They reached the entrance to the staircase.

Once beyond it, they sprinted up the stairs. As he neared the top landing, Field heard her scream.

Fifty-four

Field braced himself and kicked her door, hard, just beneath the handle. “Natasha!” He took aim and kicked once more.

He kicked again and again, until the frame started to splinter.

“Natasha!”

There was silence within.

The door gave with a crack like a pistol shot. Field crashed through it, raising his gun, Chen behind him. The curtains had been partially drawn. He blinked, trying to adjust his eyes to the patchwork of daylight and shadow.

The flat was silent.

There was the flickering glow of a candle in the bedroom doorway, and Field walked slowly toward it.

He saw her arms first, handcuffed above her head. She was almost naked. Geoffrey half sat, half knelt above her, his knife at her throat.

“Don’t move, Richard.”

He stepped into the room.

“Do not move.” Geoffrey’s voice shook with barely controlled anger.

Field stopped. He raised his hands slowly in the air, transfixed by the fear in Natasha’s eyes.

“Put the gun down,” Geoffrey ordered.

Field took a pace toward them.

“Both of you.”

Field leaned over and placed his gun beside the bed. Chen, standing directly behind him, bent down slowly and slid his weapon along the floor.

Field’s heart was beating so hard he could hear it. He took another step forward.

Without a word, Geoffrey moved the knife from Natasha’s throat and cut swiftly across the top of her right breast. She recoiled, giving a strangled cry. Field watched, frozen, as a rivulet of blood ran down the side of her breast and blossomed where it touched her camisole.

Natasha closed her eyes and, very softly, began to cry, her mouth shut tight, her teeth grating against the pain.

Geoffrey pressed the blade against the soft skin of Natasha’s neck. “She is as good as dead, Richard,” he said.

“I saw you as a father,” Field said quietly. “I saw you as a hero.”

“There are no more heroes, Richard. Did your father’s suicide teach you nothing?”

“I don’t think he felt he had a choice.”

“His much-lauded integrity didn’t take him to the front, though, did it?”

“He wanted to go. He failed the medical.”

“Is that what he told you?”

Field didn’t answer.

“You and your father are so alike it makes my skin crawl. That same insufferably sanctimonious sense of moral probity that you seek to impose upon the world.”

“I grew up with the story of your sacrifice. It was your example that taught me there were things worth fighting for.” Field searched for some humanity in his uncle’s eyes but saw only the accumulated bitterness of the years.

“There’s nothing left worth fighting for,” Geoffrey said. “Open your eyes, Richard. Take a look around you.”

Field moved closer, and Geoffrey sliced the blade once more across Natasha’s chest. This time he did not even glance at her as she whimpered and writhed, the tears running down her cheeks.

“Don’t do that again,” Geoffrey said.

Field tried not to look at her, either. “This is because of what happened to you in the war?” he said.

Geoffrey went completely still. “Do you know how many men marched into Delville Wood that day?”

“Yes I do.”

“And how many of us came back?”

“I understand.”

“No you don’t. You can’t possibly understand. Nobody survived that day. We all died in Delville Wood.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Life goes on, of course. It goes on and on and bloody on. But people forget, Richard; they confuse meaningless sacrifice with nobility. The Great War? Oh yes. That was the war to end all wars. But Delville Wood? It’s just a place on the map.”

“I said I’m sorry.”

“Spare me your pity. I’ve seen the look in your eyes when you watch me dragging myself through another roomful of bloody beautiful people. It’s the same way Penelope looks when she’s just been with someone who can fuck her-”

“What harm have these girls done you?”

Geoffrey’s face twisted. “They despise me. They judge me. You all dare to judge me.”

Field shook his head. “You’ve got it wrong, Geoffrey. My father destroyed himself by trying to prove himself worthy of you, of your family. So did Mother. She couldn’t bear to incur your disapproval. They felt they couldn’t measure up. The fact that you came back a hero was just… It made my father even more haunted by the mess he thought he’d made of our lives. He hated me for admiring you.”

“So I’ve let you down as well?” The anger burned deep within Geoffrey’s eyes. “You’re disappointed, like your mother, that I’m not the man I was, that I am somehow diminished by my journey through seven versions of hell? Damn you, Richard. Your arrogance disgusts me. You’ve been in this city for little more than a heartbeat, and yet you believe you can lord it over us all.”

“I’ve never believed-”

“Get out of my sight. And just see how long you last. This is my city, Field. It dances to my tune.”

“Let me take the girl-”

A look of complete incredulity crossed Geoffrey’s face. “She’s a Russian.”

“She’s got a little boy to look after. Natalya’s son.”

“Get out, Field.”

“It’s not too late.”

“Don’t insult me further.”

“It’s not-”

“Get out. I’m damned if you’ll lecture me. You cannot save the girl.”

“Why?”

“Because of the look in her eyes,” Geoffrey exploded. “Because of the promises she makes but cannot keep.”

Natasha twisted suddenly, unbalancing Geoffrey, and Field lunged across the bed, grabbing hold of his knife arm. His momentum took them both crashing onto the floor.

Geoffrey managed to wrench himself round as they fell, forcing Field onto his back. The pain burned through Field’s shoulder as he tried to keep his grip; Geoffrey was astonishingly strong. He looked up at the long blade closing on his neck and felt Geoffrey’s free hand scrabbling at his face, fingers searching for his eyes.

Field let go with his right hand and hit him as hard as he could on the underside of the jaw. As Geoffrey’s head snapped back, Field grabbed and twisted the knife, watching the blade disappear into Geoffrey’s stomach as the bullet from Chen’s revolver thumped into his uncle’s chest.

Geoffrey’s body went slack, his eyes widening in surprise, the knowledge of his own imminent death creeping across his face.

Field pushed Geoffrey off him and got to his feet. As he did so, Geoffrey began to convulse, at first violently, and then with diminishing force as the life drained out of him.

Field knelt and watched his uncle slip away, watched the cold anger disappear from his eyes, to be replaced by a sadness more profound than he had known.

The man who had sacrificed himself at Delville Wood searched Field’s face, then fumbled for his hand. “Don’t remember this,” he said.

He tightened his grip, his hand slippery with his own blood. It was as though the Geoffrey that Field had once known was trying to summon himself back from the past, before it was too late. He struggled to speak, his mouth opening and shutting, but could not enunciate the words.

Field leaned nearer. Geoffrey closed his eyes. Field felt the dying man’s breath on his cheek as he finally managed to whisper, “Don’t-remember-this.”

The pain ebbed from Geoffrey’s face and his grip on Field’s hand weakened. He did not open his eyes again. His breathing was now almost inaudible, the room suddenly quiet.

The silence was broken by the sound of footsteps pounding up the stairs. Chen was on one knee in the doorway. For a split second, Lu’s bodyguards did not see them. Chen fired twice at Grigoriev, who fell back into the man behind him.