Part 25 (1/2)

Perry looked helplessly at the house, then at big Ollie in his fedora waiting impatiently beside the horsebox. Then back at Gail.

'For G.o.d's sake,' he breathed in bewilderment.

'I know,' she said.

15.

In an emergency Perry Makepiece was known to his fellow climbers as a clear-headed thinker and a decisive man of action, and he prided himself on seeing little difference between the two. He was apprehensive for Gail, aware of the precariousness of the operation, appalled by Natasha's pregnancy and by the thought that Gail should have found it necessary to keep it from him. At the same time he respected her reasons and blamed himself for them. The image of Tamara sickened out of her wits by jealousy of Natasha, like some harridan in a d.i.c.kensian novel, was disgusting to him and compounded his feelings of concern for Dima. His last sight of him in the ma.s.sage room had moved him beyond an understanding of himself: an unreformed, lifelong criminal, confessed murderer and number-one money-launderer is my responsibility and friend. Much as he respected Luke, he wished that Hector hadn't had to leave the field to his second-in-command at the moment when the operation was heading either for goal, or meltdown.

Yet his response to this perfect storm was the same as it might have been if the rope had broken under him on a bad rock face: stay steady, a.s.sess the risk, look after the weakest players, find a way. Which was what he was doing now, crouching in the horsebox with Dima's natural and adopted children spread around him in one compartment, and Tamara's unbiddable shadow in strips between the slats of the part.i.tion. You have two small Russian girls and two adolescent Russian boys and one mentally unstable Russian woman in your charge and your task is to get them to the top of the mountain without anyone noticing. What do you do? You have two small Russian girls and two adolescent Russian boys and one mentally unstable Russian woman in your charge and your task is to get them to the top of the mountain without anyone noticing. What do you do? Answer: you get on with it. Answer: you get on with it.

Viktor in a rush of gallantry had demanded to accompany Gail wherever she was going, he didn't care, just anywhere. Alexei had mocked him, insisting that Natasha only wanted her father's attention and that Viktor only wanted Gail's. The little girls hadn't wanted to go anywhere without Gail. They would stay in the house and protect it till she came back with Natasha. Igor would look after them in the meantime. To their entreaties, Perry the born group leader had repeated the same patient but emphatic answer: 'Dima's wish is that you come with us immediately. No, it's a mystery tour. He told you that. You'll know where we're going when we've got there, but it's an exciting place and you haven't been there before. Yes, he'll be joining us tonight. Viktor, you take these two suitcases, Alexei those two. No need to lock up, Katya, thank you, Igor will be back any minute. And the cat stays. Cats love places more than people. Viktor, where are your mother's icons? In the suitcase. Good. Whose is that teddy bear? Well, he needs to come with us too, doesn't he? Igor doesn't need a bear, and you do. And everybody please go to the toilet now, whether or not you want to.'

Inside the horsebox, the girls were at first mute, then suddenly noisy and quite jolly, largely on account of Ollie and his broad-brimmed black fedora, which he solemnly doffed as he bowed them into his royal coach. Everyone had to shout above the din. Rattly horseboxes are not insulated for sound.

Where are we going? the girls yelled.

f.u.c.king Eton School Viktor.

Secret Perry.

Whose secret? the girls.

Dima's, silly Viktor.

How long will Gail be?

Don't know. Depends on Natasha Perry.

Will they be there before us?

Shouldn't think so Perry.

Why can't we look out the back?

'Because it's completely completely against Swiss law!' Perry shouted, but the girls still had to lean forward to hear him. 'The Swiss have laws for everything! Looking out of the back of a moving horsebox is a particularly grave offence! People who do it go to prison for a very long time! Better find out what Gail's put in your rucksacks!' against Swiss law!' Perry shouted, but the girls still had to lean forward to hear him. 'The Swiss have laws for everything! Looking out of the back of a moving horsebox is a particularly grave offence! People who do it go to prison for a very long time! Better find out what Gail's put in your rucksacks!'

The boys were less amenable: 'Have we got to play with this kids' stuff?' Viktor bawled incredulously over the wind-rush, pointing at a Frisbee poking out of a toggle bag.

