He made another quick turn onto Horseferry and then again onto Regency, where he pulled abruptly to the side of the road. He wiped down the wheel, gearshift, and door with a handkerchief, then handed it to Vail, who did the same. Just as she finished, DeSantos and Fahad drove up.
Vail and Uzi swung their duffels out of the trunk and then got into DeSantos’s car. He drove away and put as much distance as he could between them and the crime scenes in the shortest amount of time without running traffic lights or drawing undue attention.
“Keep your head down,” Fahad said to Vail.
She leaned forward and dropped her face between her knees and wondered how long it would take before she could feel confident that they were in the clear.
Vail dug out her phone and, keeping low, dialed Reid. He did not answer on the first attempt, but he picked up on the second.
“Things are a little busy, can I ring yeh back?”
“Would love to stick around but — well, you know how it goes. Before we leave, there are things you should know.”
“Get on with it then.”
“First — what happened? Did we call it right?”
“Give yourselves a pat on the rump. At Thames there was a sniper but he never got the chance to take a shot. One of our own had him in his sights and almost took him down.”
“Who was it?”
“Don’t rightly know. He got away.”
Are you serious?
“Yeah, go ahead and say it: it was an arse fucking screw-up on our part.”
“Surveillance video?”
“Being reviewed from multiple cameras. Don’t have anything on the roof but they’re checking to see if we got a few frames of him on his way up or on the street on the way to the job. If he’s a professional, we won’t be so lucky.”
“And the Home Office?”
“Not looking as good. Took longer to convince them osmium tetroxide was a viable threat. I got it done but not everyone got out in time. Not sure yet how many were infected. But I got preliminary confirmation from our onsite hazardous materials people. You were right.”
“A case where I wish we were wrong.”
There was shouting in the background, then Reid’s voice, muffled slightly by a finger over the microphone: “Deploy the robot and check it out. I’ll be right there.” To Vail, he said, “You said there are things I need to know?”
“You may have an infiltrator at MI5.” When she explained her reasoning, there was silence. “Reid, you there?”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m here. We’ll look into it. Take a while to do it right, but I’ll let you know if we find anything. What else?”
Vail closed her eyes. She did not want to have to tell him this, but she had no choice. “I, uh, I may’ve blown your cover.”
“I’m up to my arse in a major investigation. No offense, but this is not the time for a joke.”
I wish I were joking.
“You are joking, right?”
“I’m really, really sorry. I–I can’t go into it on the phone but just know that if I could take it back I would.”
“Are yeh sure? I need to know the specifics.”
She explained it as best she could without implicating herself as being the woman at Smith’s Square who had escaped from CO19.
“I’ll see what I can find out. Damage control.”
“I’m sorry.”
“What’s the saying? Shite happens?”
“It’s an American thing. And it’s just plain old shit. Shit happens.”
“You Americans want to take credit for everything, eh?”
“Take care of yourself, Reid. And give Carter my regards.”
Minutes after Vail hung up with Reid, when they had gotten outside the city limits and entered the motorway, she sat up and stretched out the kinks in her neck.
“Where are we headed?”
DeSantos, who was driving, looked at her in the rearview mirror. “Right now, back to RAF Mildenhall. Then we’ll reassess, connect with Knox, and figure out a plan of action.”
Uzi was seated to her left in the backseat, working his laptop keyboard, for the most part silent, clearly intent on decrypting the remaining documents. “Uh — holy shit.”
DeSantos glanced in the rearview mirror. “That’s a bit vague, Boychick. Can you be more specific? Find something?”
Uzi continued to stare at the screen. “Get Knox on the phone.”
Vail pulled out her cell and started dialing. A moment later, she had the director on the line. “On speaker, Uzi.”
“Sir, I’ve found something you need to act on immediately. I’ve got a captured document that outlines a small-scale repeat of the 9/11 attacks. A single jet.”
Vail watched as his eyes moved across, and down, the screen. It was in Arabic, so all she could do was wait.
“Go on,” Knox said.
“I’m translating the Arabic,” Uzi said. “Looks like it’s going down today — tonight — wait, New York is how many hours behind us? Five? Shit, it’s going down—” Uzi’s head whipped up. “Now.”
“Details,” Knox said, urgency in his voice. “Give me something. A jet? That’s all you’ve got?”
“Freedom Tower, commercial airliner,” Uzi said, skimming the document. “Refers to someone by name of Haydar. That’s it. If we’ve lost contact with any flight, or if anything out of the ordinary is—”
“You’re sure of this intel?” Knox asked, the rapid clacking sound of a keyboard apparent over the phone’s speaker.
“We’re not on a secure line, sir.”
“No time. Give me what you’ve got.”
“I’m reading encrypted documents we stole from a PC in the Greenwich cell’s flat. Yes, I believe it’s reliable intel.”
“I’ll look into it.”
Knox clicked off and the four of them glanced at one another. Uzi turned back to his laptop and continued working.
Vail sat there, staring ahead, numb. Images of the planes hitting the Twin Towers played in her mind. She had seen it firsthand. Now, thousands of miles away, she had only her imagination as she pictured what was going down. She shut her eyes tight. Not again. How could it be happening again?
“The dirty bomb wasn’t enough?” DeSantos said.
Vail shook the memories from her thoughts. “Maybe this World Trade Center thing is a contingency plan, in case the dirty bomb attack failed — which it did. The tower’s a prime target, for obvious reasons.”
A minute later, Uzi broke the silence. “Paris.”
“What about Paris?” Fahad said.
“That’s where these assholes are going. Which means that’s where we’re going.”
“What’d you find?” DeSantos asked.
“Instructions issued by someone in command. They’re not named, but they directed all fighters to report to a specific address in Paris after the London operation. I think it’s safe to assume that the two incidents we just witnessed were the London op.”
“Unless we hear otherwise,” DeSantos said, slowing slightly on the motorway to keep his speed at the limit.
“Do you think they’re gonna be able to stop that plane?” Vail asked.
DeSantos glanced at her in the mirror but returned his gaze to the road without answering.
“Got something,” Uzi said, his fingers suddenly stilled. “A reference to two manuscripts, one of which was transferred to the Louvre for safekeeping while awaiting transport.”
“What manuscripts?” Fahad asked.
He gave the document another read before answering. “Doesn’t say. And it doesn’t say where it’s going after it leaves the Louvre.”
“When are they scheduled to leave?” Vail asked.
“That’s not in here, either. I’ve got a couple more files to work on, so maybe we’ll get lucky.”