“If we had enough time, I’d recommend we use an encrypted satellite link, but we don’t. The link would allow you to talk directly with your men as well as to. . . ”
“What difference does it make what it’ll do if you’ve already ruled it out?” Parker broke in.
“I was just thinking out loud.” The Wizard squirmed in his seat. He had never seen Parker get physically violent; and given their relative sizes, he didn’t want to.
“Without our own satellite link, we’re stuck with commercial telephone lines. But that doesn’t mean we have to use regular phones. I’d recommend portable computers, which we’d interface by modem to the ones in the other room. Encrypting the computer‑to‑computer transmissions is a breeze, and the setup will allow us to send and receive photographs.”
“How long will it take you to get the equipment and load the required programs?” Parker asked flatly. “Remember, we need this stuff to work in London. Don’t forget the differences in power.”
“Most of the equipment we already have. I might have to make some changes to connectors and plugs, but it won’t be extensive. Give me three days,” the Wizard said using his handkerchief to remove a smudge from his Coke-bottle thick glasses.
“Do it by tomorrow. That’s all,” Parker said dismissing the man.
The Wizard got out of the room as fast as he could. It was going to be a long night.
Parker was satisfied that he had the mission’s basic framework down. He went over his notes another time to see if there were any gaps in his logic. He’d make it a point to stress that his men were to remain in close contact with him the entire time they were out of the country. If the conditions changed, then at least he’d be the one to call the shots. His field team would consist of the four full-time security men from the estate plus two of the four men on loan from Steiner Aeronautics.
Parker meticulously instructed his six subordinates about what he expected of them when they got to London. With six experienced men in London, little could go wrong. Parker divided the men up into three teams of two men each, and briefed them in the military style he had learned in the Army. First Parker told them what he wanted and what their objectives were. He went over what they could and could not do, and under what circumstances. He briefed them on all aspects of logistics in England. Finally, he went over the methods and frequency of their communications with him.
After he was certain that the men knew their mission goals, he had the team conduct a reverse briefing. He told the them that they were to brief him from the ground up. It was a variation of the old theme of first telling it to them, making them write it down, and then having them brief it back to you. Ninety‑nine times out of a hundred it worked. It had to work now.
Once he was sure that each man knew the team’s objectives, had memorized the complete descriptions of both Payton and Phillips, and understood what the limitations of the operation were, Parker dispatched them to London. By this time tomorrow, he’d have three squads of operatives looking for Payton. Meanwhile, he’d continue to push the Wizard until the man came up with a charge receipt, or credit check, or anything else that pinpointed Payton's location. With any luck at all, they’d find them.
. . . . . .
All six team members hit London on the fly , working around the clock and hoping to spot Payton or Janet before they were able to set up the meeting that had brought the couple across the Atlantic. The harder Parker drove them, the more frayed their tempers became. If they didn’t find them soon, the whole operation would come unhinged.
It took Parker’s men less than a day to spot the couple, and then they were lucky. Janet needed to buy some cosmetics, and she wasn’t about to run all over London when she knew Harrod’s would have exactly what she wanted. It was a quick walk from the Hyde Park Hotel across Kensington to the giant retailer.
Parker had told his men that they should keep a close watch on those places where the two of them were likely to go, paying special attention to the purchase of necessities. His words rang true, as the Wingate operative spotted the attractive woman. Although her face was etched in the man’s mind, he took no chances. He compared the woman standing at the counter less than a dozen feet away to the picture he carried in his pocket. They matched!
Parker’s man thought briefly about using the walkie-talkie clipped to his belt. But the Harrod’s crowd was thick, and he didn’t want to chance having some store cop getting in the way. Instead he watched carefully as Janet paid for her merchandise, and then slipped in behind her as she made her way toward the escalators.
When Janet Phillips left Harrod’s for the hotel, she had company. Intent upon making it across the busy thoroughfare, Janet didn’t notice that she was being followed.
The security team member tracked her into the hotel and around to the lift to ensure that she had not spotted him and was in the process of trying to shake the tail. Once she entered the lift, and had gone up to the room, he broke off the surveillance as instructed, and reported in to the rest of the team.
The team’s plans were straightforward. As soon as they spotted their quarry, they would set up full-time surveillance on the couple until they led them to whomever it was that they were meeting in London. Although they had been instructed not to take any overt action concerning Payton and the woman, they had a green light to eliminate whomever they were meeting.
Once they knew for sure where the couple was staying, a single phone call from the Committee’s upper echelons cleared space for the security team in an office suite directly across from the Hyde Park Hotel. They quickly set up shop. After the evening rush hour died down, they moved their surveillance equipment into the suite.
Not willing to chance another screw-up, Parker instructed his men to establish visual as well as audio surveillance of the hotel. The team leader knew that sooner or later the two of them would have to leave the hotel together. He’d use that time to bug the room. The visual surveillance was another matter.
