False Friends by Stephen Leather Read Free Book Online

with undercover experience pretending to be a freelance journalist,’
    she said. ‘Anything else wil just overcomplicate it.’
    ‘Let me ask you something,’ said Shepherd. ‘Do you think kil ing Bin Laden makes it more likely now that Raj and Harvey are going to be put into play?’
    ‘They were already in play. They’ve been trained in Pakistan; they met with Bin Laden; they’ve been groomed to commit a major terrorist atrocity.
    It has always been a matter of when and not if. I’m surprised it’s taken as long as it has.’
    Shepherd sipped the last of his wine and then refil ed their glasses. ‘I just can’t help thinking that kil ing Bin Laden is like a red rag to a bul .
    Especial y the way they did it. Shooting him in cold blood and dumping his body at sea. If I was a radical Muslim I’d be getting ready to make my point.’
    ‘But as the Americans are taking the credit, they’l be the ones suffering the consequences,’ said Button. ‘No one knows of our involvement and the Americans certainly won’t be publicising that you were with the Seal team.’
    ‘But if al-Qaeda does lash out at the UK, Raj and Harvey could be at the forefront.’
    ‘We’l be listening for chatter and the Border Agency is on alert,’ said Button. ‘I think if anything it’l subdue al-Qaeda for a while. They’l retrench and regroup.’
    ‘Would you like a bet on that?’
    ‘I never gamble, Spider. You know that.’ She raised her glass to him. ‘And seriously, I’m glad you’re okay. I was never convinced that sending you to Pakistan was a good idea but my bosses wanted one of ours on the team. Word had come down from Number Ten.’
    ‘What, to demonstrate that the special relationship is stil there?’
    ‘Who knows how our masters think?’ said Button. ‘It was probably just to get one over on the French.’ She sipped her wine again. ‘While we’re waiting for Chaudhry and Malik to be put into play there’s another job coming up, if you’re interested.’
    ‘I get a choice?’ said Shepherd. ‘That’s a change.’
    ‘It means a secondment to the Met.’
    Shepherd’s eyes narrowed. ‘I’m not investigating cops again,’ he said. ‘I told you after the last time, that’s not what I’m about.’
    ‘Heard and understood,’ said Button. ‘No, it’s run-of-the-mil bad guys being targeted. And it’l mean you meeting up with someone from your past. Sam Hargrove.’
    It was the last name that Shepherd had expected to hear and he raised his eyebrows.
    ‘Sam’s found a home in the Met’s Covert Operations Group and needs a hand on an undercover job,’ continued Button. ‘He’s a DCS now. He was stil a superintendent when you were with his unit, right?’
    ‘Yeah,’ said Shepherd. ‘Good to see him doing so wel . Did he ask for me specifical y?’
    Button shook her head. ‘The Met is stretched, SOCA’s in disarray and the head of Covert Policing Command knows my boss at Five so I think it got discussed over lunch at the Garrick and I was asked to put someone forward. With your police background you were the obvious choice.’

    ‘Okay,’ said Shepherd hesitantly.
    ‘Problem?’
    ‘No, it’s not that. It’s just, you know, the past is a different country. You can’t go back, can you? I left the Met to join SOCA and left SOCA to go to Five. It’s going to feel strange going back to where I started.’
    ‘It wasn’t that long ago. But if you’ve any reservations, any reservations at al , let me know.’
    ‘No, it’s al good.’ He nodded. ‘Real y. It’l be interesting to see how the Met’s been getting on without me.’ Shepherd smiled. He wasn’t worried about working with Sam Hargrove again. In fact he was looking forward to it. He’d enjoyed working for Hargrove in the Met’s undercover unit in the days before it had been taken over by SOCA, and there had several times over the past few years when he’d considered giving his former boss a cal .
    ‘Why don’t you sleep