God preserve me, Frend thought, that I should ever be so desperate.

‘Our agreement, then.’

‘Only you and I, although some in Belgrade may have their suspicions.’

‘When this is over—’

‘You want me to destroy those documents relating to your past transgressions, right? You dislike having a sword hanging over your head.’

‘I’d prefer you to hand them over to me,’ said Frend.

‘I can do that. With the Vuksans gone, what use will we be to each other?’

‘Exactly my reasoning.’

‘That would seem to conclude our business,’ said Ćirić, ‘although I’ll leave you with one question of my own.’

Frend waited.

‘With the Vuksans gone, Anton,’ she said, ‘what use will you be to anyone at all?’

Chapter LXXIV

Like Frend, Louis was also being forced to resort to bluntness in order to reopen a dialogue. He left a message for the spook, Harris, shortly after 2 p.m., this one more forceful and specific than previous attempts to resume contact. He had considered calling Ross, but didn’t feel that the latter would have unconditionally welcomed the ensuing conversation. In any case, Ross – had he consented to become involved – would only have been forced to get in touch with Harris himself, and Louis preferred, whenever possible, to cut out the middleman. Harris returned his call after allowing a respectable lacuna.

‘Well, well,’ said Harris, and his voice contained a suspicious electronic echo that did little to make Louis feel better about dealing with intelligencers, whatever the status of their retirement. ‘If it isn’t the Grim Reaper. That’s quite the trail of fucking carnage you’re leaving.’

‘I’ve no idea what you’re talking about,’ said Louis.

‘This is a secure line.’

‘I don’t know what that means. I’m just a patriotic US citizen seeking to pass on information that may be of value to my country.’

‘I detect a severe lack of trust on your part.’

‘I don’t know what trust is, either.’

‘That I can believe,’ said Harris.

‘I note that you’ve been remiss in returning my calls.’

‘We’re not your valet service. We did you some favors, including wiping your slate clean with the French. We’re even.’

‘Not even close,’ said Louis. ‘But I plan to cheat on my taxes to make up for it.’

‘I hope we got that on tape. You said you had something useful for us?’

‘A cell phone number.’

‘Whose number would that be?’

‘He calls himself Rafi. He says he wants blood money from the Vuksans for what happened in Paris, but it’s more likely that he just wants blood and the money would be a bonus.’

‘Describe him,’ said Harris.

‘I can do better than that,’ said Louis. ‘I can send you a photo.’

‘And being a patriotic citizen, you’re only offering us this information out of a sense of duty, right?’