Читать книгу Black Widow - Cliff Ryder - Страница 18

London

“Okay,” Samantha said as she watched the motorcycle race back into the heart of the city, “she’s away.”

“Pretty resourceful,” Kate commented.

“I’d have to agree. We weren’t set up to deal with a cache of weapons.”

“And if you’d known for sure they were there?”

Samantha didn’t hesitate. “The only option we’d have had was the same one Ajza exercised.”

“I agree. If we’d thought of it as quickly. I have to admit, she was ahead of me. As you said, we weren’t set up to handle weapons.”

“Intel assured us that Mustafa doesn’t deal in weapons. We were there to target a drug shipment and take it out to disrupt the finances we’d uncovered.”

“I want to track down both ends of this operation,” Kate said. “Those were American weapons. They were a special order. I’ll handle things from this end. Maybe you could have someone take a look at Mustafa’s business and find out where those weapons were going. He’s not an end-user for something like that.”

“Agreed. Nor is he set up to piece a shipment like that off. He was acting as a middleman for a buyer.”

“I want to find out who that buyer is,” Kate said.

Samantha watched the car Red Team had used to run blocker for Ajza Manaev. The driver fought with the steering but finally got the vehicle back on solid ground. He drove away, but from the looks of the smoke billowing out from under the hood, the car wasn’t destined to go far.

“We have Red Team in the field,” Samantha said.

“How exposed are they?” Kate asked.

Samantha considered. “Provided they can get cleanly out of this, they should be fine.”

“Are there any undercover operatives among them?”

“No one we can put on the ground here.”

“What about local assets?” Kate asked. “Can we exploit those?”

“Yes. But we’re going to take a chance on burning them.”

“With Mustafa.”

“Yes.”

“When we’re finished here, let’s take Mustafa off the board,” Kate said.

Samantha was surprised by the decision. Kate Cochran didn’t casually order someone’s execution. Yet that was exactly what the Room 59 director had just done. “All right,” she said. She knew it was the right decision.

“Mustafa is too good at what he does,” Kate went on. “I don’t want to risk him expanding his business. His departure should trigger a power struggle that one of the intelligence agencies can take advantage of.”

“I think so, too. I know my agency will be interested in keeping an eye on things there.” Samantha consulted the wall screen again.

Turkish military vehicles had arrived on the scene. Fishermen, cargo handlers and tourists were all being pushed back from the area where the truck had gone into the water. Another group converged on the wrecked car Red Team had taken out.

“Are you ready to wrap this?” Kate asked.

“Yes.”

“Get a report to me immediately. Let’s work through debrief quickly and establish the next leg of this project.”

“Will do.” Samantha cut Kate out of the communication loop. Then she contacted Red Team and ordered them to pull back, too. “Where’s Manaev?”

“She headed back into the city,” the lead computer-tech support answered. “We lost her in the crowd.”

Smart girl, Samantha thought. “Support?”

“Yes.”

“Get me a full background and a deep jacket on Ajza Manaev. I want it at my workstation in an hour.”

“I’ll have it there.”

Samantha turned to the computer crew on-site. “Box it up.”

Quickly and efficiently, the computer crew stowed their gear back in the protective cases. In minutes it was like they’d never been there.

“Do you think she’ll get out of Istanbul all right?” the lead computer specialist asked when they reached the sidewalk outside.

Samantha looked at the man and smiled a little. “Smitten?”

He shrugged. “She’s pretty brill. Gotta give her that. I thought that bloody lot had her a couple of times.”

“But they didn’t.”

The man frowned. “I’ve worked ops where things didn’t turn out so well.”

Samantha had, too. “As talented as she is, she’ll have a bolt-hole.”

“Even if her mates didn’t show up to cover her back?”

“When you’re out in the field,” Samantha replied, “you always keep two escape plans. One that your handlers know about and another that no one knows about.”

The man nodded. “Hope so. Well, then, we’re off.” He grinned. “Thanks again for another exciting time.”

“You, too,” Samantha said. She turned and walked into the shadows. Stifling a yawn, she reflected on the fact that she wasn’t going to get any sleep.

By the time she put the car in gear and pulled out onto the street, she was already organizing her report to Kate Cochran in her head.