Manhunter by Chris Ryan (the false prince series .TXT) 📗

a paedophile ring. Him and his brother supply underage boys and girls to a bunch of rich bastards. Politicians, lords and businessmen. They smuggle kids in from group homes and host secret parties at David’s mansion in Essex. The guests are secretly filmed, to entrap them.’

‘Unsubstantiated rumours,’ the Voice said. ‘Street gossip.’

‘There’s more to it than that. I’ve heard that Lang has a taste for young girls as well.’

Mallet tilted his head at Bowman. ‘How do you know that?’

‘I heard it while I was doing an undercover job. Up in Liverpool. No one talks about it publicly, because they’re all shit-scared of the Langs, but it’s well known in the underworld. It’s his dirty secret.’

‘Even if that’s true,’ the Voice said, ‘we can’t threaten to prosecute Lang. It would never stand up in court.’

‘You don’t need to charge him,’ Bowman countered. ‘Just smear his reputation. You lot are experts in destroying lives. You must have a few tricks up your sleeves.’

Casey steepled her delicate fingers on the table. ‘That could work. Lang likes to think of himself as a legitimate businessman, after all. He’ll want to protect that.’

‘I’ll speak to our team,’ the Voice said. ‘See what they can do.’

‘What’s the plan once we’ve questioned Lang?’ asked Bowman.

‘That depends on his level of cooperation.’

‘What about the attack on Freddie?’

‘What about it?’

‘It’s all over the news. Lang is bound to find out that his brother has been poisoned. If he hasn’t found out already. What if he works out what’s afoot and calls off the meeting?’

‘We’ve anticipated that. Scotland Yard has been briefed. They’ve been instructed to withhold details of the investigation for a few days. News outlets have been told that the victim’s identity won’t be made public until his family has been notified. That should buy you enough time to complete your mission.’

Mallet leaned forward and looked round the room. ‘Any questions?’

Loader said, ‘What do you want us to do with Seguma?’

‘He’s a great friend of the British government,’ the Voice responded. ‘Make sure he doesn’t come to harm. That’s priority number one.’

‘Do you want us to bring him back with us?’

‘We can hardly leave him high and dry in Monaco, can we?’ The Voice was undeniably sarky despite its flat neutral tone.

Webb said, ‘Seguma won’t be pleased to see us, if he’s planning to strike a deal with the Kremlin behind our backs. He might cause us problems.’

‘Leave the president to us,’ said the Voice. ‘Just focus on getting Lang to tell us what he knows.’

‘There’s one thing I don’t get,’ Bowman said after a pause. ‘Why would the Russians kill the Lang twins, if they’re supposedly brokering some big deal with them?’

Mallet stared silently at the speakerphone, as if deferring to a higher authority.

‘We don’t know,’ the Voice said. ‘Perhaps there’s a financial incentive. The Russians might have decided it’s in their interest to cut the middlemen out of the deal. Increase their profit margin.’

Casey said, ‘But the Russians must have known that if word leaked about Freddie’s death, his brother would call off the meeting. Why would they take the risk?’

‘We don’t have time for this sort of idle speculation,’ the Voice replied tonelessly. ‘Now, unless you have any more questions, I suggest you prepare to leave for Northolt. The next time we speak, I expect to hear David Lang on the other end.’

‘We’ll get the bastard,’ Mallet said. ‘Don’t worry about that.’

‘Make sure that you do,’ the Voice warned. ‘Whatever David Lang is planning with the Russians, we need to put a stop it. I don’t care what you do, or how you do it,’ she added. ‘Just get to Lang and make him talk. Before it’s too late.’

Eleven

The line cut out. Mallet reached across the table and tapped a backlit button on the speakerphone, shutting the unit down. He checked his watch, then glanced round the room with his hard Glaswegian stare.

‘The Caravelle will be here in twenty minutes,’ he said. ‘Remember, this is a fastball operation. We’ll load up the wagon and then head straight to the airfield. The plane will be waiting for us on the pan, fuelled and ready to go. Any questions?’

Loader did a double-take. ‘You’re coming with us?’

‘Change of plan,’ Mallet replied.

‘It’s a bit late for that, isn’t it?’

‘We need boots on the ground. The original plan was for a five-man team. You’ve lost two guys. Josh will fill one slot. I’ll fill the other. If the other lads were here, I’d send them along. But they’re both tied up on a posting, so you’ve got me instead. Besides, I’m already up to speed. Unless you’ve got a problem with that?’

Loader held up his hands. ‘You won’t get any arguments from me, John. The more the merrier, as far as I’m concerned.’

‘Good.’ Mallet turned to the others. ‘The seventh dwarf approves, so we can all breathe a sigh of relief. How about the rest of you? Anyone have anything to add?’

Casey and Webb both shook their heads. Mallet looked round at Bowman and said, ‘There’s no time to go through the plan right now. We’ll update you fully en route to France. As soon as we’re in the air. Rat runs, equipment, procedures on capture.’

‘Capture?’

Mallet laughed. ‘When I say “capture”, I mean arrest. We might be driving to the target and get involved in a pile-up. Or a kid might run out in front of us and get hit.’

Bowman was starting to see the picture more clearly now. They were going in on a deniable operation to arrest a suspect during the day, in the middle of a packed urban environment. Which meant the team would need to make contingency plans for any number of situations and emergencies. Murphy’s Law. Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. Bowman would have to commit every procedure to memory before they touched down in the south of France.

‘Will we have enough time?’ he asked. ‘On the plane?’

‘It’s a two-hour flight to Nice. Should give us plenty of time to