Ink and Daggers by Maxim Jakubowski

Author:Maxim Jakubowski [Jakubowski, Maxim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags:  
Publisher: Titan
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

7.

‘Did you have any problems?’ Benny said.

‘Nothing I couldn’t handle.’

It was the next day and he was at the Market Porter, an old, faded Persian restaurant Benny favoured as his informal office. Faded pictures on the walls of television actors famous three decades in the past. The smell of greasy lamb cooking on a spit.

He’d gone to see an old friend from the army who cut him out of the bomb vest and seemed happy to accept the explosives in lieu of payment. They would go on the open market and – who knew? – perhaps end up strapped to a genuine suicide bomber. There was always a market for explosives.

Max didn’t care. He’d taken a room in a boarding house for the night and slept deeply and well and then went to see Benny in the morning.

‘You’re late,’ Benny said.

Max put the briefcase on the table. ‘I’m here, aren’t I?’ he said.

Benny pushed aside the newspaper he’d been reading. Dominating the front page was a picture of dead men in front of a Bauhaus building shaped like a ship and, at the bottom, a news item about the shocking torture meted out to a group of young thugs, three of whom were dead and one still in intensive care.

‘I suppose you are,’ Benny said. He took out a thick envelope and tossed it to Max, who caught it one handed.

‘Thanks.’

‘Don’t mention it.’ Benny stood up to go, picking up the briefcase. ‘I might as well pull you off light duty,’ he said. ‘Seeing as you can’t seem to keep away from trouble either way.’

Max smiled. As Benny went to leave he said, ‘What’s in the case?’

Benny turned by the restaurant door and looked back at him. ‘Does it matter?’ he said.

Max thought about it. Sunlight rippled through the windows into the gloom of the restaurant.

‘No,’ he said. ‘I suppose not.’

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