Lethal Profit (29 page)

‘So you want me to what… go home?'

Irene Hunt nodded.

‘I don't think you realise the position I'm in, Irene. I'm being
pursued
. I've never been attacked so many times in my life.'

‘I can't help you with that.'

Eva was taken aback. She had assumed this confession meant some kind of assistance might be offered. ‘My life is in danger.'

‘I'm not a policewoman, Eva. I'm a specialist intelligence officer. I don't have responsibility for individual citizens.'

‘And I'm not one of your employees. I don't have to do what you tell me to.'

There was silence in the Portakabin. Outside Eva could hear the mechanical drone of a large piece of heavy equipment.

‘What do you want then, Eva,' said Irene finally, ‘what will make you go away?'

‘I want a contact, someone inside government who I can give this information to.'

‘And then you'll stop.'

‘Yes.'

‘Who?'

Eva thought quickly. ‘The Secretary of State for Health,' she said. That was presumably the person within the government who might have the most in-depth understanding of the severity of an obesity epidemic.

Irene Hunt didn't reply. She walked outside the Portakabin, leaving Eva to her own thoughts. The conversation had moved so fast that she hadn't really had time to process the information. Jackson, a spy. It was fairly fantastical but she was kidding herself if she thought she had ever really known Jackson and instinctively she felt that there was something to it. When he had reappeared in their lives Jackson had seemed haunted and none of what he told them ever really made sense. He was always eaten up with guilt for having disappeared when he did – although the first time she had seen him again he had claimed amnesia after the accident, rather than embarking on a career as an intelligence officer. Why do we never tell each other the truth?, she thought.

The door opened and Irene Hunt walked back in.

‘You have a meeting at two this afternoon with the Health Minister, John Mansfield.'

F
OR
ALMOST
AN
HOUR
THEIR
CAR
ploughed through the lunchtime traffic before they finally reached the central London destination. It took them several minutes of circling before they eventually found a space but Leon proved himself to be as aggressive behind the wheel as he was out of it and other cars soon backed away when they saw the enormous dents in the side of vehicle that Irene's ‘friends' had made. As they climbed out of the car, Eva stopped and checked her pocket for her copy of the memory stick and once she was satisfied it was there she set off alongside Leon up the busy West End shopping street and away from the throngs, towards the quieter end of Mayfair. Traffic flew past them on the road and all around well-dressed pedestrians were pushing and shoving their way to lunch breaks, shopping sprees and appointments. Eva realised she had not missed the overcrowded streets of London.

Checking the address Irene Hunt had given them as they rounded the corner, Eva led them on to a quieter street, populated by designer shops and expensive coffee houses which opened onto a pretty square lined with gleaming cars. The square had a small park in the middle surrounded by sleek black railings and was edged by red brick houses with Victorian façades and bay windows. They came to a halt in front of one of the most impressive buildings on the square that, if the windows were anything to go by, gave John Mansfield MP access to no fewer than seven floors, including a huge basement kitchen they could see through the lower ground floor window. Eva was surprised that they appeared to be at a private residence, rather than the MP's public office. Was this how a meeting such as this was normally done?

At the entrance they were searched by a single security guard. Once the search was over, a smart assistant in a tightly conservative suit appeared from a door to the right and they were ushered up to the third floor via some plushly carpeted stairs.

She led them to a comfortable dining room, complete with a huge, highly polished mahogany table and giant silver candelabras. On the table were a silver coffee service and a plate of thickly sliced English shortbread covered with a dusting of white sugar.

‘Help yourself,' she said, before shutting the door behind her.

As the door closed Leon moved silently across the room and filled a china cup with coffee. Eva was preoccupied. The conversation with Irene Hunt had left her feeling incredibly uneasy; she felt like she was walking on very thin ice, totally unaware of the cracks that would drop her through to the deathly cold water below. Not for the first time in all of this, she wished that she could speak to Jackson, ask him what he knew, even just to get his opinion on everything that was happening. Knowing that he was simply no longer there still triggered an almost physical pain. That had to be the worst thing about death – there was no way through it to the person on the other side. She had felt exactly the same when her mother had died. You couldn't argue your way out of it, or bully someone out of being dead, once they were gone there wasn't even anything to rail against.

Suddenly the door was opened and in walked a short, smartly dressed man in a well-cut grey wool suit with dark grey hair and narrow, dark eyes.

‘Hello,' he said as he reached out a hand to shake Eva's, a smile creasing his well-polished features. He looked very well preserved, thought Eva as she shook the outstretched hand.

‘I'm Eva Scott and this is Leon… ' She waited for Leon to fill in the blank where his surname should be but he didn't.

Mansfield nodded. ‘Please take a seat,' he said, indicating a number of high-backed chairs that matched the dark wood of the enormous dining table.

They all sat, Leon helping himself to the plate of biscuits from the coffee tray which he positioned on the table in front of him, three seats away from where Eva and Mansfield sat opposite each other. He obviously planned to take no part at all in the discussions.

‘I'm afraid I didn't get much information from the message I received, but I think the urgency with which this meeting was set up means it must be important?'

He sounded slightly tense and Eva was struck by the fact that he apparently had no idea what kind of information she had, but had somehow been convinced to see them – at home – anyway. Was that odd? Irene obviously held considerable influence.

When Eva started speaking, it was with an uncharacteristic lack of confidence. ‘My brother works… well, he worked… only that is to say he's… well he's dead. But… ' To her horror, Eva heard herself stumbling over her words. This did not happen to her.

She immediately shut her mouth to stop the flow of confusion. Mansfield was looking at her expectantly; she gazed back at him and suddenly realised that she didn't want to tell him anything. She sat there mute, as the atmosphere in the room started to get strained.

