The Game (Tom Wood)

FORTY-EIGHT





Victor looked at Jaeger for a moment. He stood on the opposite side of the table. He wore the same loose khakis and T-shirt he’d worn when Victor had first met him, or identical garments. The shirt was tight around his massive shoulders, arms and chest. His body fat percentage was almost as low as Victor’s. He was hugely strong but quick and fit and like all the men Leeson had hired, he was experienced and dangerous. Victor would happily face Dietrich armed with a knife again rather than Jaeger armed with just his bare hands. But Jaeger looked at that moment like an amateur who was in over his head in something he should have stayed well clear of. And now there was no way out.

‘Why?’ Victor asked.

‘Isn’t it obvious?’

Victor shook his head.

Jaeger didn’t blink. ‘You’ve seen him, right? You’ve spoken to him?’

Victor nodded.

‘Then you must know what I’m talking about. He’s all wrong. I know you can see it too. Everything about him stinks of trouble. What’s he doing here? Why did he go away and come back? Why is he all buddy-buddy with Leeson?’

‘I don’t know,’ Victor said. ‘You know more about him than I do. This is the first time I’ve talked to him.’

‘And what’s your point? I only had to meet the guy for five seconds to know he was playing from an entirely different rulebook.’

Victor kept his voice even. ‘I don’t understand what you’re talking about.’

‘Then you’re an idiot,’ Jaeger said, his voice edging on a growl. ‘I thought you were switched on. Don’t tell me you’re another bonehead like Dietrich and Coughlin.’

‘I’m switched on enough to know telling me that you’re going to kill one of the team is a bad idea for all sorts of reasons. So you’d better start talking.’

‘That’s more like it.’ Jaeger smiled. ‘That’s what I was waiting for.’

‘I’m listening.’

‘How long have you been doing this kind of work?’

‘Years,’ Victor said.

‘How many jobs have you done?’

‘Countless.’

‘How many times have you been expendable?’

‘Most of them.’

Jaeger nodded and rested his knuckles on the table. ‘So tell me, why would this job be any different?’

‘You’re saying Hart is the cleanup guy.’

Jaeger nodded again. ‘Why else is he here? He looks at me like I’m nothing. I didn’t have to be in the room to know he looked at you in the exact same way and I know you noticed. Coughlin pretends he doesn’t see it. Dietrich gets no better, but Dietrich is a dick. He expects people to look at him like he’s a piece of shit because that’s how he looks at everyone else. But Hart is not wound up tight enough to snap at any point like Dietrich. Hart is like a block of ice. He knows a lot more than us. I can tell. And what he knows is the reason why we’re nothing to him. Because we will be nothing. When we’ve done what Leeson wants doing, Hart is going to make sure there’s no comeback.’

‘There’s four of us,’ Victor said. ‘And one of him.’

‘Do you really think he’s going to try anything when we’re together? He’ll get us one by one. When we’re vulnerable.’

‘You’re a lot bigger than he is.’

Jaeger laughed. ‘Somehow I don’t think he’s going to try wrestling me. If you had to kill me, would you come at me head on?’

‘No.’

‘How would you do it?’

‘I’d prefer to keep that to myself.’

‘If you wouldn’t come at me head on why would Hart? He’s already got it all figured out. Three seconds after I first met him he’d worked out how he was going to kill me. Same with you.’

‘Why are you telling me this?’

‘So you can help me kill him, of course. I’m not here chatting for the sake of it. What do you think this is? It’s recruitment time, friend.’

‘Why would I want to help you?’

‘You want to stay alive, don’t you?’

‘I’m a lot harder to kill than I look.’

Jaeger smirked. ‘Is that because you face threats like Hart all on your lonesome? Maybe, but why would you if you don’t have to? And do you choose to fight on your enemy’s terms? No chance. It’s on your terms or not at all. You hide it well, but you’re a lot smarter than you want people to see. But I see it. You’re always watching. You never relax. You’re always working out what your next move is going to be well before you need to make it. That’s good. I like that. I know it means you’re not the kind of man who blindly rolls the dice. You stack the odds in your favour first. So I know you’d rather it was two against one.’

‘We could just walk away. No one is here to stop us.’

‘No, we can’t. My real name is Jaeger, just like you’re really Kooi. Leeson knows who we are. He knows everything about us. We run, and Hart will hunt us down one by one. Besides,’ Jaeger added. ‘If you help me on this then I can help you take care of Dietrich too.’

‘Why would I want to do that?’

Jaeger laughed. ‘Because you hate the prick. I don’t blame you.’

‘I don’t hate anyone.’

