by David Archer
Marco, Neil and Jenny all acknowledged, and they walked out to the parking lot.
* * * * *
“So, what do you think?” Jenny asked. “Is this a test, or is this the real contract?”
Noah looked at her. “I think the contract is genuine,” he said, “but I think it’s still a form of the test. They made it clear they want to talk to you about other contracts, so we have to assume there are even bigger targets on their list. My concern is the fact that the others were even present. If Newsom were the top dog, I would’ve expected him to meet you alone.”
“That’s what I was thinking,” Marco said. “It doesn’t make sense that he would bring along the others, unless they have some say in the matter. These terror organizations are pretty much all beginning to operate like a corporation, with the Board of Directors that makes the big decisions. I suspect Jenny just met some of the board members.”
“I agree. The problem is that we need to identify the rest of them, assuming there are more. I think that’s a safe assumption, and we’ll go with that until we know otherwise.”
“So,” Jenny said, “we are off to England?”
“I think that would be the next step. The only question is whether you should actually pull off the contract. I know Allison said you are authorized, but we’re talking about a major official of an allied country. I think some sleight-of-hand might be necessary, in this case.”
SEVEN
The four of them packed their things the next morning before heading down to breakfast. Noah and Sarah got there first, with Marco and then Neil and Jenny arriving only moments later.
“I arranged for a private Gulfstream jet,” Neil said, “and it will be ready to go as soon as we can get to the airport. I told the crew we would probably be arriving around nine, so we have plenty of time to eat.”
“Good job,” Noah said. “That should put us in London around nine o’clock London time at the latest. When we get there, we’ll get a car and look the situation over. I’m fairly sure Whitcomb moves around the U.K. a lot, so we have no idea if he’s in London at the moment or not. I called our old friend Catherine Potts last night and let her know that we’re going to need to speak to her soon after we arrive. We’re going to need all of her assets to pull this off.”
“I like Catherine,” Marco said. “She’s a pretty tough gal.”
“She’s efficient, and that’s what I’m counting on,” Noah said. “With her double connection to both our outfit and MI6, she’s got the resources we need right now. I’m not exactly sure how we’re going to do it just yet, but we have to convince MI6 to help us stage a fake assassination on Whitcomb.”
“Are we going to stay in a hotel In London?” Sarah asked. “I mean, couldn’t we go out to Feeney Manor? It isn’t that far from London.”
“Not right at the moment, no. I’m going to have Jenny take a room at the Hilton tonight, with Marco and Neil in separate rooms on the same floor. Sarah, you and I will go somewhere else and get a room. If everything goes well, we might be able to spend a little time at the Manor this trip, but I don’t want anyone to get their hopes up.”
“Why do we have to stay at the Hilton Hotel?” Neil asked. “We never stayed there when we were in London.”
“No, but the file on Victoria indicates that she likes luxurious accommodations. Jenny needs to stay in character, just in case someone figures out where she’s at. We don’t know for sure that somebody won’t be waiting at the airport, or that Newsom and company didn’t get some photos of her. If she was spotted, she’s got to fit the profile they would have on Victoria.”
They ate their waffles as soon as they were ready and then checked out of the hotel and drove the rental cars back to the airport. The pilot was waiting with the big Gulfstream already fueled and ready for the nine-hour flight, and his copilot helped them stow their bags and get comfortable in the passenger compartment. Less than fifteen minutes after their arrival, the plane was moving into position for takeoff.
The plane hesitated at the start of the runway for a moment, and then the pilot shoved the throttles forward and they began moving. All of them were shoved back into their seats as their velocity rapidly climbed to the point that the wings grabbed the air and lifted them away from the earth.
The flight attendant appeared once they were in the air and in level flight to ask if they wanted anything to drink, but they all shook their heads, so she settled into her own seat. The team sat and looked out the windows, not bothering to try to talk over the loud roar of the engines, and eventually drifted off to sleep.
Noah woke up about an hour before they reached Heathrow, and began trying to plan for the various contingencies they might run into. He had made light of the possibility that Jenny might be spotted, but he was actually a little concerned that it might be seriously possible. If nothing else, it was always conceivable that one of the people at that table, or someone else they didn’t know about, could have been wearing a camera. When the pilot announced their descent, the others finally stirred and awoke, and then they were making their final approach to the Heathrow International Airport.
“We’re here,” Neil said as the engines began winding down.
Getting through customs from a private flight was pretty easy. The bored inspectors asked them if they had anything to declare, then waved them along to passport control and immigration. No one bothered to look into their bags, so the guns hidden in the false bottoms of their bags were safely carried through.
Finishing up with immigration took only a short time and then they walked to the Avis counter and rented three identical Land Rovers. Sarah smiled as she slid behind the wheel of the one she and Noah were taking and adjusted the seat for her short frame. “Oh, yeah, back in the saddle again!”
Jenny was delighted with her own. “You know,” she said to Neil, “this is only the second time I’ve ever driven in England. It’s a lot of fun over here.”
“Just remember to drive on the right side of the road,” Neil said.
“No, this is England,” Marco said, “she has to drive on the wrong side.”
