Jake looked over at the distant hills that were catching the first pink rays of the sun. ‘We need to go for it now. Saw isn’t here.’

‘Yes. We’ll do it now.’ Lucas still didn’t look at Jake.

‘What is it, Lucas?’

‘My stomach kills.’

Either side of them, Saw’s men fanned out into the forest. The mule, laden with bags, plodded on, snorting as it went. The five porters were bent double beneath the weight of their heavy packs.

Jake looked back at Anna. He wished she wasn’t the one tied to Toad but he could see that Toad’s hold on her was slackening. He was finding it hard work, winding his way upwards through the trees. Jake could see he was ready to let go and so could Anna. She fixed him with a look that said, ‘It’s time.’

Jake whispered to Lucas, ‘It’s now, Lucas. Let’s fall back a bit more.’

Lucas didn’t answer but his feet slowed to almost a stop.

Jake looked behind; Anna and Toad had nearly caught up with them. Toad was distracted; he was looking at his feet. He had let go of the rope. Jake looked at Thomas; he nodded back. Jake bent down and picked up a stout piece of branch and kept it hidden against his body. He looked back at Thomas. He had done the same. Thomas had a look in his eye that told Jake he wasn’t going to back down. They would hit him, one from the back, one from the front. Silke slipped in behind Anna. The others slowed until they were just in front of Toad and Anna. Jake turned the branch in his hands and gripped the end with both hands. Thomas stood behind Toad’s shoulder—Thomas was ready. Jake looked up at Lucas.

‘You ready, Lucas?’

Lucas didn’t answer.

‘NOW!’

But Lucas wasn’t looking at Jake, he was stumbling. Lucas grabbed at a branch to try and steady himself; it snapped off in his hand and he smashed his shoulder into the tree trunk and slipped to the ground. He lay there panting and Jake looked up to see Saw was looking straight at him.

15

After Mann had left for the airport, Alfie followed Katrien out of the NAP offices and watched her get into a cab. He got on his bike and followed. An expensive-looking woman like her wasn’t going to live far out of town. He was right: she lived the other side of the Jordaan. She had an apartment overlooking a wide cobbled avenue in the rich part of town. He stayed out of sight, watched her get out of the taxi and then waited outside. He saw the light go on on the top floor. He saw her reflection in the window as she drew the curtains. Now he was sure of where she lived he would come back the next morning.

Katrien finished fixing her makeup in the bathroom. She chopped up a fat line of coke on a mirror and snorted it through a five-hundred-euro note. She never got over the thrill of snorting coke using big money: the smell of the money and the high from the coke went together. She closed her eyes and screwed up her face as the pain hit the top of her nose, between her eyes. She sniffed hard and set herself out another line for later. When she’d finished checking her makeup, she rested her foot on the side of the bath and twisted around to fasten her stocking. She smiled at her reflection in the mirror. It didn’t get much better than this—coke and money and sex. She congratulated herself: Katrien was a clever girl and she wasn’t going to let anyone fuck it up for her. Things might not have gone to plan but she would still come out of this a winner. She finished putting on her stockings, her lacy black thong and her peephole bra, before slipping on her black six-inch stilettos. She walked out of the bathroom but then doubled back to snort the other line. Back in the bedroom she poured herself a glass of Bollinger and sat down to wait for her PC to start up.

‘Hello, darling.’ She pouted into the camera, dipped her finger into the cold glass of Bollinger and ran it beneath the lace of her bra cup as she played with her nipples. ‘Have you been a good boy? Because I’ve got something nice for you—you’re going to like it. Are you ready?’

There was a pause as she read the typed reply.

Katrien gave a stamp of her stiletto.

‘Don’t ask me that now—you’ll spoil the mood. No, I didn’t find it yet…I have told you, I will get it. We will have revenge one way or another. Remember, it wasn’t just your life that was ruined. Now, stay calm. Move them north. Hand them over and we will get what is rightfully ours. It will all be over soon, my darling. Anyway…’ She rolled her eyes and smiled. ‘I know you care about that, don’t you, my darling? But this is also something you care about, isn’t it? I have a surprise for you that you are going to like very much.’ She stood and played with the tie sides to her panties. ‘Are you ready?’ She undid the sides of her panties and let them fall. She adjusted the chair so that the webcam could see her and she sat down and opened her legs wide, leaned into the webcam and whispered, ‘I have seen him. The game has started.’

16

The next morning Alfie waited until Katrien went to work, then he parked outside her apartment and buzzed all of the flats until someone kindly released the front door catch. He headed up the stone staircase to the top floor. He walked to the door and took out his handy breaking-in kit, which he had used when he was a wayward youngster and which still served him today as a cop.

He was a little out of practice and it took him a few minutes, but soon enough he was in. The alarm started beeping. Alfie slipped a small tin from his pocket, flipped it open and pulled out what looked like a woman’s makeup brush with a powder canister attached. He brushed the keypad, leaving a trace of charcoal on three numbers on the pad. The alarm beeped faster, louder. Alfie looked at the four dark squares: one, nine and six. Now, what was the order? He tried them numeric ally. ‘Error’ came up on the pad; he pressed clear and thought about it. She was forty. He knew that much. He pressed one, nine, six and six, the year she was born—and the alarm stopped beeping. Alfie held his breath—was it about to go ballistic? He waited, ready to run, but no. Alfie stepped inside. He raised his eyebrows and looked around appreciatively. She had good taste. It was the opposite of his and Magda’s place. This was chic and minimal—and very expensive. It was gadget world. He had no idea how she afforded this kind of luxury on her salary. The kitchen was black marble, as was the bathroom. Alfie looked at the mirror beside the bath; he wet his finger and dabbed it on the white trail, then he tasted it.

He walked into her bedroom, animal fur, teak furniture, black walnut floor. For a minute he thought it doubled as an office because it had a PC, until he saw the biggest webcam he had ever seen. She was big into Skype, thought Alfie. He jogged the table as he passed and the screen lit up.

She had left herself signed in. Big mistake, thought Alfie. He sat down at her desk and opened her contacts. She had ten new emails. He guessed this was a personal account. Not many people called themselves katcream69, not at work anyway. He opened her emails. Most of them were from different men. They appeared to be clients, lovers. That must be how she afforded this apartment, thought Alfie; either Katrien was a highly paid call girl or she dealt in some heavy-duty drugs. One of them was an appointment for the following day, Friday, at the Erotica Museum. Alfie tried to access her other accounts. Two others came up when prompted. Alfie pressed the link for ‘forgotten password’. He was presented with two queotions. The place she was born and her favourite colour. He wrote down the email addresses and shut the PC down.