‘Then for self-preservation. Get him before he gets you. He’s no Hart, but do you really want to be looking over your shoulder for him all the time when you need to be watching out for Hart?’ He shook his head. ‘Of course you don’t. And don’t tell me you think that little scuffle was the end of it for you and Dietrich? That’s just the beginning. He’s going to come for you. Knowing Dietrich, sooner rather than later.’

‘How can you be so sure about that?’

‘Because he told me. People have always confided in me. I look like a trustworthy guy, don’t I? Plus, he wants me to help him.’

‘And will you?’

The wide shoulders shrugged. ‘That depends, doesn’t it?’

‘On whether I help you kill Hart?’

Jaeger rapped the knuckles of his right hand on the tabletop. ‘Told you I knew you were switched on.’

‘Why haven’t you asked Dietrich to help you instead? You’ve only known me a day.’

‘Because Dietrich is a dick. I wouldn’t trust him to tie his shoelaces so I’m sure as shit not going to trust him backing me up against Hart.’

‘Coughlin then?’

‘Are you joking? I tell him I want Hart dead, first thing he’s going to do is go straight to Hart to rat me out.’

‘How do you know I won’t?’

‘Several reasons.’

‘Which are?’

‘You’re the new guy, and after Hart, I’ve been here longest. Your word won’t mean shit compared to mine.’

‘That’s not enough of a reason.’

‘It’s a secondary consideration. The reason I know you won’t go to Hart is because you want Hart out of the way, just like I do. Only you’d want Hart gone even if I hadn’t told you he was bad news.’

‘Why?’

‘Because you want his woman.’

‘If you want my help so badly you’ll be happy to tell me what you’re working on in the barn.’

‘Oh, you’d just love to know that, wouldn’t you? But no deal. I’ll show you when this over. You wouldn’t believe me otherwise.’

‘How do I know this isn’t a setup?’

Jaeger laughed. ‘What if it is? This whole job is a setup. Haven’t you worked that out yet?’

‘How do you plan to do it?’

‘Leeson’s going to fill us in on the job tonight, right? After dinner, he told me. We’ll all be there, sitting around this here table. What I want you to do is piss off Dietrich. I’ll leave you to decide how best to do that. Shouldn’t be hard given your relationship. Dietrich won’t need much of a push for things to get lively. Which will be the distraction I’ll use to get that little pistol from Leeson and turn it on Hart. I don’t care how tough he is. He’s not tough enough to survive half a dozen bullets in the cranium.’

‘But he tells Dietrich to stop, he’ll stop.’

‘Dietrich’s scared of Hart, sure. But he hates you and he’s dumb enough to take whatever bait you toss him. By the time Hart tells him to back down it will be too late. I only need Dietrich to be Dietrich for a few seconds.’

‘Then what happens?’

‘I’m not taking any chances with Hart. I’ll unload Leeson’s pop gun into him. Then we can take care of Dietrich together. Won’t be difficult between the two of us. And Coughlin isn’t anything without a gun, which he won’t have. Which just leaves Leeson and Francesca. Obviously, we don’t touch her. Unless you’re into that kind of thing. It’d be fun. We could—’

‘And Leeson?’

‘Sweat the money out of him. He’s got some hard currency somewhere nearby. Without Hart to protect him he’ll be soaking his trousers. He’ll give us anything we want to save his skin. The details of his numbered accounts. His list of clients. Whatever.’

‘And then?’

‘Then we kill him too. Slowly. Bastard was going to have his pet clean us once we’d done his little job. I want him to know the error of his ways before he dies.’

‘Then?’

‘We burn this place to the ground with them inside it. And we go our separate ways.’

‘How can I trust you?’

‘How can I trust you back? I can’t trust you and you can’t trust me because neither of us is stupid enough to not know how this business works. But what’s the point of going through all that to save our skins just to die trying to kill each other at the end of it? I want to put this shit behind me. I want to live.’

‘Good point.’

‘Told you I think of everything. So, Mr Kooi of Holland, are you in?’

‘I’m thinking about it.’

‘Time is of the essence here, in case you’ve forgotten. So you’d better stop thinking and get on with acting.’

‘That’s the exact opposite of how I normally operate.’

‘Do you normally sign up for a job without knowing the target, and get put into a team you didn’t know existed?’

Victor didn’t answer.

‘And do the people you normally work for plan for your death before you’ve even actually done anything to compromise them?’

‘It’s more common than you would think.’

‘If you say so. But tell me, did you get out of those holes by sitting back and letting the bastards trap you in a corner?’

Victor shook his head. ‘I’ve always found the best form of defence is to attack.’

‘Exactly,’ Jaeger breathed. ‘So are we going to let that bastard Leeson and his Rottweiler stub us from existence the second we’re no longer any use to them?’

‘As you rightly said: that’s not how I do business.’

‘So you’re in?’

‘I’m in.’