The Eastern Ukraine Question by James Ward

Author:James Ward
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: espionage novels set in London, spy thrillers set partly in England, MI5 and MI6 spy novels, British intelligence novels set in Vladivostok in Siberia in eastern Russia, English espionage thrillers, Action and adventure, Action hero
Publisher: Cool Millennium
Published: 2016-10-25T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17: Just Keep Walking

Mordred caught snatches from the intercom en route. News of the Willmont fire was chomping the city up. In Pervomayskiy and Pervorechenskiy, Chinese and Russian youths invaded the streets to ‘defend’ themselves with rocks and homemade shields. Barricades were erected, cars set alight. Police fired water cannons at rioters. All available officers were to report for duty, regardless of shift. Crowd control protocol one, keep this channel clear, repeat - Outside the van, sirens hurtled by with textbook Doppler effects.

He didn’t see the station’s exterior as they hurried in; it was too dark. A bearded policeman of about his own age held his elbow, telling him not to slow down. They ploughed through grim swathes of personnel making their way in the opposite direction, to the front lines. Livanov was carried in by four officers, handcuffed and still struggling like an animal. After he’d jerked loose twice, they put him on the floor, and one of them truncheoned him a bit to relax his muscles. Natalya Yegorovna brought up the rear, looking petrified.

He didn’t know at exactly what point he became separated from the other two, but suddenly he was in a room on his own. It didn’t feel evil, the sort of place you’re interrogated by good and bad cop, and simultaneously given and denied things. A sofa, a potted plant and a coffee table. The overhead light wasn’t too harsh. There were no windows and no pictures.

The policeman who had escorted him in asked him to sit down, and returned ten minutes later with a pen and a form.

“Complete this, please,” he said. “It may be some time before we can get round to taking your statement – perhaps even tomorrow morning, the way things are – so if you feel like getting some sleep, that’s fine. I’ll ask to have a jug of water sent up, but don’t expect it. The form, that’s the important thing. Fill it in before you do anything else.”

“Thanks,” Mordred said.

When he was alone again, he took stock of his surroundings more fully and his stomach performed a laboured somersault.

He was in a lot of trouble.

Which was a pity, because on the face of it, he looked to be in the clear. He was a Willmont employee. The company itself would confirm that, and Natalya Yegorovna was too wise to divulge her conviction that he was an undercover detective from Moscow. She would realise that ‘undercover’ meant just that. Concealed from your professional peers too.

You didn’t even have to dig, though, to get beneath that innocuous-looking crust. Firstly, Livanov would probably insist that he knew who Mordred was, and they’d have to check, given how apparently outlandish it’d seem. Secondly, there were almost certainly those ‘Reward’ leaflets to consider. He hadn’t actually seen any yet, but they must exist.

Thirdly, this was a region where organised crime ruled. Livanov’s men would go running to Yulyanov, and Yulyanov would pull strings. With some, he’d have his henchman released without charge; with the rest, he’d have his enemy poleaxed.

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