Stone - 25 - Collateral Damage Read Free

every day we have the assassination of a cabinet member in a major European ally,” she said to the table at large. “Lance? Anything?”
    “Nothing that would have led us to anticipate such an event, Director,” Cabot replied. “Not a peep. I find it interesting that the perpetrators decided to take out a building and God knows who and what else at a corner of London’s most famous square, in an effort to take out one man. I think there’s a statement there.”
    “Director,” Holly said, “given the timing, there must have been an operative on or near the site to set off the explosion.”
    “Good point, Holly,” Kate said. “Will you call Tom back when we’re done and ask him to get every possible angle of surveillance footage from New Scotland Yard? London has thousands of these cameras. I’m sure Special Branch is already reviewing the recording, but we might be able to spot somebody not in their files.”
    “Yes, Director,” Holly said, making a note. As she did, Holly had a thought, but it was too soon to bring it up, and certainly not in this meeting.
    “Did I detect something just now, Holly? An idea?”
    “Just a wild guess, Director. I’d like to run it down a little before I make an ass of myself.”
    That gained a chuckle from the dozen men and women present.
    “Oh, go on, Holly, I’d like a view into your frontal lobe. Entertain us.”
    Holly shrugged. “If you insist, Director. You will recall that, last week, a London asset of ours and his brother were involved in planting bombs at an L.A. location. They are both dead now.”
    “For which we can thank the appropriate person at this table,” Kate said.
    Lance lifted an eyebrow. “Did those two gentlemen have an accomplice we are unaware of, Holly?”
    “They had a sister,” Holly said, and the room became very still.
    “Ah, yes,” Lance said. “Remind us.”
    “Jasmine,” Holly said, “the youngest of the three Shazaz siblings.”
    “Whereabouts?” Kate asked, looking at Lance.
    Lance merely shook his head.
    “Holly? A guess?”
    “Her two brothers lived in London,” Kate said. “Perhaps she did, too.”
    “They had a rather elegant house, as I recall. Where was it?”
    “Cheyne Walk, beside the Thames, in Chelsea.”
    “Ah, yes. When you speak to Tom, raise that subject, please. I’d like to know where Ms. Shazaz is, or when she was last sighted.”
    “She was in Palo Alto when the West Coast bombs were made,” Holly said. She did not mention that one of the bombs had been a nuclear device, because she didn’t know how many of the people in the room knew that. Lance probably did, but maybe not the others.
    “Oh,” the director said. It was a very expressive word. “Why the hell didn’t we bag her?”
    Lance spoke up. “We didn’t bag anybody until after the Palo Alto operation had been shut down,” he said, “and intel led us to believe that she was already out of the country when we bagged her brothers.”
    “Did intel indicate where out of the country?” Kate asked.
    “No, Director, not at the time. Perhaps we have a better idea now.”
    “Could this be a revenge killing?” Kate asked. “Or is there a larger motive afoot?”
    Holly spoke. “It might be said that the foreign secretary was connected to recent events in California, in the person of the head of MI-6, who was present in L.A.”
    “Perhaps you’d better give that lady a jingle,” Kate said, “and let her know of your, ah… opinion. I would hate to hear of some later event that we might have helped to stop.”
    “With your permission, I’ll make that call now,” Holly said.
    “Please do so.”
    Holly rose and returned to her office next to the director’s, her heart beating a little faster.

Holly dialed the London direct line for Felicity Devonshire, known as “Architect,” head of MI-6.
    “Yes?” a male voice asked.
    “This is Holly Barker, assistant director of intelligence, calling from Langley, Virginia, for