Honour Bound by Keith Walker Read Free Book Online Page A

phase two.”
    He
returned to his seat, followed by four pairs of eyes. He placed both hands palm
down on the table and pressed gently as he leaned forward. “Well we all know
the schedule of events, and though timing isn’t exactly crucial, the next phase
of the operation should begin immediately. No time like the present as they
say.”
    Four
heads nodded with murmured assent, and knowing they had been dismissed, rose as
one and filed silently out of the room.
    Langdon
waited until he heard the crunch of tyres on gravel before picking up the
telephone. He didn’t have to wait before speaking. “Remy, phase two is going
ahead, you know what to do.”
    He
replaced the receiver, leaned back in his chair and lit a cigarette, inhaling
the smoke deeply.

 
    -6-
    The
telephone rang as Norton rinsed the shaving foam from his face. He quickly
dried the cooling water and wrapped the towel around his waist before padding
into the lounge of his apartment.
    “Norton,”
he said, no other form of greeting needed on this line. Only a handful of
people knew the number, and they only used it for urgent business. He glanced at
the digital device attached to the phone, its green light indicating the call
was being recorded.
    Willie
Rivers sounded hurried and nervous on the crystal clear line. “Mister Norton,
Mister Norton I’ve got a name on the er ,
the thing you asked me about. We gotta meet.”
    “Okay
Willie,” Norton said, “ make it the usual place, one
hour from now.”
    Rivers
broke the connection without replying.
    Norton
dressed in a sweatshirt, jeans and his favourite pair of steel toe-capped
shoes. The Sig went into a leather shoulder holster that he covered with a
leather jacket as he left the apartment.
    An
hour later, he was waiting at the bus stop in Bethnal Green Road, having parked
his car in a side street a few minutes walk away. Willie looked nervous
yesterday, Norton thought, and he hadn’t sounded much better on the phone this
morning. Now he’s late for the meeting and that is very unlike him. Although
they had an arrangement of ten minutes to, to five minutes past the agreed
hour, Willie normally arrived early and loitered around the shops until he
could see Norton. Only then would he saunter across the road to impart his
information in return for the envelope Norton would drop in the rubbish bin. It
was now four minutes past the allotted time and he was beginning to wonder what
had happened. He waited the full five minutes and decided to go back to his
car.
    As
he turned to leave, he spotted Rivers walking briskly along the opposite side
of Bethnal Green Road. An approach from anywhere other than Brick Lane was
their agreed danger signal. He must have known something yesterday, Norton
thought, he’s had it confirmed this morning and whatever it is has spooked him.
    Norton
let his gaze wander along the road behind Willie’s scruffy figure. The
pavements thronged with people going about their business. Here and there, a
figure would stop and look into a shop window, forcing the crowds to swirl past
as they interrupted the flow of the human river. People in animated
conversation with friends and colleagues swept past the bus stop, enjoying the
period before the start of the working day. No one appeared to be paying any
attention to Rivers. He ran his eyes over the traffic. Both lanes had crawling
queues of nose to tail vehicles with cocooned drivers cursing yet again at the
stop start motion of rush hour driving. Long, slow moving lines of cars skirted
around parked vehicles in the ritual procession to their place of work.
    As
Willie walked passed the bus stop, still on the opposite side of the road, a
double-decker bus pulled up and disgorged a crowd of passengers. They milled
around Norton like a swarm of bees, allowing him to mingle with them and follow
Rivers at a safe distance. Occasionally he would stop, feigning interest in a
window display while looking back the way he had come. He knew from