Patriot Games

serving as information sources to their actual parent organization. It follows that such information may be of an operational nature in addition to its obvious counterintelligence value. Operational,' Owens said quietly. 'We've always assumed that O'Donnell was simply trying to protect himself… but he could be playing another game entirely.'

'I still haven't caught up with you, Jimmy.' Murray set his glass down and frowned for a moment. 'Oh. Maureen Dwyer. You never did figure out that tip, did you?'

Owens was thinking about another case, but Murray's remark exploded like a flashbulb in front of his eyes. The detective just stared at his American colleague for a moment while his brain raced down a host of ideas.

'But why?' Murray asked. 'What do they gain?'

'They can do great embarrassment to the leadership, inhibit operations.'

'But what material good does that do for the ULA? O'Donnell's too professional to screw his old friends just for the hell of it. The INLA might, but they're just a bunch of damned-fool cowboys. The ULA is too sophisticated for that sort of crap.'

'Yes. We've just surmounted one wall to find another before us. Still, that's one more wall behind us. It gives us something to question young Miss Dwyer about, doesn't it?'

'Well, it's an idea to run down. The ULA has the PIRA penetrated, and sometimes they feed information to you to make the Provos look bad.' Murray shook his head. Did I just say that one terrorist outfit was trying to make another one look bad? 'Do you have enough evidence to back that idea up?'

'I can name you three cases in the last year where anonymous tips gave us Provos who were at the top of our list. In none of the three did we ever learn who the source was.'

'But if the Provos suspect it—oh, scratch that idea. They want O'Donnell anyway, and that's straight revenge for all the people he did away with within the organization. Okay, embarrassing the PIRA leadership may be an objective in itself—if O'Donnell was trying to recruit some new members. But you've already discarded that idea.'

Owens swore under his breath. Criminal investigation, he often said, was like doing a jigsaw puzzle when you didn't have all the pieces and never really knew their shapes. But telling that to his subordinates wasn't the same thing as experiencing it himself. If only they hadn't lost Sean Miller. Maybe they might have gotten something from him by now. His instinct told him that one small, crucial fact would make a complete picture of all the rubbish he was sorting through. Without that fact, his reason told Owens, everything he thought he knew was nothing more than speculation. But one thought kept repeating itself in his mind:

'Dan, if you wanted to embarrass the Provisionals' leadership politically, how and where would you do it?'

'Hello, this is Doctor Ryan.'

'This is Bernice Wilson at Johns Hopkins. Your wife asked me to tell you that she's in an emergency procedure and she'll be about a half hour late tonight.'

'Okay, thank you.' Jack replaced the phone. Mondays, he told himself. He went back to discussing the term paper projects with his two mids. His desk clock said four in the afternoon. Well, there was no hurry, was there?

The watch changed at Gate Three. The civilian guard was named Bob Riggs. He was a retired Navy chief master at arms, past fifty, with a beer belly that made it hard for him to see his shoes. The cold affected him badly, and he spent as much time as possible in the guardhouse. He didn't see a man in his late twenties approach the opposite corner and disappear into a doorway. Neither did Sergeant Tom Cummings of the Marine guard force, who was checking some paperwork just after relieving the previous watch-stander. The Academy was good duty for the young Marine NCO. There were a score of good saloons within easy walking distance, and plenty of unattached womenfolk to be sampled, but the duty at Annapolis was pretty boring when you got down to it, and Cummings was young enough to crave some action. It had been a typical Monday. The previous guard had issued three parking citations. He was already yawning.

Fifty feet away, an elderly lady approached the entrance to the apartment building. She was surprised to see a handsome young man there and dropped her shopping bag while fumbling for her key.

'Can I help you with that, now?' he asked politely. His accent made him sound different, but rather kind, the lady thought. He held the bag while she unlocked the door.

'I'm afraid I'm a little early—waiting to meet my young lady, you see,' he explained with a charming smile. 'I'm sorry if I startled you, ma'am—just trying to keep out of this bitter wind.'

'Would you like to wait inside the door?' she offered.

'That's very kind indeed, ma'am, but no. I might miss her and it's a bit of a surprise, you see. Good day to you.' His hand relaxed around the knife in his coat pocket.

Sergeant Cummings finished going over the papers and walked outside. He noticed the man in the doorway for the first time. Looked like he was waiting for someone, the Sergeant judged, and trying to keep out of the cold north wind. That seemed sensible enough. The Sergeant checked his watch. Four-fifteen.

'I think that does it,' Bernie Katz said.

'We did it,' Cathy Ryan agreed. There were smiles all around the OR. It had taken over five hours, but the youngster's eye was back together. He might need another operation, and certainly he'd wear glasses for the rest of his life, but that was better than having only one eye.

'For somebody who hasn't done one of these in four months, not bad, Cath. This kid will have both his eyes. You want to tell the family? I have to go to the john.'

The boy's mother was waiting exactly where the Jeffers family had been, the same look of anxiety on her face. Beside her was someone with a camera.

'We saved the eye,' Cathy said at once. After she sat down beside the woman, the photographer—he said he was from the Baltimore Sun—fired away with his Nikon for several minutes. The surgeon explained the procedure to the mother for several minutes, trying to calm her down. It wasn't easy, but Cathy'd had lots of practice.

Finally someone from Social Services arrived, and Cathy was able to head for the locker room. She pulled off her greens, tossing them in the hamper. Bernie Katz was sitting on the bench, rubbing his neck.

'I could use some of that myself,' Cathy observed. She stood there in her Gucci underwear and stretched. Katz turned to admire the view.

'Getting pretty big, Cath. How's the back?'

'Stiff. Just like it was with Sally. Avert your gaze. Doctor, you're a married man.'

'Can I help it if pregnant women look sexy?'

'I'm glad I look it, 'cause I sure as hell don't feel like it at the moment.' She dropped to the bench in front of her locker. 'I didn't think we could do that one, Bernie.'

'We were lucky,' Katz admitted. 'Fortunately the dear Lord looks after fools, drunks, and little children. Some of the time, anyway.'

Cathy pulled open the locker. In the mirror she had inside, she saw that her hair did indeed look like the Medusa's. She made a face at herself. 'I need another vacation.'

'But you just had one,' Katz observed.

'Right,' Dr. Ryan snorted. She slid her legs into her pants and reached for her blouse.

'And when that fetus decides to become a baby, you'll have another.'

The jacket came, next. 'Bernie, if you were in OB, your patients would kill you for that sort of crap.'

'What a loss to medicine that would be,' Katz thought aloud.

Cathy laughed. 'Nice job, Bern. Kiss Annie for me.'

'Sure, and you take it a little easy, eh, or I'll tell Madge North to come after you.'

'I see her Friday, Bernie. She says I'm doing fine.' Cathy breezed out the door. She waved to her nurses, complimenting them yet again for a superb job in the OR. The elevator was next. Already she had her car keys in her hand.

The green Porsche was waiting for her. Cathy unlocked the door and tossed her bag in the back before settling in the driver's seat. The six-cylinder engine started in an instant. The tachymeter needle swung upward to the idle setting. She let the engine warm up for a minute while she buckled her seat belt and slipped off the parking brake. The throaty rumble of the engine echoed down the concrete walls of the parking garage. When the