Triple Cross by Tom Bradby

Author:Tom Bradby [Bradby, Tom]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

17

CALLUM KEPT PACE with Kate as she hurried along Downing Street. ‘Are you sure that was a wise promise to make?’ he said.

‘Did it seem like we had a choice?’

Kate accelerated to try to kill the conversation, but she fairly quickly discovered the obvious flaw in this tactic: Callum’s legs were so long that he needed only a single stride for two of her own. ‘Why are you doing this?’ he asked, as they swung on to Whitehall.

Kate waited until they’d woven through the tourists loitering in the sunshine outside the gate before she answered. ‘Why am I doing what?’

‘No one has explained to me why you left SIS, though I guess being lured into Agent Dante’s web had something to do with it. So why are you doing this?’

‘Does it matter?’

‘It would help me to know. It might explain why you just made an undeliverable promise.’

Kate stopped. ‘Callum, we’re going to get along just fine if you do what I ask without issue or complication and don’t ask me questions about my motives.’

‘Ah, and if I do, what happens? I get promoted?’

As he towered over her, his handsome face creased with the faintest hint of a grin, she was aware for the first time of the true impact of his charisma. Young he might be, but naive he was not. ‘If your true motive is revenge for being forced out of SIS, then it would be good to know,’ he said. ‘That’s all.’

‘It’s not.’

‘I’d understand if you wanted to bring Ian Granger down,’ he went on, ‘if he was the guy who forced you from the organization you’d devoted your life to.’

‘He wasn’t.’

‘Has the prime minister promised you something?’

‘Why do you ask that?’

‘Because that’s normally how he works. He rarely delivers on any commitment, as I’m sure you’ve worked out.’

Of course Kate knew the prime minister’s word was worth almost nothing – and yet wasn’t she, on some level, relying on it? ‘So what do you think I should have said back there?’ she asked.

‘If you’re asking my honest advice, I’d have held firm, warning against the leak but saying you’ll deliver the verdict of your investigation whenever it’s ready. He might well survive the no-confidence vote anyway – and, if he doesn’t, whoever succeeds him is going to want to get to the bottom of this.’

‘How public-spirited of them.’ She started walking again. ‘What do you really make of him?’ Callum burst out laughing. ‘What’s so funny?’ she demanded.

‘He’s a politician! I mean, if you really want to know, we’ll be here for hours. He’s selfish, but capable of altruism and generosity. He’s egotistical, insecure, but bullish, even brutish – a suit of armour he’s learnt to put on. He’s emotionally incontinent and utterly unreliable, but needs to be loved in a way that is by turns endearing and pathetic. He’s smart, cunning and likes to make bold gestures, though he’s also capable of chronic indecision. He’s funny sometimes, kind at others, but an absolute bastard when his back’s to the wall.

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