Gamma Blade - Tim Stevens Page 0,57

- at least, that was how it felt to Venn - Estrada said: “So this Harris is a professional who’s after O’Reilly. And O’Reilly is a possible MI6 agent, either currently or previously.”

“Yeah,” Venn said. “Beth said Harris’s accent changed to British, so we can assume he’s a Brit. So maybe O’Reilly is a rogue MI6 agent, doing some kind of a deal with Brull, and this Harris has been sent here to bring him to heel. But he’s gotta do it in a clandestine manner, to avoid all the political embarrassment that would follow if a British intelligence operative was found in cahoots with a Miami gangbanger. So Harris is working outside the law.”

“Be a lot easier if he came forward,” said Estrada. “We’re on the same side, essentially.”

Venn stared out the window, at the city’s lights, the approaching glitter of the waterfront. “What the hell is Brull cooking up with O’Reilly?” he said.

Estrada glanced at him. “More to the point, what the hell are you going to do if Brull makes the exchange and takes you into his custody?”

“I’ll find something,” Venn said.

Estrada said, “I’m serious, Venn. That woman of yours needs you to come back. Like I said before, I’m guessing you’re gonna have kids with her. Maybe she’s even pregnant now. So you need to find a way to make this work. ‘I’ll find something’ isn’t good enough.”

“Sometimes the lion’s den is the best place to be,” Venn said. “The lions can get complacent.”

But he wasn’t sure he believed it.

*

At ten minutes to ten, as the Sea Stealer cut a churning furrow through the black water beyond the cabin window, Venn saw the solitary, stationary outline of a boat against the sky ahead, and he knew Brull had made the rendezvous.

Chapter 31

Brull took the call. It was Elon.

“Ship approaching,” Elon said. “Looks about the same size as our boat. I’m guessing it’s the one.”

“He said the name was the Sea Stealer,” said Brull. “Make sure that’s what’s on the side.”

“Roger that.”

“And stay on the phone,” said Brull. “Keep this line open.”

Brull stared out the window of the ship. The horizon was a distant, faint line, and he could see nothing traversing it. He was too far out to sea to have even the remotest chance of being able to observe what was about to go down, but he gazed in that direction anyway.

If Venn pulled some trick, and the forces of law and order descended on the boat on which Elon and his three guys were currently holding the Fuentes kid, then Brull was far enough away that he could flee without worrying too much about being caught immediately. He could write off Elon and the other guys - and Venn - as necessary business losses, and could proceed with the transfer of the cargo to O’Reilly’s cargo ship, which was hovering several knots farther out to sea.

Except that O’Reilly had introduced a wrinkle. He’d take possession of the cargo. But he wouldn’t deliver it to its intended recipient - the Turkmen, Popok - until Brull furnished proof that the man hunting O’Reilly, John Purkiss, had been killed.

And that was a tough one. Because Brull had no idea where this Purkiss guy was.

He decided it wasn’t an urgent priority. As long as the cargo was delivered to O’Reilly’s ship, the actual transfer across the Atlantic to Turkmenistan could wait a few hours.

The priority was to take possession of Venn, and find out how much he knew about the whole operation, and then kill him. After making him suffer, of course, for sneering at Brull, and disrespecting him.

Elon’s voice came from the speakerphone: “Flashlight’s started up from the other boat. Just like Venn said.”

“Okay,” said Brull. “Get the kid ready. Send one of the other guys with him on the rowboat. You stay there to receive Venn.”

Chapter 32

John Purkiss - whose driving license identified him as James Harris - watched the woman, Beth Colby, stagger out of the phone booth into the arms of the big man in the leather jacket, and he raised his phone.

It wasn’t his phone, in fact. He’d slipped it out of Dr Colby’s jacket pocket while he’d been supporting her as they’d escaped the hospital.

He took a picture of the big man. Sent it back to his contact in London, for checking against all the available databases.

The answer came back to him within ninety seconds. Joseph Venn. Current position Detective Lieutenant in the New York Police Department. Division of Special Projects.

For a