Chapters (124)
- Cover
- About the Author
- Acclaim for Frank Gardner’s Luke Carlton thrillers
- Also by Frank Gardner
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
- 17
- 18
- 19
- 20
- 21
- 22
- 23
- 24
- 25
- 26
- 27
- 28
- 29
- 30
- 31
- 32
- 33
- 34
- 35
- 36
- 37
- 38
- 39
- 40
- 41
- 42
- 43
- 44
- 45
- 46
- 47
- 48
- 49
- 50
- 51
- 52
- 53
- 54
- 55
- 56
- 57
- 58
- 59
- 60
- 61
- 62
- 63
- 64
- 65
- 66
- 67
- 68
- 69
- 70
- 71
- 72
- 73
- 74
- 75
- 76
- 77
- 78
- 79
- 80
- 81
- 82
- 83
- 84
- 85
- 86
- 87
- 88
- 89
- 90
- 91
- 92
- 93
- 94
- 95
- 96
- 97
- 98
- 99
- 100
- 101
- 102
- 103
- 104
- 105
- 106
- 107
- 108
- 109
- 110
- 111
- 112
- 113
- 114
- 115
- Epilogue
- Acknowledgements
- THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING
‘No.’ She smiled. ‘If only it was as simple as that. After I’d handed over the money, Janulis gave me the reference code for the network’s shipping orders. London have already matched them up with what’s on the flash drive I sent them this morning. See?’ She smiled at him again. ‘This is why I needed you out of the shower and fully focused.’
Luke didn’t feel fully focused at all. If anything, he felt he was playing catch-up every step of the way. Was it exhaustion that was slowing him down? He admired Jenny’s intelligence, and her clinical efficiency, and he was glad they were on the same team. But at the same time he was starting to feel like a fifth wheel. ‘Jenny, this is brilliant,’ he began. ‘You’ve done a fantastic job here.’
‘We’ve done a fantastic job,’ she corrected him. ‘And it’s not over yet so let’s hold off on the congratulations.’
‘Right. But I’m not sure you actually need me from here on in, do you?’
‘Um, nice try, Luke,’ she replied briskly. ‘But I’m afraid it doesn’t work like that. You need to get yourself in front of Earl Grey and exploit what he knows since he’s going to be our HP into this network.’
‘Our HP?’
‘Our human portal. Our entry man. Come on, Luke, keep up. Didn’t they teach you anything on that agent-running course?’
‘Fine,’ Luke said. ‘Do you have his number? Because then we can ping him a WhatsApp and fix up a meeting. Preferably somewhere I’m not going to get framed for a bogus drug deal.’
‘Actually, you’ve got his number,’ Jenny replied. ‘I sent it to your phone while you were in the shower. But don’t call it yet. Our Vilnius station’s sending you a facilitator, someone to work alongside you, someone who knows a way in, someone you can trust.’
Luke couldn’t help noticing she’d said ‘you’, not ‘us’. ‘What’s with the “you”? Why? Where are you going?’
‘London. Sorry, Luke, not my choice, but I’m being pulled back.’ She glanced down at her watch. ‘I fly back this evening. They only just told me.’
He looked beyond her to her still-untouched bed and her opened suitcase. He noticed she hadn’t unpacked a thing. ‘Apparently,’ she added, getting up from her chair, ‘there’s been another fatality from this horrible virus and they need all hands on deck back home. It’s over to you now, Luke. This is your show, here in Vilnius.’