Fleming looked over into Cabrillo’s eyes and held them for a minute. “Well, Juan,” he said, “what the hell is going on?”
IN THE CONFERENCE room on the Oregon all the seats were filled. Hanley entered last and walked over to a podium and set a file on top.
“Here’s the situation right now,” Hanley began. “We believe we have the location of the bomb pinned down to the general area of the West End of London. Mr. Truitt has checked out the apartment building that the principal, Nebile Lababiti, has secretly rented, and he managed to observe Lababiti and another man coming home late last night. After they entered the apartment, Mr. Truitt swept the area outside the door with a Geiger counter but found no traces of radiation. You six will be going in as support for Mr. Cabrillo, who is already present along with Mr. Meadows and Mr. Seng. Mr. Truitt also placed a locator on Lababiti’s Jaguar, and as of right now, there has been no movement.”
“What do we think the timetable is?” Ross asked.
“We still think the plans call for a midnight New Year’s Eve attack,” Hanley said, “as a symbolic gesture.”
“Will
we receive our actual assignments once we’re in London?” Murphy asked.
“Correct,” Hanley said. “Mr. Cabrillo will be coordinating with MI5. They and Mr. Cabrillo will assign your actual duties as they unfold.”
Hanley’s beeper vibrated, and he removed it from his belt and stared at the readout.
“Okay, people,” he said, “Mr. Truitt has arrived to take you into London. He’s in front right now. Be sure and take the crates of supplies that Nixon has prepared along with you, they are stacked alongside the gangplank. Any other questions?”
No one spoke.
“Good luck, then,” Hanley said.
The six filed out and down the hallway.
CABRILLO FINISHED BRIEFING Fleming then took a sip of tea.
“The prime minister will have a problem keeping the public in the dark about this,” Fleming admitted.
“You know that if the Hammadi Group realizes that their cover is blown, they could detonate at any time,” Cabrillo told him. “Our best chance is to try to make contact using our voice tape of Al-Khalifa, or simply to wait for them to move and follow them to the bomb, then defuse it.”
“We should cancel the concert,” Fleming said. “That reduces the number of people in the area at least.”
“I think that will clue in the Hammadi Group,” Cabrillo said.
“We need to at least remove the royal family and the prime minister to safe locations,” Fleming said.
“If you can do it undetected,” Cabrillo said, “by all means do.”
“Prince Charles is scheduled to announce Elton John before his performance, but he could plead sickness,” Fleming said.
“Use a decoy,” Cabrillo offered.
“If the plan is to hit the concert,” Fleming said, “and the weapon is not already in place, then they have to deliver it to the site.”
“If you have teams covertly check all the areas near the concert with Geiger counters and no radiation is found, then we have to assume they are planning to deliver the warhead to the site by vehicle.”
“So we eliminate the areas near the concert, and if we find nothing,” Fleming said slowly, “we just need to control the roads leading into the Mayfair and St. James areas.”
“Exactly,” Cabrillo said. “The traffic is already horrible in the area. You just station trucks on the side streets that can be moved into place to seal off the roads. I don’t think it will come to that. If we’re correct and Lababiti is in control of the bomb, we know it is not in his Jaguar but it must be close. I think our only hope is to keep surveillance on him as thick as flies on a carcass. Then grab him when the time is right.”
“If we’re wrong and he doesn’t lead us to the bomb,” Fleming said, “then our only hope to stop it is the ring around Mayfair and St. James.”
“If you place your trucks correctly, there isn’t a car in the world that can make it through those streets.”
“But then will we have time to defuse the bomb?” Fleming asked.
“The farther away from the concert we locate it, the more time we’ll have. Make sure all your men have diagrams so they know what wires to cut in order to stop the timer from running through its cycle.”