Deep Black - Andy McNab [30]
The first thing I looked for was some cardboard boxes. I pulled them out and set them aside. If anyone challenged me, I’d say that a friend was moving and I was just looking for boxes to help him pack. If they persisted, I’d come clean and say I’d thrown my wedding ring in the trash in the heat of the moment, but now I’d patched things up and wanted it back before my wife found out. With luck, they’d even help me look.
People like me weren’t the only ones with their heads in trash cans. Police departments around the country routinely trawled through garbage, and every kind of criminal from Mafia dons to petty embezzlers had had their convictions based, at least in part, on evidence gathered from their rubbish. Intelligence agencies had been doing it for years. After the Iranian revolution in ’79, the new government had bands of students gluing together all the documents shredded by the previous lot. It took them four years.
I did a quick sift first, checking all see-through bags for disposable nappies or other baby items. Then I moved to black plastic ones, opening them one by one. An hour later, I found a bag that had come from Jerry and Renee’s apartment. There was a letter from a clinic, saying that the whole family were now registered, and their medical cards were enclosed.
I went back to the bench with wet milk stains and onion skin on my knees. Still no obvious movement in the apartment. It was nine thirty. I got my cell out, and Jerry’s card.
At that moment, they both appeared at the window. Renee leaned forward and smiled, presumably checking the carrycot. When she turned to Jerry, the smile evaporated. They seemed to be in mid-argument. Maybe Renee had told Jerry about our meeting. I hit the cell keys.
Three rings and Renee picked up.
‘Hi, it’s Nick. Is Jerry there?’
She looked taken aback. ‘I’ll put him on.’
She handed him the phone.
‘Hey . . .’ It was his happy voice.
‘Listen, I just want to say it was really great seeing you and the family today. I will think about the trip, OK?’
‘That’s great news. I’ll meet you in London?’
‘Hold up, I haven’t said I’m going yet. I’ll give you a call in the morning. I’ve got one or two things to sort out.’
‘No problem. I’ll be in all tomorrow. I’ll wait by the phone. Good things, Nick, these are good things.’
‘One question.’
‘Sure, Nick, anything.’
‘How are you so sure your man’s in Baghdad? How do you know what he’s up to?’
There was the smallest hesitation. ‘It’s like, I have a friend, a source, I guess. He’s on one of the nationals. I can’t give you his name . . . If anyone knew . . . You know how it is. But he is very definitely on our team, Nick. He’ll try to help us once we get there.’
‘Fair one. Later.’ I closed the phone down but kept my eyes on the flat. He was smiling, and so, soon, was Renee. They kissed and hugged.
Jerry went over and picked up Chloë, held her in the air and flew her about. Then he brought her down towards his face and blew on her stomach, just like I used to do to Kelly when she was little.
I sat there for a while, just watching them do family stuff, and then I went back to what I laughingly called home to learn more about my new employer.
22
Hot water splashed over my body, and I lathered myself from head to foot for the first time in weeks. Judging by the colour of the stuff that was filling the shower cubicle, it was a wonder I’d been let on the Metro. Ezra deserved a medal for making it through a whole session without reaching for the smelling-salts.
With yet another mug of monkey at my elbow, I sat at the PC with a towel round me, hair drying, face freshly shaven.
The Deep Web is a vast store of searchable databases that are publicly accessible, but for technical reasons not indexed by major search engines. Google or Lycos can tell you what the page might be about, but cannot access the content.
When I was shown