ack Figg sat in Linnet’s office, drinking a cup of coffee as he waited for her to finish a phone call, which had started a few minutes after he had arrived. He studied her surreptitiously, as he so often did, thinking that she looked better than she had for a long time. He was positive this was because M was back in London, and that she felt less lonely with her sister around. Thank God she and M were all right, had not been injured in the explosion. ‘Only a few bruises,’ Linnet had explained. ‘M and I are none the worse for wear-and-tear, or explosives!’

He brought his gaze back to the fireplace, where as usual a fire was burning brightly. He was glad of it this morning. It was May Day, the first of May, pouring with rain, rather cool and windy. Some spring day, he thought.

Lifting his eyes, he stared at the oil painting of Linnet’s great-grandmother, Emma Harte, a woman he had revered, and still did. She had been on his mind a lot these last few days. He suddenly thought of the time he had decided to leave Harte’s because he wanted to start his own company. Emma had fought him at first and then, relenting, she had cleverly persuaded him to compromise. She had said she would help him to finance Jack Figg International, a company he would own, with the understanding that Harte’s would be his first client.

He smiled to himself now, remembering how sly and cunning she had been. His second client had been Blackie O’Neill and O’Neill Hotels International, his third Sir Ronald Kallinski and Kallinski Industries. He hadn’t needed any other clients once he was representing the three clans: head of security for three major tycoons and three successful companies. She had managed very skilfully to keep him bound to her for most of the time, and on an exclusive basis. One day, some years later, she had drawn up a document that gave him total ownership of his company; when he had tried to return her initial investment, she had told him that it was a bonus for his devotion, that he owed her nothing. But he knew he did. He owed her everything, the life he had today, the life he, in turn, had helped Simon to have.

Linnet was so like her, not only in her looks but in a variety of different ways. She could be just as loving and charming, clever and devious, and also surprisingly ruthless, when this was necessary. He was relieved she was now coping with her grief so well. Julian Kallinski’s sudden and unexpected death two years ago had stunned her, knocked her sideways. It had been a shock to them all. Julian had died of a heart attack in his early thirties, and he a man who had never been ill a day in his entire life.

There was a knock on the door, and it flew open as M came hurrying into the office, a little out of breath. Blowing a kiss to her sister, she glided over to Jack, sat down next to him on the sofa, and planted a kiss on his cheek.

Sitting back, she asked, ‘Have you seen the mess? The Bird Cage is virtually destroyed, Jack. I couldn’t believe it, the day it happened. We had a lucky escape. Just imagine if those other two bombs had gone off in the restaurant. The linen department would have been demolished—and possibly this office.’

‘Not possibly, M, it would have been. And an inferno would have ensued, with all this wood panelling,’ Jack answered, glancing at the beautiful polished pine walls dating back to Emma’s day. ‘It’s a great relief to me that you’re both all right. We had good joss in that, at least.’

‘Good joss?’ M repeated, sounding puzzled.

‘Good joss means good luck; it’s an expression the Chinese use.’ He put his hand in his pocket, brought out his beautiful jade pebble and showed it to her. ‘A friend gave me this, it’s a talisman, and it’s supposed to bring good luck. And you and Lin were lucky last week.’

‘I know you spoke to Linnet and Simon on the phone over the past few days, so you must know everything. And I suppose Simon brought you up to date this morning, right?’

Jack nodded.

M gave Jack a direct, penetrating stare. ‘Do you think it strange that no terrorist group has come forward to claim responsibility for the bombing of Harte’s? Don’t they usually love to do that? Take bows?’

‘Not always. But I agree with you. Quite frankly, I thought some group might make an announcement because of the importance of Harte’s.’

‘Anyway, we’re open again,’ M said, assuming a cheerful tone. ‘I suppose that’s because we’ve made sure everyone knows the store was thoroughly checked, floor by floor. Also, that we’ve increased security.’

She raised a black brow, grimaced. ‘I couldn’t move for all the extra security men this morning. They’re swarming all over the place. Thanks to Simon. Anyway, on to other things. How was Hong Kong, Jack?’

‘Interesting,’ he answered noncommittally. ‘And still one of the most extraordinary places in the world.’

‘I’d love to go there one day, but only if you were along. Nobody knows it like you, and I bet we’d have a great time.’

‘Just let me know when,’ he said, smiling at her, even though his heart was heavy. Black Irish, he thought, studying her. She’s as much a throwback to Blackie O’Neill, with her dark good looks, as she is to Emma Harte.

‘I’m sorry. That was an interminable call,’ Linnet apologized as she finally put down the phone and came to join them.

M jumped up, the sisters hugged, and Linnet held her away and said, ‘I know I’ve said this many times lately, but I’ll say it again…it makes me so happy that you’re back in London.’

