Red Strike by Chris Ryan

Author:Chris Ryan [Ryan, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Published: 2019-02-21T04:00:00+00:00

Lansbury emerged from the hotel exactly two minutes later. He was sandwiched between a pair of medium-built guys, dark-haired and mean-faced. Both were decked out in black trousers, Gore-Tex boots and North Face puffer jackets. The guy on the left had a black goatee and a Boston Red Sox baseball cap. His mate was a couple of inches shorter, with high cheekbones and a thin nose, wearing a grey beanie hat, hands stuffed into his jacket pockets.

‘Get a shot of them, quick,’ Bald said.

Porter snatched up his iPhone, tapped on the camera app and pinched the screen, zooming in on the three figures as they strutted over to the car park. He took three close-ups of Lansbury and his two mates before they turned away and stopped beside a dark-blue BMW 5 Series. Beanie Hat yanked open the rear door and gestured for Lansbury to get in. Red Sox took the wheel. Beanie Hat manoeuvred round to the front passenger door and paused for a moment as he scanned the area around the hotel. A casual sweep of the road, searching for anything suspicious. He seemed to stare at the XC90 for a beat before he climbed into the BMW.

A few moments later the BMW pulled out of the car park and headed south, in the opposite direction of the XC90. Porter dialled Strickland’s number on his iPhone. She picked up on the second ring

‘Talk to me. What’s going on?’

‘They’re on the move,’ Porter said. ‘BROKEN RECORD and the two blokes he was talking to. They just left the hotel.’

‘On foot?’

‘Vehicle. They’re driving a BMW 5 Series, dark blue with tinted windows, licence plate VSZ-184. Heading south on Demeter Street.’

‘Don’t follow them,’ Strickland ordered. ‘Withdraw from your position. We’ve got guys waiting nearby who can pick them up. Local assets. A surveillance team.’

Porter thought back to the initial briefing. The Hungary-based assets Strickland had mentioned before. Additional surveillance teams, drivers. Whatever you need.

‘Why not us?’ he demanded angrily. ‘We’re right here, ma’am.’

‘No. It’s too risky. You might blow your cover. Leave it to our local guys. They know their way around the city. They’ll pick up the scent.’

Porter didn’t like handing over to another team, but he could see the logic behind Strickland’s decision. They were dealing with a pair of potential foreign agents, trained in counter-surveillance measures, already jumpy from the discovery of the listening bug. They would be keeping a close eye on the road behind them, looking ten cars back, noting anyone who took the same turn-offs as them. And Bald and Porter were driving a vehicle that directly linked them to Lansbury. If Red Sox and Beanie Hat made the Volvo, the mission would be fatally compromised.

Strickland said, ‘Did you get a look at the people BROKEN RECORD was talking to?’

‘We did better than that,’ Porter said. ‘We took pictures.’

‘Send them through. Soon as you can.’

‘Who are they?’

‘The photos will tell us. But the smart money is that they’re with Russian intelligence. We’ll ask GCHQ to run a voice recognition check too.

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