‘So that’s it then,’ said Mac, leaning back in his chair and putting his feet up on Vinke’s desk. ‘We’ve spoken to every member of the local staff and none of them have offered us jack shit that we can use.’
Nagpal raised a quizzical eyebrow, but it was clear that he understood what Mac meant.
‘We’d better move onto that list of people who’ve left or were sacked.’ It all seemed a bit desperate to Mac, but where else could they turn?
Ginger scanned the current personnel list. ‘Wait.’
‘What?’ said Mac.
‘We’ve never spoken to Nazanina, have we?’
‘Who’s Nazanina?’ said Mac.
‘She cleans the expat houses,’ said Nagpal. ‘She doesn’t come into the office.’
‘She sometimes stays at the houses,’ explained Ginger. ‘She wasn’t there the night that Vinke was killed, but we should still question her. She might have seen something leading up to it in the days before.’
Mac shrugged. ‘It’s possible. How often does she clean the houses?’
‘Every day, of course,’ said Nagpal.
‘Really?’ Ginger shook his head. ‘I don’t think anyone’s cleaned the house we’re in.’ He glanced over at Mac.
‘No,’ said Mac. ‘That beer you spilled on the floor’s gone tacky now.’
‘That’s odd,’ said Nagpal.
‘Where does she live?’ said Ginger.
‘She sleeps in the kitchen at Vinke’s house some nights, and goes back to her family home from Thursday to Saturday each week. I sent her a message telling her not to come back to Vinke’s for the time being, so that’s probably why you haven’t seen her.’
‘But the night he died?’ There was a sudden urgency in Mac’s voice. ‘Wednesday night? She would have been there, right?’
‘There was no sign of her that morning,’ said Nagpal. ‘I just assumed she’d gone back to her village that night – or she would have been there.’
‘For fuck’s sake – we need to find her and ask her if she was there. She might be the only witness to what happened.’
Nagpal’s face darkened. ‘If she had witnessed it, do you think the killer would have left her there alive?’
‘You think they might have taken her along with Bakker?’ said Ginger.
Mac shook his head. ‘She’d have no value to them. But…’ Mac sucked in air through his lower teeth.
‘What?’ said Ginger.
‘Nagpal, what do you know about Nazanina? Could she be in some way involved?’
‘Come on, an old woman?’ Ginger raised his hands in disbelief.
Nagpal leaned forward in his chair. ‘Not so old – she’s about forty-five, a widow.’
‘What’s her background? Could she have links to whoever took Bakker? Remember, someone opened the door to the killer.’
‘Her clan lives in Gereshk.’ Nagpal shrugged. ‘I can’t say who they’re connected with or loyal to.’
‘And she could have let them in under duress,’ added Mac. ‘We need to find her and talk to her. Can you undertake that, Nagpal?’
Nagpal nodded. ‘Yes, I’ll make enquiries.’
‘And keep us posted if you find anything out,’ said Mac.
Some intelligence on what happened that night might give them a much-needed steer for the rescue mission. Otherwise, they were pissing into the wind.
It was a troubling thought, and one that stopped Mac from sleeping. There was no air-conditioning in the Well Diggers house, and the heat was crushing. But it wasn’t the blanket of hot, heavy air that oppressed him. His mind wouldn’t stop churning, tumbling thought over thought like a cement mixer. What if? What if? What if…? He didn’t know Tomas Bakker, and Ginger had only met him fleetingly, but Bakker’s life was probably in their hands. If – and it was a huge if – the man was still alive, the decisions Mac took in the next few hours would be crucial. And not only for Bakker. He would be putting Ginger in danger, and himself too. A hostage rescue mission was an action of last resort – of course, negotiation and bargaining were always preferable. Hostage retrieval via ransom payment or prisoner exchange was a dangerous game, but they didn’t even have that option. So instead, they were looking at what could easily be construed as a suicide mission…
The film of sweat covering Mac’s body turned ice cold without offering relief from the heat. He felt feverish. He lay with his eyes shut, willing himself to sleep, but his body twitched and he couldn’t get comfortable. More than once he sat bolt upright, wide awake and listening for a sound he thought he’d heard, balanced on the thin line between sleep and waking. But there was nothing but the low thrumming of the cicadas in the garden outside.
He forced himself to lie down again. He closed his eyes.
He wished he’d never come down to Lashkar Gah, because he had a feeling that something – he didn’t know what – was going to go badly wrong in the days that followed. He’d had these feelings before, call them premonitions if you like, and they’d always played out…
A ferocious banging on the door pulled him out of the black tunnel of sleep he’d finally slid into.
What the fuck?
It was still dark. Rolling off the side of the bed onto his feet, he grabbed his pistol off the bedside table, then squinted at the luminous dial of his watch.
Four in the fucking morning?
He stumbled across the bedroom, almost tripping on his discarded desert boots. As he opened the door, the landing light went on, practically blinding him. Ginger was heading for the top of the stairs, brandishing his Stechkin in one hand.
‘Jesus Christ, what’s going on?’
‘Fucked if I know,’ said Ginger, taking the stairs two at a time.
Mac blinked and followed him down. The knocking sounded even louder and then he heard a woman’s laugh and a man’s voice with an American accent.
‘Come on, you fuckers, open up!’
‘Logan?’ said Mac, as Ginger reached the door and pulled it open.
Logan practically fell across the threshold.
‘Bro! Good to see you. I was getting worried we’d come to the wrong house and the door would be opened by a guy with a gun.’
Ginger was rendered speechless as Logan slapped him on the back.
But Ginger’s surprise was nothing compared to Mac’s shock when Basima Khan followed Logan through the door, laughing and throwing her backpack down in the hall.
‘Hi, guys!’
Mac gritted his teeth and tried to hold back, but he couldn’t.
‘What the actual fuck? What are you doing here?’
Baz’s laughter died in her throat and her eyes opened wide. ‘Mac?’
Logan and Ginger turned to look at him, their smiles dissolving.
A tide of anger surged through Mac’s chest as he turned towards Logan. ‘What the hell were you thinking?’
‘Dude, calm down…’
Logan’s words fell flat as Mac turned his back and strode away down the hall.