Our Last Echo

14

Metropolis

It was eight thirty by the time Tyler reached the address James gave him. He felt very ambivalent about this meeting. He didn't understand what was between himself and Bruce. Instinct told him James Sutton was Kovalan's enemy, and Kovalan saving his life didn't change that. But he had trouble digging up evidence to support that instinct. A few harsh words in the Capitol? Harsh that encounter may have been and Tyler came away from it bruised, but it didn't add up to more than words.

That was, in part, why he chose to appear as Tyler, not as Kovalan. He wanted to appear normal, unthreatening. He wore grey-blue pants, a pale blue shirt with a plain tie and a casual jacket. And, of course, the thick-framed glasses.

Although he was late, James seemed to know exactly when he would arrive: he had Chinese take-out cartons on the table with the contents still warm, and take-out coffee from the nearby cafe, also still hot. The take-out told Tyler that James spent very little time in this apartment: he had no food in the kitchen.

The apartment itself was a penthouse (of course) with a really great view of the bay. The furniture was sparse and could have been brand new. There was a bank of six screens in two rows on one wall and below them a panel of lights. Tyler, looking through the panel, saw a complete network and server system, as well as controls for a false wall that would conceal and secure the hardware when it wasn't in use. He wasn't more technically proficient than the average American, but it was clear James Sutton was.

"Help yourself to food," James said by way of greeting. "You like Chinese?"

"Sure. Thanks." Tyler grabbed a carton at random, selected a pair of chopsticks and followed James to the computer.

"I want you to tell me everything you can about what happened in Nairomi," James said.

So, he was going to treat this like a business meeting. That was probably best, Tyler thought. "We agreed to share information," he pointed out.

"I'll tell you what I know. But I'll be able to tell you more if I have the full picture. Or at least as much of it as we can get to. How did Ms Lane get so close to Amajagh?"

"She's good at her job," Tyler answered. "She had contacts in Nairomi from the war, and after the embassy bombings she followed up the story. She wanted to interview Amajagh. Diana has a way of getting what she wants."

"I need the details to get to the bottom of this," James insisted. "Do you know the name of her source? How did she get the interview?"

For the next hour, Tyler talked and James asked questions, pushing him to recall even the most obscure details. Tyler told him what he knew of Diana's email contact with Amal and how the interview had finally been arranged. Then he told James about that day. As much as he wanted to respect Diana's independence, he couldn't let her go into such a dangerous situation unprotected, but he hadn't expected the interview to become so violent, so quickly. He told James what happened, about the private security team around the General, led by Anatoli Knyazev, the same Russian mercenary who had been on the streets of Singleforth as part of a setup designed to kill Sutton. He explained about the tracking device Mark had carried, and Jimmy's claim that a CIA agent gave it to him. He described the army convoy that followed them to Amajagh's compound, most likely following that tracking signal, and the choice he made to get Mark and Diana out of there before the battle. He had destroyed as much of Amajagh's weapons stockpile as he could before carrying the people he cared about out of there. Knyazev and his team escaped on motorbikes. He didn't know if the army caught up with them, but it was possible the Nairomi troops didn't even know they had been there.