‘Me too, Linny.’

As usual, Linnet sat down in the straight chair next to the fireplace. Jack knew she felt the cold just as her great-grandmother had, and preferred this warmest spot in the room. Smiling at him, she said, ‘Sorry I had to take that call just after you arrived, but it was important.’

‘No problem. However, I have something urgent and vital to discuss with you both, and I think it would be best if you asked Connie to hold any phone calls, please, Linnet.’

Throwing him a curious glance, conscious of his sombre tone, she went to her desk, spoke to her personal assistant on the intercom, and then rejoined them around the fire.

Linnet said, ‘Is this something to do with your trip to Hong Kong, Jack?’

‘It is. As you know, I went to see an old friend of mine, and of your mother’s, a very good and loyal friend, the banker, Zhèng Wen Li. He needed to talk to me confidentially, and in person. He’s very cautious and didn’t wish to speak to me on the phone or send a letter or an email.’ Jack paused, and realized that Linnet and M were staring at him intently.

‘Wen Li had some news for me. As it turned out, it was bad news. For all of us.’ He paused, then said in a low voice, ‘Jonathan Ainsley is alive.’

‘That’s not possible!’ Linnet cried, gaping at Jack in astonishment, shaking her head, denying what she had just heard. ‘Everyone knows he died in that horrendous car crash.’ She realized her voice wobbled on the last few words.

‘Apparently not. According to Wen Li, Ainsley’s American wife—Angharad—took him to a clinic in Switzerland.’

‘Jack, this can’t be true! It just can’t be!’ M exclaimed, her voice shrill. ‘There was a funeral, we all know that. Oh, my God, did they have a fake funeral? To deceive us?’ M, her face as white as chalk, was staring at him, her black eyes wide with sudden shock. ‘That bitch was bad news from the moment she stepped into our lives. She’s as evil and as vindictive as Ainsley. And she hates all of us.’

Linnet, trying to overcome her shock, asked, ‘How does Wen Li know Ainsley is alive? Has he seen him? Identified him? It could be just some strange story, an invention.’

‘I thought that, too, Lin, but Wen Li has seen him, though he said I probably wouldn’t recognize Ainsley, because he hadn’t, not at first.’

‘So how can the banker be sure it is our fiendish cousin?’ M said. ‘It might be an imposter.’

‘I posed all the same questions to Wen Li, believe me I did, M. Because it seemed so improbable. I’m afraid he was able to give me answers that I had to accept. At first, Wen Li didn’t recognize Ainsley facially. I suspect there was a lot of plastic surgery, probably because of the burns from the crash. However, Wen Li did recognize the voice, which is very distinctive, was always so upper class. He said it was the eyes, the aquiline nose, and the height that also confirmed his identity. Wen Li remembered Ainsley’s brownish-blond hair, I suppose it’s called fair. And incidentally, Wen Li told me he has a limp, walks with a stick.’

‘How the hell did they do it?’ M wondered aloud, and then turned to Jack. ‘Where is the clinic? Where was Ainsley treated?’

‘Wen Li didn’t know that, but I had one of my European operatives on it over the entire weekend. I heard from him last night. Ainsley was in the Wendkettern Clinic in Zurich. He was in there for a full year, and then in and out for long periods for another year. Later he spent six months as a day patient. Altogether I think he has been treated at the Wendkettern Clinic for three years, and has lived in Zurich all that time.’

‘And is he now living in Hong Kong?’ Linnet asked.

‘Wen Li thinks not, even though he still has the flat he bought there in Nineteen seventy. That’s when Ainsley moved to Hong Kong, after your grandfather David Amory fired him, and your mother kicked him out of the family, because he was cheating Harte Real Estate, the company he ran. He had good joss in Hong Kong, he made a fortune in real estate at a time when you could. According to Wen Li, Ainsley’s now a billionaire.’

‘Why did Wen Li see him? I mean, what was that all about?’ Linnet leaned closer to Jack. ‘Were they friends before? Or colleagues? What?’

‘As you know, Wen Li owns one of the oldest private banks in Hong Kong, inherited from his father. The China Zhèng Private Bank, and it’s very highly thought of—renowned, actually. Over the years he has done business with many people, including your mother, and before her your great-grandmother, as you’re aware. And he also did business from time to time with Ainsley. But they were never friends; in fact Zhèng never liked him. According to Wen Li, about ten days ago, he received a message from Ainsley via an intermediary, asking for a meeting and—’

‘He must have been gobsmacked!’ M cut in.

‘Absolutely,’ Jack replied. ‘He couldn’t believe it either, knowing that Ainsley died in a car crash in France and was buried. He was tremendously puzzled, but knew he must investigate because of me, and the Hartes.’

