Dan tumbled into a shrubbery, and covered his face with his arms to avoid getting his eyes scratched. He rolled, breaking his fall, then grunted as he came to a stop on the edge of a gravel path. He stood up and looked back up at the terrace. He brushed himself off and grinned up at the security guard staring down at him.
He stopped smiling when he saw the guard reach down to his belt and pull out a small walkie-talkie radio.
Dan looked around, realising the guard’s call for reinforcements only left him with a few seconds before he was found. He ran along the gravel path in the direction of the driveway. As he turned a corner, he slid to a stop as another guard ambled towards him from behind a tree, his head down as he whistled gently to himself. Dan forced himself to relax and walked nonchalantly towards the guard.
‘Evening,’ he commented as he got closer.
‘Evening sir – leaving so early?’ asked the guard.
‘Ah, early morning tomorrow,’ shrugged Dan.
Suddenly the guard’s radio crackled to life. ‘Jimmy? Watch out for a bloke, about six feet four, brown hair, black suit and tie. Probably looks like he fell into a hedge. He did. Apprehend him if you see him and bring him back to the house.’
The guard looked up at Dan, stunned. Dan made the most of the split-second delay. He ducked out of reach of the security guard as he made a half-hearted grab for his jacket and then ran down the path. Vaulting over the security rope slung across the end of the path, he ran head-first down the steps of the manicured gardens. Reaching the ornamental lawns, he looked up long enough to check the car was parked on the driveway. Sure enough, it was there. Mitch had parked it right between the pillars at the entrance to the driveway so the security gate couldn’t be closed on Dan.
Glancing to his right, Dan spotted two guards energetically running down the length of the driveway between the trees, gaining on him. He ran for the car. He saw another guest’s vehicle coming round the bend from the direction of the house. He couldn’t risk slowing down, the guards were too close. He lunged forwards and as the car passed him, he slid across the bonnet of the small sedan. As it skidded to a shocked halt, the driver slammed the heel of his hand on the horn.
Dan picked himself up off the grass, stumbled to his feet and began to run across the lawn to the car. He could feel his lungs burning, his legs aching with every last stride. He slid to a halt next to the vehicle. Pulling the door open, he threw himself onto the back seat head-first and pulled the door shut behind him.
‘Go, go!’ he urged, careering backwards as the car accelerated and lurched into the narrow lane.
He pushed himself up straight and peered between the seats. ‘Slow down and turn there – let’s not draw any more attention to ourselves than we need to,’ he said, rubbing his hand over his eyes. ‘Jesus, Mitch, your driving skills haven’t changed, have they? I still feel like I’m doing the bloody Paris-Dakar whenever I’m with you.’
‘No, you’re right,’ said Mitch drily as he peered across from the passenger seat. ‘I still leave it to others while I do the navigating.’
Dan did a double-take and looked at the driver’s seat. ‘Sarah? What the hell are you doing?’
She laughed. ‘Mitch didn’t get a chance to tell you he’s not allowed to drive any more, so it looks like you’re stuck with me.’
‘Could be worse, I suppose,’ mused Dan, then yelped as Sarah accelerated down the mountain. ‘Hey, steady!’
Delaney stared at the computer monitors, his eyes searching. ‘There. Stop the playback.’
The head of security obeyed.
Delaney jabbed a finger at a frozen image of Sarah. ‘Who the hell is she?’
The other man hit some buttons and the image enlarged. ‘We’ll soon find out.’
Delaney followed as he stood up and walked over to a series of desks, each with its own computer. He ignored the young security guard who was now slumped dejectedly at the row of monitors. Playing games on his mobile phone, he had missed the evening’s activities and was now regretting his earlier laziness.
Sitting down, the head of security punched a series of buttons and brought up a copy of the image on his computer screen, then ran a program.
Delaney peered at the screen as images flashed by. ‘Where did we get this from?’ he asked, indicating the program.
The head of security chuckled. ‘Best you don’t know, sir.’
Delaney nodded. He didn’t really care, as long as it worked.
‘Here we go.’
The computer program emitted a soft ping as two images appeared side-by-side – the image from Delaney’s security cameras and another, taken some years before at an outdoor media function, the woman’s hair blowing around her face as she stood laughing next to her colleagues. The head of security typed out a search string and Delaney waited while the computer hunted through its massive database. Suddenly, a text box appeared, and the security guard began to scroll through the words.
‘It says here she’s a reporter with the Telegraph in the UK. Strange – she seems to be a prolific writer but hasn’t filed a story for a number of weeks now. Hang on.’ The man opened the next page of text. ‘It says here her ex-husband was killed last month.’
Delaney stopped pacing the room and turned to stare at the two images on the screen. ‘What’s her name?’
The head of security hit a key, bringing up a new window with a driver’s licence displayed on it. ‘Sarah Edgewater.’
Delaney blew the air out of his cheeks. He glanced down at the holster hanging from the other man’s belt. He reached down and pulled the gun out of it. ‘Are these any good?’ he asked, turning the weapon over in his hands.
The man looked at him. ‘I wouldn’t use anything else.’
Delaney grunted. He released the safety catch and strode over to where the young security guard sat. And then shot him between the eyes. Delaney turned back to the screen showing Sarah’s image and pointed at it.
‘Call Charles.’
Chapter 22