Ark Angel - Anthony Horowitz [57]
“Where?”
“That’s why I was interested just now when you mentioned Washington. The case against Drevin is lodged in probably the safest place in the United States. Inside the Pentagon.”
Byrne got up and helped himself to a bottle of water. All the talking had made him look more exhausted than ever.
“We plan to arrest Drevin one week from today. I hardly need tell you that this information is highly classified. The real problem is Ark Angel. The British government’s invested billions in the space station, and when we arrest Drevin, the whole project could collapse. That’s why we’ve had to wait. We’ve had to be absolutely sure that we’ve tied up all the loose ends before we make our move.
“Of course, MI6 know what we’re doing. There’s no way we could stop them finding out. We’ve shown them the evidence but they don’t want to believe it. They can’t afford to believe it. When Drevin goes down, there’s going to be a scandal that’ll rip the whole financial market apart. But that’s too bad. The man is a crook; he belongs in jail.”
“So why do you need me?” Alex asked.
Byrne sat down again. “Because something’s happened,” he admitted. “Something we don’t understand – and you seem to be in the middle of it.”
“Force Three.”
“Exactly. Here’s a group of people who call themselves eco-warriors and who seem to have picked a fight with Drevin, supposedly because he wiped out a few bird species on Flamingo Bay. But we don’t know where they came from. We don’t know who they are. We even wonder if Drevin himself isn’t using them as some sort of diversion to distract us from our investigation. Your Mrs Jones is trying to get to the bottom of it right now – but we’re running out of time. I’m worried Drevin is going to pull some kind of stunt in the next seven days and slip through our fingers. Maybe he’s going to disappear. He could head off to South America, or there are parts of Australia where we’d never find him. A man with his connections wouldn’t find it difficult to build himself a new identity. We need to know if he’s planning to leave and, if so, where he might be going. That’s where you come in.
“I’ve already got one agent inside his organization, but that’s not enough. Drevin’s too careful. He’s not giving anything away. But you’re different. You’re right in the middle of the family. You’re buddies with Paul Drevin. And the best thing is, they don’t know anything about you. You’re above suspicion. They certainly don’t know about your connection with us.
“Tomorrow they’re going to take you with them to Flamingo Bay. It’s like Skeleton Key all over again. We can’t get anyone in there. He’s got the rocket base on the south of the island and the whole place is protected by his own private security force. It’s not even American soil. The island is ten miles off the coast of Barbados and it just happens to belong to the British. Drevin leased it from your government when he built his space centre there. So we can’t go storming in.
“All I’m asking is for you to hang in there for one more week and report back if you see anything going on. It’ll just be a vacation as far as you’re concerned. You’re Drevin’s guest—”
“I was Drevin’s guest,” Alex cut in. “I told you. I’m leaving.”
“Why?”
Alex shrugged. “What you’ve told me about him – I didn’t much like him anyway. And now I don’t want to go anywhere near him.”
“You won’t be in any danger.”
“That’s what you said last time, Mr Byrne. And I nearly got killed. Two of your agents did get killed.”
“And if you hadn’t helped us, thousands more people would have died too.” Byrne looked genuinely puzzled. “What’s the matter, Alex? Are you scared? Is it because of what happened with the sniper?”
Alex felt a twinge of pain in his chest. It happened every time anyone reminded him of his bullet wound. Perhaps it always would. “I’m not scared,” he said. “I just don’t like being used.”
“We