Edge of Danger by Jack Higgins Read Free Book Online Page A

facing him.
    ‘Aidan?’ he said.
    Bell smiled. ‘You’ve been a stone in my shoe too long, you bastard. Let’s end it now.’ He drew a Browning from his pocket and double-tapped Quinn in the heart. Quinn fell back in the water, his body floating, half submerged.
    Casey said, ‘You want me to do anything?’
    ‘No need, the tide’s on the turn. It will take him out, and in Drumcree, who’ll ask questions?’
    The Aran moved out to sea. Kate went to the stern and sat in the rain using her coded mobile. Paul Rashid answered.
    ‘It’s me, darling.’
    ‘How did it go?’
    ‘I’ll tell you when we meet. Bell will go for it.’
    ‘Good. How was Dillon?’
    ‘Well, he and Bell turned out to have shot at each other in the old days.’
    ‘So, Dillon bought your story?’
    ‘God knows. He’s a devious bastard. What he did do was save my life.’
    There was a pause and Paul Rashid said, ‘Explain.’
    Afterwards, he said, ‘He doesn’t take prisoners.’
    ‘No. Mind you, George didn’t let you down, either.’
    ‘I’m proud of him. Tell him so for me. I’ll see you soon.’
    The Aran was plunging out to sea through strong waves. Dillon and George were in the wheelhouse, and Kate arrived with tea.
    ‘How’s Kelly?’ Dillon asked.
    ‘He’ll be all right. A bash to the head, that’s all. He’ll have a headache for a while, but he’s a tough nut.’
    ‘Good,’ Dillon said.
    Dillon said, ‘Now, Kate, there’s half a bottle of Bushmills under the chart table.’
    She found it, got it out, and poured into two mugs of tea. Dillon said, ‘George, boy, as my Jewish friends would say, you’re a mensch. My thanks.’
    ‘Dillon, I’ve been through Sandhurst and One Para. Sometimes I forget the estate management.’
    ‘Go on.’ Dillon laughed. ‘Get him out of here, Kate.’
    When she was gone, he used her coded mobile phone to reach Ferguson. When the Brigadier answered, he gave him a rundown of events.
    ‘Christ, Dillon, you’ve been killing again.’
    ‘The ranks of the ungodly, Charles.’
    ‘All right. Did you believe that story of hers, hiring Bell for protection for Rashid Investments?’
    ‘Not for a moment.’
    ‘So why involve you?’
    ‘I’ve told you. I know Down and I knew Bell in the old days. I knocked off guys who wanted to knock her off. She hired me as a minder and mind her I did. Without me, she’d be dead.’
    ‘And you still think there’s something going on?’
    ‘Absolutely. Something big, but I’ve no idea what.’ ‘Come home, Sean, and we’ll think on it.’
    At Aidan Bell’s house, Casey was in the kitchen making tea. Suddenly the door opened and Bell appeared, a magazine in his hand.
    ‘I was right, I found the story in Time magazine. It tells me exactly how to shoot Jake Cazalet.’
    ‘You’re mad,’ Casey told him.
    ‘Not at all, Liam. This could work. Trust me.’

Manhattan

London

West Sussex

White House
    Aidan Bell and Liatn Casey shared a suite at the Plaza Hotel beside New York’s Central Park. They had flown over earlier on Concorde, the seats provided by Rashid Investments, and found a chauffeur-driven limousine waiting to take them to the hotel.
    ‘This is the life, Aidan,’ Casey said.
    ‘Well, don’t let it go to your head. Shave, shower and put your best suit on. It’s like we’re visiting royalty tonight. I don’t want him to think we’re straight out of the bogs.’
    He showered in the second bathroom, then dressed in a white shirt, blue tie and an easy-fitting dark suit. When he went out to the sitting room, Liam Casey was standing at the window, looking out.
    ‘Jesus, Aidan, what a town.’
    He turned, wearing a black suit and shirt and black tie.
    \
    ‘Will I do?’
    ‘You look like a bouncer at the Colosseum,’ Bell said. ‘Now let’s go. We’re only a couple of blocks away. Just behave yourself and do as I say, and this ought to go as smooth as butter.’
    At Trump Tower, they went up in a private lift to the Rashid