themselves buying hi Jtech surveillance equipment - and the bad debt I finished them off. Of his 37,000 pounds Dave Constantine I recovered just 1200 pounds penceSeverely depressed, he spent the I money on reslating the farmhouse roof and upgrading Ithe plumbing. You could charge more for bed and I breakfast if you had power showers, Linda had heard.
And so Dave had found himself turning back the |bed-sheets and plying the Toilet Duck. The guests had I come in twos and threes in the summer months, but ic venture had never really taken off. The fact that the Ipropnetor smelt of whisky at breakfast-time probably |didn't help. Nor did Linda's tense and sometimes aruised countenance.
To escape the recriminations and the silences Slater vent running, pounding the icy country roads for fiiours at a time, often returning well after dark. His stay lat Wormbridge had come to an end after a joyless New
59
The Hit List
Year's Eve party at the farmhouse. After announcing that he had decided to accept an offer of work as a mercenary in Sierra Leone, Dave had passed out cold. A tearful Linda had then invited Slater into her bed. He had turned her down as tactfully as he was able, but hadn't been able to face the couple the next day. Leaving a note and a generous contribution towards the household budget, he had slipped away at first light.
He'd driven straight to London, and used the remainder of the day scouting the Highbury area. At nine o'clock the next morning, after a night at a cheap hotel, he'd visited the first estate agent. By midday he was pocketing the keys to 28 Mafeking Terrace, and forty-eight hours later, after hiring a van and scouring the Holloway Road's second-hand furniture and kitchen shops, he had the place in working order. The fridge had a weird shuddering hum that no amount of tinkering seemed to fix, and he preferred not to think too closely about the provenance of the cooker - but it was a base.
The other reason - apart from affordability -- that he'd chosen the area was that it was on the Piccadilly underground line. Although he'd been unwilling to involve himself with bodyguard and private security work when he'd first left the Regiment - the work hadn't promised the clean break he'd been looking for - Slater had reviewed his options over the course of those long runs through the Herefordshire hill country. The pay-off from Bolingbroke's wouldn't last
60
Chris Ryan
and his choices were few. Working as a iyguard had its down-sides -- you had to wear a suit, a start - but by all accounts the money was good. Piccadilly Line ran through Mayfair, itsbridge and Belgravia, which is where most of work was. Bodyguarding hours were long, and er didn't want to spend a second more than cessary getting to and from work. ,His time at Bolingbroke's was now a distant emory. Ever-present, however - despite Lark's Involvement - was the nagging worry that the affair at HE school would have serious consequences for him. ; The Saudis, he was certain, would not wish news to ; out about the attempt on Masoud al-Jubrin, and it probably to accommodate the Saudis that the alice had been stood down and the terrorists' and the gad security men's bodies had been spirited away by i MI6 cleaning team. No sense jeopardising an entire s-sales programme because of a local unpleasant; - especially one that that would reflect so poorly i all parties.
|< Pembridge, in his turn, would do all that he could to i up the affair for the sake of the school. But that still a lot of mouths to be stopped: Mrs Mackay, Jean amey, the Popleys, the Boyd-Farquharsons, the fami i of the security men . . . If any one of them went to : press then there would be some very hefty deals to brokered. And the security services, as Lark had pressed on Slater on more than one occasion, really ed to do deals of that sort.
i
61
The Hit List
No, Slater would be made to take the drop if there was a court of inquiry. There would be a lot of talk about
And so Dave had found himself turning back the |bed-sheets and plying the Toilet Duck. The guests had I come in twos and threes in the summer months, but ic venture had never really taken off. The fact that the Ipropnetor smelt of whisky at breakfast-time probably |didn't help. Nor did Linda's tense and sometimes aruised countenance.
To escape the recriminations and the silences Slater vent running, pounding the icy country roads for fiiours at a time, often returning well after dark. His stay lat Wormbridge had come to an end after a joyless New
59
The Hit List
Year's Eve party at the farmhouse. After announcing that he had decided to accept an offer of work as a mercenary in Sierra Leone, Dave had passed out cold. A tearful Linda had then invited Slater into her bed. He had turned her down as tactfully as he was able, but hadn't been able to face the couple the next day. Leaving a note and a generous contribution towards the household budget, he had slipped away at first light.
He'd driven straight to London, and used the remainder of the day scouting the Highbury area. At nine o'clock the next morning, after a night at a cheap hotel, he'd visited the first estate agent. By midday he was pocketing the keys to 28 Mafeking Terrace, and forty-eight hours later, after hiring a van and scouring the Holloway Road's second-hand furniture and kitchen shops, he had the place in working order. The fridge had a weird shuddering hum that no amount of tinkering seemed to fix, and he preferred not to think too closely about the provenance of the cooker - but it was a base.
The other reason - apart from affordability -- that he'd chosen the area was that it was on the Piccadilly underground line. Although he'd been unwilling to involve himself with bodyguard and private security work when he'd first left the Regiment - the work hadn't promised the clean break he'd been looking for - Slater had reviewed his options over the course of those long runs through the Herefordshire hill country. The pay-off from Bolingbroke's wouldn't last
60
Chris Ryan
and his choices were few. Working as a iyguard had its down-sides -- you had to wear a suit, a start - but by all accounts the money was good. Piccadilly Line ran through Mayfair, itsbridge and Belgravia, which is where most of work was. Bodyguarding hours were long, and er didn't want to spend a second more than cessary getting to and from work. ,His time at Bolingbroke's was now a distant emory. Ever-present, however - despite Lark's Involvement - was the nagging worry that the affair at HE school would have serious consequences for him. ; The Saudis, he was certain, would not wish news to ; out about the attempt on Masoud al-Jubrin, and it probably to accommodate the Saudis that the alice had been stood down and the terrorists' and the gad security men's bodies had been spirited away by i MI6 cleaning team. No sense jeopardising an entire s-sales programme because of a local unpleasant; - especially one that that would reflect so poorly i all parties.
|< Pembridge, in his turn, would do all that he could to i up the affair for the sake of the school. But that still a lot of mouths to be stopped: Mrs Mackay, Jean amey, the Popleys, the Boyd-Farquharsons, the fami i of the security men . . . If any one of them went to : press then there would be some very hefty deals to brokered. And the security services, as Lark had pressed on Slater on more than one occasion, really ed to do deals of that sort.
i
61
The Hit List
No, Slater would be made to take the drop if there was a court of inquiry. There would be a lot of talk about
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