Frost covered the expanses of grass in Fælledparken the next morning when Ryker arrived at the prearranged spot.
At a little before 9 a.m., he was more than half an hour early, but he didn’t mind waiting in the cold. At least the sky was bright and cloudless. The bench he found was in the sun and the frost had already melted from the wooden slats. Ryker used a glove to wipe away the damp then took a seat and looked out across the park. A small lake was in the near distance, a thin layer of ice on top which children were in the process of breaking with sticks and stones. Dog walkers were out and about, people strolled, while others strode, taking a shortcut through the park on their way to work. It wasn’t exactly bustling, but there were plenty of people about. Quiet enough for privacy, not so quiet as to put Ryker, or his guest, in any great danger.
By the time nine-thirty came, he was doing his best to keep his shivering at bay. By quarter to ten, he wasn’t just cold but agitated. He spotted a man and a woman a hundred yards away who were sauntering along. They were casually dressed, walking side by side, heads down, nothing particularly suspicious about them, except Ryker was sure he’d seen the same two twenty minutes or so ago in pretty much the same spot.
They took a bench. Ryker kept his eyes on them.
Ten o’clock slowly came and went. Ryker would give her until ten thirty. Then he’d set off on the warpath. There was only one reason for Diaz to not show up here today, and that was if she was hiding something.
Ryker ground his teeth as he continued to look around, his focus in particular on the nearby couple who remained on their backsides.
Footsteps behind him. Ryker turned.
‘Sorry I’m late,’ Diaz said.
She didn’t sound it.
She sat down. Hands in the pockets of her long coat, her head huddled down into a scarf. She looked quite different today, makeup-free and with her hair loose.
‘Thanks for trying to ruin my night,’ she said.
Ryker didn’t say anything to that.
‘That was really shitty of you, just turning up like that. Whether I’m working here or not.’
‘So which is it?’
She didn’t answer.
‘Are those two with you?’ Ryker asked, indicating with his head over to the other couple.
Diaz looked over.
‘So what if they are?’
Not the answer Ryker had expected. A clever answer, really. If they were with her, it blew away any facade that she was in Copenhagen for love, and it made clear to Ryker that he wasn’t welcome here, that she didn’t trust him, and that if he tried anything funny she had backup. Even if they were just two randoms, her response was enough to sow doubt in Ryker’s mind – offer a little extra protection to her.
Of course, there was another possibility. That the two were spying, but that they didn’t work with Diaz…
‘What do you want from me?’ Diaz asked.
‘The truth.’
Silence.
‘Let’s get one thing clear,’ Ryker said. ‘I couldn’t care less why you’re in Denmark. Why your new boyfriend is a wealthy politician. What I do care about is what happened in Doha ten years ago.’
Diaz sighed. She was looking straight ahead to the water.
‘Did you know Grichenko was still alive?’ Ryker asked.
‘No. And that’s the truth.’
‘Has anyone else contacted you about this?’
‘No.’
‘No one? Not even your bosses?’
She glared at him. ‘James – that name suits you by the way – you know I’m not going to suddenly start opening up to you about my work. So don’t ask me questions that you know you won’t get a straight answer to. Ask me about the past, fine, but I can’t and won’t talk to you about my life now.’
‘Okay, so have you talked to any of the rest of the crew from that night?’
‘I wouldn’t even know where to start.’
Ryker didn’t believe that, but he let it go. He stared at her, could see she remained seriously uncomfortable.
She tutted. ‘I’m the same as you here. I don’t know what happened. I don’t know why he was still alive, how he got a new life in England, who killed him there, or why. Come on, James, I honestly don’t know what your role is these days, or who you’re working for, but I know you’re experienced in this world. Grichenko was an assignment. We carried out that assignment as we were asked to do, then we all moved on. That’s how it worked then, and how it still works now. I know after all this time it looks like we didn’t succeed in that operation after all, but you know what? I’m not sure I even care. My life is here, now, not in Qatar ten years ago with you.’
‘I’m working alone,’ Ryker said. ‘As in, I don’t work for anyone anymore.’
She looked a little taken aback by that. Had she not known? Had she not spent all night and early morning trying to figure out everything she could about where he’d been and what he’d done the last ten years?
‘Then why on earth are you here?’ she asked.
‘Because we were duped, and I want to know why.’
She shook her head. ‘Talk about opening a can of worms. What does it even matter?’
‘Just tell me what happened that night. Walk me through what you saw, what you did.’
‘You’re asking me to debrief something we did ten years ago?’
‘Well, we never really bothered at the time, did we? Instead, we all gave ourselves a pat on the back and moved on.’
‘Because it didn’t matter to us then. So why should it now? We completed the mission in our eyes, in our bosses’ eyes, and we headed away. Until a few days ago I’m not even sure how many years it was since I last thought about that night.’
