Royal Flush

4

According to the file that Leo had secured from Stony Man Farm, Lady Carole, a cousin of the queen and thus in the line of royal succession, had since early childhood been interested in police work. It was not unusual for some of the royal cousins to hold jobs, and soon after she graduated, Lady Carole joined Scotland Yard. According to the record, Lady Carole had proven herself to be a diligent and capable worker, and soon became head clerk of the evidence vault at the New Scotland Yard headquarters. But after she'd been at the job for two years, a scandal broke. Drugs were finding their way out of the evidence vault and back into the streets.

When the drug ring was busted, Lady Carole too was convicted. As a felon, Lady Carole became the black sheep of the royal family. She had been dismissed from Scotland Yard, served time in prison and was still closely involved in the drug scene.

Since that first conviction, there had been a number of subsequent court appearances, mostly relating to drug trafficking. For the past several months, she was known to be involved with John McElroy's bunch.

Leo was aware that the scandal in the evidence vault was true for the most part. But what was not in the official files was the fact that Lady Carole had been approached by the ringleaders after working in the vault for about six months. She reported the contact to her superiors, who decided to set up a "sting operation" in order to bring down the ring. Lady Carole was an integral part of the sting, and for eighteen months the lady played her part to perfection, arranging for the drugs to go out of the vault and altering the records accordingly.

She wore a body pack to several meetings. The recordings were used to set up situations in which the ringleaders could be caught with their fingers dirty. She found the work exciting, and she developed a talent for undercover work. In order to preserve her value as an undercover agent, it was arranged for her to be convicted of various crimes in connection with the operation.

With her cover intact, the lady had proved to be very effective in subsequent operations. She had been doing this for about five years when she made it into McElroy's circle.

It had been Lady Carole who tipped off Leo Turrin to the Canal Queen. But he had never met her, had only communicated with her through Sir Jack Richardson.

Now Leo very much wanted to find out what the lady knew about Shillelagh.

He closed his eyes in thought as the limo weaved through London traffic to the meeting.

Leo had found Lady Carole to be an excellent pipeline into the NAL. Besides being one of his operation's most reliable couriers, she was McElroy's lover.

Now the operation was broken, but new heat was coming down. Apparently Leo's work in fingering the Manhattan dope transfer, then bringing specialists into London, was stirring things up.

The word was out, of course, about the specialists. Subversion was winning the war for now. But the chain that led to Shillelagh was shorter all the time — damn short, in fact. The attack on Sir Jack's limousine was obviously intended to be a sudden and complete wipeout.

Leo knew that more blood would flow very soon as the specialists did their job.

This morning's meeting was to take place at the Tower of London. Leo Turrin's mind drifted back to the last time he'd met someone at the Tower.

It was early in the Executioner's war against the Mafia. Bolan had found himself in England, trying to get home after the battles in France.

In their efforts to bring an end to the "Bolan problem," the mob chieftains had mounted a two-pronged attack against Mack. One prong was the war party led by Arnie "The Farmer" Castiglione. The other prong was the peace party sent to offer Bolan employment in the mob.

Leo, in his undercover role as mobster, was part of the peace party and a meeting between Leo and Mack took place in the Tower — appropriately on Execution Row. In the aftermath of that meeting, Arnie was given his ticket to hell by Mack Bolan.

As the limo pulled to a smooth stop on Tower Hill, Leo opened his eyes to the present. He was accompanied in the car by his personal bodyguard, Sergeant Henry, who sat beside him, and Ripper Dan Aliotto, hit man turned chauffeur for the truth-and-justice team, who drove. Leo Turrin was swathed in bandages.

He would stay in the car, guarded by Sergeant Henry, while Ripper made the rendezvous with the lady in the Tower. If she was amenable to Ripper's suggestion, they would return to the car and the four would simply drive around. Once Leo and Lady Carole were finished, she would be returned to the Tower.

Ripper and Henry got out of the car. Ripper headed off to meet the lady. Henry held his Uzi at the ready under a folded raincoat.

After ten minutes, Ripper returned with a petite blonde. Leo took a good look at the lady and enjoyed the rest his tired eyes were getting. She was tiny — about five one — and beautiful. Her hair fell in gentle waves about her shoulders, and even behind large dark glasses the fine cheekbones were apparent. The coat she wore almost hid the curves, but not quite.

Ripper opened the back door of the car and she climbed in. Leo stared at her. The car pulled away from the curb.

