Chapter Ten:The Tail of the Snake

Zaf joined Mia at the window. She stood to one side, that fixed expression of careful watching.

'Anything interesting?'

'Just looking. I- I really am sorry about-' She gestured to his face. 'But under the circumstances I couldn't take any chances.'

'Fair enough.' He was prepared to forgive her anything. She had done the impossible. 'So, you and Harry are still friends, then?'

'Still.' The curtain twitched slightly as she let it go; green eyes that seemed to look straight through him. 'Yes. There's no reason we shouldn't be.'

'Does he know that Ruth is back?' She was out of the room, but he still kept his voice low. So she wouldn't think they were talking about her. He knew she hated that.

'Yes. I saw him earlier today.'

'You saw- Then why isn't he here?'

'He's taking care of business.' She was infuriatingly cool.

Zaf compressed his lips then said levelly, 'The sort of business that took you to Budapest?'

Mia leaned against the window-frame, her eyes narrowing with cynical amusement. 'Oh, well done. And yes. That sort of business.'

'Do you know what he's up to?'

'I have a fairly good idea. At least, I know what the information is.' She was not looking amused anymore. 'I can only guess what he'll do with it.'

Zaf folded his arms, leaning back, unconsciously mimicking her stance. 'What was the information?' The direct approach seemed to be the most effective with her. Or maybe she liked him to think that.

'Oh, it was a murder that happened ten years ago in Budapest.'

'Was Mace involved?' It all came back to Mace. Always. It had to.

That cynical smile again. 'You could say that. He was the killer.'

Zaf stared at her. 'Who was the victim - an agent?'

Mia was looking out of the window again. 'No. A fifteen-year-old boy.'

ooOoo

'Benedek Ulpius.'

Mace watched him, unblinking. The room was large, richly furnished. It was almost like déjà vu. He leaned back in his chair, raised his chin. But his hand, resting on the desktop, was clenched convulsively.

Harry had been waiting for this hour and now that it had come he did not feel triumphant. Only a terrifying calm. 'Don't tell me you've forgotten the name, Oliver. Or is it just that you never bothered to find out?'

Tongue darted out over his lips. 'Benedek Ulpius? I'm afraid I can't say it means anything, Harry. To me or anyone else. I hope this isn't one of your fantasies again - you really should learn to control them.'

Harry smiled, pulled a thick envelope from inside his coat. He didn't pull out the contents, just rifled through until he found what he wanted. The photograph was black and white. Somehow that sparseness made it worse. The boy's face was barely recognisable as a face. And his body... Harry tossed the photo onto the desk; it glided across the surface and Mace automatically reached for it.

A tremor in his cheek, almost imperceptible.

'Does that help your memory at all, Oliver? I must say,' he continued lightly, 'I found it a little surprising. Would your wife, I wonder? Or does she turn a blind eye to your proclivities as long as the money and position are in place? I understand those things are quite important to ... Vanessa, isn't it?'

'You leave my wife out of this!' His face contorted for a second. Just a second, but it was enough. Vultus est index animi. 'I thought you usually advocated leaving the personal out of business, Harry.'

'I do. But I'm prepared to make exceptions. Especially when the personal is already involved.'

Mace laughed softly. 'Of course. I wondered how long it would be. Has the loving reunion taken place, yet?' His eyes kept going back to the photograph. And the object lying between them, glinting coldly in the lamplight. 'So, how does the rest of this play go?'

'Play? Oh no, Oliver, there is no playing going on here. This is where we finish it, once and for all.'

'Yes.'

Both men reached for the gun.

ooOoo

Zaf swore softly under his breath. 'Did you see that?'

'Yes.'

'What is it?' Ruth looked up. She was on the sofa, hands clasped rigidly in her lap.

'Professional watchers. Damn.' Mia's eyes moved from the street to Zaf.

'Hey, don't blame me! They could have followed you here. Just like I did.'

'Well, we were doing perfectly all right on our own before you showed up.' Her eyes blazed.

Ruth crossed to them, moving between and glancing down. 'Arguing and pointing fingers really won't help.' The car was easy to spot: dark, away from the streetlight, its two occupants bulky silhouettes. She moistened her lips. 'Wh-what do we do now?'

Zaf considered their options. 'We should find a way to get out of here. Without walking straight into their arms.'

Silence.

Mia smiled. 'Don't worry about it, Junior. I think I know.'

ooOoo

Mace eased slowly back against the chair. 'So.'

'So. Benedek Ulpius. You must have thought that you'd got away with it.'

