Dark Justice Read Free Page B

fire."
    "And where does that leave the rule of law?"
    "I'm not sure. People at Al Qa'eda would have their own answer to that. All I know is that we won't beat them by playing patty-cake."
    "Okay, I take your point. Tell me about this Morgan business. You said you didn't want me to know too many details before. Tell me now."
    "It was Major Roper who came up with it."
    "Yes, I know about him. The bomb-disposal hero who ended up in a wheelchair."
    "And made a new career for himself in computers. Anything you want in cyberspace, Roper can find for you, but his great gift is developing new programs in which millions of facts can be overviewed in seconds. Take your evening out with Senator Black. The computer imaged that town house on Park Avenue, the surrounding properties. He then tapped in to every detail about the buildings, what was going on there, the personnel involved, and so on."
    At that moment, Millie came in with a tray and the bacon sandwiches. "They smell good enough to eat, Millie. I might have one myself. Eat up, gentlemen, but carry on, Blake. What's so special about what Roper's up to, surely our people can do that?"
    "Frankly, not as brilliantly as he can. His programs can show given nationalities, religious backgrounds, family, anything you want, and all at lightning speed. It also indicates anomalies, things that shouldn't be. It means his computer is thinking for itself and making deductions, but doing it at a speed beyond human comprehension."
    "Conceptual thought by a machine. Quite something," Cazalet said.
    "Anyway, to cut it short, the computer threw up the nationalities of the people working in the area of Black's town house, which were many. Some of them were English, and Roper, interested, cross-referenced the identities, passports, birthplaces and religions, and in no time at all, one Henry Morgan, who'd been working as a security guard at Gould & Co. opposite Black's house, popped up. He was English, but with a Muslim mother."
    "Really. Is that unusual?"
    "Just enough so that what Roper saw next rang bells: Morgan was a highly qualified pharmacist with a master's degree, who also taught at LondonUniversity, and he entered our country on a tourist visa."
    It was Clancy who put in, "So why does a guy like that take a job as a security guard, Mr. President--and on a forged green card?"
    "Something else Roper discovered."
    "Everything about us is on some sort of record these days," the President said. "So General Ferguson tipped you off."
    "No, there was more to it than that. Ferguson found Roper's discovery interesting enough to check it out a little on his side. He sent his assistant, Detective Superintendent Hannah Bernstein of Special Branch at Scotland Yard, to visit Morgan's home address in London. She discovered that the mother was in a wheelchair after a bad automobile accident that had killed the father five years ago. Bernstein posed as a welfare officer to gain her confidence. Discovered many interesting things."
    "Such as?"
    "The mother had been disowned by her family for marrying out of the Muslim faith. Her son had been raised a Christian. After the accident, however, she rediscovered her faith and her son would take her to the local mosque, where she was received well. And the truly interesting thing was that she said her son had discovered Islam himself, and embraced it."
    Cazalet was looking grim. "So it all begins to fit."
    "Especially when she said he'd gone to New York on vacation."
    "Has Ferguson taken it any further?"
    "No, he's waiting to hear from us."
    Cazalet nodded. "So Morgan obviously arrived on somebody's orders."
    "Exactly. An organization in the UK with some sort of contacts in New York."
    "Why didn't you arrest him the minute you got the story from London?"
    "I wanted to see where it would lead, and Charles Ferguson agreed. It was highly unlikely he was just a deranged loner, so there was a chance he could lead us to his New York contacts."
    "Only he didn't."
    "The few