Troubleshooter

Chapter 32 - A Different Skillset

PAUL LEFT the crime scene a few minutes later. When he stepped out of the building, he looked left and right. Then he checked the map program of his smartphone for reference as walked down the street and flagged a cab at the next corner.

"Where to, Guv?"

Paul looked in the direction of Tess Herbert's doorway, where the inspector was watching him with a critical look. "Do you know the streets around here?"

"Sure, Guv."

"Can you drive me around the neighborhood nearby? Hit every street within, let's say, two blocks?"

"Your money, your ride."

It took Paul and the taxi driver a little over fifteen minutes to ensure that Brady's rental car was nowhere to be found.

"Where now, Guv?"

Paul gave him the address of the makeshift headquarters. He had to tell Amy and Tom about Brady.

This made absolutely no sense.

Wilkes, per instruction, was ready and waiting in his parked car close to the end of the Cyprus Street. At first, Wilkes wasn't sure what the unknown man intended to do on the one-way street. He had gone into a cab and started moving but then turned at every corner without apparent destination. Was the unknown man trying to shake him? Did he just want to spot a follower? Wilkes didn't have that impression. The man in the back of the cab was looking left and right but not out of the back once. After a few blocks, Wilkes thought he understood. The unknown man was searching for something. Another house? Or a car?

After fifteen minutes, it was clear that he had not found what he was looking for. The taxi made its way into London city, Wilkes in stealthy tow.

When the core team had prepared for the mission, the Controller had put together a list of operatives with various skillsets—some very special, to be flown in from global destinations, some local for quick tasks at hand. As he had very little time to put together an action team, he had to use some of the local names. His second email got through quickly, and one of the throwaway prepaid cell phones started ringing on his desk. The Controller stated his specifications for the job.

"How many people do you need?" a bored Eastender voice asked. In the background, the Controller could hear a television sports commentator and muted voices of a bar or restaurant. He wondered how confidential the conversation actually was.

"We don't know yet the size of our opposition. Let's say four or five?"

The other side grunted for confirmation. "They can ask for help later if needed. But it's gonna cost you extra." The man named a price, and the Controller agreed to wire the money, which he immediately did.

A few minutes later, he received an SMS on the throwaway phone with another phone number.

The Controller called the number.

Another gruff, heavy London accent answered. "You the man?"

"Yes."

"What do you want to achieve?"

"I have a problem that I want to have removed."

"Permanently?"

The Controller hesitated briefly. Even after so many years in his business, he still hated the violent parts. "Yes."

"Who?"

"I can tell you in a few minutes. I am still observing how many people are involved."

"How? Any limitation? Does it need to be an accident?"

The Controller thought for a second. His briefing had not included any specifications, as the main objective was to confuse or delay or at best stop the opposition. An accident scenario would hold up for only five seconds. The man known as Paul Trouble had been at the house where Mr. Schwartz had been found dead, and no policeman would believe in an accident if Trouble were to turn up dead, too. "Main objective is to stop them quickly. So, time over method."

The man on the other side of the line guffawed. "'Time over method'... bet you're a studies man. Have to remember that one. Where?"

"Somewhere in the City. The observation is still ongoing."

"That helps!" the killer sighed. "We could make a song out of that. Don't know who and don't know where, but be better off dead."

Help us, a poet! The Controller had learned long ago never to react to the irony of thugs. "It's what I have now. You will get your instructions soon. Prepare and stand by."

"You are the boss."

"I thought I was the man?"

"That too, mate."