Slow Burn by Stephen Leather

Author:Stephen Leather [Leather, Stephen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781473671997
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

The drive up to Ankara was uneventful. Shepherd had checked them out of the hotel at five-fifteen and Margie had made good time. Shepherd had been regularly watching via the side mirror and there had been no sign of a tail.

The British Embassy was a nondescript white-walled three-storey building, with a red roof and rectangular chimneys, surrounded by a high stone wall topped with railings. There were concrete bollards outside a white metal gate that was overlooked by a concrete sentry box with a large bulletproof window. A uniformed guard checked Margie’s credentials and then a black-and-yellow metal barrier slid into the ground and the gate rattled back. Margie drove around to the car park behind the embassy, and took them all through a rear entrance to a row of offices.

Michael Warren-Madden came out of one of the offices, and he smiled when he saw Shepherd. ‘I see you got back in one piece,’ he said, then his face hardened when he saw Nadia. He gestured at his office. ‘We need to talk,’ he snapped, and gestured for Shepherd to go inside. Warren-Madden followed him and slammed the door shut. The office was spacious with two windows overlooking the gardens at the rear of the embassy. Warren-Madden’s desk was dominated by two large monitors and on the wall behind it was a large map of Turkey and the surrounding countries.

‘What the fuck is she doing here?’ snapped Warren-Madden, folding his arms.

‘I think Nadia might have information that could be useful.’

‘I told you already, they’re fucking chancers trying to con their way back into the UK. You had no right to bring her here.’

‘I spoke to my boss in Thames House. He’s happy for me to take her back for a debriefing.’

‘Debriefing? What the fuck are you talking about? I already spoke to the bitch and she’s a fucking fantasist. How the fuck did you let her pull the wool over your eyes?’ He glared at Shepherd.

Shepherd glared back. ‘You need to moderate your tone and your language when you talk to me, Michael,’ he said quietly. ‘I’ll only tell you once.’

Warren-Madden went over to the window and looked out over the garden. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said eventually. He turned to look at Shepherd. ‘I apologise. But you’ve put me in a very difficult position.’

‘This is nothing to do with you. She has information about terrorists planning operations in the UK, this is MI5 business.’

‘You can’t be serious,’ said Warren-Madden. ‘Do you think I’m fucking stupid?’ He saw the look of contempt flash across Shepherd’s face and he raised his left hand to cut him short. ‘I’m sorry. But I already checked out her story. It’s complete and utter bollocks.’ He walked back to his desk and stood with his back to Shepherd as he lit a cigarette.

‘Checked it out, how?’ asked Shepherd.

‘How do you think?’ snapped Warren-Madden. ‘She says that her boyfriend is an MI6 agent, feeding information on jihadists being trained in Syria. That he gave her names and details of home-grown terrorists, some of whom are already back in the UK.

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