Red London by Alma Katsu

Author:Alma Katsu [Katsu, Alma]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2023-03-14T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Davis Ranford paces the floor of the conference room. On the big screen on the wall is Kim Claiborne, calling in via secure link from Washington. Her near platinum hair is pulled back in a bun, her makeup is applied lightly. Tight-lipped, she watches him pace.

Lyndsey sits at the table, also watching Davis. He did not take the news well when she told him the bombshell about Dani Childs and insisted on this teleconference as soon as he heard. Claiborne had the benefit of Lyndsey’s email a few hours earlier to prepare, at least.

“This makes a major mess of things,” Davis says in not quite a roar but definitely louder than normal. He buries a hand in his hair.

“Does MI6 want to pull out?” Claiborne asks reasonably.

“That seems premature . . . Given recent developments, I don’t need to remind you how important this operation is.”

“Dani says Intent wants to cooperate,” Lyndsey reminds him. “Would it be possible?”

“Yes,” Claiborne says at the same instant Davis says, “No.”

Lyndsey turns to Davis. “Why not?”

Davis halts his pacing and looks at her, his brow furrowed. “Conway’s burned a lot of bridges here. He was a real head turner early in his career. He proved to be very clever and eventually became one of the top men called when they got stuck in a jam. He should’ve learned to play it cool, but he let the success get to his head. He started thinking that he deserved more than he was given, and when the disappointments came, as they inevitably do in this line of work—assignments not given, an expected promotion fallen through—he decided to take his ball and go home by starting his own ‘private intelligence’ firm.”

“It’s getting to be a trend here, too,” Claiborne adds.

“Conway’s made people here a bit nervous, particularly in the legal department. He went around giving the impression that he was still with MI6, that Intent was a ruse, a front company. It probably impressed some of his more gullible clients, but it made them very upset in the director’s suite, I can tell you that.”

How well connected is Davis? Lyndsey wonders. This assignment implies that Davis might know what goes on inside the director’s inner sanctum, at least more than he let on in Beirut. From what Davis had told Lyndsey when they first met, he was an outcast, a rebel who had made too many enemies and was just waiting out his time. She wonders now if that was a story he’d spun so she would underestimate him, or because he wanted to try it on for size—or wanted to believe it. It seems unlikely that they would put an untrustworthy rebel in charge of the Rotenberg task force.

“It’s been more than that,” Davis continues. “Conway was caught last year in Brazil trying to bribe government officials on behalf of a client. Very nasty business. Then another case in which it appears Intent used hackers to break into a rival’s computer system and stole information on clients.

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