McVeigh’s diplomacy deserted her. “How did you—”
“Let me finish. As I said, Salt hired thirty men and women and sent them to a training compound in Namibia. Six of the recruits washed out. Lambert’s dead. That leaves twenty-three. It’s my guess they were the ones who came through Mexico City two nights ago.”
“So you spoke with Salt, too?” McVeigh’s anger was laced with a grudging admiration.
“I tracked him down to his club in London and interrogated him in his vehicle.”
“Voluntary or coerced?”
“Somewhere in between. I asked him a few questions. He tried to kill me. I shot him. He’s dead.”
Alex looked at her reflection in the window. Her hair was disheveled. She was bleeding from the nose, and her eye was starting to look like an eggplant. “Jan? You there?”
“You killed Salt?”
“Yes.”
“Let me get this clear—and I’m talking to you as your supervisor and as AD of the New York office, not as a fellow investigator. You disobeyed my express orders not to return to work. Also against my express orders, you traveled to London. I imagine I should be thankful that you didn’t hijack one of the Bureau’s jets. You conducted an illegal surveillance operation in a foreign country, then you killed a person of interest during the course of a hostile interrogation.”
“He pulled a gun and discharged his weapon twice in an effort to kill me. When I disarmed him, he attempted to stab me instead.”
“Are you all right?”
“Except for a black eye, yes. Thank you for asking.”
“You’re in trouble, Alex. You know that?”
“Yes.”
“All right, then. We’ll deal with that side of things when you get back. Did you get any useful information out of this escapade at all?”
“A confirmation of deposit from Salt’s account at the Bank of Vaduz, Liechtenstein, in the amount of one million pounds from an Excelsior Holdings of Curaçao. My guess is that that’s who is bankrolling this whole thing. Find out who’s behind Excelsior and we find out who’s pulling all the strings.”
“Good luck with that. Between Liechtenstein and Curaçao, we’ll be lucky to have a call returned three months from now.”
Alex had other ideas, but kept them to herself. “There was also an e-mail on his phone sent last night at nine your time from someone named Beaufoy. South African e-mail address. It read, ‘The Eagle Has Landed. Gott mitt uns.’”
“And that means?”
“You know what it means.”
“No, I don’t. And neither do you.”
“Bullshit. You’ll know when you hear the tape. I’m going to contact a friend of mine at Five and tell him what happened. I don’t want to end up in jail for the next week. You might want to brief the director. I imagine the shit’s going to hit the fan pretty good.”
“Alex—”
“Listen to the tape.” Alex hung up before McVeigh could scream at her. She felt faint and paced back and forth until the blood returned to her head. The concussion was worse than she thought. She crossed her fingers that McVeigh would see things her way and vote with her badge instead of her rulebook.
Alex called her colleague at MI-5 and explained about her visit to GRAIL and the interrogation of James Salt. He told her to drive Salt’s car to an address in Kensington not far from Five’s headquarters on the River Thames.
“What about Scotland Yard?” she asked.
“Who? Now move it.”
Alex checked the surroundings. She noted a couple walking beneath some trees fifty yards away. She turned full-circle. No one else was nearby.
Corpses were heavy and ungainly. It required all of her strength to shift Salt to the passenger seat. When she slid behind the wheel, she noted that her clothing was matted with Salt’s blood. She buttoned her blazer and raised the collar to camouflage as much of it as possible.
Alex fired the engine, then spun the car in a one-eighty and left the park.
McVeigh called back five minutes later. “You haven’t contacted GRAIL again, have you?”
The anger was gone from her voice. It was operational McVeigh speaking. Alex had her reprieve. “Chris Rees-Jones called Salt a few minutes ago, but I didn’t answer. I listened to the message. Apparently she’s considering going to the company’s solicitors to admit her part in this thing before it blows up even further.”
“Good. I’ve spoken to Five. They’ve agreed to take your evidence to a magistrate straightaway. Between what’s happened on our turf and what happened over there, he should be able to obtain a warrant to storm GRAIL’s offices and Salt’s home.”