Sacred Stone

“Back away, George,” Cabrillo said over the headset.

Adams moved the cyclic to the right and the helicopter moved away from the railroad tracks and over some farmland. Pulling back, Adams started climbing to reach a safe altitude.

“All right,” Cabrillo said wearily, “you’re right. I guess we should get your location so Adams can fly us back to the ship.”

“We’re passing offshore of Edinburgh and traveling south at full speed,” Hanley said, “but if I were you, I’d have Adams drop you in London. I have Meadows and Seng on their way there and they’ve turned up some interesting leads pertaining to the missing nuclear bomb.”

“We’re still a go on that?” Cabrillo asked.

“Until we’re told otherwise,” Hanley said.

“So the Corporation recovers the bomb,” Cabrillo said slowly, “and we let the Brits handle our meteorite. Seems backward.”

“Backward is all we have right now,” Hanley said.

ON THE RAIN-SOAKED deck of the ferry boat sailing from Goteborg, Sweden, to Newcastle upon Tyne, Roger Lassiter was speaking into a satellite telephone. Lassiter had worked for the CIA before being terminated a number of years before, after it had been discovered that vast amounts of funds had gone missing from accounts in the Philippines. The money was intended to be used for payoffs to the locals for information on Muslim terrorist groups operating in the southern provinces. Lassiter had lost the money gambling in a Hong Kong casino.

Once he had been fired, the CIA uncovered a few more facts. Lassiter was not above using unauthorized torture, misappropriating U.S. resources for his profit, or outright deceit and deception. Lassiter had operated in areas with little Langley control—and he had abused his privileges to the limits and beyond. There was also talk of him being a double agent for China, but once he had been fired, nothing was done.

Lassiter now resided in Switzerland, but he hired out to the highest bidder.

In Sweden, he’d stolen blueprints from a marine manufacturer who’d designed a revolutionary drive system. The party that had hired him for the theft was Malaysian. The drop was to take place in London.

“Yes,” Lassiter said, “I remember talking to you. You weren’t sure you’d need my services.”

The Hawker 800XP was just reaching New Jersey, where it would be refueled for the trip across the Atlantic Ocean. Hickman was making plans as he went.

“Turns out I do,” Hickman said.

“What’s the job?” Lassiter said as he glared at a tourist who walked past on the deck. The man headed back inside.

“Pick up a package and take it to London for me.”

“That’s a long ways out of my way,” Lassiter lied.

“Not according to the man I had following you in Sweden,” Hickman said. “He mentioned you got on board the ferry bound for the east coast of Britain quite a few hours ago. Was that someone else?”

Lassiter didn’t bother to answer. When two liars are speaking, brevity is critical.

“Where’s the package?” he asked.

“You’ll need to pick it up at the train station,” Hickman said. “It’ll be in a locker.”

“You want me to fly it down,” Lassiter asked, “or drive?”

“Drive,” Hickman said.

“Then it’s something that won’t stand up under an X-ray,” Lassiter said. “That raises the risk.”

“Fifty thousand,” Hickman said, “on delivery.”

“Half now,” Lassiter said, “and half upon completion.”

“One third, two thirds,” Hickman said. “I want to be sure you deliver on time.”

Lassiter considered this for a moment. “When do I get my first third?”

“I can wire it right now,” Hickman said. “What account?”

Lassiter rattled off an account in the Channel Islands. “I can’t verify the funds are there until morning. Can I trust you?”

“By the time you’re near London tomorrow morning,” Hickman said, “you can call your bank. You’ll know you’ve been paid before the delivery.”

“And how will I receive the last two thirds?”

“I’ll hand it to you,” Hickman said, “in person.”

“Leaving the sun and sand for the foggy British Isles,” Lassiter said. “It must be big.”

“You worry about your end,” Hickman said. “I’ll worry about mine.”

“WE INTERCEPTED A British communication,” Hickman told the man on the train. “They are stopping the train at Middlesbrough.”

“So they are onto the switch?” the man asked.

“They caught your partner entering Edinburgh,” Hickman said. “He must have given you up.”

The man considered this for a moment. “I doubt that,” he said, “at least not this soon. Someone else must be following us.”

Hickman didn’t tell the man about the break-in at his office. The less the man knew the better. So far he had lost his team on the Free Enterprise as well as one of his men inside Great Britain. Hickman was running out of assets he could use. And he’d need the man in Maidenhead.

“Whatever the case,” Hickman said, “I’ve taken care of the problem. You exit the train in Newcastle upon Tyne and place the package in a locker. Then proceed to the nearest restroom and place the locker key in the farthest toilet tank from the door. I have arranged for someone to pick up the package and take it the rest of the way.”