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Chapters (58)
  1. Cover
  2. Also by Oliver Harris
  3. ONE
  4. TWO
  5. THREE
  6. FOUR
  7. FIVE
  8. SIX
  9. SEVEN
  10. EIGHT
  11. NINE
  12. TEN
  13. ELEVEN
  14. TWELVE
  15. THIRTEEN
  16. FOURTEEN
  17. FIFTEEN
  18. SIXTEEN
  19. SEVENTEEN
  20. EIGHTEEN
  21. NINETEEN
  22. TWENTY
  23. TWENTY-ONE
  24. TWENTY-TWO
  25. TWENTY-THREE
  26. TWENTY-FOUR
  27. TWENTY-FIVE
  28. TWENTY-SIX
  29. TWENTY-SEVEN
  30. TWENTY-EIGHT
  31. TWENTY-NINE
  32. THIRTY
  33. THIRTY-ONE
  34. THIRTY-TWO
  35. THIRTY-THREE
  36. THIRTY-FOUR
  37. THIRTY-FIVE
  38. THIRTY-SIX
  39. THIRTY-SEVEN
  40. THIRTY-EIGHT
  41. THIRTY-NINE
  42. FORTY
  43. FORTY-ONE
  44. FORTY-TWO
  45. FORTY-THREE
  46. FORTY-FOUR
  47. FORTY-FIVE
  48. FORTY-SIX
  49. FORTY-SEVEN
  50. FORTY-EIGHT
  51. FORTY-NINE
  52. FIFTY
  53. FIFTY-ONE
  54. FIFTY-TWO
  55. FIFTY-THREE
  56. FIFTY-FOUR
  57. FIFTY-FIVE
  58. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

11.50 a.m. on 26 November there was a purchase on her Vanessa McDonald NatWest debit card. $11.99 at Zara, Mega Astana shopping mall, followed five minutes later by a coffee at the mall’s KFC.

You look for things happening on the hour, the half hour. Gratuitous things. Out of character. Joanna was a coffee snob. Given the choice, she’d risk operations before accepting fast-food coffee. 800 tenge, or just under two dollars, to the Colonel. 11.55 a.m. Before going shopping she’d been at her hotel.

I brought up a map. There were two closer shopping centres. I checked the shops on offer at those and they were pretty much the same. It was a big diversion to buy some earmuffs and an overpriced Americano.

So, according to the map, she crossed town, past two larger malls, to be at Mega Astana as the clock struck twelve.

She was meeting someone.

‘Any more from this visit?’ I asked.

‘No. Think it’s significant?’

‘I doubt it.’

If I was right, these were strange protocols. Telling nothing to your employer – no pre-contact threat analysis. No post-contact briefing. Maybe this was how they did it in the private sector, but it certainly granted an officer autonomy.

‘What are you going to do?’ Walker asked.

‘Go back to my hotel, shower, think. I’m going to need money, at least thirty grand cash in dollars, tenge and rubles.’

This got little more than a cheek-scratch out of Walker. In my experience, people trust you more when you’re pushy. They think they know what you want. Walker said he’d have to clear it.

‘Sure. Not with my name attached, though. You’re my sole point of contact.’

‘Of course. Trust me.’

He was nervous about me asking around and suggested that I stay in or close to my hotel until he’d spoken to the Vectis board in London. We agreed that unless there were any dramatic developments we would meet the following day for lunch – I’d be picked up at a specified location and brought to the office. Finally I was dropped back at my car.

I waited until the guard and his Renault had disappeared, then drove away from the Hilton towards the Mega Astana mall.

NINETEEN

It was an unattractive, large grey box that made little attempt at enticing Astana’s population. But it didn’t have to, it seemed: the car park was full. A giant inflatable snowman shook in the wind, speakers broadcasting ‘Jingle Bell Rock’.

I walked in, checked the layout, found the shop she’d been in. The section with earmuffs gave you a clear view to the entrance, across the store; a chance to scan for watchers. She was here for a reason.