Capital Punishment (18 page)

They sat in Costa Coffee. He was grateful for that. Tandon was fond of McDonald’s and Clayton already had a bandoleer of Big Macs padded around his waist. Tandon maintained his goldframed Persol sunglasses, whose mirrored lenses reflected Costa’s bean logo and Clayton’s resolute calm, masking subcutaneous irritation. A distant roar from the TV, replaying Indian Premier League 20/20 games in the build-up to the new championship, competed with the milk steamer for noise supremacy.

‘So we’re here to talk about Goldfinger,’ said Tandon, using the highly creative codename they’d developed for Frank D’Cruz. ‘And you don’t just want recent material but historical, too.’

‘We need to know if there’s anything ugly in his past that might have an impact on a situation that’s developed in London,’ said Clayton.

‘I told you this wasn’t going to be easy for me,’ said Tandon. ‘You’re talking about the pre-computer era. Nothing before 1992 has gone into digital format yet. I’m still trying to find out where his paper file is being stored, but I
have
been able to speak to some people.’

‘About Goldfinger’s interest?’

‘Yes, and I’ve been lucky because his name has come up quite naturally in our offices.’

‘And why is that?’

Tandon tilted his head so that the TV screen appeared in duplicate in his sunglasses.

‘The Indian Premier League?’ asked Clayton, amused by Tandon’s practiced cool. ‘So what’s going on in the IPL? I thought it was a huge success story.’

‘It’s going off,’ said Tandon, wrinkling his nose. ‘The word in the office is that D’Cruz has gone to London because of it.’

‘How’s he involved?’ asked Clayton, letting Tandon do his bit, even though this sounded off brief.

‘He’s a major investor and he, along with other investors, were responsible for the installation of the president and the board,’ said Tandon. ‘The IPL is the most lucrative version of cricket ever played. Hundreds of millions of people watch these games. We’re obsessed with it. It is a source of pride for our new nation. If it is proved that the corruption has reached to the deepest depths, then I promise you, the howling of Indian rage will be heard all over the world.’

‘What are we talking about?’ asked Clayton, who couldn’t think of any enterprise in this madly burgeoning country that wasn’t corrupt and so needed comparisons. ‘How bad on the Gangrene Scale?’

‘An 8.4,’ said Tandon, accurate to decimal points. ‘If you’re a billionaire in this country, you are one of a handful of people in a teeming mass of humanity. You feel elevated. But to give yourself that extra feeling of power, you like to know what everybody else does not. It’s not about money. It’s about complete control. To sit back, watching the hysterical millions cheering on their teams, whilst knowing with total certainty ... the result.’

‘Ah, yes, match-fixing.’

‘We’re not certain yet, but the hysteria is building.’

‘Did these discussions about the IPL lead any of your senior officers to reminisce about the good old days with Goldfinger? Because much as we’d like his investment, we still have to be careful where it’s come from.’

‘Well, not exactly, but something else did come to my attention as I was about to leave the office, but I don’t know whether it’s relevant to you or not,’ said Tandon. ‘I came across a police report dated seventh of January twenty-twelve. There was a break-in at one of Goldfinger’s car plants.’

‘What did they take?’

‘That’s the interesting thing,’ said Tandon. ‘They don’t appear to have taken anything. The only evidence was a large hole in the perimeter fence and broken locks to two of the storage warehouses, but nothing appears to have been stolen.’

‘And what was in these storage warehouses?’

‘Some prototype electric cars.’

‘Industrial espionage?’

‘Who can say?’ said Tandon, holding out his empty hands.

They were in the Half Moon pub on Mile End Road. Dan brought the pints of lager to the table.

‘What about the crisps?’ said Skin, Dan’s arse barely touching the seat.

‘Fuck me,’ said Dan. ‘They do the full English if you want it.’

He went back to the bar, bought two packets: salt and vinegar, cheese and onion.

‘Nice place, this,’ said Skin.

‘It used to be a theatre,’ said Dan, looking around.

‘Anywhere that serves a pint at nine-thirty in the morning has my vote,’ said Skin. ‘Pity about the fucking students.’

‘How’s the shoulder?’

‘Not bad,’ said Skin. ‘You did a good job.’

‘Don’t drink too much with the painkillers and make sure you take the antibiotics right to the end of the packet,’ said Dan. ‘That shoulder gets infected and you’ll have the cops at your hospital bedside and they won’t be bringing flowers.’

‘Yeah, right,’ said Skin. ‘So what’s the news?’

‘Why do you think I’ve got news?’

‘What are we doing here if you haven’t?’

‘Socialising?’

‘Oh, yeah. You’re a bit poncey for me, Dan. You know, read too many books. My Dad told me: never trust a brainy bastard, they’ll fuck you in the arse.’