‘I don’t believe you. That night was a big deal to us all. Just talk to me. That’s all I’m asking.’
She closed her eyes for a moment then sighed.
‘Take it from when me and Elliott arrived,’ Ryker said.
Everything up to that point had been on track.
‘Me and Salman were inside,’ she said. ‘We had eyes on Alpha.’
‘I remember. You were upstairs. Me and Elliott were on our way to join you.’
‘Then Aldern came on to say something was wrong. Or something like that. I don’t remember his exact words.’
Ryker did.
‘You went to check on him,’ she said.
‘Leaving you, Salman, and Elliott inside.’
‘Then the comms went down.’
‘Aldern’s, then mine.’
She frowned. ‘No, everyone’s.’
‘Everyone’s?’
‘Yeah. But not all at once. Aldern first, then yours when you went after him. Then Elliott. Then me and Salman.’
How had Ryker not known that before? Other than because he’d never asked the question specifically.
‘Over how long?’
‘Two, three minutes.’
‘So Aldern’s went down. Then I went outside to check on him—’
‘And we lost you not long after that.’
‘The last thing I heard was that Alpha was on the move.’
Diaz nodded. ‘There was a group with him. All three of us followed as we didn’t know if they’d split up, or even what they were up to.’
‘You were all together?’
‘No. Elliott was up front, on his own. Me and Salman were further behind.’
‘And Elliott’s comms went next?’
‘Then mine and Salman’s together.’
Ryker thought. ‘So there was a signal blocker,’ Ryker said. ‘Aldern went dark in the northern part of the grounds. Then me when I went out there to find him. The three of you as you followed Alpha inside, but in the same direction, to the northern end of the palace.’
Diaz screwed her face like something he’d said made no sense. ‘If someone had a signal blocker why was it only set up over part of the property?’
Fair point. ‘To confound us,’ Ryker said. ‘If we’d been dark from the get-go we would have known something was wrong. We would have aborted. Or we would have adapted sooner. We walked into a trap.’
Diaz’s silence seemed like agreement.
‘So what next?’ Ryker said. ‘You’re following Alpha.’
‘The group split up. Some went in the direction of the bathrooms. Elliott went with them. Others headed to the conference rooms and ended up in one of them. Sapphire, I think it was called.’
‘How many?’
She thought about that for a moment. Necessary, or was she crafting a lie? ‘Four of them, including Alpha. Salman and I stayed outside. That was when the first gunshot was fired.’
‘From where?’
‘From back near the bathrooms. We were all dark by that point so whether it was Elliott I don’t know.’
‘And you and Salman?’
‘We stormed that room. But they were waiting for us. Seven, eight men. No Alpha. It was a firefight immediately. Salman lobbed a grenade. There was smoke everywhere. We backtracked before we were killed.’
‘Back into the corridor?’
‘Where Elliott raced up to us, saying he’d seen Alpha leaving. All three of us gave chase. We reached the emergency exit stairwell. Me and Elliott headed down after him, but Salman said he’d go the other way to intercept at the bottom.’
‘What other way?’
Diaz shrugged. ‘I don’t remember. Me and Elliott raced down the stairs, we shot and killed two grunts on the way down. Then there was another explosion as we reached the bottom. We were both on the ground. Dust, grit, smoke everywhere. Elliott pulled me up and I was out of it, dazed. Once the fog had cleared we rushed outside, and that was when we literally ran into Salman and Aldern.’
‘They were together?’
‘Yeah.’
‘How?’
‘I’ve no idea. Salman said the job was done. Alpha was down. So we cleared out.’
‘Salman said that?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Not Aldern?’
Diaz paused for a moment. ‘Definitely Salman.’
‘But neither said who’d actually killed Alpha?’
She shook her head. ‘Why would I ask, in that moment?’
‘We were betrayed, Penny,’ Ryker said. ‘Someone lied that night.’
‘I’ve told you what I know. What I can remember.’
He chewed on that for a few moments. Did he believe her? Not fully. But he had her explanation. He’d see how it compared.
‘Did you know Aldern is dead?’ Ryker asked.
The shock on her face suggested no. That, or she was a good actor.
Hell, he knew that was true.
‘When?’ she asked.
‘I don’t know much about it.’
‘But you think it’s linked?’
He shrugged. ‘If I were you, I’d watch my back.’
‘I always do,’ Diaz said.
Ryker got up from the bench. ‘It was nice to see you,’ he said. ‘I mean that.’
‘Please don’t ever come to me again. Next time I won’t be so amenable.’
Ryker nodded. She stayed in place as Ryker turned and headed off. Across the other side of the park, the young couple were arm in arm as they strolled away into the distance.