apart when they saw her, that would have been something to worry about. Still, she didn't have any reason to be uneasy. She knew Alex.
'Anything new?' she asked.
'We've got the intel on Goswell and Peel,' Alex said. 'And some interesting developments. Colonel Howard and Sergeant Fernandez are on their way here.'
Even as he said it, the two men arrived.
'Angela, if you would?'
Cooper stood as the others took their seats. She touched her flatscreen and a projection lit over the conference table.
'Lord Geoffrey Goswell's estate in Sussex,' she began. 'It's called The Yews. He spends most of his time there. The place sits on several hundred acres that include the main house, smaller cottages, and various out- buildings.'
More images flashed into view.
'Except for staff, his lordship — he's a widower — lives there alone. He has places in London, Brighton, Manchester, a villa in the south of France, and various houses or condominiums in Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, India, and the United States. Here is a list of the companies he owns all or part of. His personal fortune is estimated at just under two billion.'
'Must be hard,' Fernandez allowed.
Cooper continued: 'Peel, whom we've discussed at some length before, heads Goswell's personal security. He's got anywhere from half a dozen to ten men, all ex-military, all heavily armed, patrolling the estate at any given time.'
'I thought guns were more or less illegal here,' Howard said.
Cooper said, 'For ordinary citizens, yes. No handguns, and all rifles and shotguns must be locked up except when actually in use for target shooting or hunting. No military-style assault weapons allowed in any case.'
Fernandez said, 'Let me guess: When you have a couple billion in the old piggy bank, the rules are different, right?'
Cooper gave him a tight smile. 'Just so.'
'Please continue,' Alex said. 'Let's keep the editorial comments down, shall we?'
'We've put a couple of teams on the roads leading to the estate, and less than an hour ago, a rental car arrived there. A check of the car agency records indicate it was rented yesterday in Southampton by Peter Bascomb-Coombs. Our operatives managed to get a blurry picture of the driver, and it appears to be the computer scientist.'
That got a nice reaction.
'Major Peel, also under surveillance, is currently en route to Sussex on his way from London. It will take him another hour or so to get there.'
'No sign of Ruzhyo?' Howard asked.
'No.'
'Could he be at the estate?' 'It is possible,' Cooper allowed. 'We won't have any spysats in position to footprint the area for another ninety minutes. Even so, and even if he is strolling on the grounds, we would be hard-pressed to identify him from that alone. We have, under the aegis of national security, tapped the landlines into the estate, as well as having scanners recording wireless activity.'
'Must be nice to be able to get a wiretap that easy,' Alex said.
'It was not exactly easy,' Cooper said. 'But so far, nothing of importance has been forthcoming. And essentially, that is the situation as we now know it.'
'Sounds like most of the eggs are in the basket to me. We need to take a little run out there and have a chat with some folks,' Fernandez said.
Cooper stared at the holoproj image, then down at the table. She looked uncomfortable, a thing that didn't bother Toni much. Cooper said, 'Well, yes, that would be the logical next step.'
'But…?' Howard said.
'This is a bit awkward,' she said. 'We can't just pop out and do that.'
'Why not?' Toni asked. 'We have a suspect in the computer crime that has rattled half the planet, and we know where he is. I can't believe you don't want to have a few words with him. And with the guy who he works for, too.'
Toni saw Julio and John Howard nod in agreement, and Alex also looked ready to hear her answer.
Cooper said, 'This is true. However, things aren't done that way here. What if you were in the States and you suddenly had to question a billionaire who was also a powerful political figure? A senator or even the President? You couldn't just knock on his door and demand to come in, could you?'
'No,' Alex said. 'But if we had enough reason to suspect he was involved in a major crime, in which hundreds of people were killed as a result of something he did or had done, we could get a judge to issue a search or an arrest warrant. We've had our President testify when he didn't want to. Even impeached.'
'After weeks of consultation with his lawyers,' Cooper said. 'And the impeachment was a wrist slap — he wasn't tried and found guilty, was he?'
'The effort was made,' Alex said. 'No man is above the law.'
'Men are not above the law here, either, Alex, but this is a small country, and despite our attempts to bring it into the twenty-first century, still very caste-conscious. Lord Goswell is at the acme of power here. He went to school with the senior members of the House of Lords. He knows the blue blood wealthy, he knows the most powerful barristers and solicitors, and he knows the judges, the high police officials. Every couple of weeks he has tea with the head of the Conservative government. He can get more done with a wave of his hand than Parliament can do in a week. He plays bridge with the king. Getting the wire- and wavetaps were small miracles and were managed only because Goswell didn't know about them. This is not a man upon whose door you knock and demand anything. If you want to go and beard this lion in his den, you need to enter into negotiations with a delicate touch, your hat in hand. It's one thing to call up and tell his head of security you are going to drop round for a chat; it is quite another to demand the same of one of the richest and most powerful men in the country.'
Nobody had anything to say about that for a moment.
'Bullshit,' Julio said.
Toni suppressed her smile. She had to agree with that one.
'That may be, Sergeant, but I am here to say that His Majesty's government will not be approaching Lord Goswell, save through his attorneys, and cautiously, at that.'
'Even if we suspect he's involved in the computer assaults?' Toni said.
Cooper turned to face Toni. 'Even if we knew for sure he was responsible and could
Toni knew that Cooper was right. But she also knew in her gut that Bascomb-Coombs was tied into this, and Peel and Ruzhyo were somehow connected to it. But what could they do if the local authorities wouldn't let them even
Alex said, 'We can't barge into his lordship's house without an engraved invitation. All right. Can we short- stop Peel?'
'I beg your pardon?'
'Can you have your field ops pull Peel over and keep him from getting back to the safety of Goswell's estate?'
Cooper stared at him. 'Why would we want to do that?'
Alex said, 'Okay, follow my logic here. Let's suppose that Bascomb-Coombs is responsible for the computer disruptions.'
'All right, for the moment let's assume that.'
'If he is, he has to be doing it with help. According to Jay Gridley, this isn't something you can do cheaply, so somebody substantial has to be backing him.'
'Yes. So?'
'Occam's razor. He's working for Goswell. He's at Goswell's house. How many people can fund a
