ich I couldn't identify. "Step forward and
keep your hands high in the air, please."
     I did as I was told. The  bathrooom man moved behind  me and started to
run  his hands over my  back and legs. It was  pointless  trying to bullshit
them. As  he removed my USP I couldn't exactly claim I was  just  delivering
room service.
     She said nothing as I was pushed from behind toward the  sofa.  Cabinet
man stayed where he was, to my right. The other one was somewhere behind me.
     The woman pushed past and headed for the door to the hallway. Her blond
hair was dyed; I could see her brown eyebrows.
     As she opened it I could see another over coated man  outside. She left
and  he  came in.  He'd been there to  block the exit if anything went wrong
during the lift. It wouldn't have been hard for him  to stop  me. He more or
less matched the dimensions of the door.
     Nothing  was  said as  I sat  and  waited. But for  what?  I remembered
Sergei's face in the 4x4 as he told me about the  Viking's revenge. My heart
was starting to pound big time.
     Where  the fuck  was Liv? Had she been lifted  too? Were these guys the
Maliskia? The three square  heads didn't speak  or  move. A feeling of dread
came over me. Were they NSA? Was I really in Big Boy shit?
     The  pulses in my  neck kicked up a gear and, not for the first time on
this job, I could feel them pumping against  my collar. The human  door, who
was  still  standing by the  real one, must have  seen it and recognized the
feeling,  because he gave me a  knowing smile.  I did my  best to return it.
Fuck 'em. I wasn't going to let them see how much I was panicking inside.
     Long minutes that felt like  eternity passed, then  there was  a knock.
The  human  door  looked through the peephole,  immediately  reached for the
handle, then stepped reverentially aside.
     "Hello, Nick," Val said as he entered. With him was Liv's train station
contact. They both wore dark-gray suits. "May I introduce Ignaty?"
     Ignaty  smiled and  bowed his head  slightly toward me. "Hello, Nick, I
never  managed to meet you  personally at  the station,  but knowing so much
about you, I feel as if we are old friends."
     I  nodded back, not  wanting to say a word yet as my mind was too  busy
working out what  the  fuck  was  going  on.  I  was  scared, confused,  and
beginning to realize that I was in serious trouble. My best bet  was to shut
up and play stupid. That wouldn't be hard.
     Val sat on  the sofa opposite, while Ignaty stayed on his feet and fell
in behind. The Chechen looked  into my eyes  for just a bit too long for  my
liking, and then he placed a large white  envelope on  the coffee table that
lay between us. "That," he pointed, "is for you."
     I reached for it, more confused than ever, and pulled open the flap. He
settled himself into  the sofa  and adjusted his suit pants  before crossing
his legs. Inside was a  sheaf of documents in Cyrillic. I stared at them for
a long time, not knowing what the fuck they were.
     "They are deeds for two apartment blocks in St.  Petersburg,"  he said.
"Their combined worth exceeds three million sterling. I thought you'd prefer
an appreciating asset to cash."
     My mental calculator was working overtime.  I was a few weeks in credit
with  the clinic,  but the bills would soon be  racking up again. The  three
weeks that I'd been away would  already have cost me  12,000, pounds and I'd
soon be running on empty. One month with  the Firm at 290 pounds a day would
earn me precisely 8,700 pounds penceI might as well chance my luck.
     "I'd rather have the cash. That was the arrangement."
     He shook his head  slowly, as if he was about to tell a child  the trip
to Disneyland was canceled. "But,  Nick, there was  no  arrangement. Liv has
been deceiving us both in pursuit of her own  greed." His eyes suddenly went
twenty degrees colder, demonstrating with a single glance why he was the top
man  to  be  afraid  of in  his  line of  work. "Thankfully some are not  as
disloyal." He waved his hand behind him.
     Ignaty looked smug.
     I stared at them, as if I didn't have a clue what he meant.
     "It is  quite complicated,  Nick, and you really don't need to know the
details. Suffice to say, not only did she betray the trust that I had placed
in  her,  she  has now made  it virtually impossible for me  to  access  the
Echelon dictionaries  for a very long  time. The only reason you  are  still
alive is that you thought you were acting on my instructions."
     The smile returned. "Come, work for  me in Russia and you can then take
advantage of your  new property  portfolio. The rents  are extremely high in
that part of the city. This is a fantastic  opportunity for you, Nick. There
might even be time for  us to  get together so that I can explain this whole
sorry affair."
     I shook my  head. "I have things  that keep  me here." I hesitated.  "I
really could do with the money instead."
     He pointed to the envelope still in my hand as if I hadn't even spoken.
"In there are the details of a contact, here in the United Kingdom, when you
wish to come to Russia."
     He stood up, and everyone moved with him.
     I had to ask. "How did you know I was here?"
     Val stopped just as the human door was about to open the real one. "Liv
told me, of course. She told me everything." He paused. "Before Ignaty .. ."
He shrugged. His smile hadn't disappeared. He waited to see my reaction.
     I  bluffed it and looked even more confused, but in my mind's eye I saw
her belly slit open and the eels writhing all around her.
     "It shocks you?"
     I shook my head.
     "I didn't think so. You see, I cannot be seen to exhibit such a lack of
judgment  about the people close to me. I must show strength. You could help
me do that when you come to Russia, Nick. Think about it, won't you?"
     I nodded, just wanting him to leave.
     "She did mention your apology for the deaths of my nephews."