‘Did he tell you that all male nurses are gay, too?’

‘He did. Are they?’ asked Skin, pulling his pint away from Dan’s. ‘I know you fancy me.’

‘Bugger off,’ said Dan.

‘Oh no, I remember now. The girlfriend who put you inside never came to see you,’ said Skin. ‘Maybe they turned you in Wandsworth. It happens.’

‘The only thing that happened to me in Wandsworth is I did weights and put on two stone.’

‘That says something to me,’ said Skin, tapping his head.

‘You’re not my type, anyway.’

‘What’s wrong with me?’

‘Don’t get all hurt now.’

They laughed, supped a couple of inches off their pints, tore open the crisps.

‘As it happens, I
have
got news,’ said Dan. ‘About the girl.’

‘What about her?’ said Skin, looking round the pub but listening hard.

‘I got her name from Pike, said I needed it in case there was a health problem.’

‘And?’

‘Alyshia D’Cruz is her name. I Googled her and she’s the daughter of an Indian billionaire who used to be an actor in the movies.’

‘I hate that shit.’

‘Bollywood?’

‘Everyone breaking into song and dance routines,’ said Skin, moving his head from side to side on his neck. ‘And no tits.’

‘A succinct deconstruction of the genre,’ said Dan.

‘You see,
that’s
my problem with you, Nurse, I only understood three of those words,’ said Skin.

‘As long as they were the important three,’ said Dan. ‘Now listen, Skin, no fucking about. Her Dad used to be an actor and now he’s a billionaire. And that’s a dollar billionaire, not rupees.’

They looked at each other for some time, Skin’s blue eyes unsmiling, penetrating. Dan let him do it, let him know he wasn’t being too fly for his own good.

‘And?’ said Skin, after some moments.

‘Well,’ said Dan, making a forward motion with his hands.

‘I want to hear you say it, Nurse.’

‘We have knowledge, opportunity and, with a bit of work, we could have the capability, too.’

‘In English, Nurse: single syllables.’

‘We know
who
the girl is, and
where
she is: that’s the knowledge. We man one of the three security shifts in the warehouse where she’s being held: that’s the opportunity. All we have to do is find some alternative accommodation: and that would give us the capability.’

‘So you mean ... what exactly?’

‘We take over the kidnap.’

‘Right. That’s what I wanted. I need to hear these things said, that’s all,’ said Skin. ‘That way, we don’t have any misunderstandings. So that when Pike tells his dwarf, Kevin, to arrange us with our balls in a vice, I can say with a clear conscience that it was the Nurse who came up with the idea.’

That stopped Dan’s hand on the way to his pint. Skin grinned.

‘Do I look like the type who’s going to grass you up?’ he said, babyface all innocent, only the spider web tattoo giving it away.

A long hard look from Dan, brain doing double time.

‘Have you been thinking the same thing all the fucking time?’

‘What I’ve been thinking, Nurse, is that
we’ve
done a lot of dirty work for minimum wage,’ said Skin. ‘Doing the illegals, then the cabbie and his mate, taking an injury and then still doing our shift at the warehouse is what I call heavy overtime. I don’t mind doing a bit of extra as long as it’s appreciated. I don’t know about you but
I
don’t feel appreciated, not in my pocket, and not in here, neither.’ He tapped himself in the chest, drank some more lager.

‘So I’ve been making my own enquiries, since we thought about the people clearing up loose ends becoming loose ends themselves.’

Dan grunted a laugh. He’d underestimated Skin, as a lot of people probably did. ‘And you’ve found out who Pike’s doing this for?’

‘What I
do
know,’ said Skin, shaking his head, ‘is that the only one he’s had any contact with is the English bloke, and I heard the Irish fucker call him Reecey. The American guy who calls himself Jordan and does all the talking to the girl, he’s running the group and, as far as I can make out, he hired in Reecey to organise the kidnap.’

‘What about the other American we haven’t seen on our shift?’

‘He’s Jordan’s mate. They work together. I haven’t heard his name.’

‘And “the Irish fucker”, the security guy?’

‘He’s with Reecey.’

‘And who’s behind them?’

‘Does there have to be anyone?’

‘Jordan goes outside to make phone calls after his sessions with the girl as if he’s updating someone.’

‘You heard any of that?’

‘Nothing,’ said Dan. ‘Do you know if Pike’s been paid?’

‘A hundred K,’ said Skin. ‘So far.’

‘Does that sound like a lot of money to you?’

‘It does when you think that the only outside supplier was the cabbie. The rest of us, doing all the shit work, are on the payroll.’

‘It’s Pike’s warehouse,’ said Dan.

