Hunter Killer - Alex King Series 12 (2021)

She smiled and took a sip. “Well, that’s that taken care of!” She picked up a menu from the countertop and said, “Wanna get some dinner together?” she asked amiably.
“Sure.”
“Great. I don’t like eating in restaurants alone.”
“Glad I could be of service.”
She patted his knee and said, “Don’t be silly! You’re good company…”
King sipped some of his beer while he waited for her to remove her hand. She was an attractive woman, but he could honestly say that if he wasn’t in a relationship with Caroline, then he would still not have been interested. She had a childlike quality and an enthusiasm in her eyes that would soon change if she got to know him. Caroline had seen tragedy and experienced personal loss, and together they made each other happy. Looking at Madeleine was like appreciating something pristine, something beautiful but wanting to protect it, rather than merely possess it. The feeling made him appreciate that if he wasn’t exactly old, then he was certainly no longer young. He looked up as the young man whom she had been talking with at the airport entered the bar, scoured the residents, then confidently started to make his way over. No three’s a crowd for this guy.
The man hesitated a moment behind her, then said, “Madeleine?”
Madeleine turned around, her satin blonde hair sweeping through the air like a shampoo advert. She beamed a smile and greeted him warmly. “Daniel! How wonderful, dinner with two handsome men!”
King shrugged, part of him pleased with the compliment, but he knew a gooseberry when he saw one, and knew that tonight it would be him. “Lovely as that sounds, I have some calls to make first, so you two go on without me,” he replied, but he nodded at the man and said, “Can I get you a drink first?”
“Thank you,” the man replied, but King sensed it was as much to do with making himself scarce as offering him a beverage. “A whisky, please. A Scotch.”
King nodded at the hovering barman, then turned to Daniel. “Russian?” he asked.
“What?”
“Are you Russian?”
“No. Does it matter?”
“No.”
“Well then, I’m Polish.”
“I said, it doesn’t matter…” King replied coldly. “But your accent sounds more Russian than Polish to me.”
“Well, I know where I’m from.” Daniel shrugged, took the whisky from the barman and looked directly at Madeleine as he toasted. “Cheers…” he said, raising his glass.
“Na Zdorovie!” King replied, holding up his glass and exhausting his knowledge of the Polish language. Then he realised that he’d mistakingly used Russian and Daniel hadn’t corrected him. He should have said, Na Zdrowie. A subtle difference, but it was all in the pronunciation. Perhaps Daniel was being polite, but for some reason he doubted it. He didn’t seem the type somehow. King turned to Madeleine and said, “I’m sorry, I don’t know the Swedish phrase for cheers…” Again testing, as he knew it to be skol or skål.
Madeleine raised her schnapps. “We say cheers, too.” She smiled and took a sip, the ice clinking against the glass.
King nodded and sunk half his beer. Most of the world said cheers, so he was no further ahead. He regarded Daniel for a moment, then turned his eyes to Madeleine. The two of them were closer in age. He put Daniel at thirty, but his eyes seemed older somehow. A maturity borne from professionalism. “What do you do, Daniel?” he asked.
Daniel took a moment to turn his eyes away from Madeleine, then looked back at King apparently with a degree of disinterest. King couldn’t blame him. The last thing he would have wanted at that age was a cold individual a decade older being the third wheel. But it didn’t make him like the younger man much more. “I’m a programmer and data analyst. I specialise in radar and sonar emissions and laser imaging.”
“Sounds fun.”
“It pays well. I get my fun elsewhere,” he replied flippantly. “And what line of work are you in?”
“I’m a diver.”
“At the coal face as it were,” he smirked. “Bolting, drilling and laying equipment where people like me or my subordinates tell you to.”
“Just a cog in the machine,” King replied neutrally. He wasn’t going to take offence at his cover story being looked down on. He had to focus on what was real. “Are you here to work on Aurora’s hydroelectric project?”
“I am,” he said smugly. “And to assist with raising the submarine, you British had so carelessly misplaced. Until now, that is. I was called in to survey the area in detail. Early reports are that it’s on the edge of a precipice.” He paused. “I’m sorry, you’ve bought me a drink and we are making small talk, but I didn’t catch your name.”
“I didn’t throw it. But it’s Alex.”
Daniel stared at him for a moment, then said, “Nice to meet you…” He paused. “And are you working for Aurora?”
“Not directly. I’m just here to liaise on raising the sub.”
“Liaise?”
King nodded. “Make sure Aurora don’t get in the way. It’s good of them to provide the rigs as a base for the project, but we don’t want their interference to affect the process.”
“It’s in a UNESCO environmental zone. I don’t see that it’s any of your business.”
“I don’t make policy.” King paused. “But Britain needs a non-military presence of private contractors here to champion its affairs.”
“Clearly.” He paused. “About the policy aspect, that is. You don’t look like a man who makes important decisions.”
“You’d be surprised. I’ve made a few life-or-death ones in my time…” King finished his beer and stood up. He noticed Daniel tense, then visibly relax as King stepped back a pace and put some distance between them as he picked up his jacket. “You two find a table together. I must make a few calls. I guess I’ll see you both