The Old Enemy by Henry Porter (read with me .TXT) 📕

Naji was examining a cabinet of marine dinosaurs. He wore ear buds and hadn’t seen Samson. ‘We did a deal,’ continued the Bird. ‘Yesterday was spent in the National Air and Space Museum and today is dinosaurs and large mammals.’ He laughed. ‘He’s a hell of a character. We attended a lecture with an astrophysicist named Sanjana Vadiki – no, I hadn’t heard of her either – but Naji had and engaged her in a debate about the nature of gravity in black holes. She tried to find out who he was, but we thought it best to leave before he got too deep in.’

‘How are we fixed with the foot doctor?’

‘He took the bait good and proper. My brother’s name and rank are what did it. I don’t think I told you that Alyn makes Mussolini look soft. Having acquainted himself with Alyn’s barbaric slaughter of deer and birds, he’s gagging to meet me and talk weaponry. We’re on for the morrow. He has asked details about you, so I suggest you brush up your profile.’

‘Are we meeting at Seneca Ridge? That’s crucial.’

‘He hasn’t given me an address. We need $20,000 cash deposit if we’re going to talk business about the Nitro Express. He wants to see the money and know we’re good for it. That’s our entry ticket. I’ll arrange that with Macy this afternoon.’

‘I’ll explain on the way. Nine o’clock at your hotel. I’ll bring the car.’

‘Needs to be showy,’ said the Bird.

Samson glanced at him with some amusement. ‘So I don’t let you down, Cuth?’

Naji wandered over and gave Samson a fist bump. They adjourned to the café, where Naji consumed three Danishes and a lot of Diet Coke. Samson aimed his words at the table. ‘The laptop is on its way now. Can you get into it without the calculator?’

Naji threw his head back. ‘It’ll take a long time. Mr Hisami is the only one who knows the code for the calculator, and that will take me hours to bypass.’

‘What about the computer? Can you bypass the need for a code?’

Naji shook his head slowly. ‘There are two things we need, and we don’t have either. We can’t yet prove Mila Daus was once a Stasi officer and we don’t have access to the evidence of her networks. We don’t have the code and the laptop is somewhere between New York and here, so we concentrate on exposing Daus. For that I’ll need to see the film of Seneca Ridge again. Can you send it to me, please?’

Naji slid a thumb drive across the table. ‘This is all footage from the drone. Close-ups, also.’

‘That’s helpful. You’ll need to watch it, Cuth.’

‘Already have. Lots of good film of her.’

Samson got up. ‘We’ll speak later.’ He gave the Bird a tilt of the head to suggest that maybe they shouldn’t be running around town too much before the committee hearing. The Bird nodded.

Chapter 32

Seneca Ridge

Samson watched the footage early the next day in his room, with coffee and a bowl of fruit and granola. He’d had no contact with Anastasia but had received messages from Tulliver overnight informing him of the situation with Denis and the successful search for ‘a lost item’ in New York. By return, Samson said he knew things were difficult at the hospital but asked him to make sure that she would be free later.

The film of Seneca Ridge was more recent than the one shown in the rehearsal room – the woods had filled out and the trees around the houses were in leaf and cast deep shadows. From the dates on the footage Samson realised that Mila Daus appeared with her bodyguards on Friday evening at around six or Saturday morning at eleven. She always dressed in dark colours, usually brown or black, and invariably wore sunglasses, but once or twice there were clear images of her from an angle, so it was possible to identify her without any doubt. From the flight log of Learjet 60 XR, Rudi Rosenharte had learned that she invariably flew in from DC, Boston, MA, or Richmond, VA, where her businesses were mostly located. Occasionally, weekend guests arrived at the same time or a little after her. He concluded that she almost certainly wouldn’t be there that day, which was a Thursday.

Gaspar and his weekend wife seemed to occupy adjacent houses on the property, while the prow of Seneca Ridge, with its views over a small, meandering river and tracts of forest, was reserved for guests. The security presence was light, essentially just two men at any one time. Three utility task vehicles were parked behind Gaspar’s house and trails led down from the rocky outcrop of Seneca Ridge into the woods. Most of the service activity – the arrival of catering staff in a blue van and maintenance men and deliveries – also took place behind Gaspar’s quarters. Samson guessed the foot doctor ran the household for her.

He had time before taking delivery of the rented Range Rover to look through footage of the comings and goings at the weekends, with some close-ups of guests arriving. He searched for the balding, shaven head of Anatoly Stepurin but, unsurprisingly, failed to find him. Yet there was a large man who lumbered with his feet pointing outwards and wore a cap that gave Samson pause. His face was hidden but there was something familiar about him, and Samson instantly remembered Ulrike telling him about the famous businessman who had been compromised with a young girl. He clipped that part of the film and sent it to Anastasia via a messaging app.

He felt there was little hope of accessing and organising the information on the computer before her appearance at the committee’s hearing, but if they could prove who Mila Daus was, that would go a long way to disrupting her operation. He changed into his blue suit jacket, a clean pair of trousers, a blue shirt and coffee-brown silk