‘All a ruse, eh?’ Linnet muttered to no one in particular. She tried to remain calm but she was shaking inside, suddenly understanding what Jack probably suspected.

Jack said, ‘I think you’re correct, Linnet. To my way of thinking, Angharad was the mastermind behind this. When she got to him, she realized Ainsley was still alive in that French hospital, if only just, and she decided to get him into one of the Swiss clinics. And then later, she dreamed up the idea of a funeral. She held a bogus one in order to throw us all off.’

‘But why?’ M asked.

‘Ainsley has a vendetta against your mother,’ Jack told her. ‘He believes that Paula was left the Harte stores in Emma’s will because she had used great influence on your great-grandmother. Not true, I can vouch for that. Just so you know, Emma Harte had always planned to leave the stores to your mother, and she divided up the rest of her holdings, properties and companies between her other grandchildren. Jonathan Ainsley has ranted against your mother for years. He has tried all manner of tricks to get the stores, and at one moment he even owned a lot of the shares. But he also has a tremendous and virulent hatred for your mother because she kicked him out of the family. So, there’s a lot of emotion going on there.’

‘I still don’t understand,’ M said, sounding baffled, looking from Linnet and back to Jack. ‘Why did Angharad let us all believe her husband was dead?’

‘To throw us off the track,’ Linnet exclaimed. ‘So Ainsley could attack us without us knowing that it’s him doing it.’

‘Attack us how?’ M leaned into Jack. ‘Does he want to kill us? Is that what Linnet means, Jack?’

‘Yes, he does…using others to do his dirty work, of course. Cast your mind back in time…Don’t you remember the bomb in the church in Pennistone Royal village? When it went off, that could have killed the entire family. He’s ruthless, relentless.’

M had gone paler than ever, and she nodded vehemently. ‘I hadn’t forgotten…’ She looked at Linnet and burst into tears.

It took M only a couple of seconds to calm herself. Reaching for her tan Kelly, she pulled out some tissues, blew her nose and dried her tears. ‘Sorry about that, chaps. I suddenly remembered that day so vividly. So sorry,’ she said again, and took a deep breath, thinking of her beloved family home in Yorkshire, her favourite place in the world.

Jack said, ‘Listen, to cut to the chase, I honestly believe you’re all at risk. Your mother, the two of you, and also your sister, Tessa. I believe Ainsley is a psychopath and that he’s out to destroy the Harte women, especially those with high profiles.’

‘What about our cousins?’ Linnet asked.

‘I don’t think they factor into the equation. It’s all about Paula, in Ainsley’s sick head, and since he hasn’t managed to maim or kill her in thirty-five years, then he has now added you two to the mix, and Tessa, of course.’

‘Did Ainsley tell Wen Li this?’ Linnet asked, and then instantly she shook her head. ‘No, of course he didn’t, he wouldn’t tip his hand. This is a scenario you’ve worked out, Jack, isn’t it?’

‘It is. But getting back to Wen Li for a moment, he himself said the same thing, more or less. He told me Ainsley seemed as vindictive as ever, that he hadn’t changed, and that he, Wen Li, felt it in his heart, in his old bones, that Ainsley was quite likely to go on a rampage. Against Paula.’

‘With us as the other targets,’ Linnet asserted, and grimaced. ‘Out of curiosity, did Wen Li agree to do business with that bastard?’

Jack had to smile: she had sounded so like Emma at that moment, pithy and very angry.

‘He was smart as a fox. He indicated he was interested, very interested, but that he had to mull it over for a few days. Wen Li’s thought was to talk to me at once, to get my input, and to ask me if he could be of use to us by doing business with Ainsley.’

‘And what did you say, as if I didn’t know,’ M muttered, giving him a shrewd look. ‘You said he should do business with him so that we’d know where Ainsley was, well, not exactly that, I guess, but that we would have…access to him. Right?’

‘Right. The problem is, Wen Li doesn’t know where Ainsley is living. When he was in Hong Kong, Ainsley was staying at his flat on Victoria Peak, because he boasted about how valuable it had become to Wen Li, and how beautiful it was. Since he’s not in Hong Kong now, nor has he been seen there for years until last week, he must be living at his Paris flat.’

‘He sold the Yorkshire house,’ Linnet informed Jack, and went on, ‘and the London flat has gone as well. That was all handled by Angharad, I’m sure.’

‘Don’t worry about these minor things,’ Jack said. ‘I have an operative working on Ainsley’s homes and real estate already. We’ll soon know where he hangs his hat on a permanent basis. Now there is another thing I discovered from my Swiss operative. Angharad has had Ainsley’s child. It’s a little girl, and she’s about four years old.’

Linnet started to laugh somewhat hollowly. ‘Oh, my God, that must have done him in! He was always after a son and heir. A girl, eh? Well, they certainly run in this family. He should have known better.’