‘Which is always empty,’ said Skin.

‘And I doubt that refrigeration unit they’re in has been turned on this century,’ said Dan.

‘Get us another couple of pints in,’ said Skin, slapping a tenner down on the table.

They sat in front of their refills. More crisps. Skin was nodding.

‘What?’ said Dan.

‘I’m thinking it through, beginning to end,’ said Skin. ‘The easiest bit is going to be taking the girl in the first place.’

‘I only went into the refrigeration unit at the beginning to stick the cannula in her arm. What’s the scene in there?’

‘There’s only two of them and Jordan’s occupied with talking to the girl most of the time,’ said Skin. ‘All I’d have to do is distract Reecey and I don’t think that’ll be too much of a problem.’

‘How does Reecey know Pike?’

‘I dunno,’ said Skin. ‘But if you had muscle behind you, would you come to Pike for it? Why not do the job yourself?’

‘Local knowledge. Access to the cabbie. Warehouse facilities.’

‘And us, the security detail,’ said Skin, chuckling. ‘Tell me about the Indian billionaire.’

‘After the movies, he turned himself into an industrialist. You name it, he does it. Steel, construction, cars, energy. A conservative estimate of his personal wealth, according to
Forbes
magazine’s India Rich List, puts him at number eighteen with four and a half billion dollars.’

‘Fuck me. How much does number one have?’

‘Around thirty billion.’

‘He got any daughters worth kidnapping?’

‘In India.’

‘So what do you reckon is in it for us?’

‘If you’ve got four thousand five hundred million dollars, you shouldn’t begrudge a million for a couple of lads from Stepney, should you?’

‘That’s the way you see it,’ said Skin, stuffing crisps in his face, the greed making him ravenous. ‘I think we should go for a mill each. Fuck Pike.’

‘He’ll come after us.’

‘Not with anybody I’m scared of,’ said Skin. ‘He’s not tooled up. Doesn’t have that kind of business.’

‘What about Kevin?’

‘That fucking dwarf?!’

‘What about Jordan’s mate and the Irish bastard? You think they’ll take kindly to you offing their comrades in arms?’

Skin shrugged, smiled.

‘And what about Mister Big, who’s hired Jordan and Reecey to kidnap the girl?’ said Dan. ‘He doesn’t strike me as someone who’s used up his last savings to pull off this stunt.’

‘You getting cold feet now, Nurse?’ said Skin, screwing his finger into Dan’s gut. ‘Gone all lily-livered on me, have you?’

‘All right,’ said Dan, batting Skin’s finger away. ‘Let’s get practical. Where do we keep the girl once we’ve taken her?’

‘Well, we don’t make it easy for Pike and co.,’ said Skin. ‘We don’t keep her at my mum’s. We’ve got to find somewhere he won’t look, which is where you come in. Pike knows me back to front. What does he know about you? Fuck all. He wouldn’t know where to start. Different background, you see. Posh.’

‘I’m from Swindon,’ said Dan. ‘Since when did that get posh?’

‘And that’s why you’re important,’ said Skin. ‘Pike’s never been further west than Wandsworth. He doesn’t know the first thing about you.’

‘He knows I’m a nurse.’

‘I’ll take care of Jordan and his mate,’ said Skin, ignoring him. ‘You’ll look after the girl. We’ve got the transport. Now all we need is a place. Are you in?’

Dan hesitated and then picked up his beer.

‘Are
you
in?’ he said, chinking glasses.

It took Roger Clayton more than three hours to drive from Lower Parel down to Nariman Point for his next meeting, which was in the Sea Lounge of the remodelled Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel. He was taken to a window booth, with a view towards the Gateway of India and the Ferry Terminal, where Divesh Mehta was sitting. Mehta was a Gujarati, who worked for the Research and Analysis Wing, India’s equivalent of MI6. Clayton preferred this relationship with Mehta, who had been educated and trained in the UK, because they had a valuable information exchange, meaning no friction on his credit card.

The only problem with Mehta was that he made Clayton feel like a slob. Immaculately dressed in a bespoke suit, with a starched white shirt that, unlike Clayton’s, would never crease or come untucked, and with his Vincent’s Club tie (he’d been a cricket blue) neatly knotted, he looked and spoke like Englishmen used to when they wore the shorts that lost the empire. He also drank tea. The words ‘skinny latte with an extra shot’ had never passed Mehta’s lips. Clayton felt his own off-the-peg jacket clinging to all the wrong places. His top button was undone, tie loosened against the atrocious humidity outside. His specs (with clip-on shades) swung over his chest on a chord, while the belt of his trousers dug into his gut. They shook hands. Clayton sat back and let the Taj’s aircon deflate him back to normal size.