A Death in Geneva (42 page)

“Drop it, Renfro, goddamnit!” Sweetman burst onto the landing, snapping off two warning shots, the 9mm ASP trained on her. She spun, flipping the Skorpion to automatic with the first flash of his pistol. A spitting line of bullets tore along the wall, closing to stop his charge. Her foot turned in Starring's stomach. The Skorpion flew from her hands; she plunged back first over the railing. The machine pistol rattled to a stop at the base of the second floor stairs.

Sweetman pressed four fingers against Starring's neck. The heart was pumping. He had fainted, saved his own life. From the third floor of the Octagon, the agent could see by the twist of the form on the marble below that Leslie Renfro was dead.

At first light, the helicopter came in low toward the
Towerpoint Octagon,
rippling the water around one of the two Coast Guard patrol boats lying off the catamaran. In the night, the
Towerpoint Partner
had been lost at sea. A second explosion, with no loss, had churned the waters of the bay. The
Mayan,
well up-bay, had been halted. A Navy SEAL team was conducting an urgent inspection of the enormous hull. Sweetman was met on the flight deck by the
Octagon
's captain, cleared through the Coast Guard checkpoint, and escorted to the main deck center well.

Head's body was the first to emerge from the habitat. Shrouded in a rubber bag and lashed to a wire basket stretcher, it was taken to the ship's reefer to await shipment ashore. The rich July orange of the sun's upper curve had broken the horizon by the time the ship's doctor had Oats Tooms ready for the trip to the surface. Details of the terror had been kept from him. Still fully conscious, he was buoyed by the knowledge that Starring had survived. The questions that dogged him would soon be replaced by the impact of the attack's shocking magnitude.

With scuba gear on, he was lowered through the trunk, strapped to the same wire stretcher, and lifted to the main deck. The face mask and tanks were eased from him. Flat on his back awaiting transfer to the medevac flight, his eyes traveled first to the white and blue flag with its swallow tails snapping from the ship's yard, then to the powerful bald agent peering down at him, to the dull black of the wristwatch identifying him as a member of the underseas fraternity.

He squinted at Sweetman, “Got some patching to do on . . . be back . . . tell the skipper not to strike the diver's flag.”

About the Author

A. DENIS CLIFT is a former naval officer, editor of the
Proceedings
magazine, and president emeritus of the National Intelligence University. He served in eleven administrations, including tours as National Security Council senior staff member for Soviet Union and Eastern and Western Europe, national security adviser to the vice president, and chief of staff, Defense Intelligence Agency. His books include
With Presidents to the Summit.

The Naval Institute
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