'That's the plan!'

'I thought we were going to play cricket cricket' Viktor again.

'So we can go to Eton School!' Alexei.

'We'll try!' Perry.

'Then we're not going to the mountains!'

'Why not?'

'You can't play cricket in the f.u.c.king mountains! No flat places! Farmers get p.i.s.sed off. So we're going somewhere flat flat, right?'

'Did Dima tell tell you it was somewhere flat?' you it was somewhere flat?'

'Dima's like you! Mysterious! Maybe he's in deep s.h.i.+t! Maybe the cops are after him!' Viktor shouted, apparently very excited by the idea.

But Alexei was incensed: 'You don't ask that! It's not cool. It's f.u.c.king shaming shaming to ask a thing like that about your father, to ask a thing like that about your father, a.s.shole a.s.shole. At Eton they're gonna kill kill you for that!' you for that!'

Viktor pulled out the Frisbee and, deciding to have second thoughts about it, affected to test its balance in the through-draught.

'OK, so I didn't ask the question!' he yelled. 'I revoke it totally! Our dad is not in deep s.h.i.+t and the cops love him. The question is hereby revoked, OK? The question was never asked. It is an ex-question ex-question!' which, for all its banter, left Perry speculating whether the boys had been smuggled before: perhaps back in the killing time in Perm, when Dima was still clawing his way up.

'Can I ask you two gents something?' he said, beckoning them forward until they were crouching beneath him. 'We're going to be spending a bit of time together. OK?'

'OK!'.

'So maybe you could drop the s.h.i.+ts s.h.i.+ts and and f.u.c.kings f.u.c.kings in front of your mother and the kids? Gail too.' in front of your mother and the kids? Gail too.'

They consulted each other, shrugged. OK. Be like that. See if we care. But Viktor wasn't deterred. He was cupping his hands and whisper-shouting into Perry's ear so that the girls didn't hear: 'The big funeral, OK? The one we just did in Moscow? The tragedy? Thousands mourned, OK?'

'What about it?'

'It began as a road wreck, OK? Misha and Olga were killed in a road wreck Misha and Olga were killed in a road wreck. Bulls.h.i.+t. It was never never a road wreck. It was a a road wreck. It was a shooting shooting. So who shot them? A bunch of crazy Chechen who didn't steal anything and spent a fortune on Kalashnikov bullets. Why? Because they hate Russians. Bulls.h.i.+t. It was never never the f.u.c.king Chechen!' the f.u.c.king Chechen!'

Alexei was pummelling him, trying to put his hand over Viktor's mouth, but Viktor shoved it away.

'Ask anyone in Moscow who knows anything. Ask my friend Piotr. Misha was whacked whacked. He was up against the mob mob. That's why they took him out. Olga too. Now they're gonna try and take out Dad before the cops get him. Right, Mom?' He was yelling at Tamara through the slats. 'What they call a little warning little warning to show everyone who's boss! Mom knows all that stuff. She knows to show everyone who's boss! Mom knows all that stuff. She knows everything everything. She did two years in Perm police gaol for blackmail and extortion. Questioned for seventy-two hours non-stop, five times. Beaten s.h.i.+tless. Piotr's seen her record. Harsh methods were employed Harsh methods were employed. Official. Right, Mom? That's why she don't say say nothing any more to anyone except to G.o.d. They beat it out of her. Hey, nothing any more to anyone except to G.o.d. They beat it out of her. Hey, Mom Mom! We love you!'

Tamara recedes further into the shadows. Perry's mobile rings. Luke, crisp and very guarded: 'All well?' Luke asks.

'So far, yes. How's our friend?' Perry asks, meaning Dima.

'Happy and sitting right here beside me in the car. Sends his best sitting right here beside me in the car. Sends his best.'

'Reciprocated,' Perry replies cautiously.

'From now on, whenever there's a chance, we do smaller groups. They're easier to move and harder to identify. Can you dress the boys up a bit?'

'How?'

'Just make them look a bit different from each other. So they're not such identical twins.'

'Sure.'