“As soon as possible,” he added.
“Want to tell me what I’m looking for?”
“I want to know how Rodet talks to his agent. The guys at NSA say it’s technically possible to transmit encoded transmissions via the dish to the satellite, which will rebroadcast them. Anyone with another dish can pick the transmissions up. They will appear as a burst of static on the video or audio channels. With the right equipment, the static can be separated out into the coded message. The spooks like this method of broadcasting encoded traffic because it uses a low-powered ultrawide band signal. They say it’s a good LPI signal — that’s a low probability of intercept. Each party needs only a computer, one small transceiver, some plug-in cables, and a satellite dish.” Grafton pointed at the photos. “Rodet’s got the dishes, anyway. You see if you can find the other stuff.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Be careful, Tommy.”
“I’ll get Willie to back me up. If I find the stuff, what do you want me to do with it?”
“If you can lay hands on the computer, I want the hard drive. If you can’t find it, I want to know if the transceiver is there. They tell me the transceiver can be pretty small, about the size of a cell phone. Just get me some kind of confirmation or tell me I’m barking up the wrong tree.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Thanks, Tommy,” he said.
I got up to leave. “By the way, Sarah around?”
“Next door.”
“I thought I’d just stop in for a minute and say hi,” I explained.
“Oh, sure.”
The uniformed policeman in his kepi strolled along checking every vehicle parked around the Place des Vosges. He took his time, checked the license plate, made a note and moved on to the next. It wasn’t long before he arrived at the plumbing van parked against the inner square. He looked at the plate, then went around the front to inspect the parking authorization that was taped to the windshield. That’s when Alberto Salazar saw him.
“Uh-oh. A cop,” he said to Rich Thurlow. “Checking the front.”
“Think he’ll figure out that authorization is a forgery?”
“He might.”
“What are we going to do if he pounds on the door?”
“We sit tight, he’ll call a tow truck to haul this damn thing off.”
As they debated the issue, the policeman came to the side door and rapped sharply upon it. It was locked.
“Okay, Rich,” Al said. “You speak French. Get out there and schmooze him or jump in the driver’s seat.”
“I figure he’ll jaw a while, and then we can leave,” Rich said. “We’ll want to park here later. We’ll do another sticker. I’d better talk to him.”
“A command decision,” Al said sourly. “Go to it.” The policeman rapped sharply on the van while he and Rich rigged blankets over the gear and computers so they couldn’t be seen. The job took about thirty seconds, no more.
“Okay, open it,” Al said.
Rich did so.
The policeman looked startled when the door slid back. He stepped right to the opening and looked past Rich to Al and the blankets.
Rich was trying to get out of the van, but the policeman stood in the way. As Rich launched into his monologue, the cop looked to his right and left, then pulled his pistol and shot Rich in the head.
There wasn’t much noise. The pistol had a silencer attached to the barrel, so the report was just a pop. The impact of the bullet on Rich’s head catapulted him backward into the van.
Before Al Salazar could react to what he was seeing, the cop had turned the pistol is his direction. A bullet hit him in the forehead before his brain recognized the muzzle flash for what it was. He died instantly.
The policeman shot each man in the head one more time, then holstered his weapon and pulled the van door shut. He walked on along the street, inspecting vehicles, until he got to the corner, then he walked out of the square.
When I left the embassy I had some of the stuff I would need for tonight, but I needed some of the gear that was in my backpack, which I had stashed in the trunk of the rental. I putted over to the Rue Paradis, parked the Vespa and walked three blocks, keeping my eyes open for watchers. Didn’t see anyone.
The car was on the second floor of the parking garage. I looked around carefully as I walked up to it.
I was about to push the button on the key fob that would unlock the trunk when a little voice whispered in my ear. Something just walked on my grave.
I didn’t push the button. I stood looking at the rental, wondering.
There was a greasy fingerprint on the driver’s side window. I stood looking at it, trying to recall if I had had greasy or oily hands when I drove this thing.
Little cold chills ran up and down my spine, tiny fingers of fear.
I walked as far away as I could get and still see the car. This was about fifty feet.
Hunkered down behind another vehicle, I raised the key fob over the fender, pointed it at my ride, and pushed the button.
Nothing happened.
Okay, I’m getting paranoid. Losing my courage as I get older. Another year or two of this crap and I won’t be worth a nickel to anyone.
I stood up, started toward the car.
Of course, the lights didn’t flash when I pushed the button— maybe I was too far away.
What the hey. I hunkered down behind a car about fifteen feet away, raised the key fob and pushed the button again.
This time the lights flashed and the horn gave a tiny beep. Bon-jour, buddy. Let’s go for a ride.
I felt like a fool. I stood up, scratched my head and looked around to see if anyone had watched my shenanigans. No one had.
Well, you can’t be too careful in this business. There are old spies and bold spies, but there ain’t no old, bold spies.
I had taken two steps toward the car when it blew up.
The heat and concussion bowled me over backward. That probably saved my life. The air was filled with flying pieces, which were bouncing off the roof and other vehicles and ricocheting around. Not to mention the fire and heat. I didn’t wait for things to settle down — I crawled away as fast as I could go.
Once the heat and fire seemed to dissipate, I scrambled to my feet and ran. When I got to the end of the bay, I looked back.
The smoke was so thick I had to wait to be able to see. After a few seconds the visibility improved somewhat. The bomb had been under the driver’s compartment. The engine and front wheels were still there, blackened and twisted, but the rest of the car was rubble, and some of it was on fire. The roof of the parking garage was scorched black and the adjacent cars looked like they had been smashed by a runaway semi. The fuel in the tank had apparently helped feed the explosion, which had been a dilly.
An inventory of my own sensitive parts showed that all was still intact.
Talk about luck!
The next thought that occurred to me was that I didn’t want to spend the evening visiting with the local police. I boogied.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
I Vespaed back to the embassy and asked around for Grafton. He was in a meeting with the Secret Service top banana, but he motioned for me to join them. After the introductions, I told them about my car.
