The next morning he drove to Husavik to buy supplies and materials with which to continue his planned renovation of the cabin into a safe house fit for purpose. It would take some weeks until it was finished but with each day’s work it took on additional layers of protection. As soon as the modifications were complete he would leave it, returning only when he needed to lay low. He’d learned the hard way never to stay in one place too long.
Each morning he examined the doors and windows for tampering, and powered on a rugged custom-made laptop computer based on the model used by military personnel in combat situations. He attached the computer to a satellite phone and unfurled the mini dish. The encrypted signal was bounced via satellite to wireless receivers in Europe.
This time he hijacked the Wi-Fi transmission of a café in Bonn, Germany, and used it to access the email account he’d given to Muir so she could reach him.
On the morning of his sixth day in Iceland, he found a single email in his inbox: We need to meet.
TWENTY-FOUR
London, United Kingdom
Some actors Victor didn’t recognise were promoting the premiere of a film he hadn’t heard of. From the huge posters, it didn’t look as if he would enjoy it. The hordes of people crowding behind the barriers in Leicester Square to get a glimpse of their idols told him he was in the minority when it came to modern cinema. Or cinema in general. He used to enjoy watching Harold Lloyd, but far preferred books to films. The special effects were more realistic.
It was Friday evening, 19:45 local time, and the sky was just beginning to darken. He’d flown in that morning, from Reykjavik to Helsinki, then to Amsterdam and finally to London. He had no concern that Muir would try to track him, for whatever motive, but he knew stringent adherence to protocol had saved his life several times. He couldn’t quantify how many times such precautions had saved his life without his knowledge. The longer he stayed alive the more enemies he created. The more enemies out there, the greater importance protocol took on, and the more disastrous the consequences of breaking it.
A chorus of claps and cheers sounded from the crowd as the film’s star climbed from a limousine. Victor clapped too. He didn’t know the man’s name.
‘I think he’s a bit wooden, personally,’ a woman’s voice said from Victor’s flank.
He turned to see Muir and acted as though he hadn’t tracked every inch of her circuitous route through the crowd towards him.
‘But,’ she added, ‘when he’s that handsome, who cares?’
‘It would appear no one does.’
‘Are you a movie fan?’
‘Absolutely,’ Victor said. ‘Who isn’t?’
She looked at him for a moment, debating whether to take him seriously or not. Instead, she asked, ‘Shall we take a walk?’
‘Your team having trouble keeping eyes on me in the crowd?’
‘I didn’t bring one.’
‘Sure you didn’t.’
He knew she’d come alone. But he didn’t want her to know that, for the same reasons he didn’t want her to know he’d seen her approach. Regardless of how this job turned out, there was no guarantee he wouldn’t find himself on a different side from Muir at some point down the line. The less she knew about how he worked and what he was capable of, the better his odds in that hypothetical future. Not against Muir specifically – she wasn’t on his level – but against the organisation she worked for and those of its employees who were.
‘I didn’t bring a team,’ Muir said. ‘Honestly.’
‘Okay, I believe you,’ Victor said, sounding as if he didn’t. ‘Let’s take a walk.’
He wasn’t sure when the decision had been made to use 1984 as a blueprint, but London was one of the most Orwellian cities on the planet. Closed circuit cameras were everywhere and the number of routes through the city Victor preferred to take got smaller with each visit as new cameras appeared. But even with the risk posed by the cameras, the huge city offered a great deal of anonymity.
He led Muir down a series of cobbled side streets and alleys until they had left the West End and the crowds of partiers and tourists and miserable Londoners who hated anyone capable of a producing a genuine smile.
He said, ‘I take it Leeson sent another message to Kooi’s email account.’
Muir nodded. She walked next to him, alongside the kerb because that was the only room he’d left