M stood up, walked over to the window and stood looking down at the traffic in Knightsbridge. After a moment she said slowly, ‘Don’t you think it’s odd that the British police, the great Scotland Yard and its counterterrorist squads and the French police and their DST haven’t come up with much regarding the two terrorist attacks here at Harte’s and at the Hôtel Cygne Noir?’ She looked at Jack, then Linnet, and continued, ‘Because I do. Everything’s gone silent because they’ve found nothing. Is it possible that those attacks are somehow linked, and that you and I are the links, Linnet? Because of the fluky things happening, we both had narrow escapes, but you know as well as I do we could have been easily killed otherwise.’

Linnet stared at her, frowning, and made no response.

Jack said, ‘I already thought of that when I was still in Hong Kong, M. I also wondered about Larry. Was he targeted on location, because he’s your husband? It is a possibility, you know.’

‘I agree. But actually, Jack, there were other people who had food poisoning on the film.’

‘Oh, just a couple, M,’ Jack said dismissively. ‘Larry told me it was two guys from the camera crew, and the caterer herself. So what? If I wanted to poison one person in a group, I’d make sure several others got sick as well, just to throw everyone off the scent.’

M nodded. ‘Maybe. Do you have a plan, Jack?’

‘A lot of ideas. I want to put plenty of security around all of you.’

‘But Larry and I have two security guards already. My friend James Cardigan arranged that. However, I’m sure Mummy doesn’t—’

‘James Cardigan, you say?’ Jack interrupted. ‘Is he in his mid-forties, sort of wiry, good looking with sandy-auburn hair?’

‘Yes, that’s him. He’s married to my friend Geo. He has a big company, something like Figg International, and he used to be with MI6. Do you know him? The look on your face tells me that you do.’

‘Yes, if he’s who I think he is. Oddly enough, I met him some years ago in Hong Kong.’

M pricked up her ears, and exclaimed, ‘James and Geo are in London for another few days. Actually, I’m meeting them for lunch today. Linnet was going to join us. Why don’t you come too?’

‘I’d like to, but I did tell Simon I would have a bite to eat with him. We’ve a lot to go over, as I’m sure you can imagine.’

‘Bring Simon. Six heads are better than one, Jack. Anyway, I know one thing: I’m not going to sit around waiting for Ainsley to kill me! I have an idea and I think we should put it into operation immediately.’

‘And what idea is that?’ Jack asked cautiously.

‘Let’s hire a hit man. Or a contract killer, or whatever you call them. Let’s get that Jonathan bloody Ainsley before he gets one of us. Or all of us. I bet James could find me a hit man, and I’ve got plenty of money. I can pay for the contract killer myself.’

Linnet exclaimed, ‘My God, I do believe you’re actually serious!’

‘Naturally I’m serious,’ M shot back, suddenly glaring at Linnet. ‘Why shouldn’t we take matters into our own hands and do this? Let’s get rid of that bugger now!’

‘We live by different rules,’ Linnet reminded her.

‘Rules are meant to be broken,’ M said, and added, ‘And I’m all for breaking the rules. When those you love are at risk, you’ll do anything to save them. I know I would. So let’s break the rules and go after that swine. Because that’s what he is, and a sicko. I don’t want him hurting my husband or my sisters or my mother. Or me, for that matter. Come on, Jack, let’s get a hit man.’

Jack, amazed by this outburst, said, ‘Not quite yet, M. First we must see if we can find a way to demolish him without resorting to criminality.’

‘I bet we can’t!’ M asserted in a tough voice, and came and sat down on the sofa. ‘Sometimes we have to take big chances, take risks.’

Observing her for a moment or two, Jack found that he was still startled by her toughness, her passion and her bluntness, but then Emma had been as blunt as they come, as was Linnet.

Funny how he remembered M as a girl always pottering around with horses in the stables at Pennistone Royal, always in the tack room, or mucking out, and grooming the ponies. Out of the blue he said, ‘Do you still have that gorgeous gelding of yours? Wasn’t his name Gypsy?’

‘Jack! Gosh! I can’t imagine how you remembered, and yes I still have him, my good old Gypo.’ Memories of the incident last March came rushing back unbidden. Her face crumpled as it struck her that she had more than likely been targeted then. Oh, God, no! No! No! The Bad Thing loomed. She brought her hands to her face, and her body began to shake. And she thought, I must tell them about what happened, how I was assaulted in the woods, how I escaped from that man called Bart.

Jack said, ‘M, darling, whatever is it? Whatever’s the matter?’ He put his arms around her and Linnet stood up, came over to the sofa, asking, ‘M, what is it?’

‘He raped me,’ she sobbed. ‘That man, he raped me, Jack.’