Dead Centre - Andy McNab [28]
I gestured at the wound on the back of my head. ‘Is this what passes for a golden handshake round here? I could have been killed. And so could that lad who bled all over your car seat.’
Frank’s face was stone. ‘I had to know if you are … capable. I only know what you used to do, not if you can still do it. What is it you Brits say – to see if you can still cut some mustard?’
He said it without a trace of a smile. The emotion gene had bypassed Mr T.
‘What about the lad I shot? Are his mustard-cutting days over?’
‘He’ll have a fine life. He’ll get drunk and tell stories of how he fought off five assassins. With the money I’m going to pay him, the women will hang on every word. You’ve done him a very big favour.’ He waved his hand dismissively. ‘Don’t worry about him. Worry instead about my son and his mother. You have certain responsibilities towards her. Or did she lie to me? This is not just personal for me, Nick – it is for you, too, would you not say?’
I took a swig of the brew and gave him a nod. ‘What do you know?’
‘Only that they were taken four days ago, along with their bodyguard. The pirates seized the yacht about a hundred kilometres west of the Seychelles. I’ll pay them whatever they want, Nick. Just find them, and broker the deal.’
It was only a couple of days since four Americans had been killed on their yacht during a bungled rescue operation, after being hijacked off the Horn of Africa. In South East Asia this would have been pretty routine. Crew and passengers were killed and thrown overboard; the ships and their contents were seized. But this was a bit of a turn-up for the Somalis. As far as they were concerned, the people were the prize.
I didn’t know if Frank knew about the US deaths, but either way I’d have to start to manage his expectations. Right now they seemed pretty high, considering he knew fuck-all about what had happened.
‘You sure nobody’s contacted you, even indirectly?’
‘Nobody.’
‘Then how do you know the yacht’s been taken?’
‘The crew was dumped. The yacht was taken with the three of them still aboard. The crew arrived back in Moscow this morning. You will go and see them when we’ve finished here.’
‘The BG, the bodyguard – is he good?’
‘He’s British, like you. He will be doing what he can. I know it. But I will have no further need of him once all this is over. Stefan and his mother – I want them back. I don’t care what it costs.’
I looked at the picture again. ‘This isn’t as clear-cut as you might think. If you pay what the pirates ask, you may put them in more danger. If you don’t bargain, they’ll think you’re loaded. They’ll take your money and then they’ll sell them on to another clan and the whole process will start all over again. Or rival clans could go to war over them. Either way, you’ll never get them back.’
‘Money talks, Nick. If—’
‘There is a protocol. As long as you stick to it, there’s a chance of getting them back. You understand that?’
‘Of course. That is why you are here.’
‘You’ve got to start thinking of them as dead. Plan their funerals in your head. Anything else is a bonus. Do you understand that too?’
He nodded.
‘All right. To confirm, no one has contacted you? No one has been given a message to pass on? No contact number was left with the crew?’
He shook his head.
Maybe Frank hadn’t heard anything yet because they were dead. Or maybe the BG was switched on enough not to give him as the point of contact.
‘So why me? Why aren’t you doing this through your insurance company? They have people who do this sort of thing twenty-four/seven. Or why not get the word out some other way? Knowledge, as you say, is power. And the red plates out there tell me you’ve got both. Why have you come to me?’
He shrugged. ‘I have my reasons. I will pay you extremely well. But we can talk about all that later. Tracy respects you, Nick. I think perhaps she loves you. You have been a good friend to her, not just to her husband. You will not let her down now, will