“And you, too! I’m pretty sure we’re going to have plenty of chances to get killed on this mission without worrying about getting hit head on by some giant truck!”
“Oh, relax, Neil,” Marco said, “I promise to drive safely, don’t worry. And just for the record, I’ve driven in England a dozen times. It’s really not all that hard to do.”
“Yeah, well, let’s just keep it that way. Your driving scares me bad enough even back home.” He stood at the passenger door, looking nervous.
Marco looked at him and then reached for his cellphone. “Hang on a minute, I want to record this and post it to YouTube.”
“Oh, good grief!” Neil said, and then he climbed in and slammed the door. He was buckling his seat belt as Marco slid behind the wheel and started up the car.
Noah looked at them and then spoke softly. “Noah to Neil, do we have an address on Whitcomb yet?”
“I’ve got it,” Sarah said. “He gave it to me a while ago.” She reached into her purse and brought out her own phone, then called up its navigation app. “I programmed his address in before we left the airport, because I figured you’d want to check it out.” The computerized voice began giving her directions, and she had to turn the car around at the next intersection.
Since they were well within range of each other, Noah activated the subcutaneous comm unit, speaking aloud so that Sarah could hear him directly. “Noah to team, follow us. We’re going to get a look at Whitcomb’s place, just in case he’s at home.”
The ride to Whitcomb’s large estate in Kensington took almost an hour, most of which was spent in dealing with the traffic as they made their way through the city itself. The big stone house sat in the midst of a large and forested lot, and could barely be seen from the highway that ran along in front of it.
“That place would make a pretty fair fortress,” Marco said through the comm. “Think we’ll have to
invade the place, Boss?”
“Not if we can avoid it,” Noah said. “The way the place is designed, he could have a small army for security, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he does. After all, he’s a high-ranking political official.”
“It wouldn't be that bad,” Marco said. “We could always make our approach from the south, where the trees are not all that dense. If we stayed low, and were careful to keep some of the brush between us and anyone inside that perimeter until we got close to the house, we could probably make it all the way without being spotted.”
Noah nodded. “We’ll keep that in mind, but I doubt we’ll be coming here. I’m still convinced that we’re going to do a phony assassination in this case, if for no other reason than we promised the Queen we would behave ourselves while we’re here. You guys go on to the Hilton, and Sarah and I will let you know where we decide to stay.” He turned to Sarah. “Okay, baby, let’s go pick a hotel.”
“Sounds like a good idea to me,” she said, grinning. She turned the car at the next crossroad and stopped, then Googled hotels on her phone. “How about the Qbic Hotel? It’s supposed to be pretty nice.”
“That’s fine,” Noah said. “It’s not that far from the Hilton, so that’s a plus. Subcom units ought to work between the two.”
Sara pressed the button to get directions, and the nav app came to life. Once it began talking, she followed its directions on to another highway, the A308, that led them back to London. The other two cars followed.
“Neil to Noah,” Neil asked, “have you already got a plan on how to fake the assassination, or are we still working on it? I mean, the mission is really supposed to be about cutting off the PRA’s head, right? Should we really be working on this, instead of that?”
“Remember that satellite phone Newsom said he’s got?” Noah asked in return. “Once this job is done, Jenny’s going to call him and say she’s ready to talk about other work. I know you can track that satellite phone, so at that point I want you monitoring everything it does. If he calls somebody else to talk about what jobs they might want her to do, we want to know who it is he’s talking to.”
“Okay,” Neil said. “Then we’ll probably do it the same way we did before, right? Monitor all his calls and crack the encryption, so that we can get whatever information is available on the numbers he calls. It doesn’t matter how cautious he might be, I’ll still be able to get their GPS locations, so we can find some way to identify them.”
Noah nodded. “At that point, we will probably just be starting to figure out who we’re dealing with. I don’t want to make a move on PRA until we are absolutely certain we’ve identified everyone who needs to be taken out. Neil, can you lock onto the phones he calls and monitor their activity, as well?”
“Neil to Noah, won’t be any problem at all. I have apps for that built right in to my computer, nowadays. All I have to do is feed in a number, and we can listen in on every call that goes in or out.”
“Good,” Noah said. “When we get to that point, you may have to activate it pretty quickly.”
“Not a problem,” he said. “With the software I’ve got on this computer, now, I can listen in on any cell phone call in the world.”
“All right. Sarah, let’s go by there after we look at the hotel. Neil, just remember what I said before. You’ll be staying there at the Hilton with Marco, but remember that he’s in charge. If Jenny gets into any kind of trouble, you follow whatever Marco tells you to do. Got that?”
“I got it,” Neil grumbled. “Don’t worry, boss, I know Jenny can take care of herself. I just like being close, just in case.”
“I know,” Noah said, “I just don’t want you making any mistakes that could blow the mission. And don’t take that to mean I don’t trust you, Neil, because I do. It’s just that I know how shook up you can get if you think Jenny’s in danger.”
They drove along in silence for a few minutes, and then Sarah pointed at a large building ahead. “That’s the Qbic,” she said. “Place looks pretty darn nice. I was expecting an old building, but that looks almost new.”
“It’s definitely not old,” Noah said, “but that wouldn’t really matter. It should be fine for what we’re doing.”
