Four Warned (Quick Reads 2014) by Jeffrey Archer Read Free Book Online Page B

tannoy.
    ‘Is there another flight going to London right now?’ asked Dick.
    ‘Yes,’ replied the man behind the check-in desk. ‘Flight 902 has been delayed, but they are just about to close the gate.’
    ‘Can you get me on it?’ asked Dick, as he slid a thousand-rouble note across the counter.
    *   *   *
    Dick’s plane touched down at Heathrow three and a half hours later. Once he had picked up his case from the carousel, he pushed his trolley through the ‘Nothing to
Declare’ channel and emerged into the arrivals hall.
    Stan, his driver, was already waiting among a group of chauffeurs. Most of them were holding up name cards. As soon as Stan spotted his boss, he walked quickly across and took his suitcase and
overnight bag.
    ‘Home or the office?’ Stan asked Dick as they walked towards the short-stay car park.
    Dick checked his watch – it was just after four. ‘Home,’ he said. ‘I’ll work in the back of the car.’
    *   *   *
    Once Dick’s Jaguar had come out of the car park to begin the journey home to Virginia Water, Dick immediately called his office.
    ‘Richard Barnsley’s office,’ said a voice.
    ‘Hi, Jill, it’s me. I managed to catch an earlier flight, and I’m on my way home. Is there anything I should be worrying about?’
    ‘No, everything is running smoothly this end,’ Jill replied. ‘We’re all just waiting to find out how things went in St Petersburg.’
    ‘Could not have gone better. The minister wants me back on May sixteenth to sign the contract.’
    ‘But that’s less than three weeks away.’
    ‘Which means we will all have to get a move on. So set up a board meeting for early next week, and then make an appointment for me to see Sam Cohen first thing tomorrow morning. I
can’t afford any slip-ups at this stage.’
    ‘Can I come to St Petersburg with you?’
    ‘Not this time, Jill, but once the contract has been signed, block out ten days in the diary. Then I’ll take you somewhere a little warmer than St Petersburg.’
    Dick sat silently in the back of the car, going over everything that needed to be covered before he returned to St Petersburg. By the time Stan drove through the wrought-iron gates and came to a
halt outside the mansion, Dick knew what had to be done.
    He jumped out of the car and ran into the house. He left Stan to unload the bags, and his housekeeper to unpack them. Dick was surprised not to find his wife standing on the top step, waiting to
greet him, but then he remembered that he had caught an earlier flight, and Maureen would not be expecting him back for at least another couple of hours.
    Dick ran upstairs to his bedroom, and quickly stripped off his clothes, dropping them in a pile on the floor. He went into the bathroom and turned on the shower, allowing the warm jets of water
to slowly remove the grime of St Petersburg and Aeroflot.
    After he had put on some casual clothes, Dick checked his appearance in the mirror. At fifty-three, his hair was turning grey early, and although he tried to hold his stomach in, he knew he
ought to lose a few pounds, just a couple of notches on his belt – he would once the deal was signed and he had a little more time, he promised himself.
    Dick left the bedroom and went down to the kitchen. He asked the cook to prepare him a salad, and then strolled into the drawing room, picked up
The Times,
and glanced at the headlines.
A new leader of the Tory Party, a new leader of the Liberal Democrats, and now Gordon Brown had been elected leader of the Labour Party. None of the major political parties would be fighting the
next election under the same leader.
    Dick looked up when the phone began to ring. He walked across to his wife’s writing desk and picked up the receiver, to hear Jill’s voice on the other end of the line.
    ‘The board meeting is fixed for next Thursday at ten o’clock, and I’ve also arranged for you to see Sam Cohen in his office at eight tomorrow morning,’ Jill