The woman settled into the seat. She removed the dark glasses and opened the coat. The promise was fulfilled; soft curves pressed against a white blouse, and her skirt rose inches up shapely thighs as she sat back in the plush upholstery. His eyes drifted up toward her face and Leo found himself staring into a lovely smile, eyes and lips sparkling in greeting. She was quite aware of the effect she was having on the man in the bandages.

"You look like the 'Invisible Man,' Mr. Sticker," she said, then laughed. Leo joined in the laughter as well as he could, his smile visible between the strips of bandages.

"It may look ridiculous, but it keeps me alive," he said.

One hour later, the limo returned to the Tower. Sergeant Henry got out and opened the rear door as Leo sighed with genuine regret. He hadn't been able to speak entirely freely to this woman, but they both sensed the bond beginning between them.

The blonde beauty walked briskly back to the Tower and joined a crowd of tourists. Sergeant Paul Henry scanned the area to ensure that no one was paying undue attention to her.

The Marine's head snapped back. The impact of the bullet sprayed the limo with blood.

Before Leo and Ripper could react to the loss of their only guard, the back door flew open and a man jumped into the car, the muzzle of his Uzi pointing directly at Leo's swathed head. The front passenger door opened and a second man joined them. Leo packed a Colt Python — but the first man had expertly searched the Fed and come away with it.

The second man ordered Ripper to roll. Ripper's fist, held in an iron grip by his captor, contained both keys and Colt in clumsy disorder; he was soon disarmed. Leo cursed. He and Ripper had been forced to make this meet with small numbers — no heavy armament, no backup for a secret meeting with a double agent in the royal family. That was the way it had to be, and it had backfired.

One of the assailants pulled a folded canvas sack from under his jacket and placed it over Leo's head. The same man gave Ripper directions, leaning over the partition that separated the driver's compartment from the rear passenger area. His partner sat in front, silent, pointing a semiautomatic at Ripper's groin. After twenty minutes of following directions, Ripper parked on command.

The back door of the limo opened and Leo was pulled out onto the sidewalk.

Ripper never heard the report of the gun as it boomed within the close confines of the car, nor did he feel the impact of the bullet as it parted bone and brain on its way through his skull. The bullet emerged to continue through the windshield of the car, leaving a star-shaped, blood-soaked glass memorial to an Able Team ally who did his duty because of a burning conviction that it was right.

The murderer quickly got out of the limo and ran to a Ford Granada parked behind them. Leo and his abductor were already in the back seat. The bandaged, trussed and bagged Leo fought with the man on hearing the gunshot that ended Ripper's life. The man viciously clubbed his struggling captive. Ripper's killer settled into the driver's seat and tore off, tires smoking.

Leo had no idea how long he was unconscious, but he came to in a room with cement walls, an overhead light, and the chair he sat in. Ropes bound him hand and foot. The bandages that had hidden his identity had been removed. He was stripped to the waist. On his chest he felt small electrodes. Leo knew what these were for and knew that his situation was desperate.

"Good to see you awake, Mr. Sticker." The voice came at Leo from all sides. It was a deep mechanical voice, not unlike the synthesized voice in electronic toys. Leo noticed the television camera for the first time. It was in a corner of the room and took in the full sweep of Leo's prison.

"You have been looking for me for quite some time," the electronic voice droned, "and now you have found me. I am Shillelagh. You will get to know me rather well over the next little while, but I don't think the experience will be pleasant for either of us. I am a professional, Mr. Sticker, and I willdo what is necessary. From the little I know about you, I suspect that there could be great profit in knowing more about you. A mixture of drugs and other, shall we say, physical inducements should prove effective in obtaining all of the information I need. Shall we begin?"

Leo writhed in pain as a ball of electricity hit him, dispersed like SMG slugs ripping into his marrow. The current was reduced until it became a steady throb, tolerable but insistent. From somewhere behind, Leo heard a door open and a person walk in.

Moisture was applied to his bicep. He felt a needle pierce his skin. The sound of hard-soled shoes on the cement floor followed the needle out of the room. The current was switched off. As the drug took effect, Leo felt himself drifting into a moonless night that beckoned him like a lover. I'm ready, baby, he thought helplessly. I am ready.

The voice began asking the questions. Probing, insisting, all powerful. An evasion or wrong answer brought Leo to screams as the shock was applied. Then Leo was allowed to drift back again under the drug's influence before the voice resumed its interrogation.