There were beads of sweat on his upper lip. Not that easy to appear indifferent when facing the barrel of a gun. 'He was a rent boy, for Christ's sake. No-one cares.'

'You see, that's where you're wrong, Oliver. The child's father may have been willing to be paid off at the time but I don't believe he's sure that the money was worth his son's life. And then there was a young police officer, one András Szerb. He kept a copy of the file and is very eager to know whether the sadistic murderer of a fifteen-year-old will finally be brought to account.' Harry weighed the envelope in his hand. 'It was a brutal rape. Repeated, in fact. Broken ribs, his fingers fractured. And young Benedek had been strangled, although that isn't what killed him. It was a massive haemorrhage, in the end. Bleeding into the brain, the occipital artery was severed. Tell me, how exactly do you manage something like that with your bare hands?' Harry's eyes had darkened until they glittered blackly as obsidian.

'I expect you thought that all the case notes had been destroyed. Most of them were, but Mr Szerb was meticulous. Photographs, fingerprints, blood samples.'

Mace's top lip curled back, baring his teeth. Not just reptilian, Harry thought, but lupine; a chimera given respectability by his masters for their own ends. No more.

'That,' Mace said slowly, 'is meaningless. Contaminated evidence; you have nothing.'

Harry shrugged, a slight movement of his shoulders. 'Perhaps. But there is always the modern marvel that is DNA testing. I don't entirely understand it myself – but then there are a lot of things that I have never understood. And the boy's family has agreed to an exhumation. Who knows what they may find? Certainly enough to keep you very uncomfortable. Vanessa will not be happy.'

The two men watched each other. Neither blinked.

'I doubt even your illustrious friends could prevent an extradition, Oliver. As I understand it, Hungarian prisons are foul.'

ooOoo

Mia slipped through the door onto the landing. It had been nice, she thought, to see Ruth reunited with her old friend. Touching. And he seemed competent enough, Zafar Younis. She had become a little protective of her charge over the last few days.

It was jealousy of a sort.

A couple of days – a couple of hours, maybe – and Ruth would pass from her care. Their part in each other's lives would be over and Ruth wouldn't need her anymore. That's just how it went. It never got any easier.

The landing was cool, well lit and carried the scent of lavender polish. She could hear them already, coming ever closer – sirens piercing the night. A few seconds' more and then she broke the glass on the fire alarm.

Everything erupted in a blast of sound that winded her even though she had been expecting it. Doors were opening on the floors below; she heard movement from the flats opposite and withdrew. They had called all of the emergency services. She pictured Harry's face when she explained the necessity of the hoax calls and decided that it didn't bear thinking about.

'Ready?'

She nodded. Zaf had a gun, which was a good thing. It brought the total count to two. It was better than just one, which itself was better than nothing. Lights from outside were throwing patterns across the ceiling and Ruth's pale face. Red and blue, flickering alternately. The sirens were deafening.

They joined the stampede down the stairs. Everyone looked confused and irate. The three of them stayed close together, Zaf and Mia flanking their companion as though fearing she would be snatched if they took their eyes off her for a second.

Outside of this ordinarily quiet block of flats was mayhem in miniature as police-, firemen and paramedics vied for control. People demanded loudly to know what was going on. Red-faced businessmen in states of semi-casualness and children clinging to their parents.

Two burly men in a dark car were trapped between a police car and an ambulance. They did not look happy

They had agreed on Zaf's car before they left the flat – Mia's would be caught in the middle of the fray. Zaf bundled Ruth into the back; Mia eyed the gleaming black contours.

'Nice little car,' she drawled. 'Will we all fit?'

He glared at her.

The car peeled away from the kerb, performing a sharp turn that nearly knocked over a policeman. Zaf ignored the gesticulations; the car bumped, half on and half off the pavement and then gunned down the street.

ooOoo

'What is it you want, Harry?'

'Oh, I think you know.' Harry considered the man opposite him. 'It was a mistake sending me that note. But then, you never have been able to resist showing off how clever you are. Or should I say, how clever you think you are.'

There was a half-smile playing around Mace's lips. Arrogant complacency that brought the first spear of white-hot anger; Harry fought it down. Smiled in turn. 'You can press that button under your desk all you like, Oliver - no-one will come. The alarm has been disconnected.'

The smile faded; a muscle in his cheek twitched.

'Get up.' The hand holding the gun was steady.

Mace hesitated. 'Why? Where are we going?'

'We're going to take a little trip. Down memory lane, you might say. Get up.'

TBC