The Death Trade. Jack Higgins

a battle of wits, a great and wonderful game, and he had enjoyed every minute of it.

      He produced a coded mobile and dialled a number in Paris. It was answered quite quickly. ‘Osama,’ he said.

      ‘Is risen’ was the reply in French, and it was a woman’s voice. ‘Who are you seeking?’

      ‘Fatima Le Bon, for Ali Saif,’ he replied in English.

      She answered in the same language. ‘You’ve got a nerve, you Egyptian pig. I ended up in police hands again after that last drug bust. I thought I was going down for five years.’

      ‘Which you didn’t,’ he said. ‘Discharged with a clean bill of health. Now, who do you think made that possible?’

      ‘Okay,’ she said. ‘So AQ had a hand in it.’

      ‘Exactly, because we have sympathizers everywhere. I notice you’ve still held on to that special mobile phone I gave you last time when I was over. That’s good, and it proves you’re a good Muslim girl who believes in Osama.’

      ‘A bad Muslim girl who’s French Algerian, didn’t understand what Osama was talking about, and was bewildered when you turned up at that night court with a lawyer when I was charged with slashing that disgusting pimp Louis Le Croix’s cheek.’

      ‘A charge which was thrown out of court when your lawyer presented evidence that the knife was Le Croix’s, who was sentenced to five years, which he richly deserved for a litany of foul deeds, particularly where women were concerned.’

      ‘The evidence against him was false, and I’ve been paying you off ever since.’

      ‘Nonsense, you enjoy the game, just like me, especially when it’s filth like Le Croix who meet a bad end.’

      ‘Screw you, Saif. So what is it this time?’

      ‘There’s a lady in London giving us a problem.’

      ‘By us, you mean Al Qaeda?’

      ‘Of course. She’s staying at the Ritz.’

      ‘And you’d like her damaged? Does this mean permanently?’

      ‘Fatima, we are at war with the world. She is a soldier on the other side, which makes her fair game because she is our enemy. Her name is Captain Sara Gideon.’