Finally, she forced herself to speak. But she chose her words carefully.

‘This situation – with the algae – it wasn't an accident.'

She looked for a reaction; Mansfield's face registered nothing.

‘Although the algae was genetically engineered to be the main ingredient in a health supplement, from the information we have here… ' she produced the memory stick ‘…there seems to be another, rather more sinister motive for the distribution of the algae – a profit motive.'

Eva looked over at Mansfield. She was surprised to see that he didn't look at all shocked. Perhaps as a politician he was used to this kind of thing, perhaps he didn't believe her, or perhaps he already knew all about this. Eva had no doubt that governments often had big business's interests at their heart, maybe even to the detriment of the public at large. The question was whether that was happening here or not.

Suddenly he spoke.

‘Well, I wasn't expecting that!'

Eva smiled tensely and Mansfield shifted in his seat, crossing one leg over the other and studying Eva and Leon's faces in great detail. Eva felt like she was sitting on a knife edge. Had this been a mistake?

‘I have to say that if you had walked in off the street and given me this spiel I would have had you committed. We have had quite a few nutters claiming this algae business is a government conspiracy, the first step on the road to Armageddon, that kind of thing.' He smiled as he spoke jovially. ‘But as you seem to have the backing of someone rather powerful, I feel like I should at least read these documents.'

Mansfield leaned across the table and picked up the stick, examining it as if he expected to see some revelation inscribed across the outside. ‘Is this the only one?'

‘No,' Eva replied, failing to notice Leon's slight shake of the head. ‘Leon has a copy and there is one other copied stick.' Her voice trailed away.

‘Of course,' said Mansfield. ‘Well, we won't need them all if they're identical.'

Mansfield stood up. ‘I think I should go and see what this contains and then perhaps we can reconvene to further these discussions?'

Eva stood up and smiled as Mansfield pushed his chair back under the table.

‘Feel free to use the facilities on this floor or request any refreshments you might need. My assistant will be pleased to help,' he said, indicating the smart-suited woman who once again appeared at the door.

Leon pulled himself to his feet and the two men nodded at each other before Mansfield delivered a corporate smile to Eva and walked out of the room with the memory stick in his hand.

Turning to Leon, she opened her mouth to speak but he got in there first.

‘I have to go.'

‘What?'

‘I have to go.'

‘WHAT? Where?'

‘There is something I must do.'

‘What do you have to do right now that is more important than this?'

‘I'm sorry.' He stood up. ‘I will be back soon.'

‘Leon… '

Eva kept her voice low, not wanting Mansfield to hear them. ‘
Leon
.' He didn't respond, but turned away from her. Eva made a grab for his arm. She had to talk to him about Mansfield. During their short time with him, all her bullshit censors had gone off. She started walking after him towards the door, but when she realised he wasn't going to stop, she stopped herself, watching his broad back disappear through the mahogany door frame as he marched away along the carpeted corridor.

Eva's mind began to whir. There had to be a reasonable explanation. She didn't have the energy to stop trusting him again, she needed a fucking ally in this situation. She looked around at the cosy office, reminiscent of a gentleman's club complete with stuffed stags and priceless crystal and tried to calm herself down. The room was panelled on all sides with a dark wood and smelled deliciously of pine furniture polish. It was furnished opulently with plenty of red velvet, gold brocade and extravagant displays of enormous lilies. Rather outlandish tastes for an MP.

Eva gazed at the open door and waited several minutes to see if Leon would reappear. Then she walked over to it and stepped outside. Someone was standing with his back to her at the far end of the corridor, gesticulating frantically, one hand pinning a phone to the side of his head. It was Leon.

‘I
HAVE
THEM,
RIGHT
HERE.
'

‘John, I must ask you to destroy the phone I gave you. Or, at the very least, to refrain from calling this number any more. I have already explained our position and now you must take whatever action you need to in order to survive this. But don't call me any more.'

Mansfield was irritated by the CEO's logical, calm tone; as if he were a wise parent giving advice to a panicking child, not a corrupt businessman who had just reneged on a deal that would effectively cost Mansfield his life.

‘Wait, you don't understand.'

‘I don't wish to have to end your involvement in this with any kind of finality, John.'

Mansfield hesitated for a second whilst the implication behind the CEO's words sunk in. For the first time in this whole episode he could suddenly see how much danger he might be in. He was entirely disposable; once he had fulfilled his side of the deal he had very little leverage. Until the appearance of Eva Scott. Thanks to her, perhaps he could save his own skin and get the money that was rightly his. Mansfield took a deep breath and then he started his attack.

‘Eva Scott, she's here, in my house.'

There was silence on the other end of the line and Mansfield heard the phone click onto hold.

Several seconds later the CEO returned. ‘How has this happened?'

‘She has a memory stick with documents on – I've looked through it and it's enormously incriminating, it contains a lot of information on the real purpose of the supplements.'

‘Have you read it all?'

‘Yes. And I can see now that making money from… from
fat people
wasn't your only motivation.'

Silence.

‘The algae spreads uncontrollably,' Mansfield continued, purposefully trying to increase the level of aggression in his tone. ‘That was never part of the original plan. I'm assuming if investors have asked any questions up to now you have been claiming this was all a mistake, that you never knew the algae would spread like it does.'

The CEO said nothing.

‘Well, this memory stick proves that's not the case; that you have been using those companies the entire time and you are basically going to make them the scapegoats for whatever it is you are about to do. They won't be happy. We both know what these people would do to you if I passed this information on to the investors.'

Mansfield sat back in his chair; he was breathless and his chest was tight. He had never threatened anyone before.