Chapters (58)
- Cover
- Also by Oliver Harris
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- FIFTY-THREE
- FIFTY-FOUR
- FIFTY-FIVE
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
‘Are you back working with Akan Satayev? Is that what this is to do with?’ Reza asked.
The phone buzzed again. I took vibrate off.
‘I’m not working with anyone. Who’s Golovkin?’
‘One of the twenty or so cover names used by Serik Ten. He’s the money man for ISIS in Central Asia. His name just came up in connection with the truck that took the explosives to Astana.’
Everything was coming into focus. The CGI clip showed me consorting with a terrorist linchpin: MI6 stirring Central Asia against Russia.
I was the catalyst.
‘Serik Ten was seen two months ago in the company of Ibrahim Al-Salhi,’ Reza continued. ‘The bomb-maker who brought down the Raffles Hotel in Doha. We have an individual in custody talking to us. He says there will be a vehicle-borne attack in Astana today, targeting civilians. Can you confirm that?’
‘I don’t have that intelligence personally.’
‘People believe you do.’
‘This is verified?’
‘We identified seven Kazakh terror cells allied with the bomber. They’ve gone underground as of two hours ago – a surge in electronic chatter, then total silence. Something’s about to happen.’
I said I’d call back, then braced myself and checked what the facial alert was bringing up. Online I’d gone viral. Police release footage of British citizen accused of conspiracy to provide resources to a designated foreign terrorist organisation.
Bohren crossing the lobby of Jeddah’s Waldorf Astoria; Bohren on security cameras in the vaults of Singapore’s FreePort.
Russian sites: Who is Christopher Bohren? Me in Queen Alia, crossing the departures hall, a red circle around my head like a halo. Then a more blurred shot at the GL5 compound. Questions must be answered regarding Bohren’s connections with GL5, the private contractor now suspended from all security work at UK military and governmental facilities …
I stopped the car, checked the case, took out a wad of cash and ripped it open. I checked for watermarks, metallic thread, ran my finger over the print. I wasn’t convinced, but others might be. I threw it onto the back seat. Another call came in: Marius from the Evotec office, sounding uncharacteristically tense.
‘Where’s Stefan?’ he said.
‘I thought he was on his way back to you.’
‘He never got the flight.’
‘You’re joking.’
‘We got word via contacts: he was flown to Moscow. Russia thinks we were involved in hacking them on behalf of China.’
‘You’re kidding me.’
‘Critical infrastructure in Russia went down a few hours ago – Sberbank, Lukoil, Rosneft: all hacked. China’s Cyberspace Administration was taken down in return.’
‘By the Russians?’
‘Not by us, that’s for sure.’
‘I’ll get you Stefan. I’ll sort this out.’
‘We can’t work with you any more.’
‘Leave it with me.’