Triggers by Stephen Leather

Author:Stephen Leather [Leather, Stephen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-05-27T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 45

MARIANNE looked out of the window as the Gulfstream’s engines began to wind down. They had parked next to a large hangar at an airport with a single runway. There were more than a dozen private jets lines up and several limousines parked nearby. She looked over at Sam who was studying her iPad. ‘Do we wait here?’ she asked.

Sam nodded but didn’t look up from her tablet. ‘Yes, they’ll come and check our passports but it’s a formality. Our names and passport details are on the flight plan that was filed before we left Hong Kong.’

‘What about our luggage? Do they check that?’

Sam shrugged. ‘Sometimes. But generally not.’

‘But that means we could bring anything in with us.’

‘We could, yes. But this plane is flagged as being for VIPs and to be left alone.’

‘It’s a different world,’ said Marianne.

‘You don’t know the half of it.’

After twenty minutes, one of the pilots opened the door and two black uniformed Border Force officers came on board. One spoke to the pilots while the other went over to Sam, gave her passport a cursory glance and then did the same with Marianne. ‘Welcome home,’ the man said to her, then he and his colleague left.

Sam and Marianne collected their bags and headed down the steps where a black Mercedes was waiting with its engine running. A driver in a dark suit and sunglasses took their bags from them and put them in the boot. Sam and Marianne climbed in the back. The windows weren’t tinted and there was no suggestion that she should be hooded - probably the result of having proved herself in Hong Kong.

The driver got back into the car and they drove out of the airport. Marianne saw a sign - Biggin Hill. ‘Do you always fly by private jet?’ Marianne asked.

‘On business, yes,’ said Sam. ‘It’s quicker and, as you saw, there are fewer checks.’

‘I didn’t realise we’d be working outside the UK.’

‘Sometimes we do,’ said Sam. ‘It depends on where our targets are.’

They rode the rest of the way in silence. Sam busied herself on her iPad and Marianne stared out of the window. It was a strange feeling, riding in the back of a luxury car, knowing that she was still very much a prisoner. There were no handcuffs, no hood, no shock collar, but she knew that she was now totally in Sam’s power. Tears sprang to her eyes but she blinked them away, determined not to show Sam how upset she was.

They drove through Croydon and Mitcham and reached Wimbledon. Almost an hour after they had left the airport, they arrived at a large Victorian house surrounded by a high brick wall. A black metal gate swung open and the Mercedes drove through. There were three other vehicles already there, a Mercedes van and two SUVs. ‘Home, sweet home,’ said Sam as the gate closed behind them.

‘This is where you live?’ asked Marianne.

‘No, but it’s where you’ll be staying, for a while anyway.’

‘But my things are in my flat?’

Sam shook her head.

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