Tom Clancy's Op-center Balance of Power - Tom Clancy [55]
The police inspector looked from the body to Amadori. "Sir, this matter will have to be investigated."
Amadori's face was impassive.
"Where will you be-for questioning?" the inspector asked.
"Here," Amadori replied. "In Madrid. With my command."
The inspector turned to the men behind him. "Sergeant Blanco? Telephone the commissioner and let him know what has happened. Tell him I await further instructions. Let his office handle the press. Sergeant Sebares? Notify the coroner. Have him come to handle the body."
Both men saluted and left the room. Amadori turned and walked slowly after them. He was followed by the major general.
He was also followed by the stares of men who clearly feared him, whether they believed his story or not. Men who apparently sensed that they had just witnessed a purge. Men who had watched a military general take the first, bold steps to becoming a military dictator.
* * *
FOURTEEN
Tuesday, 2:00 a.m.
Madrid, Spain
María Corneja was already waiting in a dark, grassy corner of the airfield when Aideen, Luis García de la Vega, and Darrell McCaskey arrived in an unmarked Interpol car. The helicopter that would ferry them north was idling some two hundred yards away on the tarmac.
Air traffic was extremely light. In his speech to the nation in six hours, the prime minister would announce that flights to and from Madrid were going to be cut by sixty-five percent in order to ensure the security of planes leaving the airport. But foreign governments had been informed of the plan shortly after midnight and flights were already being canceled or rerouted.
Aideen had gone back to her hotel room and pulled together some clothes and tourist accoutrements-including her camera and Walkman tape recorder, both of which could be used for reconnaissance. Then she went to Interpol headquarters with Luis while McKaskey phoned Paul Hood. Luis reviewed maps of the region in addition to briefing her on the character of the people up north and providing her with up-to-the-minute intelligence. Then they went back to the hotel, collected McCaskey-who had obtained an okay from Hood for Aideen's participation in the mission-and drove out to the airport.
Aideen didn't know what to expect from María. Little had been said about her, apart from the brief exchange in the hotel room. She didn't know whether she'd be welcomed or whether being an American and a woman would work for her or against her.
María had been sitting astride her ten-speed bicycle, smoking. Flicking the cigarette onto the asphalt, she dropped the kickstand of the bicycle. She walked over slowly, with an athlete's easy grace. She stood about five-foot-seven but seemed taller because of the way she held her square jaw high: high and set. Her long brown hair hung down her neck, the fine strands stirred by the wind. The top two buttons of her denim shirt were open over her green wool sweater and the bottoms of her tight jeans were tucked into well-worn cowboy boots. Her blue eyes swept past Luis and Aideen and came to rest on McCaskey.
"Buenas noches," she said to him in a husky voice.
Aideen didn't know whether that was intended as a greeting or a dismissal. Obviously McCaskey wasn't sure either. He stood stiffly beside the car, his expression blank. Luis hadn't wanted him to come to the airport, but he insisted that it was his duty to see Aideen off.
They watched María as she approached. Her eyes didn't flinch or soften. Luis put his hand around Aideen's arm. He stepped toward María, drawing Aideen with him.
"María, this is Aideen Marley. She works with Op-Center and was present at the shooting."
María's deep-set eyes shifted to Aideen but only for a moment. She walked past her and stopped in front of Darrell.
Luis called after her. "María, Aideen will be accompanying you to San Sebastián."
The thirty-eight-year-old woman nodded. But she didn't take her eyes off McCaskey. Their faces were only inches apart.