‘Are we making friends?’ he asked, when Louis joined him. Angel had been watching the interaction between Louis and Mr Rafi from the street, but had seen no reason to make his presence known. He had faith in his partner’s ability to handle most problems, as long as they did not require excessive diplomacy.

‘Not unless you’re planning to convert,’ said Louis as they walked down Bäckerstrasse, ‘and I don’t think they’re looking for our business anyway. I take it you got pictures of them?’

‘From a distance, but the images will clean up nicely. What do they want?’

‘The Vuksans. Alive.’

‘Why?’

‘So they can shake them down for blood money before killing them.’

‘Did they tell you that?’

‘Not in so many words.’

‘And obviously they’d prefer if we didn’t kill the Vuksans before they have a chance to do it themselves?’

‘That would definitely be their preference, yes.’

‘So what are we going to do?’

‘We,’ said Louis, ‘are going to fuck them up.’

‘That,’ said Angel, ‘sounds like a very good plan.’

Chapter LXV

In the privacy of his hotel room, Anton Frend replayed the video over and over. His daughter looked frightened and desperate. How could she be otherwise if it was to him she was appealing, the father she had disowned, the man whose very name she had sloughed?

‘Papa, they say they’ll hurt me if you don’t help them.’

Papa: How long had it been since she called him that? Not since childhood.

‘They say they’ll kill me.’

His wife had cautioned against continuing to work with the Vuksans once they joined forces with the Zemuns to carve out a grubby empire in the Netherlands. She might have turned a blind eye to her husband’s activities, but that required an awareness of them to begin with, and even she occasionally felt compelled to raise her concerns. Yet somehow she had managed to hold her nose while spending dirty money on trips to Venice and Milan, on expensive bags and fine clothes, on the nips and tucks that kept her looking youthful even as their marriage bed grew cold. He did not know why she bothered with the surgery, apart from indulging her own vanity. He might have respected her more had she taken a lover. It would at least have justified the expense.

‘You have to reply to the email to confirm that you’ve received this message. Once you do, they’ll be in touch.’