and left his captain to struggle back to the Emba.s.sy with him."

"Wonderful." Selim smiled. "That's the best thing I've heard in years. You're a lone wolf, Daniel, the most dangerous beast in the forest."

Holley's mobile sounded. It was Caitlin. "Can we talk?"

Holley glanced at Selim, who pointed to the kitchen, picked up the bottle of champagne, and went out.

"I'm with a friend, but you can speak now. How did it go?"

"They went for it completely. And listen to this: we've already had a stroke of luck. It seems that Ferguson's usual car was damaged in a minor accident last week, so it's away for repair. Henry Pool said it's common knowledge amongst the other drivers because Ferguson was very angry."

"So he thinks he can be the replacement car?"

"Absolutely certain. Pool says if he asks for it, he'll get it. The dispatcher is an old pal of his."

"He's not concerned about the hazard?"

"He said it's common to leave pa.s.sengers in the limousine to run errands for them, get a newspaper or cigarettes or sometimes a bottle. He'll nip out, set off the bomb, and no one will be the wiser."

"And the others are just as enthusiastic?"

"Yes, Docherty is quite happy about handling the Dark Man situation. He lived in Wapping years ago and knows his way round down there."

"And Murray?"

"No problem. He's going to put a suit and tie on, drive up to Cambridge in the morning with the photo, find where Monica Starling lives, and put a face to the name."

"And Cochran?"

"He said that he seemed to have less to do than anyone. If I can't find a way to break into a house inhabited by two spinster ladies, he said, I should be ashamed of myself."

"Excellent. Call Barry and Flynn, too, tell them the good news, and give them the following name: Mikhail Potanin. Have you got that?"

"I've written it down."

"He is a very experienced guy in this kind of business, and he'll be in touch with them. They have nothing to fear. He'll help in any way he can. This Friday in New York is definitely on."

"Yes, I've got all that."

"Get on to them right now. And . . . thanks, Caitlin."

He called Chekhov next. It sounded like there was a party going on in the Park Lane apartment: music, female laughter. It sounded like there was a party going on in the Park Lane apartment: music, female laughter.

"It's me," Holley told him. "What's going on over there?"

"Daniel, old son. Just a few friends."

"Are you drunk?"

"Never that, Daniel. You insult me as a Russian."

"We need to talk."

"And we shall. I'll go into my study, close the door, and silence the chattering of fools." There was a movement, a certain banging, and the noise died. "How can I help?"

"Everything's dropped into place. Caitlin and her cell will swing into action here on Friday. As we speak, she's confirming with Barry and Flynn that it's on for Friday. I'll give you their phone numbers."

Chekhov said, "If I press a b.u.t.ton, I'm recording this, so just tell me."

Holley did. "I'm dropping this in Potanin's lap to watch over them, make sure they're up to it-and, if necessary, clean up any messes."

"Don't worry, Daniel, he's done this kind of thing many times before," Chekhov said.

"I gathered that, but make sure he realizes it's serious business. I hear you had Ivanov on your case?"

"He gave me a call, I asked him if he'd spoken to you, and he said not yet. I get the impression he doesn't exactly trust you."