The Curse of Medusa

Kiefel ignored the question. “After you murdered my dear Mutti, I was sent to live with my uncle and aunt in East Berlin. My father, as you may know, had died many years earlier in a farming accident. I was only a few months old. I grew up comforted by what was left of my family in the East, Mr Grant. There was nothing for me here after the murder.”

“It was a legally-sanctioned execution after due-process! Elfriede Kallweit was found guilty of conspiracy to commit espionage and sending and receiving communications with Soviet double-agents, Kiefel. You’re wrong, damn it!”

The German ignored Grant totally, and turned to the gum-chewing Angelika beside him. “You know where to take this, meine Liebling. Start work on it right away.”

They kissed and he watched Angelika and the men take the box from the room.

“Fräulein Schwartz might look like a common punk to you, Mr Grant, but she is also a very accomplished chemist. Soon, I will have a weaponized version of this ancient doomsday machine, and then I really will be able to have some fun.”

“Fun? What are you talking about?!”

Kiefel smiled and stroked his beard. “As I said, that is for me to know and you to find out.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Devlin and Lea emerged from the Taxi on Tolka Quay and squinted in the Dublin rain as they walked the final fifty yards to their destination.

Lea looked at the junkyard through the rainy night and shivered. The sign above the gate read O’SULLIVAN’S SALVAGE. “Are you sure we can trust these guys?”

“Sure, what do you think I am — some kind of eejit or something?”

Lea smiled. “Sorry.”

Devlin opened the heavy gate and swung it open to allow them both through. They dodged the puddles as they walked to the front office, lit low in the damp night.

Devlin knocked three times and took a step back.

A gravelly, low voice replied. “Come in, Danny. We don’t want anyone hanging around out the front, do we now?”

Lea followed Devlin into the office, watching him carefully for any body language triggers. It was cold in here, and she could see her breath clouding out in front of her. Worse, the whole place stank of old engine oil and brake fluid and one of the overhead lights was faulty. It flickered on and off like a horrible yellow strobe and put her on edge.

An overweight man with a shaved head and thick moustache got up from his desk and padded over to them. Behind him, through a doorway that opened out onto a large workshop, a taller, thinner man with a long ponytail leaned against a car crusher with two muscular, tattooed arms folded high over his chest.

“Good to see you Danny Boy,” said the first man. He smiled to reveal at least two missing teeth.

“Likewise, Mikey,” Devlin said.

They shook hands and then the man looked at Lea. His eyes crawled from her face down to her boots and then all the way back up again. “And what have we here?”

Lea stood still and said nothing.

Devlin took a step forward and partially blocked the man’s view of Lea. “This is an old friend of mine, Lea Donovan. Was in my unit. If you fuck with her you’ll be sorry.”

The man returned his gaze to Devlin. “Is that right?”

In a flash Lea elbowed Devlin out of the way, pulled a gun from her shoulder holster and pushed it into the folds of fat on the man’s wide neck. “Sure it’s right, ya great big lunchbox. Wanna try me out?”

A long moment of awkward silence followed and then the man burst into laughter. A second later Ponytail started laughing as well, and unfolded his arms.

“Oh… I like her, Mikey,” Ponytail called through the door.

Lea holstered the weapon and took a step back, winking at the man.

“Lea Donovan, please meet Mikey O’Sullivan here with the barrel mark in his neck and Kyle Byrne hiding back there by the crusher. Pay no attention to either of them,” Devlin said coolly. “Mikey’s a real kingding at times and they can both be a couple of dry shites if they lose on the horses, like tonight, I’m guessing.”

Mikey and Kyle exchanged a glance.

“Hey guys,” Lea said casually.

“Good to meet you, Lea Donovan,” Mikey said. “Now, Danny and Lea — would you like a drink to keep the cold out?”

They agreed to the drink and a moment later they were sitting around the desk. Mikey pulled a bottle of Irish whiskey from the drawer and poured out four doubles into old, chipped mugs.

Lea peered into hers with suspicion.

Mikey raised his mug. “Well, sláinte!”

Like it or not, Lea thought, she had to drink from the mug. She had done worse. She picked it up and they all chinked them together.

Devlin spoke first. “Not seen you around Dublin for a while, Mikey.”

“I was over in Edinburgh visiting me brother. Old mate of his lives there — Graeme. We all hook up now and then in Kelly’s — an Irish pub in Old Town that’s always jammers. Had a few good times there I can tell you — the craic was ninety, Danny, I swear it. Great city — some of the best pubs I ever went to. You should go.”

“I’ll do that,” Devlin said.

Lea sighed. “I think we’re moving away from the point.”