Beijing, China
From the safety of the car, Logan had a near-unobstructed view of the hotel’s expansive glass-fronted lobby. He was parked on the opposite side of the street to the hotel, in the Dongcheng district of Beijing, where the meeting with Peter Winter was due to take place.
Logan and Grainger had arrived some two hours before the planned meet. Largely because Logan was caught in two minds about Winter still. Either Winter was playing Logan, in which case he wouldn’t be coming to this meeting alone. Or Winter really was trying to help Logan. That was clearly the lesser of two evils. But even if that were the case, Logan reckoned Winter was probably now being tracked by the enemy, just like he was, and caution was undoubtedly still required.
The near-four-day train ride from Astana had been long and dull but had given Logan and Grainger a chance to rest and talk. In the end, boarding the freight train had been simple. When they had arrived at Astana, they had sold the virtually new Land Cruiser to a car salesman who ran a second-hand garage on a main road in the city. He had given them five thousand US dollars in cash for the car, no questions asked. Logan reckoned the dealer would probably sell the four-by-four for close to ten times that amount, but that wasn’t a problem. The man thought he’d got a good deal – which he had – but was clearly aware of the risk to himself in purchasing a vehicle of dubious origins. In any case, as far as Logan was concerned, five thousand dollars was enough to get them everything they needed.
After that, all it had taken was some gentle persuasion from Grainger, who’d used all her skills and feminine charm – and the obligatory palm-greasing, of course – and they had been able to stow away in an empty wooden container for the duration of the train journey into China and on to Beijing. Along the way, there had been no hint of disturbance, neither at the border crossing into China nor at the two rest and refill stops en route.
From there, the money had allowed them to hire a clapped-out micro car from a dodgy rental company in Beijing and buy cheap mobile phone handsets and provisions. It had also put them up in a rundown but discreet hotel the previous night. And they still had more than half the money left.
The journey had given Logan and Grainger plenty of time to talk. To grow closer to each other once more. Coming away from the failed exchange with Fleming and Evans, the mood between Logan and Grainger had been tense, but they’d both mellowed over the following days. Despite their predicament, the intense attraction that Logan had first felt for Grainger in Paris was back. And it was a good feeling. One he had long wondered whether he would ever have again. Although they were still far from in the clear, Grainger seemed to be filling up with life bit by bit too. It changed her expression, her mannerisms and her outlook. This was the old Grainger. The one he’d hoped he would find again.
‘I’ll go and wait inside,’ Grainger said when it was two thirty – half an hour before the rendezvous.
They had both already scoped out the interior separately, noting the layout of exits, corridors, stairwells, toilets and all other potential hiding places and escape routes. Winter had asked to meet Logan in the lobby bar – the area Logan was spying on – but Logan had no intention of sticking to that arrangement. It was a no-brainer that both men wanted to meet in a public place, but Logan wasn’t going to let Winter have the advantage of determining where.
‘Okay,’ Logan said. ‘Take a seat in the bar, on the lounge chairs in the far corner. And keep your head down.’
Grainger tutted. ‘Carl, I think I know how to surveil.’
‘I know you do.’
‘Keep the phone line open, so we can talk.’
‘Of course,’ he said.
Grainger dialled the number for Logan’s phone and he pressed the button to accept the call. She then opened her car door, got out and crossed the busy street over to the hotel.
Logan watched as she strolled through the bar and then took a seat in the corner, as they had discussed. He was to wait in the car. Separated, they were in a better position to surveil a wider area, and the car gave Logan good cover on the outside of the hotel.
With Grainger sitting down, he could only see the top of her head; the rest of her body was obscured by the headrest of the seat opposite her. But that wasn’t a problem for Logan. He knew where she was and between the two of them, they now had eyes on the whole bar and lobby area, together with the street outside the hotel.
After a few moments, a waiter came over to Grainger and Logan heard her order a soda water. Neither he nor Grainger spoke more than a few passing words of Mandarin, but the hotel was a typical business establishment where English was widely accepted, albeit spoken clumsily by the majority of the local staff.
Logan had visited China on numerous occasions but never for any great deal of time and he’d never had the opportunity or need to properly learn the language. Compared to many other countries, he’d always found it more difficult to move around due to the fact that the majority of locals, even in the big cities, had about as much English as he had their native tongue.
‘Nothing happening in here so far,’ Grainger said when the waiter left her.
