Lord of the Swallows by Gérard de Villiers

Author:Gérard de Villiers
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2016-02-08T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

Malko had to strain to breathe through his nose, but he didn’t have any choice: thick tape was plastered across his mouth, right up to his ears. He’d regained consciousness some time earlier to find himself in complete darkness, strapped to a bed. He was wearing only his underpants, as he had been when he’d gone to sleep.

There was no way to know what had happened. He had a sour taste in his mouth and a dull, persistent headache. He felt slightly nauseated.

Though it seemed incredible, he’d obviously been drugged and kidnapped from his room at the Lanesborough. How had they gotten him out of the hotel? He couldn’t remember anything about it.

Gradually, his brain began to work again. Why this strange kidnapping, and what did the kidnappers want from him? It had to be connected to the Khrenkov affair, but the timing made no sense, since he’d just abandoned his mission.

Foreign intelligence services seem to be treating London like their own private war zone, he reflected.

Malko tried to move, but without success: his bonds were so tight, he could barely raise his hips, which didn’t do much good.

His eyes were also taped shut, and he had no idea where he was, or any notion of how long he’d been held prisoner.

Just then, he heard the sound of a door being unlocked. From the muffled noises, he gathered that one or more people had entered the room. Almost immediately, the straps securing his left arm to the bed railing were loosened. He felt a chill on the inside of his elbow, which was being swabbed with damp cotton. A vaguely medicinal smell reached his nostrils, and he felt a slight stab of pain. He was being given an intravenous injection, and he could feel something flowing into his vein.

What were they giving him? Fighting a rising sense of panic, he told himself that if they’d wanted to poison him, they could’ve done it in his room at the Lanesborough.

The injection seemed to go on and on. Gradually Malko’s head began to feel heavy, and he had trouble thinking clearly. When they finally pulled the needle out, he barely felt it.

They carefully strapped his arm back to the railing. Now semiconscious, Malko realized he was alone again. But he was floating in a kind of pleasant haze that eased his anxiety. He felt almost good and lost consciousness without realizing it.

—

The Lanesborough general manager felt so mortified, he wanted the polished floor beneath his feet to open up and swallow him. Never in his wildest dreams would he have expected to find himself interrogated like a criminal by a senior MI5 official.

Yet Sir William Wolseley showed him only the most exquisite politeness. He was just curious to know, he said, how unknown people could have drugged and kidnapped a Lanesborough guest without anyone noticing.

“Of course I questioned everybody on duty last night,” the manager said. “The front desk saw two paramedics and a doctor leave with a guest who had fallen ill.

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