Nobody’s Hero (Ben Koenig #2)

Chapter 39

‘She’s coming back in three days,’ Koenig said to Draper. She was on her cell phone, and he was using the landline in Marion Summers’s shop. It wasn’t ideal – anyone with a touch of technical know-how could eavesdrop on them – but Koenig didn’t want to let Summers out of his sight.

‘You’ve found her?’ Draper replied.

‘I haven’t found her. I said she’s coming back in three days.’

‘For another gun?’

‘And for a passport. Turns out Marion supplies those as well. I thought as much when he spent so long examining mine.’

‘Why the hell did you show him your passport?’

‘It was either that or stab him in the liver,’ Koenig said. ‘He sold her the derringer a month ago. He’s been preparing for the inevitable knock on the door ever since he saw the news.’

‘Where is he now?’

‘Tied to a radiator, although he knows he has nowhere to run.’

‘I’ll come right over,’ Draper said. ‘We can start planning something.’

‘Take a cab,’ Koenig said. ‘But first make sure Danielle knows that as soon as Steeleye Stan’s been patched up, he’s to be put in a dark cell. His pinhead friends too. No phone calls, no visits. The Brit Terrorism Act should give her enough power. Get Bernice involved if you think it’ll help.’

*

Draper arrived an hour later. She confirmed that Steeleye Stan and his crew were in custody. Danielle would play police station ping-pong with them. A couple of hours here, a couple of hours there. Even if they somehow managed to get a message out, the chances of a solicitor being at the right police station at the right time were negligible. It was an old but effective trick.

‘Our mystery woman is after a passport?’ she said.

‘ Two passports,’ Koenig said. ‘One for her, one for Margaret.

She provided photographs, and Marion recognised Margaret from the news. She’s also getting another gun. Whatever she’s gotten herself involved in, the derringer clearly isn’t enough firepower.’

‘The heat must be getting too much for her. She thinks she’ll be safer in the States. More places to lie low.’

‘Maybe,’ Koenig said.

‘Spit it out, Koenig. What do you think that I don’t?’

‘I don’t know yet.’

‘I’ll call Bernice and get one of our tactical teams over. We’ll grab her when she comes for the passports.’

‘No outside help,’ Koenig said.

‘Can you please check your ego for one second? We can’t do this on our own; it’s too important.’

‘It’s got nothing to do with ego,’ Koenig replied. ‘The woman I knew was tactically aware and braver than a honey badger. If we try to take her on the street, she’ll disappear like butter on crumpets.’

‘Not if we do it right.’

‘I know this woman, Jen, and I’m telling you – if there’s a tactical team on-site, we will lose her.’

‘She won’t be expecting us.’

‘She’ll absolutely be expecting us.’

‘It doesn’t matter. Once she’s inside the net, she won’t get back out.’

Koenig took a moment, then said, ‘How would you manage a dead drop in a denied area of operation?’

Draper considered this in silence. ‘Damn,’ she said. ‘I wouldn’t turn up in person. I’d pay someone a couple of hundred bucks to dress up like me. Send them in my place.’

‘Then what?’

‘Well . . . if I was being uber-cautious, I’d have at least one more cutout. Have the parcel handed off to another mule. Get the package handed over in some place she’s in control of. Might be a hundred yards away from the store, might be a hundred miles. If she knows what she’s doing, there are half a dozen ways of getting those passports safely.’

‘Exactly.’

‘What do you suggest?’

‘I have an idea,’ Koenig said.

He told her what it was.

She said, ‘And you’re sure this will work?’

‘No. But I can’t think of any other way of doing it.’

‘I guess you’d better make that phone call then.’