Anthony said, lighting up himself. He hated smoking, but didn't want to take a chance on an alert cop smelling the distinct odor of burned gunpowder.
They had slipped out of the parking structure and headed the opposite way from the sirens and cordons and roadblocks. There had been one close incident, when two police cars had blocked the street in preparation for setting up a roadblock. A car coming the other way had screeched to a halt, narrowly missing the squad car, and setting off a furious argument between the driver and the two cops. It had ended with the driver in the back of the squad car, and Anthony and Gregor being waved through with just a cursory examination of their papers, which were in perfect order.
Anthony had plotted a route out of the city, but had to admit defeat, pulling out his cell phone and hitting the speed dial, then setting the phone on the dashboard.
'You certainly know how to attract attention to yourself,' the voice on the other end said.
'Sod off. My team just got cut to shit by these fuckin' assholes.'
'I'm aware. By the media furor, one would think the Germans were marching down the Champs-Elysees again. And?…'
'And the bitch got away again, goddamn it. In fact, she's with the last survivor of the fucking team that tried to rescue her. Do you have anything pertinent to the situation, or are you just going to keep shitting on me?' Anthony didn't care anymore what his handler thought of him.
'Since the girl is approximately thirty kilometers away from you and traveling farther every second, I'd suggest you shut your fucking gob and listen very carefully.'
Anthony looked at the phone in amazement; his handler never came close to losing his temper. 'Go on,' he said quietly.
'We've just concluded a deal that will deliver this woman right into our hands. All we need to do is send someone to collect her at an address in Brussels.'
'Where?'
His handler supplied an address on the outskirts of the city. 'You know that since she's with the other side, they will no doubt be moving reinforcements to keep what they think is theirs.'
'That will not happen,' Anthony said.
'Your declaration doesn't fill me with too much confidence, for while you certainly are adept at killing everyone around her, the woman keeps slipping through your fingers. Go to this airfield on the north side of town.' He rattled off another address. 'Transportation will be waiting for you to get to Brussels ahead of them. Once there, you will take charge of the woman and bring her back to us. You'll have everything you need to get the job done. And you'd better keep her this time — otherwise don't bother coming back.'
'She'll be on your doorstep this evening. Oh, one more thing — I recovered one of ours.'
'There in the vehicle with you?'
'Yes — it's Liam.'
There was silence on the other end for a few seconds. 'That is a pity. Let the desk person know — they'll handle it.'
'Thank you.'
'I'm not doing it for you. I'm doing it for him. Liam was one of our best. I'd planned to give him his own team after this one, instead of him constantly cleaning up after your messes.'
'After this one, you won't have to worry about me anymore,' Anthony said.
'Until you're in the grave, you'll always be a worry to me. Get the woman.' The connection broke with a soft click.
That had been thirty minutes earlier, and now they were shooting toward Brussels at more than 150 miles per hour. It was fast enough to get there, find the address and set up a reception for Maggie and that bastard — one that she would never forget, and he would never survive.
34
Kate studied the screens floating in virtual reality around her. The largest one was keeping real-time tabs on her single Midnight Team member in France — the only link they had to the girl and the stolen data. Other monitors showed possible routes the runner could take, based on her travel so far and the statistical probability of her destinations. And on each of them were travel lines and estimated intercept times for Room 59 operatives to apprehend them.
The last screen — to which she paid only peripheral attention — was CNN. The news channel was covering the recent incident in Paris with the most aplomb, although the anchors couldn't help speculating about whether it was some kind of foiled terrorist incident or a crime gone wrong. They hadn't posted any photos of suspects yet, but Kate kept glancing over, expecting to see them as soon as the French police held a conference about it. She knew the next few hours would be critical. At least they got out of the city, even if he hasn't been able to contact us, she told herself.
That last part was the most worrisome. An operative wasn't supposed to lose his or her phone, period. Kate had spoken to the woman who had answered David's — and who had no doubt ditched the device soon after so it couldn't be traced. She's no dummy, that's for sure. But if she'd been able to take the phone from David, why was she still taking him with her? Kate had rather expected that her operative would have been thrown out along with the phone, but instead his dot was still traveling steadily toward Belgium. Why?
A chime alerted her to more news. It was Autom8 again, looking as haggard as Kate felt. 'Got a line on the car they're in. It's an '08 silver Peugeot 407. Here's the license plate number.'
'Fantastic. Have you been checking the road cameras for a description?'
A small frown appeared on his face. 'I was getting to that. The computers are scanning for it now. We found them about twenty miles out of Paris, and once more after that at fifty miles, then they seem to have pulled off the highway at a place called Valenciennes. Do you want to order an intercept?'
Kate scanned through her screens, bringing up a map of the area around the town. She continued her conversation while issuing orders to Judy after patching her in. 'No, she's with an operative right now, and I'm assuming he is still in control of the situation at the moment. However, a surveillance team could meet them on the road into Brussels, which is her likeliest destination. But I'll assign a team to cover Calais, as well, in case she thinks she's clever — or crazy — enough to double back to England. Give the team the specs on the car, and update them every time you have a positive ID from a road camera. If Louis has a team that can get there from Paris, fine. Otherwise, scramble whoever is closest to them.'
'Affirmative. Anything else?' Judy asked.
'Yes. Send Louis a request that he sanitize the bodies of the Midnight Team members killed during the incident. They must be removed from the French law enforcement and any records pertaining to them erased.'
'Don't take this the wrong way, but are you sure? We just got a message suspending all French directorate activities…' Judy began.
Kate gritted her teeth in annoyance at the bureaucracy that Judy insisted upon interfering with her cleanup operation. 'Put it through, and tell them this is straight from the director, and priority one — they'll get it done.'
'I'll send the message, and assign someone to backdoor the French mainframe.'
'Thanks, and keep me updated, of course.'
'Of course,' Judy said.
No sooner had she disconnected than her computer chimed again. 'Go for Primary.'
A girl's lilting voice, accent colored with equal parts Middle Eastern and British prep school answered. 'This is B2S. I have good news for a change.'
Born2Slyde was the handle of the new caller, and Kate's top hacker. Like the others, she was a freelancer, although a very well paid one on permanent retainer with Room 59. When Kate had taken over as director, she had made it clear she wanted the best of the best for the electronic surveillance and infiltration department, no matter where or who they were. She knew B2S was the third daughter of a prominent oil sheikh — and just about everything else there was to know about her — Room 59's vettors being no slouches on the job themselves. In the
