Collateral Damage (Stone Barrington 25)

“On Second Avenue. We shot two people in a white Toyota, a man and a woman. I think the woman is Jasmine.”

“God, I hope you’re right,” Dino said.

“She made a call on a cell phone before I could stop her,” Viv said, “but the call failed.”

“Turn off that cell phone,” Dino said. “It’s real important.”

“Holly’s checking out the trunk of the Toyota,” Viv said. “Hang on, we’ve got a laptop!”

“There will be cops all over you in a minute,” Dino said. “I think Holly gets custody of the laptop.”

“She’s already called somebody,” Viv said. “Why are all the lights on Second Avenue red?”

“I called in a code red,” Dino said.

“Good call, Dino. If they’d had a green light, they’d be gone.”

“I’ll tell the commissioner you said so.”

“We’ll come back to Stone’s house as soon as the scene is squared away,” Viv said.

“Hurry,” Dino replied, and hung up.

“Dino,” Stone said, “how much explosive matter was in that van? What’s your guess?”

“I dunno—forty, fifty kilos, maybe.”

Stone heaved a deep sigh. “I’m going to get one of those black boxes,” he said. “Could you use a drink?”

“Is the Pope a mackerel snapper?”

Holly and Viv went through four suitcases in the trunk. “I got an iPhone from the purse on the car seat, but this is just clothes and stuff,” Holly said.

“Except for that laptop,” Viv replied. She looked up and saw a dozen uniforms running up Second Avenue toward them. “You get out of here with the computer and the iPhone,” Viv said. “I’ll deal with the uniforms.”

“Do you still have a badge?”

Viv produced a small shield. “Just my retirement shield, but it’ll work. She held it up and shouted, “On the job, fellas!” as they surrounded the car.

Holly held up her own ID. “CIA!”

Everybody relaxed.

Holly ran the dozen blocks to the Agency building, pacing herself, using her cell phone to call ahead. “I’m inbound on foot,” she said to the duty officer. “I’ve got a hot Mac Air and an iPhone, and we need to lift everything from it, even if it’s coded.”

“We’ve got an NSA lady who’s in town to retrain our tech guys for new software,” the officer said.

“Find her and get her to the building right now,” Holly said. “I’ll be there in six minutes.” She broke the connection and pressed her speed dial button for the police commissioner.

“Holly? Where the hell are you? We got a code red from Dino Bacchetti, and I’ve flooded Turtle Bay and Second Avenue with personnel.”

“Frank, Jasmine is dead, and I have her laptop and cell phone. I’m headed to my office now, and we’ve got an NSA tech in town who can help us with it.”

“I’ll be there just as soon as we’ve cleared the Turtle Bay scene,” the commissioner said.

“See you then.” Holly hung up and called Stone.

“Hey, where are you?”