“He’s not my partner, sir.”
“Are you really going to keep correcting me, Agent O’Hare? Do you really think that’s the best strategy right now?”
“No, sir, I’m just saying—”
“Two days,” he said, using a dead calm tone of voice Kate had never heard before, so drained of color that she couldn’t detect even a hint of Kentucky in it. “You and your partner have two days to get that map back. And when you personally hand that map back over to the Vatican, I expect you and your partner to also personally hand over Quentin Fox. In cuffs.”
Kate didn’t bother to correct him on the “partner” business again. “With all due respect,” she said, “the FBI sent us here to observe and advise, and that’s exactly what we did. And if Nick wasn’t here, they wouldn’t even have any idea who to start looking for. I don’t know if it’s fair to ask Nick to go after his father, much less arrest him.”
Jessup stared at her. He really does look like hell, Kate thought. This is a man who does not travel well.
“Two days,” he said. “I’m going to the hotel to clean up.”
He walked away, passing Nick with nothing more than one quick glare and a shake of his head.
“I’m getting a table at La Pergola,” Nick said as Kate came by. “Will the boss be joining us?”
Kate rolled her eyes and took off down the stairs, two at a time. She caught up to Jessup in the parking lot.
“Why don’t we send Nick home?” Kate asked.
He stopped dead, turned, and looked at her. “Excuse me, Agent O’Hare?”
“I’ll stay and hunt down Quentin Fox on my own. Let Nick go back to the States and try to forget this one.”
“He’s not going to forget this one. And he’s not going to walk away. You know that, Agent O’Hare. So you’re going to watch him and you’re going to make sure the right decisions are made.”
“We don’t always see eye to eye on ‘right decisions.’ But I’ll do my best.”
Jessup stared at Kate for a few beats. Kate suspected he was having a minor stroke.
Several cars were standing by, ready to transport on-loan personnel. Jessup waved his hand and one of the cars pulled up. He opened the back door and got in. “Two days,” he said, and shut the door.
CHAPTER THREE
“I think I might remember something,” Nick said to Kate as they ate Sardinian ravioli at La Pergola. “About the man who might have given my father that SAS parachute.”
“I’m all ears,” Kate said.
“When I was ten years old, this friend of my father’s came to Miami to visit him. I remember, they went into the study and locked the door. Stayed in there for an hour, talking.”
“And?”
“He had a very British accent. It was the coolest-sounding thing in the world to me back then. And he brought me a present from England. It was this gold pin, a sword with wings, and a banner that said, ‘Who Dares Wins.’ ”
“That’s the SAS motto,” Kate said.
“Exactly.”
“Do you remember his name?”
“No, I don’t. It was a long time ago. But I remember the name was unusual. Something I might recognize if I saw it again.”
A long moment of silence passed between them, until Nick finally spoke again. “Kate, no matter what my father has done, I don’t know if I can help you bring him in.”
Kate nodded. “I understand, but if you and I bring him in, he’ll be in cuffs. If Vitali does, it might be a body bag.”
* * *
Kate and Nick caught the next available flight from Rome to London. A driver was waiting outside Heathrow Airport to take them to the Ministry of Defence Strategic Command Center, a nondescript building down the street from the more famous Thames House, the headquarters of MI5.
Kate checked her Glock at the desk and they went up to the UK Special Forces office, home base for the 22nd Special Air Service Regiment. SAS for short.
It was a strangely familiar feeling for Kate, walking among the squad members. This was a different country, different insignias on the sand-colored berets, a different-sounding version of the English language. Yet the energy in the air was exactly the same. So was the self-assured way everyone carried themselves and the steely look in everyone’s eyes. It took her back to the time she’d spent as a Navy SEAL.
Her chestnut-brown hair was several inches longer than when she was a SEAL. It was pulled back into a quick ponytail after her plane ride from Rome. Her jacket was wrinkled and she was wearing an FBI badge, but she felt totally at home.
“I bet anyone in this building could kill us in three seconds with a paper clip,” Nick said.
“No doubt,” Kate said, “and if you don’t behave yourself, I’ll kill you myself.”
A man appeared in the hallway and headed straight for them. A little older than everyone else but no less imposing. Dress camo, hair cut high and tight.
“I’m Major Hannon,” he said, with a West Country version of a British accent. “You must be from the FBI.”
“Yes, Major,” Kate said, shaking his hand. “I’m Agent O’Hare and this is Nick Fox.”
The major looked Nick up and down like he couldn’t quite understand the FBI connection. Kate didn’t blame him. She felt the same way herself several times a day.
“I understand you already have the parachute used in the escape last night,” Kate said.
“It just arrived.” Hannon led them down a hallway, to an equipment room with enough armament to outfit a small army, which is exactly what they were. Assault rifles, pistols, a wide array of knives on the far wall. Kate couldn’t help staring. This was her kind of room.
“It’s here,” Hannon said, showing them an unfolded parachute draped over a table. “It was already dusted for prints before it was sent here. None were found.”
He gathered the featherweight material of the chute and started folding it as he kept talking. “It’s definitely one of ours, but we do mostly HALO jumping.”
“High altitude, low opening,” Kate said to Nick.
“That’s right,” Hannon said, impressed. “You’ve jumped before?”
“Once or twice.”
“Then I’m sure you used a backup chute. And a slider reefing device.”
“Yes,” Kate said. “Of course.”
“This one’s been modified.” Hannon nodded to the fabric in his hands. “Quicker release, single chute with no backup. It’s not the kind of thing we usually do here, jumping off buildings.”
“Do you know where this chute came from?” Kate asked.
“We’ve got thousands of these all over the country. This one looks a little older than most. It might have been saved by someone who retired from the regiment. But I’ll tell you one thing, whoever modified this knew exactly what he was doing.”
“So how do we find out who did this, Major?” Kate asked.
“We’ve had a lot of smart men come through this building,” Hannon said, “and most of them know their way around a parachute. I’m not sure how we’re going to narrow this down.”