to the caviar. Dance with Francesca. Then, at precisely nine p.m., you are to approach Mr Prudnikov and kill him.’
‘That’s not even a plan,’ Victor said, looking from Leeson to Hart and back again. ‘Dietrich could come up with something better than that. There’s no indication in the materials as to how many bodyguards Prudnikov will have. He’ll be surrounded by SVR operatives. It will be almost impossible to get close to him without alerting his security. Unless I can get to him inside a bathroom – and there’s no way to guarantee that is possible at a specific time – then it will have to be done in the main reception area. There’ll be chaos. Extraction will be next to impossible, and even if I do get out then a hundred people will have seen my face. And how am I supposed to kill him? There’s no way of getting a gun in there. You need to delay the job by at least six weeks to develop a new plan and new preparation.’
‘That’s impossible, Mr Kooi. The party is tonight.’
‘Then you should have hired me months ago.’
‘Perhaps I can offer you an incentive.’
‘No amount of money is going to get me to partake in something so poorly conceived.’
He was arguing as himself, but nothing in Muir’s intel on Kooi suggested the Dutchman was foolish enough to agree to what Leeson was suggesting. No careful and competent professional would take on such a dangerous assignment under these circumstances. For all Victor knew the job was a bluff, yet another test set by Leeson to determine Kooi’s mentality, or perhaps his trustworthiness. If Victor agreed, maybe that would be all the evidence Leeson needed to know Victor wasn’t who he claimed to be.
But there was something in Leeson’s expression. He wasn’t staring at Victor as if to read his thoughts. He was excited. He was excited with anticipation. Not because of the job; there was something more immediate. Something that was about to happen.
Here it comes, Victor thought as he analysed the chances of making it to the door before someone could draw a weapon and use it.
‘Killing Prudnikov is going to be a lot easier than you might think,’ Leeson said. He gestured to Hart, who picked up a bag from the floor and began unzipping it. ‘All you have to do is get within twenty feet of him. You don’t even need line of sight.’
Hart removed something from the bag.
‘Mr Jaeger has kindly constructed a suitable weapon for us,’ Leeson said, and drew his SIG.
It was primarily of canvas, reinforced by leather. It had pockets and straps to keep in place the plates of explosive and the parcels of ceramic shards.
‘What the hell is that?’ Coughlin asked.
‘It’s a suicide bomber vest,’ Victor said.
Leeson pointed the gun at Victor. ‘That’s right, Mr Kooi. It’s in your size too.’
‘Then you’d better shoot me now,’ Victor said. ‘Because I’ll kill anyone who tries to put that on me.’
‘Oh, I don’t think it will come to that.’
‘Then you really are insane.’
‘What about if I give you something precious? What if I could offer you something beyond material wealth? What if I could offer you the most valuable thing of all?’
Victor remained silent. He thought about the five camp beds and the four men in the room. He thought about the white panel van and its precious cargo. He heard the big double doors open in the antechamber. Everyone else heard too. Like him, they looked in the direction of the sound and watched the open entranceway.
The fifth Chechen appeared through it. He was a little older than the others but otherwise just like them. He wore jeans and a sports jacket and moved like a civilian, but one who had known violence and was ready to know it again. He held the grip of an AK-47 in his right hand, the barrel resting against his shoulder. With his left hand he guided two people into the room.
A woman and a child.
The child was a boy. The woman’s hands were tied together with duct tape and her mouth was gagged with it.
Questions were immediately answered in Victor’s thoughts. So much he hadn’t understood now made sense.
‘Mr Kooi,’ Leeson said with a wide smile. ‘What if in return I were to offer you the lives of your wife and son?’
FIFTY-FIVE
The woman looked at Victor with the same surprise he felt, but hid. She seemed about the same age as Kooi had been, but appeared older