LITMIR.BIZ

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the Serbs turning nasty again this year? Ivan here’s on their side, being Russian, but I’ll hear what you’ve got to say.’ This was said in English, but now he added in Russian, ‘Make sure he’s clean.’

      Ivan’s hands explored Holley thoroughly, particularly between the legs, and Holley said, ‘It must be a big one you’re looking for.’

      Ivan gave him a shove so violent that Holley went staggering, and his Burberry rain hat fell to the floor, disclosing the Colt, which the Russian picked up at once, throwing the hat across to the desk.

      ‘Now can I shoot him?’

      Murphy pulled the Colt from the clip in the rain hat and examined it. ‘Very nice. I like it.’ He left the cap on the desk and slipped the Colt into his pocket.

      Ivan said, ‘Only a pro would use a shooter like that.’

      ‘I know that, I’m not a fool. Show him where he’s going to end up if he doesn’t answer a few questions.’

      Ivan leaned down, grasped a ring in the floor, and heaved back a trapdoor. There was the sound of running water, the smell of sewage.

      Where the hell are you, Dillon? That was the only thought running through Holley’s mind. He glanced about him wildly, trying to act like a man in panic.

      He said to Murphy, ‘What is this? What are you doing? I told you my name is Daniel Grimshaw.’

      ‘Well, I think you’re a damn liar, so you’d better tell me the truth quickly, mister, or Ivan here will be breaking your right arm. You won’t be able to swim very far in the sewer after that, I’m afraid.’

      ‘You’re making a big mistake.’

      ‘It’s not my mistake, my friend.’ Murphy shook his head and said to Ivan in Russian, ‘Break his arm.’

      Dillon called in the same language, ‘I don’t think so,’ and shot Ivan in his gun hand. Ivan cried out, dropped the Makarov, and slumped to one knee beside the open sewer.

      Murphy took the whole thing surprisingly calmly. Remembering that he’d slipped the Colt .25 into his pocket, he watched Holley pick up the Makarov and realized there was still a chance things might go his way.

      ‘I assume I’d be right in supposing that your fortunate arrival isn’t coincidental, Officer. I congratulate you on your performance – the NYPD would be proud of you.’

      ‘I used to be an actor,’ Dillon said. ‘But then I discovered the theatre of the street had more appeal. Audience guaranteed, you see, especially in Belfast.’

      Murphy was immediately wary. ‘Ah, that theatre of the street? So which side did you play for? You couldn’t be IRA, not the both of you.’

      ‘Why not?’ Dillon asked.

      ‘Well, admittedly you’ve got an Ulster accent, but your friend here is English.’

      ‘Well, I’d say you’re a Dublin man myself,’ Dillon told him. ‘And admittedly there’s some strange people calling themselves IRA these days, and a world of difference between them. We, for example, are the Provo variety, and Mr Holley’s sainted mother being from Crossmaglen, the heart of what the British Army described as bandit country, his Yorkshire half doesn’t count.’

      Murphy was beginning to look distinctly worried. ‘What do you want?’

      Dillon smiled amiably. ‘For a start, let’s get that piece of shit on his feet. He’s a disgrace to the Russian Federation. Putin wouldn’t approve of him at all.’

      Holley pulled Ivan up to stand on the edge of the sewage pit. Following Dillon’s lead, he said, ‘Is this where you want him, Dillon? He might fall in, you know.’

      Dillon ignored him and said to Murphy, ‘I’m going to put a question to you. If you tell me the truth, I’ll let you live. Of course, if you turn out to have lied, I’ll have all the fuss of coming back and killing you, and that will annoy me very much, because I’m a busy man.’

      Murphy laughed uneasily. ‘That’s a problem, I can see that, but how will you know?’

      ‘By proving to you I mean business.’ He turned to where Ivan stood swaying on the edge of the pit, pulled Holley out of the way, and kicked the Russian’s feet out from under him, sending him down with a cry into the fast-flowing sewage, to be swept away.

      ‘There he goes,’ Dillon said. ‘With any luck, he could end up in the river, but I doubt it.’

      Murphy looked horrified. ‘What kind of a man are you?’

      ‘The stuff of nightmares, so don’t fug with me, Patrick,’ Dillon told him. ‘Last week a trawler named Amity was surprised by the Royal Navy as it attempted to land arms on the County Down coast. Our sources tell us the cargo originated with you. I’m not interested in Irish clubs or whoever raised funds over here. I want to know who ordered the cargo in Northern Ireland. Tell me that and you’re home free.’

      For a moment, Murphy seemed unable to speak, and Holley said, ‘Are you trying to tell us you don’t know?’

      Murphy seemed to swallow hard. ‘No. I know who it is. We do a lot of this kind of work, putting deals together for small African countries, people from the Eastern European bloc. None of the players are big fish. Lots of small agencies put things our way, stuff the big arms dealers won’t touch.’

      ‘So cut to the chase,’ Dillon told him.

      ‘I got a call from one of them. He said an Irish party was in town looking for assistance.’

      ‘And he turned up here?’

      ‘That’s right. Ulster accent, just like you. A quiet sort of man, around sixty-five, strong-looking, good face, greying hair. Used to being in charge, I’d say.’

      Dillon said, ‘What was his name?’

      ‘I can only tell you what he called himself. Michael Flynn. Had a handling agent in Marseilles. The money was all paid into a holding company who provided the Amity with false papers, paid half a dozen thugs off the waterfront to crew it. Nothing you could trace, I promise you. My end came from Marseille by bank draft. It all came to nothing. I never heard from Flynn again, but from what I saw in the newspaper accounts, the Royal Navy only came on the Amity by chance. A bit unfortunate, that.’

      Holley turned to Dillon. ‘Okay?’

      ‘It’ll have to be, won’t it?’

      ‘You mean I’m in the clear?’ Murphy asked.

      ‘So it would appear,’ Dillon told him. ‘Just try to cultivate a different class of friend in the future. That bastard Ivan was doing you no good at all.’

      ‘That’s bloody marvellous.’ Murphy hammered a fist on the desk and came round it. ‘You kept your word, Mr Dillon, and I’m not used to that, so I’ll tell you something else.’

      Dillon smiled beautifully and turned to Holley. ‘See, Daniel, Patrick wants to unburden himself. Isn’t that nice?’

      But even he couldn’t have expected what came next.

      ‘I was holding out on you on one thing. I actually did find out who Flynn really was. He wasn’t particularly nice to me, so I’ll tell you.’

      Dillon wasn’t smiling now. ‘And how did you find that out?’

      ‘He called round to see me one evening and discovered his mobile hadn’t charged up properly. He was upset about it, because he had a fixed time to call somebody in Northern Ireland. He was agitated, so it was obviously important. He asked if he could use my landline.’

      Dillon shook his head. ‘And you listened in on an extension.’

      Murphy nodded. ‘He said it was Jack Kelly from New York, confirming that Operation Amity is a go. Arriving on the night of

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