BLOOD DRAGON by Freddie Peters (books to get back into reading .TXT) 📕

Jack gave the address of Viro-Tech Therapeutics.

“Okay, I’m there. What do you want to know?”

“How secure is it?”

“Extremely secure … very little infrared penetration, a room with heavy plating security to avoid eavesdropping. High grade glass on the windows. An autonomous electrical system in case of breakdown, very fancy … what are they doing there? And in the middle of the City as well.”

“I’m not sure yet. Now can you tell me whether the high spec of the building is recent or was it that secure when first built.”

“It’ll take me a bit more time to find out, but I’d be very surprised if a building in the middle of London came up to that spec to start with. It’s the sort of security that exists in a scientific research park, not in regular offices.”

“Even if this place is part of the so-called Silicon Roundabout?”

“Tech companies can operate without that level of security … it’s usually their cyber security that matters. This smacks more of bio-hazard or unauthorised bio-research.”

Laurie had given up on her food. “I’ll do more research on how they dispose of their waste and rubbish. That’s a very good clue to what’s going on inside a building.”

“Brilliant … I’m much pacified …”

“That’s it?” Laurie’s voice rose a little, disappointed … couldn’t Jack do better than that?

“Well, if you insist …”

“Today is your lucky day … I’m in the right mood. I’m all giving and compassionate.”

“I am after a Ms Wu, who is presumed to live in London.”

“Now we’re talking … Wu is one of the commonest surnames in China but I’m lucky we are talking about London, the one in the UK perhaps?”

Jack chuckled.

“I’ll call you with some results at the end of the day … I mean at the end of my day.”

“Anytime … even after midnight.”

“No, I wouldn’t do that … you need your beauty sleep.” Laurie hung up. Jack stretched and stood up. He was ready for a long walk all the way back to Trafalgar Square.

He was picking up his backpack when a call came through.

Agent Harris too seemed to have news to share.

* * *

A couple of pieces of duck confit were slowly cooking in the oven. She had prepared a salad of lamb’s lettuce and rocket accompanied by walnuts and seasoned with her own homemade vinaigrette. Nancy had chosen the type of comfort food they both liked. They would certainly need it after what was about to be an uneasy conversation.

She had asked herself so many times whether she should have done things differently, but how could she have? Her instinct had always served her well and she needed to be allowed to follow her intuition. It was true that she had taken a back seat when it came to investigating her father’s disappearance. She knew why, but her days of letting people take risks for her were over.

Pole would not like that either.

She sighed.

Her appetite for calculated risks. Her ability to push a little further than any of her colleagues at the Bar had made her the successful QC she had been.

The box for the accused is empty.

Nancy sits at the front of the courtroom. The man for whom she’s working as a trainee Barrister, Jacques Vergès, is preparing to address the jury. For most of the trial, Klaus Barbie has been absent. He has argued successfully, although his request is premature, that his extradition from Bolivia in 1984 is illegal and has asked to be returned to his cell. The crimes committed by Barbie, also known as the Butcher of Lyon during World War II are what one would expect from a Gestapo Chief … torture, murder, deportation of Jews to concentration camps. He is hated not only for his long list of crimes against humanity but also for the murder of Jean Moulin, one of the most prominent resistance chiefs in France.

Verges has taken the case, not because he sympathises with Barbie, but because it is a platform for him to talk about the crimes committed by France and other colonialists around the world. Verges is a controversial Barrister. He is also supremely gifted in court. No one can stop listening to what he has to say. He captivates his audience. He makes them pay attention until he has finished his argument for the defence, no matter how unpalatable the facts.

Nancy is in awe. She has almost forgotten the 730 Jews and “résistants” who have deposited statements about the atrocities he committed. But she too has been brought up in an environment that condemns, without appeal, colonialism. Verges displays an understanding of the politics of World War II that is breathtaking.

When the sentencing occurs, he manages to get certain charges dropped against his client on the basis that French citizens who committed the same crimes as Barbie under the Vichy regime and in French Algeria, escaped prosecution. Verges maintains that the Butcher of Lyon’s crimes are no worse than the actions committed by colonialists worldwide.

Verges loses, of course, and Barbie is condemned. Winning was never the point though, and Verges knows that. He is a man with a mission, that of exposing corrupt political systems. And yet Nancy does not stay in France after she completes her training. She understands the dilemma of any Barrister who defends the indefensible. She’s not yet ready to politicise her choice of cases … that will come later.

A presence in the room startled her. Pole had materialised in the flat. She hadn’t heard the door. He looked harassed and she was shaken. Time for an honest conversation.

Chapter Eighteen

“Thanks Laurie … I’ll take a look right away.” Jack hung up and fell back into the pillows of his large bed. He had organised a few of them against the upholstered headboard. His laptop lay open on one side and a couple of newspapers had been casually abandoned on the other.

Jack stretched his hand towards the bedside table. He had stopped at an off licence on