Read Online No Time for Heroes by Brian Freemantle - Free Book Online Page B

had to lose, and be instantly promised next-day delivery of everything he needed for his empty office.
    The Volga ran well and the valeting had been meticulous. Olga insisted on a first-time ride, demanding they go almost halfway around the outer Moscow ring road.
    â€˜This is better!’ she said, head back against the seat. ‘Like it was in the old days! About bloody time.’ They had not had a car of their own for four years, since their old Lada had crumbled beyond repair. It had been one of the most expensive gifts Danilov had ever received, from a black marketeer whose convoys he had guaranteed through his Militia district for eight years. The watch that rarely worked had come from the same source.
    Danilov glanced across at her. He couldn’t detect the greyness through the tint, in the half light, but he didn’t think he liked her hair quite as long. Apparently thinking a good appearance was necessary in a prestige car, Olga had put on her new coat, a brown tweed with a deeper brown felt collar. There was a button missing from the front. Olga was the sort of woman from whose clothes buttons always seemed to be missing, even when they were new. She never appeared to notice.
    â€˜It is ours, isn’t it?’ she demanded, with sudden concern. ‘No-one’s going to take it back?’
    â€˜Don’t worry about it,’ said Danilov.
    â€˜I’ve invited Yevgennie Grigorevich and Larissa to dinner to celebrate your promotion,’ she announced.
    â€˜That will be nice,’ he said neutrally.
    â€˜You don’t mind?’
    â€˜Why should I mind?’
    â€˜No reason.’
    He was aware of her looking directly back at him across the car. ‘When?’
    â€˜Larissa’s going to call, to confirm a night. Now you’ve got the promotion and more money, I thought I could shop at the open market by the State Circus.’
    â€˜I’m not sure the increase will cover that.’ He’d heard that prices in open markets, which were always groaning with produce and meat being sold by independent farmers and growers, were frequently ten times those in government controlled stores – although in government controlled stores the same items were rarely available. If there was a difference, it was that luxuries were no longer confined to the Party and KGB concessions. Ironically, the Party and former intelligence agents now had to stand in line behind their successors, the gangsters who had inherited the dollars and the power.
    â€˜We’ll see,’ said Olga, airily.
    Danilov was careful to remove the wipers when he parked outside his apartment. He’d have to ensure, tomorrow, that the car was protected by the local Militia station. He wondered what he would have to offer in return.
    All the office equipment was delivered the following morning, but when he went to the store cupboard by the squad room he found the contents of three boxes tipped over the floor in total disarray, although the door had been locked. The boxes were missing. The one in which the bulbs had been hidden was untouched, though, which was a bonus because he’d insisted on being supplied with bulbs along with everything else. Now he had spares.
    He was aware of the sniggering attention of the other detectives as he ferried his belongings to and fro, to the upper floor. He genuinely tried to re-assemble his working area neatly, but almost at once it became the jumbled chaos of before. He still knew where everything was, if he needed it.
    Danilov had been encouraged by his easy success with the garage and the supply manager. It gave him further ideas how to manipulate his specific orders. No-one in the squad room would be sniggering, very shortly.
    Cowley had to concede the slight advantage in personal publicity when the call from the Alexandria police, across the Potomac in Virginia, came direct to him, without the delay of being routed through the normal FBI receiving and