Logan glanced at the clock in the car. Twenty minutes to go. But as he looked up, his eyes were immediately drawn to a figure moving cautiously along the pavement toward the revolving doors of the hotel.
It was Winter.
His body was stiff as he walked and he was doing a bad job of being discreet, his head darting this way and that as he scanned the area. Logan felt a pang of satisfaction at seeing a man who had on more than one occasion criticised Logan’s skills appear so amateurish.
Or maybe it was all a show, Logan thought.
‘Okay, this is him now,’ he said to Grainger.
‘Early, just like we thought.’
‘Of course. He wants to get the lay of the land first. Just as we did.’
Winter walked in through the revolving doors and then glanced quickly left and right as he made his way through the lobby area. He wasn’t stopping. He kept on going and soon was out of Logan’s field of sight.
‘I’ve lost him,’ Logan said.
‘It’s okay. I can still see him. He’s gone around the reception. Toward the restrooms … and now he’s gone in.’
‘Looks like he’s just being careful. Let me know when he comes back out.’
‘Sure. And likewise, let me know if you spot anything out there.’
‘All I see at the moment is an attractive brunette drinking on her own.’
Grainger laughed. ‘I would ask you to join me, but I’m working.’
Logan smiled. ‘Maybe later.’
‘Maybe. I hope so.’
There was silence on the line for a good five minutes after that. Logan couldn’t help but clock-watch the whole time, feeling the nerves inside him growing by the second as the hands on the car’s clock edged painfully slowly toward three p.m.
‘He’s out,’ Grainger said. ‘And he’s heading to the seats on the other side of the bar to me. You should see him any second.’
‘I’ve got him,’ Logan said as Winter came into view.
Winter sat down on a lounge chair. From the position he had chosen, his face was pretty much in clear sight of Logan, who sank down in the car just a little, aware that Winter would still be scoping the area outside the hotel. Logan couldn’t help but think that Winter looked even younger than he had the last time Logan had seen him, almost a year ago. The weight of the world on his shoulders had somehow brought out the youth in the man.
But Winter didn’t look nervous. Not at all. He looked confident and full of life. Logan didn’t like that. He knew Winter was a tough cookie, mentally at least – he’d worked for Mackie for a number of years, after all, being groomed for a commander position. But Logan was still surprised by his relaxed demeanour. Either he was a brilliant actor, or he was up to something. Either way, Logan was planning to take the upper hand.
‘Still nothing at your end?’ Grainger asked.
‘Nothing. Right, it’s almost time.’
‘Yeah. I see our guy. He’s heading over to him now.’
As Logan glanced to the right, back toward the main doors, he saw a young Chinese man in a bellboy uniform heading over to the bar area. He moved with purpose, waltzing around the tables and chairs toward where Winter was sitting. Winter looked up at the young man with a sudden suspicious expression on his face. There was a brief exchange and the man handed Winter a piece of paper, then spun on his heel and walked off in the same direction he had come from.
Winter looked around him, confusion now washing across his face, then unfolded the paper. A second later, he jumped up out of his seat, turning this way and that. And then he fixed his eyes directly across the street at where Logan was parked. Logan slunk even lower in his seat, hoping Winter hadn’t spotted him.
After a few moments, Logan risked a peek and was surprised to see Winter had gone.
‘Where is he?’ Logan said.
‘Doors,’ was the simple response from Grainger.
Logan’s eyes darted toward the main doors and he saw Winter coming out of the hotel. By now, Logan’s heart was thudding in his chest, and he breathed a sigh of relief as Winter walked off to the left, away from the hotel and away from where Logan was parked.
It wouldn’t have been a disaster if Winter had spotted him, but it would certainly have taken away the element of control that Logan and Grainger knew they’d have if they could direct Winter to the rendezvous spot they’d chosen, which Winter wouldn’t have had time to scope out beforehand.
‘Okay, he’s on the move,’ Logan said.
‘I’m following.’
Logan watched as Grainger came out the hotel and began sauntering down the street. He stayed in the car and waited, wanting to make sure that Grainger and Winter were far enough out of sight to make his own presence inconspicuous before he headed for the rendezvous location.
Within a few moments, Logan could no longer see either of them. ‘Keep on him,’ he said.
‘I am.’
‘And keep on the–’
‘Shit, Carl,’ Grainger said.
‘What is it? You haven’t lost him already, have you?’
‘No. Worse than that. I don’t think we’re alone. He’s got a tail.’