Sarah followed his gaze. ‘Do you think they’d follow us?’
Dan shrugged, watching the constant stream of human traffic. ‘Honestly? No. No – I think Delaney’s running an extremely low-key operation. The less people that know about his plans, the better – it means he has more control over it. As long as our friend in the glasses doesn’t appear, I think we can assume that Delaney believes that he’s frightened us off.’
Sarah stood up, shouldered her bag and handed the other to Dan. ‘Come on – show time. Let’s get this flight over and done with.’
They wandered through the vast airport towards their boarding gate, the early morning sun glinting through the windows as it created a haze over the airport and across Singapore city in the background.
As the aircraft eased itself off the runway, Dan peered out the window at the steady stream of freighters lining up to enter and leave the busy port below them.
And wondered how on earth he would find Delaney’s car.
Chapter 32
London, England
Dan threw Sarah’s suitcase and his battered old kit bag onto the back seat of the taxi next to Sarah then climbed into the passenger seat.
‘Where to?’ asked the driver.
Good question, thought Dan.
‘Willesden Green,’ said Sarah.
Dan turned and glanced over his shoulder at her. She smiled. ‘Pete and I never sold our apartment in London,’ she explained. ‘I use it when I know I’m not going to be leaving the office on time or have to work weekends.’
Dan nodded and relaxed. Neither of them felt like filling the silence of the journey with idle chatter for the benefit of the taxi driver.
Sarah spent the journey staring out the window and Dan closed his eyes. Old habits died hard. Sleep whenever you get the chance.
The journey was uneventful. After half an hour of fighting through the north circular’s usual traffic queues, the taxi driver turned right off the main road and began to thread his way to the northern suburb of Willesden Green.
Sarah leaned forward, told the taxi driver where to stop and paid the fare while Dan climbed out, stretched and then bent down to lift out the bags. He put them on the pavement next to his feet and looked up at the building.
A five-storey dark brick structure, it had been subdivided into apartments. A single entryway led into the building, with a series of names and doorbells on the left of the wide double doors. Dan looked down the road. About two hundred metres down the street, a service station did a brisk early evening commuter trade while opposite, an open-air tube train line blinked between houses.
He glanced back as the taxi drove away.
Sarah walked over to him. ‘Okay?’
He nodded. ‘I guess.’
She smiled. ‘Come on. It won’t take long to warm up the place. You’ll feel better after a hot shower.’
Dan picked up the suitcase and kit bag and followed her. He felt completely out of his comfort zone.
‘Oh,’ said Sarah, as she opened the door for him. ‘I forgot to say. There’s no elevator and we’re on the top floor.’
‘No problem,’ Dan grunted as he stumbled through the front door. He grinned, then dropped Sarah’s suitcase at her feet. He hoisted his kit bag over his shoulder and began to climb the stairs.
‘Bastard,’ said Sarah under her breath. She picked up her suitcase and followed him.
Dan reached the top landing several minutes ahead of Sarah. He took in the wide carpeted staircase he’d just climbed, ornate wooden banisters gleaming from a recent polish. He turned and looked out the hallway window over the scene below.
Rain began to lash against the window, the brake lights from cars reflected in the droplets that crawled down the pane. Dan sighed, feeling depressed after spending time under the open blue skies of the southern hemisphere. He wondered if he could move there permanently like Mitch. And then decided he probably could.
His daydream was broken by the sound of Sarah dropping her suitcase on the plush carpet of the landing below him.
‘Okay, I give up. Help,’ she called up.
Dan grinned and walked down the stairs to meet her. ‘You know, you’re the only person I know who would have the top floor apartment in an apartment block with no elevator,’ he said.
Sarah smiled. ‘That’s exactly what Peter said when I told him I wanted us to buy it,’ she said. ‘Come on. I just want to get through the front door and stop travelling for a while.’
When they reached the top floor, Dan picked up his kit bag and followed Sarah to a nondescript front door with a single deadlock. He waited while she pulled out a set of keys from her bag, then he followed her into the apartment.
‘Just put the bags next to the door,’ said Sarah. ‘Relax. I’ll put the kettle on. Make yourself at home.’
Dan watched as she turned right along the narrow corridor and disappeared into a room at the far end which he presumed was the kitchen.
He turned left and found himself in a small living room. It felt bigger due to the floor-to-ceiling windows at the front of the apartment which overlooked the train line below, then out over the cityscape beyond.
Two armchairs faced a small television, a gas fire and a coffee table. Tasteful art prints took up some of the wall space.
Dan wandered back along the hallway, pushing open doors quietly. He found the guest bedroom. It had a single bed, a wardrobe and a small desk with a computer and printer set up on it. He closed the door and made his way along past the bathroom. He hesitated at the next door and checked back along the hallway. He could hear Sarah humming to herself in the kitchen.