City of the Lost by Will Adams

shouldn’t lead Turkey, that we were taking sides …’
    Ba ş türk sighed. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘You’re right. Of course you’re right.’
    ‘But if I can find a way to help without overstepping …’ added Yilmaz.
    ‘Thank you.’ He shook his head despondently. ‘You don’t know what this job is like. No one does. Not until you sit at this desk for yourself.’
    ‘Look on the bright side. You may not have it for much longer.’
    Ba ş türk laughed a second time, albeit more ruefully this time. ‘Thank you, General. I needed that.’
III
    Iain was on hold for the best part of a minute before Maria came on. ‘Hey,’ she said.
    ‘Hey yourself. What’s up?’
    ‘I’ve been on with Layla. Her sister can look after her daughters, but only for one day. So I’ve booked her a return flight tomorrow. She’ll be arriving really early, but I said you’d meet her at the airport. I hope that’s okay?’
    ‘Of course. What time?’
    She read out flight details. He jotted them down. ‘There’s something else,’ she added, lowering her voice. ‘I didn’t tell Layla, but there seems to be an issue with Mustafa’s insurance.’
    ‘So Robyn said. What?’
    ‘You know how all you guys need special coverage for whenever you go on missions? Well, we changed policies for our overseas associates at the start of the year, and I’m not sure—’
    ‘We did
what
?’
    ‘We changed policies. And the new one is basically workplace only. I don’t think Mustafa’s covered.’
    Iain didn’t speak for a moment. He didn’t trust himself. The work they did was nothing like as dangerous as serving in a war zone, but it was dangerous enough. Their regional client-list read like a
Who’s Who
of oil-and-gas oligarchs and other power-brokers, all engaged in fierce competition with each other, seeking information that they could use as leverage or even as weaponry to destroy; and although incidents of lethal violence were rare, they were far from unprecedented. ‘Was this Quentin?’ he asked finally.
    ‘I don’t know for sure,’ she said reluctantly. ‘But I think it must have been.’
    ‘Put me through to him.’
    ‘He’s left for the day.’
    ‘Then put me through to his mobile.’
    ‘Iain, I’m not sure that’s so wise right now, not until I’ve made sure—’
    ‘I said put me fucking through.’
    She gave a sigh, put him on hold. Quentin came on a few moments later, sounding as cheerful as ever, over Mustafa already. ‘This’ll have to be quick, old chap. I’m on my way to a meeting.’
    ‘Is it true about the insurance?’
    ‘Is what true?’
    ‘That you downgraded our overseas offices all to workplace only?’
    ‘Downgraded is a
very
loaded word,’ said Quentin. Iain could hear someone angrily tooting a horn in the background. ‘All I did was update our policies to something more appropriate to our new structure.’
    ‘More appropriate,’ said Iain. ‘Cheaper, you mean.’
    ‘This is a business I’m running, not a charity. Income is down. We’re only profitable at all because I clamped down on unnecessary overheads.’
    ‘Unnecessary?’ exploded Iain. ‘Since when has insurance been unnecessary?’
    ‘You’ve no idea how expensive those policies were.’
    ‘Yes. Because this is a dangerous fucking business we’re in, particularly out in the field.’
    ‘Uh, oh,’ said Quentin. ‘Tunnel.’ The phone went dead in Iain’s hand. He glared at it for a moment then made to hurl it against the wall, controlling himself only just in time.
    ‘What is it? What’s wrong?’
    He looked around in surprise to see Karin in the doorway. In his distraction, he hadn’t heard the door. ‘My colleague,’ he said. ‘The one who was killed this morning. There’s a problem with his insurance.’
    ‘Oh, hell. Does he have family?’
    ‘A wife. Two daughters.’
    ‘Oh, hell,’ she said again, coming over to touch him on his arm. ‘What will you do?’
    He shook his head. He couldn’t face