‘I know he was a spy. That doesn’t mean we’re gunna get caught. You think we’re alone in this? We’re not. The people are on our side. You think they’re gunna turn their backs on us?’
Larry said, ‘Maybe not.’
‘Maybe not.
‘I’m here. I’m not all noise. You know that.’
‘Yeah, right.’ Curly wanted to say more, to explain to Larry what the future held: that they’d be heroes, outlaws, Robin Hoods. Symbols of the struggle against Islam. And when the war started, leaders of the people. But he didn’t, because Larry didn’t have it in him. Larry thought he was a soldier, but he was just another coward; happy to talk, scared to walk. No point talking to him about a future that was Curly’s alone.
Which Larry didn’t know yet, but he’d find out soon.
But the Roupell Street house led nowhere.
‘Civil Service property since the fifties,’ Ho said, scanning records he’d pulled onscreen. ‘Treasury first, then something called “collateral purposes”.’
‘Safe house,’ Catherine said.
‘And now it’s listed under Sales.’
‘Which means exactly what it sounds like.’ Catherine shook her head. ‘There’ll be no papertrail.
‘So they were squatting,’ Min said.
‘Basically.’
‘They’d have had a shock if a potential buyer turned up.’
‘In this climate?’
‘Okay, that takes us nowhere. So where are we?’ Louisa said.
‘Twiddling thumbs,’ Ho said. ‘The kid’s toast.’
‘Shut up,’ Catherine snapped.
Ho eyed her warily.
‘Get this through your head. Until we know he’s dead, we keep looking. We’ve no idea what their plan is. They might want to keep to the original timetable because it’s, I don’t know, Hitler’s birthday or something. It might matter to them. We might still have time.’
Ho opened his mouth as if to reveal when Hitler’s birthday was, but thought better of it.
Louisa said, ‘None of us are giving up.’
Their breakfasts arrived: three platefuls of the full English; one mushroom omelette. Ho shifted his laptop on to his knees, then scooped a forkful of beans into his mouth.
‘Were you taught to eat?’ Louisa said. ‘Or is it still a learning process?’
Chewing rapidly Ho nodded at her, as if to indicate that a smart reply was but minutes away.
Min said, ‘Okay, they got the house for free. They’d still need money. For transport if nothing else.’
‘They might have stolen it.’
‘With a kidnap victim? Too risky.’
‘They might have used their own wheels.’
‘Black was a pro. He’d have wanted fresh.’
Catherine agreed.
‘And paid with cash,’ said Min.
‘Most likely,’ agreed Louisa.
‘And if they used cash, it’s history.’
Catherine cut her omelette into uniform slices. The others watched, fascinated.
When she’d finished, she ate two pieces in silence, then took a sip of coffee. She said, ‘Not necessarily. Black was using a fake name. When you’re establishing a cover, one of the first things you go for is a credit card. It’s easy to do. And once you’ve got it, why not use it? It adds verisimilitude.’
‘Adds what?’ Ho said.
Catherine gave him a look
Min said, ‘Sounds good, but where does it take us? We don’t know what name he was using.’
‘Didn’t Lamb check his pockets? For a wallet?’
‘I think he’d have said if he had. On account of it being, you know. A clue.’
‘Let’s step back,’ Louisa suggested. ‘You’re running an op. What do you need?’
‘A legend,’ Ho said.
‘With at least three back-ups.’
‘Back-ups?’
Catherine said: ‘Like a reference on a CV. At least two contact numbers, or addresses, where if anyone comes checking, they’ll find confirmation you’re who you say you are.’
‘And how’s that work when you’re off the books?’
‘You go freelance.’
They thought about it.
‘It’s getting expensive.’
‘Slush fund,’ Louisa said.
‘That’s all tight as hell since the Miro Weiss business.’
Which was when a quarter of a billion pounds, slated for reconstruction work in Iraq, had gone walkabout.
‘Okay, how’d you do it on the cheap?’
‘Friends.’
‘Nobody’s got friends that good,’ Ho objected.
‘Not in your world,’ Louisa agreed. ‘But there must be people owe Taverner a favour. And I mean, what are we talking? You get a phone call from some little England nut, asking if you can vouch for whatever Black was calling himself? Takes two minutes to say yes.’
Catherine said, ‘No. You need a dedicated phone line, and you need to be in character when it rings, 24/7. On the books, this stuff is handled via the Queens. The system tells them, when they get a caller, who they’re supposed to be.’
Min reminded himself that Catherine Standish had been Charles Partner’s Girl Friday. Partner had been before Min’s time, but he was pretty much a legend himself.
He said, ‘Well—’ but got no further.
‘Oh fuck,’ Catherine said.
The first time any of them had heard her say that.
‘I think I know what they did.’
Curly said, ‘Thought we were heading out of the city.’
‘I’m trying.’
