The Death Trade

‘In what way precisely?’

‘A man called Abu informed me that there is only one God and Osama is his Prophet. He had his Glock on me, and I was on my knees at the time.’

Ferguson frowned. ‘Al Qaeda was behind this?’

‘I should say so,’ Dillon told him. ‘Sara saved me by stabbing Abu a couple of times, giving me the chance to shoot him. I’d managed to attract his back-up man into taking a dive off the local wharf into the Thames, so you could argue that a fine time was enjoyed by one and all.’

‘Including Sara Gideon.’ There was a small and quizzical smile on Roper’s face, a query: ‘Is she okay?’

‘Absolutely,’ Dillon said. ‘I’ve just delivered her to Highfield, where I imagine she’s gone straight to bed.’

‘Which doesn’t surprise me at all, having heard all that,’ Ferguson said. ‘So, Al Qaeda on our backs again, gentlemen. Rather unexpected, I’d have thought.’

‘But they haven’t put anything our way for some time,’ Roper said. ‘So why now?’

‘Maybe they’ve got wind of your interest in those Mediterranean rust buckets, Charles,’ Dillon said. ‘That would certainly add a new dimension to things. There’s really nothing else that would interest them as regards our present activities.’

‘Oh, I don’t know about that,’ Roper told him. ‘This Simon Husseini business. Al Qaeda would be happy to know why we are so interested in him.’

‘So would I,’ Dillon said. ‘But not now. I’m going to bed in the guest wing to get some sleep while the going’s good.’

He departed, and Roper said, ‘Well, there you are, General. I wouldn’t mind knowing what Paris is all about, but I expect you’ll tell us in your own good time.’

‘Well, we certainly aren’t going to try to snatch him,’ Ferguson told him. ‘That’s not on the agenda at all, because of his mother and daughter.’

‘Which only leaves trying to turn him?’

‘Leave it, Major, I’m not prepared to discuss it. I’m going back to bed, which seems the fashionable thing to do.’

He went out, and Roper smiled. So that was it? Trying to bring Husseini on our side. Someone should have told Ferguson the Cold War is over. The tactics it had bred wouldn’t work any more, but the old boy was stubborn. Better to leave him to find out for himself.

Ali Saif, at his desk in his room at Pound Street, had been in the extraordinary position of being able to follow most of the events that had taken place, from Dillon and Sara’s departure at Holland Park to the final bloodbath of Butler’s Wharf. The earpieces Farouk and Abu wore were the reason, for they were so sophisticated that Ali Saif had a ringside seat to everything via his incredible receiving equipment.

He was part of the action at all times, heard Farouk’s howl of dismay as he went off the end of Butler’s Wharf and a great deal of what transpired in the courtyard of the warehouse between Abu, Dillon, and Sara.

To him, the most shocking thing of all was Abu telling Dillon that there was one God and Osama was his Prophet, making it clear to Dillon, and through him Ferguson, that the real enemy in this affair was Al Qaeda. Very stupid of Abu to do that, but to be charitable, one should not speak ill of the dead.

But the arrival of Teague and the disposal team and what he heard of them, until they bagged Abu, really shocked him. The sheer ruthlessness of these people showed Ferguson’s organization in a new light to him. He had never cared for the Iranian, a loudmouthed bully who preferred to get bad news sooner rather than later, so Ali Saif decided to give it to him in spite of the time.

In his bedroom at Park Lane, Emza Khan, rudely awakened, snarled into the phone, ‘Who in the hell is it at this hour?’

‘It’s Ali Saif. You said you’d like to be kept informed. I’m afraid we’ve had problems.’

‘Of what kind?’ Khan said.

So Ali Saif told him.

When he was finished, Khan exploded with rage. ‘This is not acceptable. What Ferguson and his people are doing is appalling, and what’s more, they seem to get away with it on a regular basis. Can’t Al Qaeda do something to stop them?’

‘I’m sure we can, given time. All this new information gives us insight on the way they operate. We’ll come up with a plan of action while you’re away in Paris.’

‘Along with Ferguson, the woman Gideon, and Dillon. Are you telling me you can’t deal with them in Paris? Is not Al Qaeda as powerful there as here?’

‘Oh yes,’ Ali Saif told him. ‘Very much so.’

‘Then speak to the right people, do something about it. Paris is full of narrow alleys and dark corners. Try and damage the woman, I should like to see her suffer, at the very least.’

‘At your command,’ Ali told him. ‘We will see what can be done.’

‘See that you do. Another woman, perhaps, who could get close to her. Do you have such a person?’

‘Yes, if she’s available.’

‘Who is she, what’s her name?’

Saif was trapped, afraid to argue. ‘Fatima Le Bon.’

‘Excellent, I like the sound of that. So she lives in Paris? What’s her address, phone number? Be quick, you idiot. I want to go back to sleep.’

With great reluctance but a certain amount of fear, Saif told him. ‘She’s true to the Cause.’

‘She’d better be. It would be a pity to have to send Rasoul to visit her and have a quiet word. Goodnight,’ and Khan slammed down the phone.

Ali Saif poured coffee, then produced a bottle of cognac from a drawer and poured a generous measure into a cut-glass tumbler. What fools these mortals be. That was Shakespeare, a man who had words to cover every situation, and Khan was a fool in spite of his wealth. Ali Saif was not a religious man, but Al Qaeda had supplied him with the right kind of action, a battle of wits, a great and wonderful game, and he had enjoyed every minute of it.

He produced a coded mobile and dialled a number in Paris. It was answered quite quickly. ‘Osama,’ he said.

‘Is risen’ was the reply in French, and it was a woman’s voice. ‘Who are you seeking?’

‘Fatima Le Bon, for Ali Saif,’ he replied in English.

She answered in the same language. ‘You’ve got a nerve, you Egyptian pig. I ended up in police hands again after that last drug bust. I thought I was going down for five years.’

‘Which you didn’t,’ he said. ‘Discharged with a clean bill of health. Now, who do you think made that possible?’

‘Okay,’ she said. ‘So AQ had a hand in it.’

‘Exactly, because we have sympathizers everywhere. I notice you’ve still held on to that special mobile phone I gave you last time when I was over. That’s good, and it proves you’re a good Muslim girl who believes in Osama.’

‘A bad Muslim girl who’s French Algerian, didn’t understand what Osama was talking about, and was bewildered when you turned up at that night court with a lawyer when I was charged with slashing that disgusting pimp Louis Le Croix’s cheek.’

‘A charge which was thrown out of court when your lawyer presented evidence that the knife was Le Croix’s, who was sentenced to five years, which he richly deserved for a litany of foul deeds, particularly where women were concerned.’

‘The evidence against him was false, and I’ve been paying you off ever since.’

‘Nonsense, you enjoy the game, just like me, especially when it’s filth like Le Croix who meet a bad end.’

‘Screw you, Saif. So what is it this time?’