was even the slightest possibility of avoiding it. Leeson ruffled Peter’s hair.
‘You see,’ he said to the boy, ‘your father does love you. My father loved me too. It’s a good feeling, isn’t it?’
Peter didn’t blink. Victor found it hard to hold his gaze for any length of time.
Hart faced Victor. ‘This is how it’s going to work, Dutch: you’ll leave shortly, after you’ve changed into some more suitable attire. Francesca, Coughlin and myself will accompany you. The embassy is a fifteen-minute drive from here. We’ll drop you and Francesca off to go to the reception. She’ll be your date, but think of her as a chaperone. Me and Coughlin are going to be running the show from an apartment that overlooks the terrace where the ambassador will make a speech. That’s the one time we know for certain where Prudnikov is going to be. The speech is due to take place at 2100 hours, but you’ll need to be in the party an hour before that to get security used to your presence and forget about you. Turn up ten minutes before the speech and blow yourself up and too many awkward questions are going to be asked in the aftermath. Can’t have that, can we? We’re going to keep the comms old school to avoid detection. Francesca will text updates to me every fifteen minutes to let us know you’re behaving yourself. If anything stops her sending a text or you’re not on that balcony when you should be, then bad things are going to happen to Lucille and Peter. From the apartment we’ll be able to guide you into range of Prudnikov and we’ll be able to confirm the op’s success after you push the button. Simple.’
‘You’ve thought of everything,’ Victor said.
‘Do you understand, Mr Kooi?’ Leeson asked.
‘Perfectly.’
‘What’s my role?’ Dietrich asked.
Leeson smiled. ‘Think of yourself as the motivation, Mr Dietrich. You’ll remain here with me so that you can butcher Kooi’s wife and child if he does not fully comply. Is that okay with you?’
‘Nothing would make me happier.’
‘Remember when I told you I needed Mr Dietrich because he had no compunction, Mr Kooi? Well, this is what I was talking about. Do you believe he will carve your brood into little chunks should I command it?’
Victor glanced at Dietrich’s grinning face. ‘Yes.’
‘Tremendous,’ Leeson said. ‘Then we can dispense with any unpleasant demonstrations to prove we mean what we say.’
Dietrich looked disappointed.
‘We’re all set,’ Hart said.
‘Excellent.’ Leeson looked at his gold watch. ‘I’m getting excited now.’
‘I need more time,’ Victor said.
‘Why?’
‘To make sure I do it right. To make sure the job is successful.’
‘He’s stalling,’ Hart said.
‘He can try to stall all he wants,’ Leeson added. ‘But we have a schedule to keep and if we’re late for any reason his family die. You were hired in part because you are a competent professional, so if there is a problem that we have not foreseen you will have to find a solution. It’s up to you to make sure this comes off perfectly.’
‘It’ll never work,’ Victor said. ‘You must know that.’
‘There’s no reason for it not to. Your role is a simple one. All you have to do is approach the target and use the phone.’
‘The Russians won’t comply with the demands. I may kill Prudnikov, but the Chechens will not succeed.’
‘Why don’t you let me worry about that, Mr Kooi? You worry about your family.’
‘But why all this for something that cannot possibly work?’
‘Why should I care if this works or not? My client is paying for the death of comrade Prudnikov. Which will be achieved if you do your part and save your family. I don’t care about these idiots and their ideals. Whether their objective after the fact is achieved or not is immaterial to me and inconsequential to yourself. They’ll all be killed when the embassy is eventually breached, just as you said would happen. Or, who knows? Maybe it will work and they’ll get what they want. Then perhaps I’ll start a side business in professional terrorism. Could be the next big growth industry. Why have fanatics blinded by cause of religion when you can have experts?’ He smiled to himself. ‘Maybe that will be my slogan. But I suggest you concentrate on your specific role in proceedings. You can’t afford to be distracted.’
‘There can be no greater distraction than having my family threatened with death.’
Leeson smirked. ‘Call it incentive then. Now let’s get you dressed and ready. You’ll be pleased