Sea of Fire

'Yup,' Herbert said. 'That strengthens my case.'

'How?'

'She's the only female firefighter in this department,' Herbert told him. 'He had to okay her being here. He likes having a woman around, and it doesn't matter if she's foreign. Which is my second point. It shows he's got an open and independent mind.'

'I'm not signing off on any of that,' Coffey said.

'Dinner at the 1789 in Georgetown says I'm right,' Herbert replied.

'Does everything have to be a war with you?' Coffey protested.

'Not a war. Call it a dispute with hair on its chest. You in or out?' Herbert pressed.

'I'm in,' Coffey said.

The men left the landing pad. They crossed damp grasses to where the others were standing. The group was brightly lighted in the glow of the footlights on the landing pad. Jelbart introduced them.

'I understand you're the offsider running the team,' Leyland said as he shook Herbert's hand.

Coffey noticed that the captain did not smile. Herbert did, however. From the side of his mouth, at Coffey.

'Actually, Officer Loh and I will be conducting activities jointly,' Herbert told him.

Both Jelbart and Loh looked at the intelligence chief. Loh was impassive. Jelbart seemed somewhat surprised. But he said nothing.

'I see,' Leyland said. 'So which of you is going to tell me exactly what these activities are? And would you like to go to the cabin to do it?' He pointed toward a small structure near the base of the tower. 'It'll be getting pretty chilly out here in a few minutes. You might be more comfortable.'

'We're a little squeezed for time,' Herbert said. 'And we won't be out here that long.'

'All right,' Leyland said. 'What's on your mind?'

'Discretion, for one thing,' Herbert said. 'Nothing we are about to discuss can be repeated.'

'I can keep a secret,' Leyland said. 'Just tell me one thing. Is what you want to do legal?'

'In theory, and if everything goes the way I hope,' Herbert replied.

Leyland looked at him strangely. 'That's like calling a match 'safe' until you strike it.'

'Captain Leyland, I'm a solicitor,' Coffey interjected. 'The situation is equivalent to breaking down the door of a house that's on fire. Technically, you are trespassing. But by every other measure, it's the right thing to do.'

'You burble like a solicitor,' Leyland said. 'So the answer is no?'

'The answer is that we are investigating a national security matter,' Jelbart said.

'An international security issue,' FNO Loh added.

'Correct,' Jelbart agreed. 'We can bat around the fine points of ethical versus legal law if you like. Or we can try to save a couple of million lives. Which will it be?'

Leyland looked at the group. 'I'm out here to save lives. I'm listening, people.'

'Thank you,' Jelbart said.

'Captain, do you have any kind of personal or professional relationship with Jervis Darling?' Herbert asked.

'We trapshoot twice a week,' Leyland said.

'That's fantastic,' Coffey said.

'That was a joke,' Leyland told him. 'No. I have no personal or professional relationship with Mr. Darling. In fact, the only part of him I have ever seen is the arse end of his helicopter.'

'What about firefighting?' Herbert asked.

'Our squad doesn't even watch his estate,' Leyland said. 'He has his own security and fire prevention service.'

'So I've been told,' Herbert said. 'Still, I'm hoping there's a loophole somewhere. I need a reason to go into the estate.'

'A reason to get on the property or in the house?' Leyland asked.

'In the house,' Herbert said.

'You mean like asking to use the dunny?'

Coffey inferred from the context that dunny meant lavatory.

'No, it has to be somewhat more substantial than that,' Herbert replied. 'Assuming Mr. Darling is there, I need to be inside the mansion for about ten minutes while he is on the outside. Would you have a legal right to check the grounds for fire safety violations?'

'Only if there were a fire,' Leyland said. 'We have what's called the right of inquiry. We are allowed to investigate the cause of a blaze to make sure it doesn't happen again. But don't ask me to start a fire. It hasn't rained for two weeks. It could easily spread.'

'We wouldn't ask you to do that,' Jelbart said.

Coffey watched Herbert's expression go from hopeful to annoyed. Obviously, the intelligence chief thought he had his way in.

'Let me ask you this,' Leyland said. 'Is it necessary that you see Mr. Darling himself?'

'No. His presence is not required,' Herbert said.

'He may not even be there,' Jelbart pointed out.

'Then I have something that may work, though it's going to take a bush liar to sell it,' Leyland said.

'We've got some of those,' Herbert replied. 'What's on your mind?'

'I'm thinking that Mr. Darling would rather deal with us than with a group that could really do him some damage,' Leyland replied.

'Who?' Jelbart asked.

'Come with me,' Leyland added. He started toward the tower. 'I'm going to show you how to stamp your passport.'

Chapter Forty-Four

Washington, D.C. Saturday, 7:31 A.M.

Matt Stoll was the only other person in the operations level when Paul Hood arrived. That was not unusual. It was a Saturday morning.

Hood came in on Saturday mornings now because he had nowhere else to go. He would get an update from Herbert or Coffey wherever he was. One thing on his to-do list was to call Daphne Connors and see if she was free that night. If he did not push himself, no one else would.

Stoll usually came in on weekends to write or try out software he did not get to use during the week. Unless there was a technology convention in town, the computer genius did not have an active social life. He had no interest in socializing with women who did not speak his language.

'She doesn't have to know gate propagation in high-res temporal resolution, though that would be heaven,' he once said. 'But she should know how many megabytes there are in her PC and what that means. If I have to explain it, then the sex is never very good.'

Hood was not clear on who the sex was not good for or why. He was glad he was not on the need-to-know list.

As it turned out, the cherubic-looking Stoll was not here to tinker with a new program. He said he had gotten a call from Bob Herbert. The intelligence chief told him he needed something very specific.

'Bob wants me to rig him a Hoover,' Stoll said in his joyless monotone. Excitement, whenever Stoll showed it, was in the speed his fingers moved on a keyboard. Right now he was typing very rapidly.

'Which is what?' Hood asked. He suddenly felt very sorry for any woman Stoll had ever met.

'A Hoover is a data vacuum,' Stoll replied. 'Bob wants to use his wheelchair computer as a drop zone for an external source.'

'You mean we plug into Bob, and Bob plugs into something else,' Hood said. 'He serves as a conduit that allows us to read the 'something else.' '