Silent Assassin(39)

“He doesn’t come out,” said Shepard. “Not out of this door, not unless he’s heavily disguised. Our best guess is that he walked out into the back alley.”

“Has anyone been down to check out the deli?”

“I sent Bishop,” cut in Diana Bloch. “No security cameras inside, and nobody remembers anything, except one thing: they found an empty black suitcase in the bathroom. Nobody remembers who left it there. And it seems the door to the back alley is easily accessible, so it’s plausible he slipped out without anyone noticing. The question,” she continued, “is, what next?”

“What’s the status on Stuart?” asked Morgan.

“We’ve got Rogue, from tactical, tailing him,” said Bloch. “Plus the surveillance you installed in his apartment and taps on every piece of electronic equipment he owns. He’s not squealing.”

Morgan ran his hands through his hair as he thought. “Len wasn’t our only lead to this guy,” he said, looking at Karen O’Neal, who was still standing against the wall fiddling with her tablet.

“We’ve got four more names at the moment,” she said.

“Which means four more people who made trades,” said Morgan. “Four more meetings where this guy might have made a slip and showed his face. Four more meetings to establish a pattern, and maybe triangulate his position in the city.”

“All that may be true and still not worth the risk,” Bloch said, staring pensively at the screen. “Targeting more of his buyers makes it that much more likely that we’ll tip this guy off. We can’t afford to spook him. He’s our only connection to all this now.”

“You’re saying we wait until the next drop-off?” said Morgan. “Just sit on our asses until it happens?”

“That’s the long and short of it,” said Bloch, shooting Morgan a stony, superior look. “What would you have us do?”

“Attack this with everything we’ve got,” said Morgan.

“Of course,” she said wryly. “What else would you suggest?”

“Get each name on that list and extract every drop of information that we can from them,” he said, ignoring her comment. “We hit him fast and hard. We’ll be on him before he has any idea we were even aware of his existence.”

“Every person we contact is another possible breach,” she said. “If our man Moriarty catches wind that we’re on his tail, he’s going to drop everything and we’re back at a dead end.”

“He gave Stuart the information on the last attack less than a week before Paris,” Morgan insisted. “If we don’t go all out now, we won’t be able to stop the next attack. Damn it, Bloch, people’s lives are at stake!”

“Do you think you need to remind me of that?” snapped Bloch, uncrossing her arms. She raised her voice in anger. “Do you think I don’t know what the stakes are here, Cobra? Every day that passes means we’re one day closer to the next attack. The clock’s ticking. I haven’t forgotten. I couldn’t if I tried. But every single lead we’ve had has slipped through our fingers. I don’t intend to let the same happen with this one.” She took a few deep breaths, and then sat down heavily on the nearest chair. “I apologize for that outburst,” she said. “Your input is appreciated. But we need to be cautious here. We don’t know how long this pattern will go on. We focus on the big picture. Getting whoever is behind this. If that means risking letting another one happen, well.” She gave a rueful pause. “That’s a risk we need to take.”

“Am I hearing this correctly?” he said, standing over her. “You’re actually going to risk people dying because you’re too timid to act? Bullshit. You’re weak, and your weakness is going to cost people their lives.”

“You watch your mouth, Morgan,” she said. “I’m still your superior here, in case you’ve forgotten. The final decision is mine. We wait.”

“You’re making a mistake,” he said.

“It’s mine to make,” she said. “Until you bear this level of responsibility, you’ll have no idea what it means to make the tough call.”

“You’re the boss,” he said with a cold, controlled fury. Without taking his eyes off her, he pushed his chair so that it flipped onto the floor and slid to O’Neal’s foot. He stormed off without another word.

“Yes,” she said quietly, bending down to pick up the chair. “I am.”





CHAPTER 19


New York, January 19