Dead Ball by Tom Palmer (best novels in english .TXT) 📗

laptop. He had some changes to make to his article, he said.

So Danny decided to go and spend his roubles. He still had most of the £100 he’d got from the Post Office.

He bought his mum a mug with Vladimir Putin, the former – or present, he wasn’t sure – leader of Russia on it. His mum liked mugs. When you poured hot water into it Putin’s stern expression broke out into a chilling smile. He thought his mum would like that.

For his dad he bought a thriller: Gorky Park. Based in Moscow. They’d watched the film together on TV; now they could read the book. That was a Moscow adventure story Danny could tell his dad about.

He bought Paul a Russian football T-shirt. Paul liked foreign team tops. And now England had put one over on Russia he’d be able to wear it without feeling like a traitor.

But what should he buy for Charlotte?

Something you’d buy for a friend? Another T-shirt? Or something else?

Danny watched other men in the duty-free shop. What were they buying? They’d be getting presents for their wives and girlfriends. He could see what they chose. Not that Charlotte was his girlfriend. But she was his friend. And a girl. Danny felt confused.

Perfume. Chocolates. A bag. A scarf. An ornament. That’s what men were buying. There was so much choice. But Danny didn’t have a clue what was the right thing for him to get.

He wished his sister was here. She would tell him what was nice. She was good – if not at some things – at least at buying presents.

Danny plumped for a gold chain in the end. Just a small chain. Like the one she’d had until a few months ago, but it had broken. A fine chain, not a heavy one.

He felt shy buying it. What was he doing? And the woman at the counter reeked so much of perfume,

Danny felt slightly faint.

Danny had around £20 left for himself.

What could he get?

A book? A Russia T-shirt? A small model of St Basil’s Cathedral? Yes. He’d like that. It was a building – and a night – he’d never forget.

And then he saw a set of Russian dolls. Six over-painted wooden dolls that fitted inside each other. That’s what Emily had asked him for, the day he felt like killing her.

Danny grinned. He didn’t really need anything. He had memories.

So he bought the Russian dolls for his sister.

In a suite of the Cosmonaut Hotel, not so far from the airport, another drama was unfolding.

Dmitri Tupolev was sitting in a chair examining Sir Richard Gawthorpe. The Englishman was sitting on the floor, his hands tied behind his back.

No one else was in the room.

‘You have gone against me,’ the Russian said.

‘No. I saved you,’ Sir Richard replied in a calm voice. He was not going to be cowed by the man who had become his adversary.

The Russian shrugged. ‘You no longer exist, Sir Richard.’

Now it was the Englishman’s turn to shrug.

And then the ground shook and the walls began to move.

FRIDAY

EXCLUSIVE

Mid-morning on Friday, Danny went to the newsagent’s to get the paper. The first edition of the Evening Post. Holt had called the night before to say his piece was in the next day.

RUSSIAN TRIED TO FIX ENGLAND QUALIFIER – EXCLUSIVE

THEEVENING POST TALKS TO ENGLAND HERO, MATT MCGEE

After the heroics of Wednesday night, when the England keeper almost single-handedly kept England in the running for World Cup qualification, I met up with the enigma that is Matt McGee.

And he told me a story that is quite literally unbelievable. Unbelievable, that is, until you hear the news coming out of Russia this weekend.

‘First, I want to set the record straight about the counterfeit money,’ McGee told me. ‘I did have the money on me. I had it because a friend of mine gave it to me. He owed me some cash. But I didn’t know it was counterfeit. I was convicted because I refused to give up the name of that person. I did that for my own reasons. I have paid my penalty. That’s the end of that for me.’

But then Matt McGee launched into the story that will echo through the stands at football stadiums across the world for weeks to come. It comes after he disappeared at the end of England’s qualifier in Russia – only to emerge from the crowds minutes later.

‘They tried to fix the game,’ he said. ‘First they offered to pay me. To wipe out my debts. Then they threatened me. With death.’

McGee took a pause at this point in the interview to have a sip of water. But he soon regained his composure.

‘A group of Russians got to me and threatened me. One of them was the well-known oligarch Dmitri Tupolev. He asked me to fumble a corner and give away a penalty.’

And did the England player say no?

‘I didn’t say no,’ McGee said. ‘I was afraid for my life. This guy is famous for killing people. I just didn’t say

yes

.’

I tried to get more details out of McGee, but he declined. He has just signed a two-million-pound contract for the story of his blackmail and abduction with the independent publisher Frank Books who hope to have it out in time for Christmas.

When I tried to push him further, asking if selling his story to a publisher was in the public interest, he was upset. ‘I did what was in the public interest by not throwing the game, by helping England qualify for the World Cup. As you know,’ he went on, ‘I am in financial meltdown and need some money. The book deal has saved me. And now I hope to live a better life.’

I asked him what he’d do with the two million.

He was candid with his reply. ‘It’ll go two ways. A million to write off my debts. A million to a charity that helps survivors of the Chernobyl nuclear power disaster in Russia.’

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