The Lethal Target(56)

‘About that, what will happen to Professor Lemski?’ asked Rona. ‘I mean, the experiment is out there, in the open. Will he develop it?’

‘That depends on what happens to him now he’s back in Russia,’ said Jake. ‘I mean, he could be locked up.’

‘I doubt it,’ said Lauren. ‘People like the professor are too important to their governments to be kept out of things. And too dangerous.’



Professor Lemski sat in the palatial office of the Minister of Science in Moscow and sipped at the glass of steaming tea.

‘That was very nearly an extremely nasty diplomatic incident, Fyodor,’ commented the minister, a large man with a bald head and startlingly bushy eyebrows.

‘It was the American’s fault,’ countered Lemski. ‘Muir.’

‘But the operation was under your control.’

‘My people were under my control,’ corrected Lemski. ‘Muir was a loose cannon. A maverick. I warned against using him from the very start.’

‘Yes yes,’ said the minister hastily. ‘But the book is lost.’

‘The book may be, but not all the information it contained,’ said Lemski.

‘You photocopied it?’ asked the minister, leaning forward expectantly. Then his eager expression vanished, as he remembered: ‘But the British took all your papers before they released you.’

‘They did,’ said Lemski. He tapped his forehead. ‘But you forget, I have a photographic memory.’

‘Excellent!’ said the minister. ‘So the experiments can continue!’

‘The experiments are done,’ said Lemski ‘We know the constituents of the serum, and their proportions. I propose we move on to the next project.’ He leant forward. ‘There are many more books from the Malichea library hidden. Not just in the Highlands and islands of Scotland from the abbey at Iona, but from the library at Glastonbury. We need to find them, and to do that we need to find The Index!’

The minister frowned, a doubtful expression on his face.

‘There are many people searching for them,’ he pointed out. ‘We can come to some kind of civilised arrangement with most of them. Even some of the more — ah — dubious organisations. But what about this English couple? You mentioned the problems that Mr Muir caused us because he was a maverick. As I understand it, this Mr Wells and Ms Graham could be even worse.’

Lemski nodded.

‘Yes, I agree,’ he said. ‘I am convinced that as a result I shall meet them again.’ A nasty smile lit up his face. ‘And when I do, I will have my revenge on them for what happened on Mull. I will destroy them, piece by piece!’ His smile broadened, and he raised his glass of tea in a toast. ‘To revenge!’