Part 11 (2/2)
So once more to the interrogation cell, where Greta Bikov waited under the impa.s.sive gaze of Sergeant Stransky and her colleague. She was seemingly calm, and yet a nerve twitched in her right cheek, and she stirred in her chair as if uncomfortable. She made the mistake of starting before Lermov did. to the interrogation cell, where Greta Bikov waited under the impa.s.sive gaze of Sergeant Stransky and her colleague. She was seemingly calm, and yet a nerve twitched in her right cheek, and she stirred in her chair as if uncomfortable. She made the mistake of starting before Lermov did.
”I don't think there's anything more I can tell you, Colonel. I seem to have covered everything.”
”You will allow me to be the judge of that,” Lermov said, and the door opened behind him, and Ivanov entered. He took up his position again, leaning against the wall.
”Everything's in order, Colonel. They're processing the Ali Selim query now. As soon as anything turns up, we'll know about it.”
”I'm obliged to you, Captain Ivanov.” Lermov opened his file and gave Greta his full attention. ”Everything you've told us so far has made sense, though aspects of it can't be fully confirmed. Now I would like you to cast your mind back to tell us how Bounine told Colonel Luzhkov of the death of Tania Kurbsky. You said that he also referred to a man in a black hood.”
”Yes, but I've already told you about that.”
”Refresh my memory,” Lermov said.
”He said the man in the black hood who'd saved Blake Johnson wasn't Dillon at all, it was Kurbsky, who couldn't bear the idea of someone else ending up in Station Gorky like his sister.”
”And had you heard any reference to a man in a black hood before?”
”Yes, it was earlier, I think. Something had gone wrong involving two GRU guys called Oleg and Petrovich, a moronic couple who provided a little muscle when it was needed. The Emba.s.sy has a deal with a private airfield in Ess.e.x called Berkley Down. We book Falcons out of there for the Moscow run. Luzhkov told me to have one standing by on Sunday and said Oleg and Petrovich would be escorting somebody there for an onward flight to Moscow.”
”And you've no idea who?”
”G.o.d, no, it was a high-security thing, but late on Sunday night when Bounine was with him I listened in.”
”Why?”
”Oleg and Petrovich had phoned in from out of town asking for transport and, when they arrived, they were in a damaged state. Petrovich had an injured hand, and Oleg was holding a bloodstained rag to his right ear. They ended up in sick bay.”
”And what did you hear Luzhkov say?”
”He was very angry and threatened to have them transferred to a penal regiment. Bounine asked him if he believed the man in the hood was Dillon, and Luzhkov said that Dillon was famous for shooting off half an ear.”
”And that's all?”
”Absolutely.”
Lermov nodded, thinking about it, then said, ”That will be all-for the moment anyway.”
Suddenly, her anger flared. ”You're not putting me into a cell overnight?”
”Lieutenant, you are a serving officer in the Russian Army. We may not have penal regiments for females, but there are other things that could happen to you, so take care.”
”I'm sorry,” she said desperately.
He ignored her. ”Take her.”
She went out, totally dejected, between the two sergeants.
Ivanov said, ”What now?”
”Check with London again. I'd be interested to know if Oleg and Petrovich are still on the roster.”
”We should be able to get that on our computer staff records, Colonel. It will only take a minute.”
He hurried out, and Lermov sat there, thinking about it. Things were certainly coming together, but of course you always needed luck in any kind of investigation, and he got exactly that a few minutes later when Ivanov returned.
”Excellent news, Colonel, Oleg and Petrovich were transferred from London two months ago. Indifferent fitness reports. They're right here in Moscow, attached to the field infantry training school on general police duties.”
”And still GRU?”
”Yes, Colonel.”
”Something of a comedown, I would have thought. Go and arrest them, Peter, and, if anyone objects, use this.” He produced the Putin letter and pa.s.sed it over.
”My pleasure, Colonel,” Ivanov told him, and rushed out.
7.
A little later, Ivanov called in. ”I've got them, Colonel, a thoroughly unpleasant couple. Greta Bikov was right to describe them as moronic.” little later, Ivanov called in. ”I've got them, Colonel, a thoroughly unpleasant couple. Greta Bikov was right to describe them as moronic.”
”Did they give you any trouble?”
”Not really, they've been drinking and they're generally surly and c.o.c.ky. The duty officer at the training school was only a lieutenant, so as I outranked him, he accepted the situation without fuss. I didn't have to use the letter.”
”Where are you?”
”Almost with you. I'm in a standard military police secure van. I'm up front with the driver. I've put them in the rear with two police sergeants, and they thought that was a great joke. It's the booze, of course.”
”Well, let's try to wipe the smiles off their faces. I'll wait for you in the interrogation cell we used for Greta Bikov.”
He went out on the walkway and found the old tea lady pus.h.i.+ng her trolley towards him. She stopped and poured a gla.s.s of tea from the samovar without a word. He accepted it and gave her a banknote.
”I can't change that,” she said.
He drank the hot tea gratefully. ”That's all right, babushka, babushka, maybe you still have a cigarette to spare from that packet I gave you.” maybe you still have a cigarette to spare from that packet I gave you.”
She produced the pack of Marlboros from her smock pouch and extracted one carefully. ”They won't like you smoking it.”
”Then they can lump it, babushka, babushka, I'm a colonel, a full colonel.” I'm a colonel, a full colonel.”
She produced a plastic lighter and flicked it on for him, and, as he blew out smoke, she smiled for the first time since he'd known her. ”I like you, tovarich, tovarich,” she said.
<script>