Free Tango One by Stephen Leather Page A

work their way through college, single mothers do it, it's totally legal and above board.”
    Tina took a long pull on her cigarette and blew smoke at Hathaway. He looked uncomfortable but didn't say anything.
    “I don't believe this. I don't fucking believe this.”
    Still Hathaway said nothing.
    “It's not much of a plan, is it? Putting me undercover in a lap-dancing bar in the hope that Donovan wanders in and spills his guts.”
    “Give us some credit, Tina.”
    “Why should I give you any credit at all? You say you know who this guy is and what he's doing. Why can't you put him away yourself?”
    “Knowing and proving are two different things, Tina.”
    “I thought with new technology and stuff there was no way anyone could hide any more.”
    Hathaway nodded.
    “You're right. We can tap his phones, we can watch him from CCTV, from satellites even. We have his DNA and fingerprints on file, we know almost everything there is to know about Dennis Donovan, but we can't catch him in the act. And if we stick to using traditional methods, we probably won't.”
    “See, that doesn't make sense to me. How can he operate if you've got him under surveillance?” She flicked ash into an ashtray shaped like a four-leafed clover.
    “Because at the level Donovan operates, it's all about contacts. It's not as if he hands over a briefcase of cash and picks up a bag of drugs. He has a conversation with a Colombian. Face to face. On a beach maybe. Or walking down a street. Somewhere he can't be overheard. Then he talks to a shipping guy. Probably a guy he's used a dozen times before. Then money gets transferred from a bank in the Cayman Islands to a bank in Switzerland and the Colombian puts the drugs on a ship and the ship sets sail. Donovan flies to Amsterdam and has another meeting with a couple of guys from Dublin and money is transferred between two other bank accounts and the drugs are unloaded on the south coast of Ireland and driven up to Belfast and on to a ferry to the UK. We put him under the microscope and what do we have? Donovan chatting to his friends, that's what we have. And even if we could hear what he was saying, he'd be talking in code. It wouldn't mean a thing to a court.”
    “So the plan is he's going to open his heart to me when he sees me dancing around a silver pole? Just as a matter of interest, Gregg, is there a Plan B?”
    Hathaway chuckled and leaned back, putting his hands behind his neck and stretching out.

Tango One
    “You're right to be suspicious, Tina, but we have thought this through. This is long term. Years rather than months. If we put you undercover now, you might not get to meet Donovan for two years. Three. But the pool he swims in isn't that big and I have no doubt at all that you'll come across his associates if not the man himself. And they're going to open up to you because you're a pretty girl.” He held up a hand heading off her attempt to interrupt him.
    “I'm stating that as a fact, Tina, I'm not trying to soft soap you. Put guys together with booze and pretty girls and tongues start to loosen. These guys work under such secrecy that often they're bursting to tell someone. To boast. To show what big men they are.”
    Tina had smoked the cigarette down to the filter and she stubbed it out in the ashtray. She took another and lit it. She offered the pack to Hathaway but he shook his head.
    “Let's suppose I agree to do this,” she said.
    “What happens to the money?”
    Hathaway looked confused.
    “What money?”
    “I'll be a police officer, right? On standard pay and conditions?”
    Hathaway nodded.
    “But if I'm working in a what was it you called it an executive entertainment bar? If I'm working there, I'll get wages. And tips.”
    “Yours to keep.”
    Tina blew smoke up at the ceiling, a slight smile on her lips.
    “Do you how much those girls earn?” she asked.
    “Sixty, seventy grand. Sometimes more.”
    “Yeah,” said Tina.
    “That sounds about right. And I