Read Online The Adjacent by Christopher Priest - Free Book Online Page B

on the implant, indicating it. ‘I knew most things about you before the call, and today I found out the rest. Your wife – Melanie Tarent, I heard what happened to her. I also know where you were until last week, and what happened to Melanie. She was killed in violent circumstances that were never discovered or explained. Well, I can fill you in with a few details about that. We have established that she was killed by a radical wing of the insurgency in Anatolia, and they were using a new kind of weapon. We have people out in Turkey looking into that at the moment. Did you know they caught the people responsible?’
    That startled him. ‘No, I didn’t. When did that happen?’
    ‘The day after you left. We were trying to get them back to IRGB – innocent until proved guilty, of course. We wanted to ask them a few questions first. On the way they were killed by another group of militiamen, who ambushed our convoy. Two of our people were killed too, several more injured. We think it was a local dispute, and there were two militias operating in that area. They were going for each other. But I thought you might like to know.’
    ‘I’m sorry to hear that. I had no idea more people had died.’
    ‘They weren’t there for your sake. We wanted to find out where the insurgents were getting their weapons.’
    ‘You said it was a new device. I was there after the explosion and saw the crater. It was obviously some kind of roadside bomb. We saw those all the time.’
    ‘What did you notice about the crater?’
    Her tone had been playful – Tarent nearly answered in kind. Instead, he said, ‘What should I have noticed?’
    ‘You were there.’ She had not changed her manner. ‘What did you see?’
    ‘It was a triangle. It had three straight sides, and they made up what looked like a regular triangle.’
    ‘Could you explain it? Did anyone else talk about it?’
    ‘Not that I remember. I wasn’t listening to anyone else. I think I was in shock, after Melanie.’
    ‘That’s what we are working on now.’ She sat forward, lookedaround the tiny room. ‘Do you have any drink in here? I mean, a real drink?’
    ‘Just water. We’re in a government building.’
    ‘I could work around that if you’d like to wait here for half an hour. Anyway, not all government buildings are the same.’
    ‘Meaning that the one you work in isn’t?’
    ‘No – ours is the same. Alcohol not allowed. But there are ways. Come round to see me one afternoon and I’ll introduce you to single malt.’ She rolled to the side, climbed off the bed. Tarent stared greedily at her long legs, her toned upper body, the perspiration still shining on her in patches. She filled two plastic cups from the cooler tap, swallowed all the water from one of the cups in three swift gulps, then passed him the other. ‘That’s enough of a drink for now.’
    She filled her cup a second time. She dipped her fingers in the cold water and flicked droplets across her arms and breasts, smeared a handful of water over her belly. She sat down on the narrow bed again, this time sitting close beside him. Playfully she splashed some drops on him. He wet his hand and slid it gently across her breasts, then let more drops fall around her neck. His fingers brushed against the implant again.
    ‘So we have established that you work for the government,’ he said. ‘That wasn’t difficult. The Ministry of Defence.’
    ‘Something like that.’
    ‘Come on.’
    ‘I’m not formally allowed to say.’
    ‘I don’t suppose you’re formally allowed to fuck recently widowed freelance photographers. Anyway, you say you know everything about me, so you know my security clearance. What’s to lose by telling me where you work?’
    ‘It might lose me the job, for a start. For a woman to get to where I am now wasn’t easy.’
    ‘So, let me guess. MoD, Ministry of Defence, we’ve agreed. Your job is high up? Department head?’
    ‘Permanent Secretary. Private Office.’ She