     I nodded. "Yes, I'm sorry."
     "Don't  be. I never really cared for my sister's family. I hope  to see
you in St. Petersburg soon, Nick."
     As he turned to leave, I said, "Can I ask one more thing?"
     He stopped.
     "There's a body. My friend. It's still in Estonia and ..."
     "Of course, of course.  We are not barbarians." Val waved a hand at the
envelope. "The contact. Give him the details."
     I lay on the sots  far  the next fifteen  minutes, trying  hard  not to
think  about how long it must have  taken Liv to  die. It certainly took the
edge off my enthusiasm for the St. Petersburg property market.
     I  needed the money, but I  wasn't too  sure about anything  now, apart
from the fact that the meeting with Lynn wouldn't be the best moment to fuck
the Firm off.
     I gave Val and his boys another five  before walking downstairs and out
of the hotel. Then I went into one of the phone booths under the scaffolding
and fed in a fistful of coins as I picked up the receiver.
     "Hello, East Anglian Properties. How may I help you?"
     "James Main?"
     "Speaking."
     "Nick Stone here. Slight  change of plan, James. I want you to sell the
house as soon as you can, for anything you can get."
     "But all the offers so far have been well  below  your purchase  price.
You'd do  much  better  if you got the  roof  finished and the interior work
done, then put it on the market in the spring. It would be a--"
     "Right away, James."
     "But I was driving past the place only a couple of days ago and there's
still a tarp over the roof. Really, nobody's going to offer anything like--"
     "James?"
     "Yes?"
     "Which bit of right away don't you understand, for fuck's sake?"
     I only had to put a twenty-pence piece in  for the second  call. It was
to a London number.
     "Still abroad,  I'm afraid," I said when I  was finally put  through to
Hughes. "Looks like I'm going to have to stay  here for another month.  What
effect would that have on Kelly?"
     "Well, she won't get any worse, let's put it that way. She'll stay more
or less exactly as she is until you can start the sessions with her."
     Exactly as she is.
     I  closed my eyes and tried  so hard  to  see  her  looking  at  me and
smiling, but the  only image  that came to  me was of her on that chair, her
head strangely  tilted, and  sitting  so still  it  was as if she'd  stopped
breathing, or had been frozen to death in an invisible blizzard.
     I had  hours to kill before seeing Lynn and so  I ended up  walking all
the way to Vauxhall Cross. As I walked, I thought  about the two other phone
calls I might have to make very soon. One was to her grandparents, to  break
the news that they might have to sell their  house as well, though there was
more  chance  of being struck by  lightning. They'd nodded and agreed so far
that  Chelsea  was the best  place  for  Kelly,  but I  bet  they'd suddenly
discover how wonderful the  public hospital was when I told them they'd have
to start shouldering some of the cost.
     The other would  be to the friend who'd put me  onto the freelance  job
against Val.  I'd ask him if he had more work going, and this time somewhere
warm, like the Bahamas.
     The same  Asian guy  ushered me into Lynn's office. Nothing had changed
apart from the fact that Lynn  had a different  shirt on and  wasn't writing
this time. I stood in front of his desk. Once  again, there was no coffee on
offer, so I knew I was in for another short meeting.
     "It's my last few weeks in post, and quite  frankly  the last  person I
wanted to see was  you." He sat and stared at  me,  with an  expression that
said I was 100  percent responsible for his early retirement.  I  felt sorry
for the mushrooms.
     I knew to just keep my mouth shut and listen.
     "Moonlight Maze," he said. "Do you know anything about it?"
     "No." I felt the sharp pain  in my chest once again. He knew what I had
been doing. He knew and was letting  me drop myself in  the  shit. I  had to
play along. "Well, not really. Only what I  read in the  papers a couple  of
weeks ago."
     "That's about to change. Your job  is to assist  an NSA officer and his
team while in the  U.K. They will be  here for about a month, trying to stop
this darned ROC infiltration into Menwith."
     I nodded, as if I assumed it would be a boring BGcumescortcumtour-guide
job,  which  these things normally are.  But  I still had the feeling he was
playing games with me. "Why me, Mr. Lynn? You said before Christmas that--"
     "It has been deemed that  the cost of your training and retainer is not
being effectively utilized. Now get out."
     I didn't know how he did it, but the door behind me  was opened by  the
Asian guy right on cue. "Please, sir, follow me."
     I did and we went up two  flights  in the elevator to the briefing area
and into a sparsely furnished, unoccupied  office. There were no windows and
all I could hear was the noise of the forced air ducts.
     "If you wait here, sir, the officer will be with you shortly."
     The door was closed behind me. I sat against the desk  and  stressed. I
was being set up.
     As  it opened again,  I stood up and turned to face  the person walking
in. My chest pain returned with a vengeance. I had fucked up big time.
     "Nick Stone, right?"
     The Wasp was smiling at me  as  he  held out his  hand. His face looked
like  I'd gone  at  him with a pastry  cutter. The  bright-red, scabby scars
around his face were held together with black sutures, along with patches of
his  scalp, where his hair had  been shaved before the wounds were  treated.
His hands were in shit state, too, but they were all healing nicely.
     "There isn't much time, Nick. Me and the team are  going to need  a lot
of help here." He saw me looking at his scars and dropped the smile.
     "Hey,  I know. Not good. If I ever find the sonofabitch  that did this,
I'm gonna be pulling the ring back on one big can of kick ass ..."