Nobody’s Hero (Ben Koenig #2)

Chapter 46

‘We thought you’d asked Marion Summers to get you a second weapon as you’d ditched the derringer somewhere in London,’ Koenig said. ‘But, as you’re pointing it at my chest, that’s clearly not the case.’

‘Clearly not,’ Jane Doe said.

‘I think when the British press stopped reporting on Speakers’ Corner, you figured out the murder investigation had been shut down at the request of the US government. You knew they would send over a covert team to find out why you’d reappeared after all this time.’

‘Go on.’

‘For some reason you need to get out of the country. You’d already gotten the derringer from Marion Summers, and you knew he did passports as well. But as a precaution, you asked for another gun – the Makarov you’re currently pointing at Jen. You didn’t need it, but you knew if someone was on to you, collecting the finished passports from Marion Summers would be a problem. It would be like the pinch point in an egg timer. Surveillance techniques are increasingly sophisticated these days, and you knew you couldn’t be sure to spot them all – some of it can be done via satellite. But you knew about jarking.’

‘Jarking?’ Jane Doe asked.

‘The term originated in Northern Ireland,’ Koenig explained. ‘The SAS would sometimes find an IRA weapons cache. If they thought they hadn’t been seen, they would “jark” the weapons by putting tiny tracking devices inside them. That way they could track their movements, identify the IRA quartermasters, the shooters, the key players in the active service units. I think you asked for another gun hoping I’d accept the low-hanging fruit.’

‘Which this tactical genius did,’ Draper said.

‘Which I did,’ Koenig agreed. ‘I got the tracking device from a Brit I used to work with and I jarked the Makarov.’

‘Go on,’ Jane Doe said.

‘You figured it was better to know now if we were on to you,’ Koenig said. ‘That way you’d know what anti-surveillance techniques to employ when you tried to leave the country.’ He studied the cottage floor. ‘Where is it?’

‘Where’s what?’

‘There’s obviously another way out of here. You must have walked straight back out. By the time we’d switched to thermal imaging we assumed the heat signature was you, not Margaret.’

Jane Doe smiled. ‘There’s a root cellar in the pantry,’ she said. ‘All the homes here have them. The first thing I did was extend it and add a hidden exit. While you were untying Margaret, I got out and came at you from behind.’

‘Clever,’ Koenig admitted.

‘So, here we are,’ Jane Doe said. ‘What happens now?’

‘How about you lower your guns?’ Koenig said. ‘You’re making Jen nervous.’

‘But not you?’

‘Guns don’t scare me.’

‘What does scare you, Mr Koenig?’

He took a silent moment. ‘That’s a whole different conversation,’ he said.

Jane Doe stepped into the cottage and walked past Koenig. She put her guns on the kitchen table, then filled the kettle. She leaned against the counter. ‘I imagine you have many questions,’ she said.

Which was when Draper pulled a SIG Sauer P229 from her jacket pocket and pointed it at Jane Doe’s head.