The jet cut through the air at top speed, at an altitude above 42,000 feet.
The cabin on this plane was like the passengers’ London office, with people going back and forth, some giving orders, others bent over computers, talking on the phone, engaged in an endless variety of tasks no different from the ones they performed on land. The only difference was that they couldn’t go out for coffee, and they had to adjust to a few minutes’ rest inside the aircraft. They were confined, seat belts fastened, only during take-offs and landings.
In heaven as on earth. Geoffrey Barnes still had a separate office from the rest of his crew, with a luxurious leather chair.
Thompson proved to be a good recruit. He served himself coffee in the director’s office and sat on a chair considerably less comfortable than Barnes’s.
“Sharon Stone. Damned bastards,” Barnes declared, brooding. “The guy wasn’t joking.”
“What guy?” Thompson asked.
“Somebody at the British Museum. It’s not important.”
Unlike Barnes’s London office, this one lacked the glass windows that gave him an overview of his agents’ work. Even so, he liked the change, since they couldn’t see him, either, leaving him free to do as he pleased.
Outside, Staughton applied himself to his first duty-which he preferred over any field assignment-the analysis and cross-checking of facts. Whether it was in a plane or in an office made no difference. It was always better than gathering information on the street, as he recently had to do at Hans’s flat. Staughton didn’t have the temperament for that. His weapon was the computer. The printer next to him started to vibrate, and immediately began to spew out paper at a surprising rate.
Those guys put my nerves on edge, he thought, glancing at the four men in black sitting in the back of the cabin, completely motionless since the plane had taken off. At no point did they exchange words, looking like statues or mimes. They were identically dressed, and without a single wrinkle. Or maybe they suggested something else.
Staughton couldn’t stand the dark suits, the agents’ formal style. He favored casual clothes, wearing whatever he felt like. It should be enough not to have three-day-old stubble and not to have messy, uncombed hair. But the day a suit and tie was required, Staughton would be the first to resign. The printer ejected the last page, and after gathering the pile into a folder, the agent headed for his boss’s office.
“I can’t stand seeing those guys sitting there,” he complained as soon as he went in.
“Then don’t look at them,” Thompson said.
“Do they belong to the Guard?” Staughton asked. “They don’t look very dangerous.”
“Lower your voice, Staughton. Those guys are beasts,” Barnes warned. “Any news?”
“Well, something. They took the Eurostar from Waterloo to Paris, and then a plane from Orly, which landed in Lisbon two hours ago. We already have men on the ground trying to find out what they did there and where they are now.”
“Sharon Stone,” Barnes repeated, sighing. “Damned bastards.”
“Any idea of their reason for the trip?” Thompson asked.
“Surely to talk with the girl’s father,” Barnes answered.
“The army man isn’t at his Beja estate. We already searched the place. Now we’re checking relatives.”
“This is our only chance, guys,” Barnes muttered. “They aren’t going to use their passports again. Jack won’t make that mistake.”
“Everything’s tougher when the target is somebody who knows how to take care of things.”
“What’s our estimated arrival time, Staughton?” Barnes asked.
“We’ll be landing at Figo Maduro air base in two hours.”
“Fine. Get the staff to search in hotels, car rental services, taxi companies, private planes. Have them show photos, but don’t leave the photos with anybody. We don’t want the Portuguese police getting involved, and it goes without saying, we don’t want reporters, either. Be quick, but don’t stand out. Make sure of that. We need good clues to follow as soon as we land.”
Staughton, who had gone in with a bunch of papers, left with a bunch of tasks to do, just as he liked it. A few phone calls and he got everything going full blast, ready to gather leads as soon as possible. His only lingering hope was that Jack Payne wouldn’t outsmart them all.
“What made them decide to go looking for her father in Portugal?” Thompson asked, still relaxing in Barnes’s office.
“I think they’re looking for answers. And trying to determine their ongoing strategy.”
“But doesn’t he belong to the P2?”
“In theory.”
“In theory?”
“There are theoretically two tiers of people in the P2, the old and the new. Her father belongs to the old group.”
“Then there are two lodges?”
“Not exactly. There’s only one P2. The old members have no power at all in the present circumstances. But they exist, they are there. And they’re giving us a lot of trouble.”
“Is all of this caused by their maneuvering?”
“Yes. Even the Vatican is on the alert. We’ve got to get hold of those papers as fast as possible, to keep all the shit from hitting the fan. We’re part of the shit, Thompson, and we’ll be sent flying.”