Gabriel inclined his head toward the east.
“You have my full attention.”
“I have a source for you and your service,” said Gabriel.
“Russian?”
“British, actually.”
“Not another wayward SIS officer, I hope.”
“She’s wayward, all right, but she has no connection to Vauxhall Cross.”
“She?”
“You heard me correctly.”
No, thought Christopher. It wasn’t possible. “What sort of work does our wayward girl do?”
“She used to do a bit of journalism. Now she doesn’t do much of anything.”
“And what exactly do you want SIS to do with her?”
“Exfiltrate her back into Britain and stash her away somewhere nice and remote.”
“Any particular reason?”
“Because she’s dead, Christopher. And she needs to stay that way for a while.”
He smoked in silence for moment. “You were dead once, as I recall. You died in that car bombing on the Brompton Road.”
“Yes,” said Gabriel darkly. “Good times.”
During the drive up the valley, Christopher regaled Gabriel with tales of mountaineering derring-do. The Eiger, he said, had been a snooze. He scaled the North Face in just under eighteen hours, then repaired to the outdoor bar at Kleine Scheidegg and drank himself stiff on lager. His nearest brush with death had occurred on Mont Blanc’s Goûter Pass. The culprit was a rockslide, which missed him only by a meter or two. Four other climbers were not so fortunate. Christopher had carried one of the bodies down to Chamonix.
“What on earth were you doing on that mountain in the first place?”
“I was climbing it, you idiot. What do you think?”
“Do you know how many people die on Mont Blanc each year?”
“More than on Everest.”
“Far more.”
Christopher only shrugged in reply.
“Perhaps you should take up another hobby,” suggested Gabriel.
“Like what?”
“Sailing is a fine pastime.”
“No one ever dies sailing,” quipped Christopher.
An hour after leaving the rail station in Bern they arrived in Lauterbrunnen. Gabriel made for the eastern side of the valley and rolled to a stop outside the largest chalet in sight.
“Nice crib,” said Christopher. “How much did she pay for it?”
