The Finish Line. Cliff Ryder
and while I have good relations with anyone in the field, it has been a while. Let’s see who’s in charge and what the situation is.”
This is always the tricky part, Kate mused as they approached the crime scene. Room 59 had incredibly broad jurisdictional powers, granted by a consortium of allied nations around the planet to fight any and all threats to the free world. At the same time, however, they had been created to operate behind the scenes, taking care of matters deemed too sensitive for the public intelligence agencies to handle. As such, there were many times when Room 59 operatives would be operating in a country without even advising the home agencies, not only for plausible deniability, but also due to the fact that negotiating every layer of bureaucratic oversight and permission took time, often a luxury the operative didn’t have. Because of this, it was always best to work below the radar whenever possible—except when a team found itself in the middle of a high-profile firefight, like earlier this evening. Then Room 59 operatives did what Kate and Samantha were about to do—walk in and see what they could find out. But before that…
“Jake?” Kate asked.
“Yes?”
“Why don’t you hang back even farther and see if you can find out anything around the back. Above all—”
“Don’t get caught. Yes, I do remember the drill, thanks. Page me if you need anything.” The tall, ex-army man slowed down, his black tuxedo jacket helping him fade into the shadows between the streetlights. When Kate glanced back a moment later, he had disappeared.
Kate adjusted her earpiece just as Samantha got the attention of the ranking MI-5 agent in charge, a craggy-faced, brown-bearded bear of a man in a tailored suit.
“I’m Officer Kryden. Can I help you?”
Samantha showed her cover identification. “Samantha Rhys-Jones, consultant with MI-6. I understand that you might have information concerning a known terrorist suspect involved in the incident here?”
“We’re still sorting through everything to make sense of what happened. What’s the sister service’s interest, if I may?” Kryden asked, employing the casual name for MI-6.
“One of the tenants living here was involved in a smuggling ring that may have trafficked in biological weapons, including bringing them inside the country.”
Instead of replying, his searching gaze fell on Kate. “And you are?”
Kate quickly produced her own identification. “Donna Massen, U.S. State Department. I’m here primarily in an observer capacity. However, we believe that one or two of the tenants may have been U.S. citizens.” Kate touched a hand to the back of her head, thankful she had decided to maintain her disguise for the time being.
“I’m sorry, ma’am, but as of right now, this scene has been classified for authorized personnel only. If this is part of an ongoing investigation with the sister service, then once I’ve verified it, I can discuss particulars with Ms. Rhys-Jones here only.”
“Of course, Officer. I appreciate your candor and understand the need for confidentiality. If you don’t mind, Ms. Rhys-Jones, I’ll just wait by the corner.” Just then an officer brought a piece of evidence to Kryden, who turned away to examine it. Kate caught Samantha’s arm and brushed her wig back, revealing the earpiece. Samantha nodded and unpinned her own hair, letting it fall and cover her ears—and her own inserted earpiece.
Kate turned and headed up the street, walking slowly, scanning the front of the house, which looked like a war zone amid what should have been the normally placid street. The left front window had been shattered, though there was little glass on the ground, indicating that someone had come in from outside. The main door, centered in the middle of the building, had also taken heavy damage, with several bullet holes in it. Adjusting her glasses, Kate took several pictures of the building, using the tiny camera built into her spectacles. She also got a picture of the MI-5 officer in charge. After all, one never could tell when it might come in handy. As she worked, Kate also kept an ear cocked on Samantha and Kryden a few yards away.
The wireless earpieces that the Room 59 directors wore had been modified by agency technicians to transmit over short distances without the aid of a designated cell phone, although adding one could extend the range significantly. With the appropriate hairstyle, they made excellent eavesdropping devices. Even so, Kate held her breath as she saw Kryden on his cell, talking and nodding. He hung up and turned back to Samantha, his voice as clear as if he was standing right next to Kate.
“Sorry about that. However, everything seems to be in order. Here’s what we know at present—”
Kate listened to the officer’s succinct presentation of what they figured had happened, which pretty much matched what the Midnight Team leader had told them—two separate teams of shooters converging on the house, killing everyone they’d found inside. A blood trail led out the back door to an alley down the street, where the police had found three .45-caliber shell casings, but no evidence of anyone being injured there. The department was tying this in to a car chase that terminated in Kennington Park, where one vehicle was destroyed, along with the groundskeeper’s lodge it had smashed into.
The MI-5 officers were looking at camera footage from various points around the area to get any kind of description of the parties or the vehicle that escaped released to the public. They also had the body of one of the shooters, and would be examining it as well. Kryden figured that the terror alert might be raised, since they had discovered what looked like biological weapons inside. “It’s a miracle none got released, what with all the destruction that went on in there—bloody war zone, looks like.”
“So it doesn’t look like any of the bioweapons were taken?” Samantha asked.
“Not that we can tell. Of course, it’s not like they left an itemized inventory sheet. But the room where they were storing it looked relatively untouched, compared to the rest of the place.”
“Would you happen to have pictures of the victims, both the tenants and the shooters? It’s possible that they may have connections outside the country, especially if biological warfare is involved. We’d like to cross-check any identification you find against our files, and see what we come up with.”
“Right, I can e-mail you photos of the faces and names, if that helps.”
“That would be splendid. Please keep me informed as to what you discover, and I’ll be sure to do the same.”
“Sure. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to finish getting the scene processed,” Kryden said.
“Of course, thank you very much for your time, Officer. I’ll be in touch,” Samantha said. She shook his hand, then turned and walked back to Kate. “I assume you got all of that?”
Kate nodded. “So if the second team wasn’t after the bioterror weapons, why did they assault the place and kill everybody in the first place? And what part does our mysterious missing person play in all of this?”
“Good questions all. Come on, it’s a bit chilly to be standing around out here when we could be discussing this in the car. Where’s your shadow?”
Kate scanned the street, but didn’t see any sign of her bodyguard. “I sent him off to poke around out back, see what he might come up with. No doubt he was still able to keep an eye on me at the same time.”
“You’re absolutely right.” Jake materialized out of an alley next to them. “I didn’t find much. Your boys had both entryways sealed up tight—I expect they aren’t going to miss much.”
Samantha smiled. “I expect they won’t.”
“However, I’m afraid they aren’t going to find this.” He brought out a small, handkerchief-wrapped bundle from underneath his jacket. “I overheard one of the techs say the vehicle that had been parked in the alley had turned right onto Wandsworth, so I ambled down to see what I could find, and came up with this in a pile of garbage near the curb.”
He unwrapped enough of the object to reveal