Black Friday (Black Market) by James Patterson

Author:James Patterson
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: International finance, Crime & mystery, Study Aids, Fiction - Espionage, New York (N.Y.), Fiction, GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test), Suspense fiction, Espionage, Terrorism, Thrillers, Terrorism - New York (State) - New York, Crime & Thriller, Modern fiction, Intrigue, thriller, Adventure
ISBN: 9780446609326
Publisher: Warner Books
Published: 2000-03-31T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 48

AT 5:30, the morning air was misty in Belfast.

It was the kind of day in which objects have no hard definition. The railway platform at Fox Cross was silent.

All the trees were stripped and bare and looked arthritic in the wintry absence of clear light. Up beyond the mist the sky was dark gray, and the cloud cover low.

Caitlin shivered slightly and folded both arms around her rising and falling chest. She could hear the drumming of her own heart.

She wasn't going to let herself be frightened, though. She vowed not to act the way a woman would be expected to act under the circumstances.

Caitlin sucked in a raw, cold breath. She shifted impatiently from one boot to the other.

No one was visible yet, not anywhere up and down the weathered railway platform.

Was it all going to be over after this?

Who was Green Band finally going to turn out to be?. . .

What part did the North Irish play? And what could have happened between the Russians and Green Band in London?

A black leather briefcase hung from her wrist. Inside were codes to release the sums now on deposit at a Swiss bank, which were to be paid outright this morning.

The ransom of the century was to take place here at little Fox Cross Station. Historic Fox Cross Station outside Belfast, Ireland.

Caitlin imagined she looked like a successful businesswoman with the fine, black leather briefcase. Some regular commuter heading into downtown Belfast. Another day at the bloody office. She thought she was playing the part well—-on the outside, at least.

She glanced at her watch and saw it was a few seconds before 5:45. The time they'd indicated for the exchange had come. Caitlin cautioned herself that they were not necessarily punctual.

What would their lack of punctuality mean right now? What would it mean in terms of any emergency police action planned for the Fox Cross railroad platform?

Caitlin's body tensed. Every muscle, every fiber inside her involuntarily tightened.

A faded blue panel truck had appeared, and was approaching the deserted station from a thick row of pine trees to the north.

The slow-moving truck steadily got larger and larger. Caitlin saw that there were three passengers, all of them men.

Then the blue panel truck passed Caitlin by.

A gust of frozen wind swept back her hair, and Caitlin let out what must have been the deepest sigh of her lifetime.

Carroll and the British detectives were close by, a thought she found more than a little comforting. They were less than a mile away. Still, there was nothing they could do if trouble suddenly bloomed—-if someone panicked, if someone made a simple, foolish mistake now.

A car, a nondescript sedan approached moments after the panel truck.

Caitlin tried to observe everything about the car as it rolled forward over the parking lot gravel. Very possibly it was just a passenger drop-off for the first scheduled train at 6:04.

It was a late model Ford, grayish-green, with a slightly smashed-in front grill. There was a tiny chip in the windshield.

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