his team, but they had nothing to do with it.’
‘You said that Siletti and O’Hara will know Farrell is leaving tomorrow?’
‘I’m sure. They would have sweated Gerry for everything he knew before they greased him. They’ll know that Farrell and his crew are going after the truck tomorrow and their plan of escape.’
‘After tonight, you think Farrell will still try?’
Archer nodded.
‘Tonight was their first ever failure. This time tomorrow they’ll be gone from this city forever. They’ll never come back here. They are definitely going to try. They’re too greedy. The risk will be worth the reward.’
‘What about the bodies? Parker? And Gerrard? And Lock? There will be a big investigation. Huge. That’s three feds waxed in one night.’
‘That won’t matter. They’ll disappear. They’ll either take out Farrell and his crew and steal their money and their transport or hitch a ride with them. They wouldn’t start killing everyone on the team unless they knew for sure they were never coming back here. They have it all worked out.’
He paused.
‘But there are two problems. Three, actually.’
‘What are they?’
‘You, me and Jessie. They can’t leave with us still alive. At any moment you or I could go to the cops or contact people in Washington. They’ll be tearing the city apart right now looking for us.’
There was a pause as they both absorbed everything that had just been said. Down below, the sounds of the city provided a familiar background noise, a total contrast to the random and unexpected events of the evening.
And somewhere down there, two violent men were prowling the streets with guns, searching for them, desperate to kill them.
‘So what now? What do we do?’ Katic asked. ‘We need to go higher up. We need help from D.C. We have to talk to someone before they track us down.’
‘We need to stay here for the night,’ Archer replied, looking over the balcony down at Times Square. ‘We go back out there, we might not come back. And I’m a fugitive remember? The entire NYPD is after me too, not just those two. I’m staying put, with a gun pointed at that door till morning.’
‘We can’t just sit here, Archer. They’ll find us sooner or later. We need to tell someone about this.’
Archer thought for a moment.
He’d trusted Gerrard, and he was gone.
Katic had trusted Siletti, and it had almost got them killed.
Their next move had to be perfectly played. Because sooner or later, they were going to run out of luck.
And if they trusted the wrong person, all three of them would die.
‘OK.’
She looked up at him. ‘OK what?’
‘I know who we can call.’
‘Who?’
‘He’s on our side, I guarantee. I’ll be right back,’ he said.
He slid open the door, moving past the girl who was engrossed in a T.V show on the screen, and over to the door. He realised the taps on the bath were still running, so he stepped inside the bathroom first and twisted them off. Walking to the main door, he pulled back the latched lock and stepping outside, shut it behind him.
Outside in the corridor, he checked both ways. It was quiet.
He pulled his phone from his pocket and dialled a number, walking towards the end of the corridor, checking to make sure no one else was around.
It rang four times.
On the fifth, someone answered.
‘Hello?’
‘It’s Archer,’ he said. Pause. ‘I’m in deep shit. I need your help.’
There was a pause.
Archer checked left and right down the corridor, his fingers curled around the grip of the 9mm Sig in his right pocket. He heard a rustling down the phone, and light footsteps as the man on the other end moved out of his bedroom.
He heard a door open, then close, and a click as a light was switched on.
And the voice spoke again from the other end.
‘OK, Archer. Tell me what’s going on,’ Director Cobb said.
SEVENTEEN
It took Archer about fifteen minutes to explain his predicament. The United Kingdom was five hours ahead, so he’d woken Cobb at just past 5 am London time. But in about ten seconds, from the moment he picked up the phone to walking into the next room and speaking again, the Director of the ARU had all his faculties and was awake and alert. Like most powerful people in senior government and security positions, the time of day was just a series of numbers. It didn’t matter. If there was a problem, they were awake and ready to deal with it in seconds.
Cobb listened closely as Archer explained the