They drove into the parking lot and found a spot, then went inside to check in. The clerk looked at them for a moment and smiled.
“And would we be interested in the honeymoon suite?” he asked.
Noah glanced at Sarah, then nodded to the clerk. “Yes, please,” he said, and he enjoyed the smile that spread across his wife’s face. A bellman took their bags and carried them to the elevator to the top floor, then showed them the various amenities of the honeymoon suite.
The huge, heart-shaped bed was the dominant feature of the room, but there was also a large heart-shaped Jacuzzi right next to it. Sarah giggled as the bellman showed Noah how to operate its controls, and Noah made certain to tip him well.
He turned to Sarah after the bellman was gone. “Are you hungry?” he asked.
Sarah nodded and grinned. “Starving. We probably should have eaten something on the plane, but I figured I might not get many chances to sleep on this mission so I didn’t want to waste one.”
“Smart thinking. Let’s go find some dinner. There’s a restaurant on the ground floor that’s supposed to be excellent. Will that do, or would you like to go somewhere else?”
“That’ll be just fine,” Sarah said. “We’ve got the honeymoon suite, Noah. I want to get back up here and put it to use as soon as possible.”
They rode down the elevator and were seated in the restaurant only minutes later. The food and service were every bit as good as the reputation claimed, and they managed to enjoy dinner without thinking much about the mission.
“Jenny to Noah,” they heard suddenly, while they were finishing their dinner. “We’re all settled in, and we all had dinner. Any word from your friend Catherine, yet?”
“Noah to Jenny, nothing yet. I don’t really expect to hear from her before morning, so we might as well all try to get whatever rest we can. Is everybody on the channel?”
“Neil, here,” they heard, followed by, “Marco’s here.”
“Jenny to Noah, no problem. I’ll talk to you in the morning. Everybody shut down for the night, we don’t want to hear the lovebirds.”
Sarah snickered, then shut down her own comm unit. She grinned when Noah did the same.
“Well,” Noah said, “I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to go back up to the room.”
“I thought you’d never ask,” Sarah said, smiling.
EIGHT
Noah was already up, showered and dressed when Sarah finally awoke at seven the next morning.
“Good morning,” he said.
“Hey, there,” Sarah said sleepily. “Anything going on yet?”
“No, I’ve been up for a while. I was about to wake you and see if you’re ready for breakfast.”
“Hmmf. Can you give me ten minutes? Okay, make that twenty minutes?”
“No problem. I’m going to go ahead and give Catherine a call while you get a shower and get dressed.”
“Okay, babe,” Sarah said. “I’ll be ready as fast as I can.”
Noah picked up his phone off the nightstand as she went into the shower, then dialed Catherine Potts’ number. It rang three times before she answered, but there was a pleasant sound in her voice.
“Catherine Potts,” she said. “Mr. Lightner?” she asked, using the most recent cover name she had known Noah by.
“Yes, it’s me. Are you available for a meeting this morning?”
“For you? Absolutely. Why, Her Majesty would probably have my hide should I say no. When and where?”
“Mrs. Lightner and I are at the Qbic, and will be going down for breakfast in about twenty minutes. Would you perhaps care to join us?”
“Why, I think that would be lovely. I can be there in just about that time. You’ll forgive me if I need a few extra minutes?”
&nb
sp; “Of course,” Noah said. “We’ll be delighted to see you again.”
Sarah came out of the bathroom just a little over fifteen minutes later and Noah waited while she finished getting dressed and putting on her makeup. By the time they finally got down to the restaurant, nearly thirty minutes had passed since he spoke to Catherine and she was waiting at a table by herself.
They told the hostess that they saw their party waiting, and walked straight to the table. Noah held Sarah’s chair for her while she sat, then took the one opposite Catherine Potts.
“Catherine, it’s good to see you,” Sarah said. “I was just telling my husband yesterday that I hoped we’d get to come spend some time at the Manor soon. Maybe you can come visit when we do?”
“That would be lovely,” Catherine said. “At the moment, however, I’m more concerned about the urgency of your call from the States. Naturally, anything that brings you to the U.K. is of great interest. Can you tell me about it now?”
Noah glanced around and made sure no one was close enough to overhear, then nodded. “We’re on a mission that is similar to the first one that brought us together. This time, I’m running support while Mrs. Jamieson—you remember her?—she’s the one who has to impersonate an assassin. The problem is that the contract target is one of your high-ranking officials, so we don’t actually want to kill him. I need your help to arrange a fake assassination, because the client who hired her has to believe that it’s real.”
Catherine’s eyes had gone wide, and she stared at him. “And who might we be talking about?”
“Randall Whitcomb,” Noah said. “I understand he’s the…”
“Dear heavens,” Catherine said. “You do bring us some conundrums, don’t you? Mr. Whitcomb is the Chief Constable of the Ministry of Defense Police. He’s responsible for counterterrorism throughout the U.K.”
“Yes,” Noah said. “The people behind this contract are the PRA, you’re familiar with them?”
“Of course,” Catherine said. “Ruddy bastards have been quite a thorn in our sides over here, lately.”
