Dead Edge: the gripping political thriller for fans of Lee Child. Jack Ford

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      Whispering back but determined to turn it into a hiss, Maddie replied, ‘Shut up, Tom.’

      ‘I think we need to talk.’

      ‘There’s nothing to talk about. So just drop it.’

      Leaning back on his brown leather chair, Granger hard-stared Maddie and Cooper. Glanced down in disgust at the salad his wife had made him. Let out an annoyed grunt, irritated by the fact it was ultimately a pile of Goddamn leafy lettuce and not the Pastrami double white crusty sub with the added delights of onion, cheese, and yellow beer mustard that he’d asked for.

      Transferring his culinary disappointment towards his employees, Granger said, ‘You two finished your conversation? Finished your gassin’? Because maybe it’s escaped your notice but I’ve got a business to run.’

      With transference clearly the order of the day, Cooper, still pissed and ruminating heavily over Rosedale, snapped at his boss. ‘We’re not kids, Granger, and my days of standing to attention finished when I left the military.’

      Granger sat up. Leaned forward. Picked up his fork just so he could shake it at Cooper.

      ‘Here’s the deal. I don’t want to get into any conversation with you. You’re lucky you’re even here after the stunts you pulled this year. If it wasn’t for Maddie pleading your case, this place would be a no entry sign to you. You understand what I’m saying?’

      ‘Oh, I understand alright, Granger, but it may surprise you to know that the only thing I want to do is my job. Nothing else. No fights. Nothing. So no conversation suits me just fine.’

      Granger pushed his glasses up his nose and raised his eyebrows. ‘The job is all you better do, and I’ll be watching.’

      Cooper said nothing.

      ‘Okay, so this job came through last week. They came to us because Onyx has a worldwide reputation of being the best in the business.’

      Taking a long, drawn-out pull of his cigar and letting the smoke slowly twist and rise over his face to hit the brim of his cowboy hat, Rosedale winked, ‘So you like to say.’

      ‘Put that out, or at least open the window. And you can give me one whilst you’re at it. And don’t say anything about I shouldn’t be smoking, I’ll look after my own Goddamn health if it’s all the same with you. Plus, for your information, I don’t just like to say. It’s a fact. We are the best, No job is too big or…’

      ‘… too much trouble.’

      The fork was pointed at Rosedale. ‘Is my business a joke to you, Rosedale? Because if it is, you can get the hell out too… Now, this job. It’s sensitive. So no questions. No straying from the objective. And yes, that’s directed at you, Cooper. What we have is a missing ship. A small general cargo ship, owned by a Turkish company.’

      Maddie said, ‘What’s their business?’

      ‘Import and export. Shipping everything from olives to live stock.’

      ‘That’s what you call sensitive?’ Maddie asked.

      ‘Look, to tell you the truth, I don’t care if it’s olives, meatloaf or Goddamn waffles they’re into. If I say you treat this job as sensitive, that’s exactly what you do… It’s not the usual kind of job where the bank is owed, or a private firm wants their money. Nobody owes anything. Probably the first time we’ve ever had that, but as our success rate in locating high value assets from all over the world is markedly greater than those of our competitors, it makes sense for a company to contact us, for tracing purposes only… The ship’s believed to be at a location just off the coast of Tubruq, Libya. In fact they’ve given me the ship’s coordinates.’

      ‘If they’ve got the coordinates then how can it be lost?’

      Granger banged his fist down on his walnut desk and wasn’t too perturbed to see his lunch box, along with wilted salad, knocked onto the floor. There and then he decided there’d be nothing else for it, he’d have to go and get a crusty sub. ‘Jesus Christ, Cooper, I told you not to ask questions.’

      ‘Come on, Granger, there’s asking questions and then there’s common sense. Why don’t they go and see themselves?’

      ‘Enough, okay… This is the deal: the coordinates show the ship is roughly twenty miles off the coast of Libya, but the shipping company can’t be one hundred percent sure it’s there.’

      ‘They’ve never heard of tracking? AIS tracking? LRIT equipment? The crew must have radioed in vessel data position at least every six hours?’ Maddie mused.

      ‘What is it with you people? No questions. This is what they want.’

      ‘Come on, Granger, you’re asking us to go and fetch a ship off the coast of Libya and do a job without knowing details.’

      ‘Actually, Maddie, I’m not asking you to take back the ship to them. I’m asking you to go and see if it’s there.’

      ‘But then you want us to take it back to port, right?’

      ‘No. The specific orders are not to board the ship.’

      ‘What?’

      Granger, red faced now, shook his head. ‘The brief is, go and speak to the owner. Then go to the location. See if it’s there. Report back to the owner. Period.’

      ‘But…’

      ‘No Maddie, no more. But for your information – and this is only so you’ll shut the hell up – all the tracking and long range radios are turned off. That’s all I know myself.’

      ‘I don’t get it. They can’t. There are regulations.’

      ‘They can and they did, and it’s not for you to get. It’s for you to do your Goddamn job.’

      Maddie pushed some more. ‘But what about the crew?’

      ‘What about them?’

      ‘Well, what happened to them?’

      Granger shuffled in his seat, and shuffled the papers on his desk, though Maddie suspected his uncomfortable look was less to do with his positioning and more to do with what he was holding back on.

      ‘Broadly speaking, Maddison, they got into trouble.’

      ‘What kind of trouble? And why didn’t they radio coast guards for help? Or failing that at least send out a signal? Someone would’ve come. To quote the UN Maritime Convention on the Law of the Sea…’

      As quickly as possible, because he certainly wasn’t in any kind of mood to listen to Maddie quote anything, much less maritime law, Granger cut in. ‘Spare us on that one.’

      ‘Well, my point is if they’d signaled for help the other boats and ships around would’ve proceeded to render assistance.’

      Granger got up from his chair and walked across the room to the door and with something like relief, opened it and signaled for them СКАЧАТЬ