A Death in Sweden(60)

There seemed to be a small reception area just inside the door, easy chairs, so most of the desks had to be to the right and around the corner from it. That would help him with cover if he needed it. The key, though, would be getting the two guys from the Vergoncey first. He had no doubt the others would all be able to defend themselves, but not at the same pitch.

At twelve he started to get himself ready, and at half past the hour he sat in front of the monitor looking at the view through the camera that looked directly at the door of the office.

It was fifteen minutes before the door opened and the same two people, the woman and the guy, came out to go and get the lunch order—maybe they were the most junior, or more likely, they just enjoyed the opportunity of getting out for half an hour. Either way, it would earn them a stay of execution.

As they came out, but before the door had closed, something was said behind them, and the woman laughed as if at some corny joke and turned to say something back. There was the two-man security detail, lounging on the easy chairs right inside the door.

Dan moved to the window and watched as the man and woman came out of the building and walked along the street. He wondered if they were a couple. He doubted it, somehow. When the other guys had been showing her attention the previous evening, her companion hadn’t seemed unhappy or possessive.

He waited fifteen minutes, not wanting to wait longer in case they were served quicker today or went somewhere closer. Then he crossed the street, keyed in and climbed the stairs, seeing no one, almost certainly being seen by no one.

He keyed in the other number for the top door, swiped Adam’s card and pushed the door open. He hit the older guy first, a shot straight to the head even as he was smiling and no doubt ready to make some comment to the woman about lunch.

The fair-haired guy tried to jump up and go for his gun at the same time, his reflexes pretty good, but Dan hit him in the chest, knocking him back into the easy chair, and fired again at his head before moving around the corner.

One of the suited guys was just sitting at a computer and staring across the room, as if wondering what the commotion was. The other was scrabbling in a drawer, probably for a gun that should have been on him. Dan hit him first, then the static one.

But that was where he ran into difficulties. Because he couldn’t see the other casually dressed guy. There was a door to a bathroom, but there was also a desk in the far corner that was surrounded by dividers like a cubicle.

Dan stepped back to the cover of the corner, checking behind him to make sure of what he already knew, that he was surrounded only by bodies. He waited a beat then and said, “If you come out now, I won’t hurt you. If you make me come over there, I will.”

“I wouldn’t do that. I’m armed!”

He was in the cubicle.

“Wrong answer. If you’re armed, I’ll kill you.”

He heard him mutter to himself, “Oh God, oh God.” He was panicking, and Dan guessed from the informal dress that this was the other tech guy, probably the Josh who’d exchanged messages with Adam.

Dan had come in here intent on killing all of them, but it was amazing how quickly that need for vengeance had dissipated, or at least become discerning. He’d still take down the other part of the team, wherever they were, probably at Brabham’s house, because those were the people who’d done for his friends and tried to do for him. But there was nothing to be gained from killing this guy.

He spoke now, desperately weighing his options as he said, “If I come out . . .”

“Throw the gun out first. If you come out with a gun, I’ll shoot.”

“How do I know you won’t shoot me anyway?”

“If I wanted to shoot you, do you think that cubicle or a gun or anything else would stop me?”

There was silence, and Dan was beginning to get impatient, thinking of the returning lunch party, but then a gun slid across the floor from behind the cubicle.

“Okay, I’m coming out. Please, don’t shoot me.” He stood with his hands raised. He had longish hair and the beginnings of a beard, a young face beneath it all, like some grad student who’d considered becoming a folk singer but had fallen into this by mistake. “Seriously, I’m just a tech guy.”

“Are you Josh?” He nodded. “Yeah, it was me who sent the message from Adam’s phone. Adam’s dead.”

“Oh God.”

Dan took the cuffs and threw them to him.

Josh caught them and Dan said, “Come out from behind the cubicle and put them on, hands in front.” When he hesitated, his expression pleading for more assurances, he added, “You’re still alive. No reason you can’t stay that way, as long as you don’t try anything stupid.”

“I won’t, I promise.”

He stepped out, desperately trying to avoid anything that might resemble a sudden movement, and put on the cuffs.

“Okay, move over here and sit on the edge of this desk where I can see you.”

Josh did as he was told and Dan was pretty sure he wouldn’t try anything, but he still kept an eye on him as he moved the two bodies from the easy chairs, dragging them and dropping them behind one of the desks. A lot of blood was visible on one of the chairs, from the head wound, so he took an overcoat that was hanging up and threw it over the chair, the result casual enough that it was unlikely to arouse suspicions.

He walked back to Josh then and said, “They should be back any minute. I’ll be straight with you, I’d intended to kill all of you today, for what you’ve done to me and my friends.” Josh tried to respond, no doubt to argue his innocence, but Dan put a finger up and silenced him. He pointed at the two bodies he’d just moved and said, “Those two I would’ve killed anyway, but I don’t want to turn this into something bigger than it needs to be. You understand?”