The Hadrian Memorandum

97

4:32 A.M.

Its headlights out, the gray BMW rolled to a stop on the far side of the park across from Rua do Almada. Seconds later a figure moved out of the dark, opened the rear door, and slid in beside Conor White.

“Number 17, top floor,” Carlos Branco said.

“You’re certain it’s them?”

“The woman, yes. The man, not positive, but I would bet it’s Marten. There’s a narrow alley at the back and a rear entrance. I have a man there watching. No one’s come out. My guess is they’re sleeping. The door lock’s easy to crack. You want to go in, now is the time.”

White looked to Irish Jack at the wheel and Patrice beside him. “Jack, take us around back and down the alley, lights out.”

“Colonel,” Branco warned. “This needs to be done very quickly. Afterward go directly to your plane and get out of the country. Right then, right away.”

“What do you mean, right away?”

“The police are everywhere looking for the shooter of my men.”

“What does that have to do with me?”

“They are also looking for you and”-he nodded toward Patrice and Irish Jack-“them.”

“Why? What the hell do they want us for?”

“The murder of a Spanish doctor and her medical students in the countryside near Madrid.”

“What?” Conor White was stunned. “How do you know this?”

“I have many lines of contact within the police organizations. Whether you did what they say is not my affair. You were seen earlier tonight in the lobby of the Hotel Lisboa Chiado and a short time later in the bar of the Hotel Ritz. At the moment the police are sweeping the area between the Baixa where my men were killed and the Chiado, working this way in a grid pattern. So if you are going in after Nicholas Marten and Anne Tidrow, do it now, very quietly and quickly, and get out. Enter the airport using the same gate I brought you through when you came here. The police don’t know the manner in which you arrived in Lisbon, so for now they are watching the main terminals, not civil aviation.” Branco smiled thinly and reached for the door. “Good luck, my friend, I have to trust you will pay me when you can.”

“Get down,” Irish Jack spat suddenly.

In reflex action the four instantly slipped below window level. They were just out of sight when a Lisbon police car moved slowly by, its headlights sweeping over the car as it went. They gave it ten seconds, then sat up.

Branco stared after it. “So now they are here in Bairro Alto.” He looked at White. “Take it as God’s blessing they came when they did and not five minutes later when you were parked in the alley and going upstairs. Get out of here and go to your plane while you still can.”

“No,” White snapped. “Not when we’re this close. Not after everything.”

“Colonel.” Patrice turned to look at him. “It’s not worth it.”

White looked to Patrice, his eyes filled with contempt. “What do you know about worth?” He looked back to Branco. “Your people will stay here. At some point Marten and Anne will leave to meet the congressman. When they do your men will follow. At the same time, you will be at Ryder’s side as a member of his embassy RSO detail.”

“You mean you intend to go back to the old plan. Even after this.”

“That’s exactly what I mean.”

“I held up my end of the bargain.”

“Yes. And you will be paid.”

“You can’t stay out on the streets.”

“You say the police were working the Baixa and the Chiado, now they’re here. If they knew we were at the Ritz they would already have swept the area between there and the Baixa. Correct?”

“Yes.”

“Then they would have been satisfied we were no longer there, which is why they’ve moved their search this way. They will still have patrols, but patrols can be avoided, especially when one knows he is being hunted. This is a game of cat and mouse. All three of us have played it in far more dangerous situations and in considerably more horrifying places than the quaint streets of Lisbon. I assume your men doing surveillance are wearing team radio units.”

“Of course.”

“I need the frequency.”

Branco nodded. “171.925.”

“Good, we’ll be listening. Now, we are going back to our apartment. When Marten and Ms. Tidrow make their move, alert us and follow them. We will meet you wherever it is they have gone. In the meantime, treat Congressman Ryder well. We don’t want him to suspect he has a mole at his elbow.”

Branco smiled admiringly. “I see why you carry the Victoria Cross.” With that he opened the door and slipped out into the darkness.

4:37 A.M.