Each person entering or leaving the hotel would be photographed, using the special digital imaging camera developed under a Pentagon contract by Steiner Aeronautics. The state‑of‑the‑art camera, which looked like any other thirty-five millimeter, had a custom-made zoom lens that ensured the final photographs would have a resolution comparable to that of a regular thirty-five millimeter print. The camera was state-of-the-art digital. The combination of electronics and optics gave the surveillance team the ability to capture head and shoulders shots of each person entering or leaving the hotel.
Each memory card held only slightly under two hundred images. When one card became full, it was exchanged for a fresh one. The image-laden card was then taken back to the Savoy Hotel for transmission to the States.
Normally sending that much data over regular telephone lines would have resulted in interminable delays, but the Steiner engineers had added special compression software to the data transmission program, reducing the amount of digital data going back across the link to the States by over fifty percent. Once they were received and decrypted by Wingate’s computer at the estate, the images would be digitally reconstructed and displayed.
The Hyde Park is a small hotel. With all their deliveries taking place through other entrances, Parker figured they could handle the number of possible targets, consisting basically of the hotel’s guests and any visitors. If the team snapped a photo of the same person twice, they simply eliminated it from the data sent to the States.
The area around the main entrance was well illuminated; there was more than enough light to satisfy their needs. They set up the camera, pointing its zoom lens through a hole in the blackout curtain. The hotel’s main entrance was at the top of a marble stairway high enough up from the street for anyone coming or going to be a snap to photograph. From their position, they had a clear view of the entrance, unobstructed by pedestrian traffic.
They shot a trial photograph, then unloaded the small memory card from the camera’s control electronics unit, and
inserted it into the imaging system. In seconds, the image appeared on their laptop’s screen. A few simple adjustments and they had a picture good enough to print in any magazine. Had the laptop been connected to the telephone lines, that same picture could have been transmitted anywhere in the world.
Now that they knew everything was working, the men got busy capturing shots of everyone coming into or leaving the hotel. Working four hours on and four off, they switched teams three times each day. The back-up team was responsible for sending the digital images back to the States.
Parker told his men that the meeting between Payton and the unknown informer would likely go down soon after Payton and Phillips got to London. It didn’t make sense for the informer to wait any longer than he or she had to before making contact with Payton. The longer their contact delayed getting in touch with Payton, the better the chances were that Wingate’s security would locate him first.
On the other hand, Parker figured that whoever Payton was planning to meet would wait at least until he or she was certain that the two were not already under surveillance. He gave them two, maybe three days at most, before contact would be made. This time he was right.
CHAPTER 25
October 22nd
Early Sunday morning, Payton's room phone rang. He had it before the second ring. Across the street, the reels on a slow‑speed tape recorder began to move.
“Hello,” Payton said, anticipating hearing his friend’s voice.
“Steve. I’m glad you made it,” Mark Albright replied.
Payton breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m sorry about your father.”
“Thanks.” Albright’s grief was almost palpable. “We need to get together–and soon.”
“What’s this about Wingate?”
“I’d rather wait to tell you. It’s a long, complicated story that’s best explained in person.”
Payton realized that his friend was terrified of Wingate’s power. Nonetheless, Payton had to tell Mark about their situation. “I’m afraid Wingate’s already on to us, Mark. He bugged the house we were renting in Pine Lakes and has had us under round-the-clock surveillance, but we were able to get away.”
“Does he suspect that you’re here?” Albright asked apprehensively.
“I don’t think so,” Payton replied, then added. “At least not yet.”
“Good, but the sooner we meet, the better.”
“Just tell me when and where.”
“Your hotel’s too risky. I’d like to meet someplace that’ll give you time to shake any surveillance–that is, if there’s any on you. How about tonight, say midnight at the Wapping tube station? Do you know where it is?”
“No, but I’ll find it. See you then.” As Payton hung up, the recorder’s twin reels stopped.
Before Janet could barrage him with questions, Steve said, “We’re going to meet Mark tonight at one of the Underground stations.”
“How did he sound?” Janet asked, a concerned look on her face.
“Scared, and I can’t blame him, what with his father’s murder and all.”
“I hope he’s got what we need to tie this mess up and hand the whole thing over to the authorities.”
“He must have. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be running,” Payton replied. “Well, we’ve got some time to kill. Want to stretch your legs a bit?”
“Aren’t you tired?” Janet wondered how he kept going after the long flight.
“Tired, yes. But my head’s going a mile a minute, and I’d rather be doing something–anything–than sitting here staring at the four walls.”
“What’s wrong with the four walls if I’m in them?” Janet asked teasingly.
“Good point,” Steve said as he reached for her.
CHAPTER 26
Payton awoke almost two hours later to find Janet snuggled next to him. His movement woke her. She yawned and stretched simultaneously. “I’m starving. What’s for dinner.”
“Anything, M’lady’s heart desires,” Steve said with a flourish. After all they were in London.
