All the mannerisms of phony politeness had left Saunders’ face, and the real man was visible behind his former mask of genteel courtesy. The big lemur eyes behind the magnifying lenses were as hard as glaciers and locked unwaveringly onto Ben’s.
Saunders replied, ‘They’re very simple. Please remember that the surveillance team will be watching every move Miss Kirk makes, and everyone with whom she comes into contact. If someone so much as says hello to her in the street, within seconds we’ll know everything about not just their lives, but those of their entire circle of family and friends. Likewise, all her communications, such as landline and mobile phones, emails and social media, are being closely monitored. Therefore, the slightest attempt on your part to warn her, in any way, will be detected the instant you make it, and will result in her being shot in the head at the first opportunity. There will be no reprieve, no second chance.’
Chapter 3
Ben said, ‘No need to sugar-coat it, Saunders. Tell me it like it is.’
Saunders went on, ‘Likewise, if you try to involve the authorities in this matter, she will be shot in the head. Should you be tempted to enlist any of your talented business associates to intervene in this situation, she will be shot in the head.’
Ben was thinking that if he were to snap this man’s neck like a stale stick of baguette and hurl his dead body out of the aircraft, she’d probably be shot in the head, too. ‘She’ll be expecting me to call when I get home.’
‘We know. You needn’t concern yourself with that. It’ll be done for you, by text message. A simple line or two, to say you got back safely and will be in touch soon. It will appear to have come from your phone, which, incidentally, is also being monitored.’
‘You’ve thought of everything, haven’t you?’ It was an understatement. It seemed to Ben like they had him pretty well stitched up. As Jeff Dekker would have said, tighter than a camel’s arse in a sandstorm.
‘It’s my job.’
‘All right, Saunders, or whoever you are. I get the message. What is it that you want from me?’
Saunders explained, ‘You’ve been selected from a shortlist of candidates. A very short shortlist, I might add. Made up of names of current or former operatives who share a common expertise in the art of locating, and then neutralising, selected targets.’
‘Human targets,’ Ben said. It wasn’t a question.
‘For a number of particular reasons, you came out top of the list. Head and shoulders above the nearest competition, thanks to your prior experience in this kind of work. Before you went freelance calling yourself a “specialist kidnap and ransom consultant” you excelled at tracking insurgents and terrorist commanders on behalf of HM Government.’
Ben was no longer surprised that this man Saunders seemed to know so much about his past. It wasn’t just his military experience. These people clearly had gathered detailed information on his private hostage rescue career, too, and that bothered him a lot. He’d always worked hard to cover his tracks. The knowledge that these spooks, or whoever they were, seemed able to see straight through his defences made him feel vulnerable, even paranoid.
‘Is that who I’m being recruited by, HM Government?’
Saunders gave a noncommittal shrug. ‘Let’s just say that one of our lambs has strayed from the flock. We need someone with your inimitable talents to find him and teach him the error of his ways.’
So after the brutal candour about the threat hanging over Grace if Ben didn’t play ball, now it was back to the euphemisms. ‘You mean you want him eliminated.’
‘Eliminated, neutralised, terminated, call it what you will.’
‘There’s your problem,’ Ben replied. ‘Because I’m not an assassin.’
Saunders raised an eyebrow. ‘Oh, dear. That sounded suspiciously like a refusal to take the mission. Are we forgetting the ground rules already?’
Ben said nothing.
‘Under the circumstances, Major, you’re whoever we want you to be. Let’s not pretend you haven’t done it before. Your particular skillset is well documented. Plus, you’re uniquely qualified for this specific mission. Unlike any of the other potential candidates, you happen to be personally acquainted with the target. Given the nature of the job, we considered that would give you an edge. Not that a man of your expertise is likely to have too much trouble.’
‘Killers come as friends,’ Ben said. ‘That’s how it works in your organisation, I suppose.’
‘I wouldn’t call him a friend, exactly. You haven’t seen him in a long time.’
‘Who is he?’
‘His name is Wolf. Jaden Wolf.’
‘That’s some name for a stray lamb,’ Ben said. But he recognised it immediately, and it was clear to him why he’d been picked for such an assignment. That didn’t make him any happier about it. ‘So what’s Wolf done to deserve this?’
‘The whys and wherefores are not your concern,’ replied Saunders. He pointed at the tablet phone. ‘You can hang onto that. It contains all the information you’ll require, on an encrypted data file that is programmed to self-destruct two minutes after opening, so I suggest you read it carefully and commit it to memory. Shouldn’t be a problem for a clever chap like you.’
‘What’s the decryption key?’
Saunders smiled. ‘We selected one that would be nice and easy for you to remember. The password is “Ruth”.’
Ruth was Ben’s sister and only surviving relation. She lived in Switzerland, and they were in touch from time to time. When Ben was in his teens, Ruth had been kidnapped by Arab human traffickers during a family holiday in Morocco. He’d devoted many years of his life to finding her, and never wanted to lose her again. He understood that the use of her name as a passcode was another not-so-subtle warning of the hurt these people could inflict if he failed to obey them.
He asked, ‘When did this happen?’
‘Five days ago.’
‘That’s a long time for someone like Wolf to be running. I’m presuming you’ve had your own people out looking for him.’
Saunders nodded. ‘We were able to track a few of his movements. His vehicle was found abandoned in a village in Surrey, where a car was reported stolen the same night. The stolen car was discovered the next day in a street in London. It’s all in the file.’
‘And you have no idea where he is now.’
‘If we did, you and I wouldn’t be having this conversation.’
‘Which means he’s either still in the country, or he’s travelling on a false ID.’
‘He’s a resourceful sort of chap. Almost as resourceful as you are. You and he had the same teachers, after all.’
‘Then he could be anywhere. Sitting in a cave in outer Mongolia or sailing a fishing boat around the Florida Keys.’
‘Why else would we have seen the need to enlist the very best man for the job of tracking him down? Few people have ever known Jaden Wolf as well as you. I have every faith that you can find him, Major Hope.’
‘Don’t call me that.’
‘Why not?’