Greed by Chris Ryan Page B

hint of a laugh in her eyes. She was, Matt judged, a woman who was used to getting what she wanted from men – and he was no exception. He was doing what she wanted. She'd known he would.

'I'll get Pinky and Perky,' she said.

 

Matt could have used a beer, but mineral water was all there was. He took a sip and looked across the desk. Pinky and Perky were sitting on chairs on either side, their ties straight and their legs crossed. Alison perched on the side of the bed. It feels right to get back to work, Matt decided. This is what I'm good at.

'Five men,' Pinky said. 'That's the number we'll need for the mission.'

'Why five?' Matt asked.

'Pirates,' said Pinky. 'That's basically what you'll be. You'll be raiding a boat and stealing everything on board. Our calculations are that you'll need a small dinghy to approach the boat, and one man to steer that, and you'll need four men to hit the boat. That makes five.'

Matt nodded. 'All ex-SAS?'

'Maybe, maybe not,' said Alison. 'We've got some guys in mind already.'

'Who are they?'

Perky turned towards the laptop on his desk and pulled up a file. 'MI5 keeps records of all you SAS boys, as you may know,' he said. 'The taxpayer went to a lot of trouble to turn you into killers. We like to know where you all are, and what you're up to.'

'We know,' said Matt. 'And don't think we like it either. We've served our time; we're free to do whatever we like.'

'Within the law,' Pinky said archly.

No point in arguing now, thought Matt. 'So who have you got?'

'When you look at the qualifications,' Pinky said, 'the field starts to narrow down. We want men only recently out of the Regiment. Much more than three years as civilians and they'll be too flabby. We want men who need money and need it badly. But at the same time, we don't want complete drunks, cokeheads or psychopaths. That rules out a few as well.'

'There's always Regiment guys who need money,' said Matt. 'It's not like we get big pay-offs when we leave.'

'Exactly. Here are two names,' said Perky. 'We'd like you to approach both men.'

Alison moved closer to where Matt was standing. 'With the SAS men, it would be better if you make the approach,' she said. 'It'll come better from you.'

Matt looked down at the piece of paper. Two names were printed in small black lettering: Joe Cooksley and Alan Reid. He knew both men quite well but they had not been close friends. He had served alongside them both in Bosnia in the 1990s. They hadn't been in the same squadron, but they had worked together on the assassination of Janos Biktier, one of the local warlords who'd thrived under Milosevic's patronage, and whose men had been raping and killing their way through Kosovo. An evil bastard. Matt had enjoyed that mission: Biktier richly deserved the bullet he'd left in his skull. Cooksley and Reid had been in a team that had proved itself under fire, providing Matt with the cover he needed as he moved in for the final kill. He had been happy to trust them with his fife then. He would be happy enough to do so again now.

Poor bastards. I wonder what kind of messes they're in to qualify them to make it on to this list?

'Any particular reason for these two?'

'We've asked around,' said Pinky. 'We hear they're good men, and for different reasons they might need money. We think you should talk to them. If they don't want to, there are more names we can give you.'

'There's a regimental get-together tomorrow night in Hereford,' said Perky. 'You should go. Get talking to them.'

Matt nodded. 'That makes three, if they agree. Who else?'

'You'll need some specialist help,' said Alison. 'This is stealing. The gold and the diamonds in the boat will almost certainly be in a safe, so we'll need someone who knows about cracking those open. I've got someone in mind. And once you've got the stuff, you'll need someone to fence it. You can't just walk into Ratner's and offer them thirty million dollars' worth of gold and jewels. I know someone who can