Ecstasy Lake by Alastair Sarre Page A

misunderstanding.’
    â€˜I should go.’
    The restaurant ordered her a taxi and we waited for it outside under a gnarled old plum tree, its fruit already fallen. It was a moonless night, a night without prospect, a night made for empty hearts. There was the smell of rotting fruit. The taxi arrived and hit us with its headlights. She took my hand and led me away a few steps, out of the glare. She kissed me on the lips. It only lasted a moment, but it seemed as if the moment froze. She tasted of salt, lime and alcohol. It was a margarita kiss, a dangerous kiss, an edge-of-the-abyss kiss. It was the kind of kiss that could drive you mad or to do bad things, or maybe good things. It was a hell of a thing to do to a man. She turned and made her way to the taxi. I waved her goodbye. Then I had to sit down for a while, among the rotting plums.

13
    Tasso was his usual noisy self the next day. I don’t know when he did his thinking, but he always seemed to have a plan. He called me to his office.
    â€˜As I said, we need to dig up dirt on Hardcastle. I’m confident there’s no shortage of it.’
    â€˜I don’t think we ever decided how we were going to do that.’
    â€˜We start by watching him. How’re you going with the application?’
    â€˜Fine. It would help to know which lease we’re applying for.’
    â€˜I know it would. But we need to take a few more security steps before I tell you that. I’ve asked Goldsworthy to install a safe in your office. You’ll need to keep all your work in it.’
    â€˜Sure.’
    â€˜So I guess you’re free now until the safe is installed.’
    â€˜What’s up?’
    â€˜I want you to watch Hardcastle.’
    Goldsworthy arrived, bearing a hard-shelled briefcase. From it he extracted a device that looked a little like a two-way radio base station. He turned it on, studied it for a while, and put it on the floor in a corner of the office.
    â€˜Your cell phones won’t work when this baby is on,’ he said. ‘And nor will any listening devices that may be installed. We’ll sweep the premises regularly, of course, but when you’re having highly private conversations it won’t do any harm to have this thing on, just to be on the safe side.’
    He pulled several catalogues from the briefcase and we leafed through them. They displayed a disturbingly wide assortment of bugs, phone-cloning software, keystroke loggers, GPS trackers and miniature cameras.
    â€˜It’s all surveillance and counter-surveillance stuff,’ he said. ‘The range is unbelievable, as you can see. It’s all legal unless you use it.’
    â€˜I don’t see any drones,’ I said.
    Goldsworthy stared at me in his humourless way. ‘That’s another catalogue. You need a drone?’
    â€˜Not particularly. It would be cool, though.’
    Goldsworthy deadpanned me again and switched his gaze to Tasso.
    â€˜To start with, I want to listen in on Hardcastle’s office,’ said Tasso.
    Goldsworthy made a show of cleaning out his ear. ‘Too much wax,’ he said. ‘Or maybe it’s the jammer. Whatever, I didn’t hear you just then. I can get you anything you want from these catalogues within a day, some of them within an hour, except maybe a fucken drone—’ he flicked a curt glance at me ‘—but I can’t help you install it unless it’s on your own premises, and even then the legality of self-bugging is thin. So for fuck’s sake don’t tell me what you want this stuff for.’
    Tasso had circled a few products with a pen. Goldsworthy looked and nodded. ‘Good selections.’ He circled a few more. ‘If cost is no object, it won’t do any harm to have a choice. Some of this I can have here by this afternoon. What you do with it then is your business.’
    â€˜Okay, I’ve got that message,’ said Tasso.