Free Arctic Gold by Stephen Coonts Page A

key, and another face came up on the screen. A big man with an ugly scowl.
No.
Enter
.
I’m not sure we’re going to find him this way, she
told Rubens. How many mug shots of Russian Mafiya big shots do you have, anyway?
About a thousand, Rubens told her.
Another face, small, thin, and mean. He looked like a school bully Lia once had flattened on the playground.
No.
Enter.
She’d been through about half of the database already, focusing on those members of the Russian crime syndicates known to be operating in and around St. Petersburg.
No.
Enter.
This is getting us absolutely nowhere, she said.
It important that you look through these pictures while impressions are still fresh in your head, Rubens told her.
No.
Enter
.
With a start, she recognized the next facethe man with bad teeth she’d seen in the warehouse.

Deep Black 7 - Arctic Gold
5
Airport Hilton
Heathrow Airport, London
0815 hours GMT
THE POUNDING ON THE DOOR woke him.
Tommy Karr was on his feet next to the bed before he was fully awake. It took a moment for him to remember where he was. London. He was in London. The pretty flight attendant had agreed to have dinner with him, and they’d spent a pleasant evening chatting over espressos in a coffee shop. What was her name? Julie. Yeah, Julie something.
Hey, Karr! a voice called from the hallway. The pounding sounded again. We’ve got to get moving!
He went to the door and peered through the spy hole. It was Payne, one of the FBI agents, blue suit, sunglasses, ear wire, and all. Karr opened the door partway. Yeah?
Get dressed, lover boy. We’re rolling in ten.
Be right there.
Minutes later, shrugging into his sport coat, Karr walked through the hotel lobby at Dr. Spencer side. Agents Payne and Delgado were with them. Agent Rogers was bringing the rental car around to the parking garage pickup.
I trust you had a pleasant night? Delgado said, smirking.
Karr considered several ribald replies but then simply shrugged. I slept okay.
He knew the three Federal agents were about as thrilled to have him along as he was to be there. There’d been, Karr understood, quite a squawk out of the FBI overseas department when they’d learned the National Security Agency wanted to include an agent on Spencer security team. Karr presence implied that someone higher up the totem pole didn’t think the FBI could handle the job or, possibly, it was just another inside- the- Beltway turf war. The Bureau director had finally agreed, but only on condition that the FBI agentsthe real agentshad operational control and final responsibility for Spencer security meaning, among other things, that Delgado, Payne, and Rogers would be solely responsible for Spencer safety at the hotel, sharing shifts in his suite.
Which was how Karr had found himself at a posh airport hotel with an evening free for socializing with a pretty flight attendant. He smiled to himself. Maybe the three Bureau suits were just jealous.
aE
aE
In the hotel lobby, a woman sat on one of the overstuffed leather sofas, watching from behind a copy of The Sun. As the four menincluding her date from the evening beforestrode across the polished marble floor twenty feet away, she felt a delicious shiver of excitement. Those men, she’d been told, were Russian spies posing as Americans, and MI5 had recruited her, her,
Julie Henshaw, to help in the surveillance.
The young man, Tommy, had been engaging, charming,
and smart, not at all the image of your typical Russian spy. He’d actually seemed quite nice.
But as the four walked through the double glass doors into the hotel garage, she reached into her handbag and extracted a cell phone. Punching out a memorized number, she held it to her ear. They’re on their way.
And she replaced the phone, mission accomplished.
aE
aE
According to the itinerary, Spencer was scheduled to give his talk at Greater London City Hall, in the speaker hall popularly known as London Living Room. He was one of a number of speakers attending the