Ultimate Weapon by Chris Ryan

won’t matter soon …’
    Jed caught just the tail end of the sentence of the shorter of the two men standing in front of him. This must be Wilmington, he decided. The professor was a slender man of fifty or so. His dark hair was combed back, and his glasses were perched on the end of his long, raking nose. His skin was tanned, but his face was pitted with pockmarks, and his eyes were capped by apair of thick eyebrows that crawled out over his forehead like ivy crawling across a building. Next to him stood a taller, younger man. An Arab, Jed judged, but it was impossible to tell from a brief glance which country he might come from. He was about six foot, with a thin, wiry face, but strong shoulders and a thick neck. His hair looked like it could use a trim, and he had a thick black moustache.
    ‘Who are you?’ said the Professor.
    ‘My name is Nick Scott,’ said Nick firmly. ‘And this is Jed Bradley. We’re sorry for bursting in on you like this, but we need to speak to you right away.’
    ‘I told reception –’
    The second man tapped him on the arm. ‘Let them speak,’ he said softly.
    ‘It will just take a few minutes,’ said Jed.
    Wilmington nodded. ‘OK,’ he said cautiously. ‘I guess you’re Sarah’s father.’ He looked from Nick to Jed. ‘But who are you?’
    ‘I’m a friend of Sarah’s.’ He glanced at the taller man. ‘And you are … ?’
    Jed could feel the hostility in the man’s eyes as the question was posed. It was like having a snake looking straight at you, deciding whether to shoot its venom into your veins. ‘My name is Salek al-Fayadh. I’m a scientist, from the Lebanon.’
    ‘So, since you’re here,’ said the professor, ‘what do you want?’
    Nick glanced edgily at Salek. ‘We should speak to you alone.’
    ‘There’s nothing that you can’t say in front of Salek,’ replied Wilmington. ‘He’s an old friend.’
    Salek moved closer to Nick. The room measured fifteen feet by ten, with a window that looked out on to the street. A light drizzle was falling outside. Three of the walls were covered with bookshelves, each bulging with thick-looking scientific works. A stack of papers was balanced in one corner. On the far wall there was a desk, with a computer on it. Next to that a blackboard, with a set of equations drawn on it. Jed knew enough physics to know they related to nuclear reactions of some sort, but he couldn’t identify which kind. The professor was probably just preparing for a tutorial.
    ‘Are you soldiers?’ said Salek, looking at both Nick and Jed.
    ‘What makes you say that?’ said Nick.
    Salek smiled, his moustache creasing up as he did so. ‘I’ve been around military men, I recognise their manner,’ he replied. ‘Which regiment?’
    ‘It doesn’t matter,’ said Nick.
    ‘So you are soldiers, then …’
    There was a slight chuckle in his voice that grated on Jed’s nerves as if he was laughing at them.
    ‘I told you, it doesn’t matter,’ snapped Nick. He looked back at Wilmington. ‘Sarah’s gone missing,’ he said. ‘We’re both worried about her. Very worried. I wanted to check when she was last in the lab?’
    Wilmington rubbed his hand against his cheek. ‘I might have spoken to her last Friday,’ he said. ‘But I’m not here every day myself, so I can’t be certain.’
    ‘Do you know if she’s contacted anyone here in the past couple of days?’ said Jed.
    ‘Not that I know of,’ he said, ‘but I can put out a general email. One of her colleagues might have spoken to her.’
    ‘There’s been no sign of her for at least four days,’ said Nick. ‘Do you have any idea where she might be?’
    Wilmington shook his head.
    ‘Maybe she had to go to a conference?’ said Jed.
    The professor shrugged. ‘Not that I know of.’
    ‘Nothing to do with her work that could take her out of Cambridge?’
    Again, Wilmington shook his head. ‘Sarah is a very brilliant young woman,’ he said. ‘Quite possibly the most