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.At his shoulder the young man who had sat beside him in the auction was grinning with excitement.Behind him, two security men in uniform brought in a plastic pouch, which they laid reverentially on the table in the middle of the room.Starling stared down at the tiny envelope.‘It is very strange,’ he said, ‘to see everything you possess boiled down to just that.’ He looked at Brock.‘They’ve cleaned me out.They couldn’t have got any closer to what I was worth if they’d been my fucking accountant.’Another man had appeared at the doorway, solemn-faced and bearing a sheaf of documents.He gave a respectful little cough.Sammy turned to him and said wearily, ‘I hope you’re not expecting a tip, sunshine.’The man gave a wan smile.‘Of course not, Mr Starling,’ he murmured.‘The total damage is the bottom figure, here.’Sammy looked, shrugged.‘Not a problem, old son.’ He flashed his brilliant white teeth.Fresh coffee was brought up, the Cabot’s people retired, and the room settled into a tense wait.While Brock and the SO10 officers conferred on possible contingencies, Kathy sat down beside Starling.‘How do you think she’s coping?’ she asked, stirring her cup.She sensed that he didn’t welcome the approach.‘With blind terror, if she’s got any sense,’ he said softly.‘How do you think?’ Any euphoria from his auction triumph had evaporated.‘Sorry.I just meant, is she the calm type or is she likely to panic if there’s a crisis?’‘Christ.’ He rubbed a hand across his face.‘No, she isn’t the calm type.Yes, she’ll jump out of her skin with panic, especially after five or six days and nights with them.’‘I just have no idea what she’s like as a person.She’s obviously very beautiful.’‘She’s beautiful.She’s bright, she’s wilful, she’s proud, she’s got fantastic taste, a terrific imagination.And none of that’s going to be the slightest use to her.I don’t know if she’s very brave.I don’t suppose she’s ever had to be.Having something like this happen to you.How brave would you be?’ He looked at Kathy, appraising.‘How much experience have you had, eh? How much experience have you had of the kind of bastards who’ve done this to Eva?’‘We don’t know who—’‘Oh, yes, we do.I know.’ He turned and stared out of the window at the luminous blue sky high above the Strand.‘I lived among them for years, people like this.And it scares the fucking shit out of me, Kathy, believe you me.’Kathy felt a hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach, which the sight of Gallows and Health calmly checking schedules on a clipboard didn’t allay.Then Starling added, the tone of his voice low now, confiding, ‘If anything goes wrong, get in touch with Sally for me, will you? Sally Malone.’ He pulled out a business card and wrote the name on the back, and a London phone number.‘Tell her I said.’When he didn’t finish the sentence, Kathy prompted, ‘Yes?’He shrugged.‘That I’m sorry.’The phone call came at four precisely.They were all sitting expectantly round the table, staring at Starling’s mobile lying in front of him, and watched him flinch as it began to ring.The exchange was brief.‘Did you get the stamp, Sammy?’ A disguised voice.Probably male.‘Yes, yes.I have it here.’‘Have you told the coppers?’‘No I swear!’ Starling’s brow was glistening with sweat.‘Get a taxi, now, fast.Head west.Brentford.Take the M4.I’ll ring again in twenty minutes.Got that?’‘West, Brentford, M4.Let me talk to—’ But the line had clicked off.And then a rush of activity, Starling flustered, grabbing his phone and the brown envelope in which was sealed the Canada Cover, the others bunching around him.‘The earpiece, Mr Starling!’ Gallows yelled, as he bundled out of the door.The room emptied, leaving Brock, Kathy and a couple of radio operators.Brock and Kathy went to the window and watched a taxi slide to the kerb just as Starling ran out of the front door.He jumped in, unaware that the driver was one of Gallows’s men, and they heard his hoarse instructions over the loudspeaker: ‘Take us to the M4, quick as you can [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]