Hunted by James Patterson

Author:James Patterson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Published: 2016-09-06T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

Some days later, Claridge was at home. His wife and two daughters were in another part of the house, playing Scrabble—or, if what Claridge had witnessed was typical of the game, mainly cheating at Scrabble. He’d taken the opportunity to creep away, installing himself at his office iMac.

He googled for a while, then made more checks. “Christ!” he muttered, then opened his messenger application and sent an IM: “:-) SC”.

As he sat waiting for Sarah’s call he thought of her and wondered if she ever regretted breaking up with him all those years ago, only to end up with Kenneth.

Claridge had never liked Kenneth. Of course that antipathy was in the process of being entirely vindicated, but back then neither of them could have known what darkness lay within Kenneth Farmer.

What turns a man that way? wondered Claridge. What corrupted Kenneth?

Money, perhaps? Kenneth certainly had a lot of that. Even so, Claridge wondered how Kenneth was able to go toe to financial toe with the likes of Lord Oakleigh or the captains of industry that Claridge was convinced were involved. For something like this, the figures involved would be astronomical.

Maybe Kenneth was able to offer them something in addition to the money, or in place of it? He was, after all, husband to the Home Secretary and had bankrolled her political career. What influence might he wield? Claridge shivered at the thought.

His phone rang. “Hello, Simon,” said Sarah. “You have news?”

“I do. You’ll recall our agent was going dark, and that he hoped to be picked as the quarry.”

“I do. But presumably there is no way of knowing when that happens?”

“The last time I spoke to our agent he mentioned he might have to gazump another man for the job, a Sergeant Philip Barron, previously of the Paratroopers.”

“Yes?”

“A vagrant by that name was found stabbed to death by the docks the day before yesterday. It looked as though he was beaten up beforehand.”

“You think our man did this?”

“If he did, then he would have had no other choice, Sarah.”

“I see. So if he’s in place, what now? What can we do?”

“There’s nothing we can do, I’m afraid. We assumed he’d be thoroughly searched for any kind of surveillance device, so he doesn’t have anything on him. His instructions are for us to wait.”

“Wait for what?”

“That remains to be seen.”

“Then God help him,” she said.

“If he’s as good as his record indicates, God help them all.”

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