than a lucky coincidence.’
Clarke had already thought of that, of course, Procter knew, which was why his returning point flowed so easily. ‘True,’ Clarke said, ‘though it would have been better for him to carry on thinking he was beyond threat. Knowing how near he came to being bones in a boxcould complicate matters for us. Kasakov might change his plans, increase his security, reduce his profile. Hell, he could retire from arms dealing and take up politics.’
‘It won’t be a problem,’ Procter assured.
‘But if he was too spooked—’
‘Then he’ll calm down. Kasakov is well aware of the risks involved in the dubious way he conducts his life. Trafficking illicit heavy munitions to every dictator, warlord and death squad on the planet isn’t something you stay in long term if you have trouble sleeping at night. Besides, do you really think no one’s tried to take him out before? He’s one tough son of a bitch. It’ll take a hell of a lot more than a gunshot to scare the guy.’
‘There’s a difference between being scared and acting smart.’
‘Trust me, that bastard’s got balls of granite. Did you know that the French secret service tried to take him out back before he was a really big player? He screwed them on an Exocet sale. Came this close too.’ Procter held his thumb and index finger an inch apart.
‘I did not,’ Clarke said evenly.
‘Very few people do. It went down in Morocco, I believe. He was on vacation. A DGSE team went in shooting, took out most of Kasakov’s retinue but only wounded him. Shot half his ear off. Did that stop him? No, it did not. He’s even helped them sell some Mirage jets since then. And let’s remember, the French came a lot closer in Morocco than our Croatian friend just did in Bucharest. I’m telling you, Peter, you don’t need to be concerned about what old Vladdie boy will or will not do.’
Clarke’s face hardened. ‘It’s not with Kasakov where my only concern lies.’
Procter sat forward. ‘We’ve been through this before, and I do understand your reservations about my new employee.’
‘I’m not sure you really do.’
‘Listen, any risk he might potentially pose is more than offset by his value.’
‘That value is still debatable at this stage.’
‘I think you’ll find his value has very recently been demonstrated.’
Clarke shrugged his narrow shoulders dismissively. ‘So the prodigypasses the first real test, so what? That means he’s useful, so are a lot of people. A lot more manageable people.’
‘I think you’re underestimating just how lucky we were to have him. In case you’ve forgotten, we found out someone was going to try to put a bullet in Kasakov all of forty-eight hours before it went down. Kasakov was off the grid and we had no way of warning him even if we knew where he was. All we had was one lousy intercepted phone call revealing where it was going to happen. We didn’t know who was going to do it or how. We sent Tesseract in blind and he got the job done. This whole op of ours would have crumbled before we got to first base if Kasakov had been killed in Bucharest. So tell me, who else could we have sent, unofficially, to get us out of that potential disaster without also putting us in the spotlight? Me?
You?
’
Clarke straightened in his seat and put his right index finger to good use. ‘Don’t try to bait me, Roland. I have expressed reasonable doubts about who you’ve chosen to employ for this operation, none of which relate to Tesseract’s abilities. May I remind you it’s his loyalty, reliability, and accountability that I have issues with.’
‘You did just remind me,’ Procter said beneath arched eyebrows.
Clarke exhaled strongly. His normally pale face was flushed red.
‘Peter, calm down before you give yourself an aneurysm. You came to me, remember? You asked me for help, not the other way around. Obviously, I’m glad you did, but we agreed at the beginning of our little scheme
Clarke had already thought of that, of course, Procter knew, which was why his returning point flowed so easily. ‘True,’ Clarke said, ‘though it would have been better for him to carry on thinking he was beyond threat. Knowing how near he came to being bones in a boxcould complicate matters for us. Kasakov might change his plans, increase his security, reduce his profile. Hell, he could retire from arms dealing and take up politics.’
‘It won’t be a problem,’ Procter assured.
‘But if he was too spooked—’
‘Then he’ll calm down. Kasakov is well aware of the risks involved in the dubious way he conducts his life. Trafficking illicit heavy munitions to every dictator, warlord and death squad on the planet isn’t something you stay in long term if you have trouble sleeping at night. Besides, do you really think no one’s tried to take him out before? He’s one tough son of a bitch. It’ll take a hell of a lot more than a gunshot to scare the guy.’
‘There’s a difference between being scared and acting smart.’
‘Trust me, that bastard’s got balls of granite. Did you know that the French secret service tried to take him out back before he was a really big player? He screwed them on an Exocet sale. Came this close too.’ Procter held his thumb and index finger an inch apart.
‘I did not,’ Clarke said evenly.
‘Very few people do. It went down in Morocco, I believe. He was on vacation. A DGSE team went in shooting, took out most of Kasakov’s retinue but only wounded him. Shot half his ear off. Did that stop him? No, it did not. He’s even helped them sell some Mirage jets since then. And let’s remember, the French came a lot closer in Morocco than our Croatian friend just did in Bucharest. I’m telling you, Peter, you don’t need to be concerned about what old Vladdie boy will or will not do.’
Clarke’s face hardened. ‘It’s not with Kasakov where my only concern lies.’
Procter sat forward. ‘We’ve been through this before, and I do understand your reservations about my new employee.’
‘I’m not sure you really do.’
‘Listen, any risk he might potentially pose is more than offset by his value.’
‘That value is still debatable at this stage.’
‘I think you’ll find his value has very recently been demonstrated.’
Clarke shrugged his narrow shoulders dismissively. ‘So the prodigypasses the first real test, so what? That means he’s useful, so are a lot of people. A lot more manageable people.’
‘I think you’re underestimating just how lucky we were to have him. In case you’ve forgotten, we found out someone was going to try to put a bullet in Kasakov all of forty-eight hours before it went down. Kasakov was off the grid and we had no way of warning him even if we knew where he was. All we had was one lousy intercepted phone call revealing where it was going to happen. We didn’t know who was going to do it or how. We sent Tesseract in blind and he got the job done. This whole op of ours would have crumbled before we got to first base if Kasakov had been killed in Bucharest. So tell me, who else could we have sent, unofficially, to get us out of that potential disaster without also putting us in the spotlight? Me?
You?
’
Clarke straightened in his seat and put his right index finger to good use. ‘Don’t try to bait me, Roland. I have expressed reasonable doubts about who you’ve chosen to employ for this operation, none of which relate to Tesseract’s abilities. May I remind you it’s his loyalty, reliability, and accountability that I have issues with.’
‘You did just remind me,’ Procter said beneath arched eyebrows.
Clarke exhaled strongly. His normally pale face was flushed red.
‘Peter, calm down before you give yourself an aneurysm. You came to me, remember? You asked me for help, not the other way around. Obviously, I’m glad you did, but we agreed at the beginning of our little scheme
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