“I’m ravenous. Maybe we can find something off the tourist beat–something Italian or French.”
“Your wish is my command.”
“Really?” Janet asked, poking him in the ribs.
They dressed and Payton shaved for the second time today, scraping the five o’clock shadow from his face. When he was done, a new person looked back at him from the bathroom mirror.
“Better wear shoes you’ll be comfortable walking in. I’m not sure where we’ll end up eating, but it might not be close to the hotel.”
They left the main entrance, crossed over Knightsbridge, and followed Cromwell Road down toward the Victoria and Albert Museum. All along the busy thoroughfare quaint side streets branched off. At each intersection, they looked to see if any restaurant sign caught their attention. If something looked promising, Payton and Janet walked down for a closer look.
One member of Wingate’s security team always kept the couple in sight, but following instructions, maintained a loose tail. He had been standing outside Harrod’s for almost half an hour when Payton and Janet left the Hyde Park. Obviously they were going out for dinner. As they crossed Knightsbridge, Parker’s man took up position half a block behind the couple.
After twenty minutes of checking out menus posted in the front windows of various restaurants, they selected a small Italian bistro that served excellent pasta, fantastic garlic bread, a generous antipasto, and an equally good Chianti. They finished off two bottles of the Chianti, eating as if it were their last meal.
. . . . . .
With the London team in position, surveillance photos were coming over almost around the clock, which wasn’t surprising since it took nearly a minute to transmit each image back to the States. Parker waited until the last of the digitized photos were stored on his portable computer’s hard drive before heading up to the mansion. They had recently received the set of over seventy images from the team. Because of the time difference, the group would most likely be the last that they’d get tonight. By nine o’clock London time, the image stream would tail off as most of the guests were in for the evening.
Wingate, eager to locate the one person who could pull all the pieces together for Payton, stopped his work as Parker walked into the room. The industrialist carefully studied each picture as it was displayed on the built‑in LED.
Before ruling out anyone, Wingate was going to be certain that the person had no connection with him or the Committee. They quickly eliminated most of the photos. Halfway through the group, Parker’s portable cellular phone rang. He listened for a few minutes, and then returned the phone to his pocket.
“Payton just received a call from someone named Mark,” Parker told Wingate.
Wingate’s mind clicked. “Sonofabitch, Mark Albright. I knew we’d get him if we kept at it. They’re going to meet and I want that meeting stopped. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes sir,” Parker said. There was no need to read between the lines about the instructions Parker would send to the team.
When Parker got back to the guesthouse, he walked into his office, picked up the phone, and dialed the Savoy Hotel. When the team leader answered the phone, Parker told him to activate the encryption unit. With the line secure, Parker went on.
“For confirmation, I’m going to send you a photo of the target. Take him out, and do it before he has a chance to pass any information on to Payton.” With Albright out of the way, Payton would be left with no leads to follow and nowhere else to go.
“What do we do about Payton and the woman–the same thing?” his man in London inquired.
“If you have the opportunity to get rid of Payton and the Phillips woman, make certain it looks like an accident. Otherwise don’t bother.” The last thing Parker wanted was to have three mysterious deaths, each attributed to foul play. Even the London Metropolitan Police would find that odd.
“And no matter what you do, make sure that no one can tie the coup
le to the target. So far, the two of them are in the dark. As long as they don’t talk to the target, we’ll be all right. I want you to get back over to the hotel and find out if the target left Payton a message–either in the room or at the desk.”
Parker replaced the telephone handset in the cradle. Things were finally going his way.
CHAPTER 27
Throughout the rest of the evening, time passed as if each second were coated with a thick layer of molasses. Around nine, Payton decided that it was time to sit Janet down for a chat.
“When we get to the station, stay clear until I’m sure there’s not going to be any trouble.”
“Steve. . . ,” Janet started in protest.
“No, hear me out. I know we both feel this meeting is aboveboard. But if this is really one of Wingate’s traps, I don’t want him to net both of us. If anything goes wrong and something happens to me, it’ll be up to you to get to the authorities.”
“And if it’s not?” Janet asked, disappointed but not surprised at the way he wanted to approach the meeting.
“When I’m sure it’s safe, I’ll signal you. In the meantime, watch the platform. If you see anything or anyone acting suspicious, get my attention any way you can. If things sour, get out of there. Don’t wait for a train. Don’t mess around. Go up the steps and out of the station. Grab a cab back here. If I get away, I’ll meet you in the room. If I’m not back in two hours, go to the police.”
Janet didn’t like having Payton hung out there, exposed, but she knew that his plan made sense. His approach wasn’t fail‑safe, but it gave them a chance of coming out on top.
“If I give you the all clear and you join us, let me do the talking. I listed the things we need to know about Wingate. If Mark can throw some light on this situation, we’ll be in good shape.”
The Cassandra Conspiracy Page 22
