Read Online The Locker by Adrian Magson - Free Book Online Page A

She’s always bitching about something.”
    Ruth smiled knowingly and thanked her without comment, happy to allow the woman to get the wrong impression. Natural gossip would soon divert attention away from them being seen at the Hardman house.
    â€œDo you have to frighten people?” she said when she caught up with Vaslik, who had been conducting the same exercise.
    â€œI don’t know what you mean.”
    â€œHave you seen the film I, Robot ?”
    â€œI don’t watch films. They lack integrity.”
    â€œYeah, right. Jungle Book has all the integrity anyone needs. And it’s got singing. You should see I, Robot. You could double for the lead—and I’m not talking about Will Smith. You’re a spit for Sonny. He’s the robot by the way. He scares the crap out of people. Did nobody ever tell you?”
    He shrugged. “People tend not to criticise me.”
    â€œExactly. Proves my point.”
    He blinked. “Are you trying to be rude?”
    She leaned towards him. “Don’t try that spooky, third-generation Slavic shit on me, Slik. I don’t know you at all but I know you that much.”
    A flicker of movement touched his mouth. It might have been a smile. “If you say so. Where do we go from here?”
    â€œI took a look at what she wrote down; there’s nothing useful. It’s stuff we’ve already got or historic details about where they’ve lived, where they’ve been. Nothing rings any bells.”
    â€œIt’s on the husband, then.”
    â€œLooks like it. First we need a briefing at the office to get all the balls rolling. After that, we find Michael. This day and age, how can anybody be out of touch for longer than ten seconds? Haven’t they heard of sat phones?”
    â€œWe should talk to his employers. I rang the office, too, and got the researchers checking out the phone number for an address.”
    â€œGood. I’ll leave it to you to handle that.”
    â€œWhat are you going to do?”
    â€œCheck out at the gym. Whoever left the card in the locker knew her routine, what she did and when. It had to be somebody who could watch her without appearing to. Ergo, inside job.”
    â€œ Ergo . Latin for ‘therefore.’ Tell me, why do the English hold onto other languages so much?”
    â€œBecause it makes us sound almost as smart as you Russians.”
    â€œI’m American, I told you.”
    â€œNo, you’re not. Not really.”

    Thirty minutes later they were stepping through a security screen at the company offices in London’s Upper Grosvenor Street. The building was a stone’s throw from Park Lane and was immaculate and richly decorated, courtesy of a previous tenant who had gone bust. The expensive mouldings, discreet lighting and a quiet air of organised activity was a sharp contrast to the solid, even bland exterior and the uninformative steel plate next to the front step. Even the hum of the electronics which formed the core of the company’s world-wide communications network came and went as doors opened and closed and was no different to a hundred other organisations.
    Only the controlled intensity of some of the staff hurrying along corridors and the palpable air of tension in the air was an indication that all was not well.
    â€œWhat’s up?” said Ruth, as they made their way down to the Safeguard Incident Room. She nodded at two familiar figures hurrying up the stairs. Both carried heavy nylon grab-bags , and were members of Cruxys’s international response team. She guessed they were on their way out of the country, probably by jet from Northolt airfield. Both were former special forces and used in extreme situations. She didn’t envy them their jobs.
    They both pulled up chairs and sat down. In the background, two researchers were pulling together whiteboards ready to construct a time- and storyline, to which they would add from all