If Wolf had left behind any obvious clue as to his current whereabouts, the searchers would surely have found it days ago, and Ben wouldn’t have been standing here now. Coming here seemed like a hopeless cause – but it was Ben’s only lead. In any case he’d expected to find the place in a mess. He wasn’t going to be fazed by it, because finding clues where there were seemingly none to be found was one of the abilities that had served him well in the past. He stood there in the wreckage of the apartment, mentally absorbing the energy of the place, trying to put himself in his target’s mind.

To catch a wolf, you have to think like a wolf.

Chapter 9

Ben revisited each room of Wolf’s apartment in turn, scanning details, thinking hard. In the bedroom the intruders had rifled through a unit that contained various personal effects including two high-priced Swiss watches, but not taken them. They seemed to have been more interested in disembowelling the bed mattress, which was as badly slashed to pieces as the living room sofa.

It was the same story when he examined the bathroom, where similar havoc had been wrought: cabinet drawers ripped out and upended on the floor, the contents of a small cupboard below the sink scattered everywhere. Ditto the small kitchen, whose top-of-the-line appliances seemed to have seen little use, suggesting their owner either ate out most nights or was seldom at home. The intruders had had a poke around in the empty fridge, leaving the door wide open. There was a small notice-board on the wall next to the cooker with some Post-it notes attached to it, but if Wolf had left a memo there saying ‘Gone to Timbuktu’ the spooks would probably have noticed.

Nothing coming to him yet, Ben walked back into the living room. He paused beside the tall bookcase that the intruders had shunted away from the wall, and spent a moment running his eyes along the shelves. Searching for inspiration. Or maybe he was just running out of hope that he’d find anything. Wolf’s book collection surprised him somewhat, showing eclectic tastes that ranged from classics of fiction to history and religion. There were some works on ancient Chinese philosophy, meditation, Tai Chi and Qi Gong. On reflection, that seemed to fit with what Ben remembered about Wolf’s quiet, contemplative nature. Maybe the place to go looking for him was some remote Daoist temple retreat in the Himalayas.