Fair Game Read Online Free Page B

join an execution squad.’
    ‘I know that,’ said Shepherd. ‘But all it would have taken was for someone at the PSNI to let Five know that they had a man in a bombing cell and to have worked with us. And how the hell was the operation blown in the first place? How did they get the Special Branch officer’s phone?’
    Button smiled wryly. ‘You won’t like this,’ she said. ‘It was in his coat in a pub and it got stolen. By the time he realised it was missing it was too late.’
    Shepherd shook his head in disgust. ‘Bloody amateurs,’ he said.
    ‘The guy you saved, he wants to meet you,’ said Button. ‘He wants to thank you.’
    Shepherd grimaced. ‘Not interested,’ he said. ‘I’m due some time off, right? Six months undercover with hardly a break.’
    ‘Take as long as you want. And you should talk with Caroline Stockmann.’
    ‘I don’t need a shrink, Charlie. I won’t be losing any sleep over what I did.’ He looked at his watch. ‘I’ve got to go. Can your guys clean up the flat?’
    ‘Of course,’ she said. ‘I’ll have your things sent on to Hereford.’
    ‘There’s nothing there I need,’ he said. ‘It was all part of the legend, there’s nothing personal. Burn the lot. What about you? Are you going to London?’
    ‘There’s a debriefing at Loughside tomorrow. I’ll be in London later this week.’
    Shepherd stood up. ‘I’ll see you when I see you,’ he said.
    She looked up at him, the concern obvious in her eyes. ‘Are you OK?’
    Shepherd shrugged. ‘I’ve been better,’ he said.
    Shepherd got back home in Hereford at four o’clock in the morning. The house was in darkness and he made himself a cup of coffee and two slices of toast. He had just bitten into the second slice when Katra appeared at the kitchen door. She was wearing her favourite pink flannel pyjamas and had tied back her dark brown hair into a ponytail. She blinked the sleep from her eyes as she smiled.
    ‘Dan! I didn’t know you were coming back today,’ she said. Katra had worked for Shepherd for more than three years but still had a noticeable East European accent that betrayed her Slovenian origins, though there was also a trace of Australian from the hours that she spent watching Antipodean soap operas.
    ‘Neither did I,’ he said.
    ‘Are you OK? You look tired.’
    ‘It’s been a long day,’ he said. ‘How’s Liam?’
    ‘He’s fine,’ she said, sitting down at the kitchen table. ‘He said he’d had trouble getting hold of you on the phone.’
    He nodded. She was right. It had been more than three days since he’d spoken to his son. ‘I’ve been really busy,’ he said.
    Katra gestured at the fridge. ‘Do you want me to cook you something? I could make you an omelette or scrambled eggs.’
    ‘Toast is fine,’ he said. ‘Then I’m straight to bed. He’s been doing his homework?’
    ‘Eventually,’ she said. ‘I have to nag him.’
    ‘I’ll talk to him,’ said Shepherd. ‘But no problems?’
    Katra shook her head. ‘Everything’s fine.’
    ‘No girlfriend yet?’
    Katra laughed. ‘If there is he hasn’t told me.’ She got up, went over to the sink and poured herself a glass of water. ‘Are you back for a while?’
    ‘Fingers crossed,’ he said.
    ‘Liam’s playing football on Saturday.’
    Shepherd raised his coffee mug. ‘I’ll be there,’ he said. ‘Now you go back to bed.’
    Katra nodded and went upstairs. Shepherd finished his toast and coffee, put his plate and mug in the sink and headed up to Liam’s bedroom. His son was fast asleep, curled up with his back to the door. He tiptoed over and bent down over the sleeping boy. He watched him for almost a minute, fighting the urge to ruffle his hair because he didn’t want to wake him.
    He went along to his own bedroom and set his alarm clock for seven. It meant that he’d only have just over two hours’ sleep but he wanted to be up with Liam.
    He went to sleep the moment his head touched the pillow,