A Silent Death by Peter May (book recommendations website txt) 📕

It took her a moment to find her voice. ‘What . . . what just happened?’

Mackenzie shook his head. ‘When I said I was going to learn Arabic, people told me I was an idiot. The only use I would ever have for it, they said, was if I joined the foreign office or became a spy.’ He laughed. ‘But I always figured it would come in handy someday.’

‘What did you say to them?’

‘I told the fella with the gun at your head that your weapon was faulty. That the safety catch had jammed and that if he fired it, not only would it blow your head off, it would take his hand and probably half his face with it.’

Cristina gawped at him in astonishment. ‘And he believed you?’

Mackenzie shrugged. ‘Apparently.’

‘So why didn’t you hold them at gun point once you’d got it back?’

Mackenzie said, ‘I’m not authorized to use your gun. And if I had, you’d only have got into even bigger trouble.’ He started steering her towards the stairs. ‘As Sun Tzu explained in his Art of War, if we do not wish to fight we can prevent the enemy from engaging us if we throw something odd and unaccountable in his way.’

‘A jammed gun?’

‘Well, here’s the thing . . . one way or another these guys were illegals. Involved in people-trafficking or drugs. Who knows? But they didn’t want a fight any more than we did. They were just scared. So I gave them a way out. Whether or not they believed the story about the gun doesn’t matter. They accepted the chance it offered to escape. So now you can call this in, and it’s someone else’s problem.’ They started down the stairs. ‘It’s just a pity we’ve wasted our time here.’

Cristina stopped halfway down to the next landing. ‘But we haven’t. Before I met the charmers who dragged me up here, I caught a couple of teenagers spray-painting walls. Showed them a photograph of Cleland and told them I’d turn a blind eye if they could give me any information about this guy. It was obvious they recognized him. Not exactly someone you’d expect to stumble across in a place like this. They said they’d seen him here a few times in the last couple of days. In the company of some unsavoury characters. Not the ones who took my gun. Spanish, apparently. So at least we know where he’s been hiding out.’

They stepped on to the first landing, and Mackenzie glanced back along the corridor towards to where poor people fleeing conflict were no doubt collecting their belongings and preparing to move on before the police arrived. He said, ‘If this is the best Cleland can do, he can’t have many friends left. And he must be pretty desperate.’

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Ana is dying a little inside. Cleland has been moving around her house. She is aware of the smell of him, of his body heat as he comes and goes, of the movement of air as he passes. At one point she feels his breath on her face. Not realizing he is quite so close she cries out.

She is terrified. For herself. For Cristina. But more imminently for Sergio. She knows that sometimes they work late at the bank, even if it is not open to the public. The dots raised on the surface of her braille watch tell her that it is nearly nine. If he is coming, as he promised, it will be soon, for people will start eating at ten.

She hopes against hope that something will prevent him from returning tonight. Even that he has taken cold feet after meeting her earlier, and reconsidered. Yes, even that.

A vibration alerts her to a new message on her screen and she raises her fingers to read the braille.

– Who is Sergio?

Fear runs through her bones, chilling her to the very core. It’s as if he can read her mind. ‘Who?’

– Don’t play games with me, Ana. When I first arrived you asked if I was Sergio.

‘He’s just a friend.’

– But you were expecting him.

‘No, not really. He drops by from time to time.’ She tries to keep calm, control the trembling in her voice.

– You’re lying to me, Ana.

‘No. Honestly, I’m not. I’m not expecting anyone.’

And as if to make her a liar, fate chooses that moment for the bell to ring downstairs. Her hand flies to the vibration on her chest, as if somehow she can stop it.

– So who would that be, then?

‘I’ve no idea.’

– Open the door.

She is desperate now. ‘Why involve anyone else? It’s me you want.’

– And Cristina. Is it her?

‘Not at this time of night, no.’

– Well, answer it, then, and we’ll find out just who it is.

Ana reaches towards the panel of switches on the table and fumbles unconvincingly with the rocker. ‘It’s not working.’ Then feels Cleland brush her hand aside, before the vibration on her chest tells her that he has successfully unlocked the door below. ‘Don’t harm him. Please.’ It is out before she can stop herself.

– Who is he?

‘Just a friend.’

– We’ll see.

Then nothing. She feels the heat of Cleland’s body recede and is only too painfully aware of the tread of Sergio’s feet on the stairs. Never has the silence and darkness that traps her felt so imprisoning. She wonders about calling out a warning. But would Sergio even understand? It would make no sense to him, until it was too late.

She is aware that the door has opened, then nothing.

What is Sergio doing? Where is Cleland? Has Sergio seen him? Are they speaking?

And then she feels him crossing the floor towards her. The heat of his body. He is very close. The scrape of a chair vibrating faintly through hers, his now familiar scent. Then suddenly his lips on her forehead. She recoils, startled. A quite involuntary response. She can almost feel his hurt.

Several long moments pass before he takes