“Which invitation I canceled on your advice a week ago. You said then you wished to handle this business yourself. No one from the FBI, no police, no military. Even the head of the Secret Service was excluded, which makes it puzzling that you got away with using Clancy in this affair.”

Clancy intruded. “I was served a presidential warrant, Mr. President, so I had to do as I was told.”

“I have a stack of them in my safe,” Blake said. “All signed by you.”

“Really. And you just fill in a name?”

“Correct, Mr. President. You know how the Basement works.”

During the Cold War, when it appeared the Communists were infiltrating at every level of government, the then-President had invented the Basement as a small operation answerable only to him. Since then, it had been handed from one President to another. It was one of his most valuable assets. All other agencies were tied up in rules and regulations, the legal system. This was not. The presidential warrant cut through the crap. People thought Johnson was a deskman. In fact, he had a file of names of ex-FBI and Secret Service men he could pull in on an ad hoc basis. He could connect at any time with General Charles Ferguson in London, who ran a similar organization for the British Prime Minister.

“I can, in effect, kill for you,” Blake went on. “I can have, for example, someone like Morgan disposed of without a trace, but only if I’m left alone to do things my way. The war on terrorism can’t be won unless we’re willing to fight back on our own terms. Fight fire with fire.”

“And where does that leave the rule of law?”

“I’m not sure. People at Al Qa’eda would have their own answer to that. All I know is that we won’t beat them by playing patty-cake.”

“Okay, I take your point. Tell me about this Morgan business. You said you didn’t want me to know too many details before. Tell me now.”

“It was Major Roper who came up with it.”

“Yes, I know about him. The bomb-disposal hero who ended up in a wheelchair.”

“And made a new career for himself in computers. Anything you want in cyberspace, Roper can find for you, but his great gift is developing new programs in which millions of facts can be overviewed in seconds. Take your evening out with Senator Black. The computer imaged that town house on Park Avenue, the surrounding properties. He then tapped in to every detail about the buildings, what was going on there, the personnel involved, and so on.”

At that moment, Millie came in with a tray and the bacon sandwiches. “They smell good enough to eat, Millie. I might have one myself. Eat up, gentlemen, but carry on, Blake. What’s so special about what Roper’s up to, surely our people can do that?”

“Frankly, not as brilliantly as he can. His programs can show given nationalities, religious backgrounds, family, anything you want, and all at lightning speed. It also indicates anomalies, things that shouldn’t be. It means his computer is thinking for itself and making deductions, but doing it at a speed beyond human comprehension.”

“Conceptual thought by a machine. Quite something,” Cazalet said.

“Anyway, to cut it short, the computer threw up the nationalities of the people working in the area of Black’s town house, which were many. Some of them were English, and Roper, interested, cross-referenced the identities, passports, birthplaces and religions, and in no time at all, one Henry Morgan, who’d been working as a security guard at Gould amp; Co. opposite Black’s house, popped up. He was English, but with a Muslim mother.”

“Really. Is that unusual?”

“Just enough so that what Roper saw next rang bells: Morgan was a highly qualified pharmacist with a master’s degree, who also taught at London University, and he entered our country on a tourist visa.”

It was Clancy who put in, “So why does a guy like that take a job as a security guard, Mr. President – and on a forged green card?”

“Something else Roper discovered.”

“Everything about us is on some sort of record these days,” the President said. “So General Ferguson tipped you off.”

“No, there was more to it than that. Ferguson found Roper’s discovery interesting enough to check it out a little on his side. He sent his assistant, Detective Superintendent Hannah Bernstein of Special Branch at Scotland Yard, to visit Morgan’s home address in London. She discovered that the mother was in a wheelchair after a bad automobile accident that had killed the father five years ago. Bernstein posed as a welfare officer to gain her confidence. Discovered many interesting things.”

“Such as?”

“The mother had been disowned by her family for marrying out of the Muslim faith. Her son had been raised a Christian. After the accident, however, she rediscovered her faith and her son would take her to the local mosque, where she was received well. And the truly interesting thing was that she said her son had discovered Islam himself, and embraced it.”

Cazalet was looking grim. “So it all begins to fit.”

“Especially when she said he’d gone to New York on vacation.”

“Has Ferguson taken it any further?”

“No, he’s waiting to hear from us.”

Cazalet nodded. “So Morgan obviously arrived on somebody’s orders.”

“Exactly. An organization in the UK with some sort of contacts in New York.”

“Why didn’t you arrest him the minute you got the story from London?”

“I wanted to see where it would lead, and Charles Ferguson agreed. It was highly unlikely he was just a deranged loner, so there was a chance he could lead us to his New York contacts.”

“Only he didn’t.”

“The few days he was here, he didn’t meet a soul. I had two old FBI hands follow him when we found that the address he’d given Icon Security was false. He was staying in a small hotel; they discreetly gained access to his room and found nothing. No ID on him, no passport at his death. I’d say they’d all been destroyed, probably on orders from his handlers in London.”

“They obviously were hanging him out to dry.”

“Exactly, and the cyanide tooth indicates the equivalent of a suicide bombing. He wasn’t meant to survive.”

Cazalet said, “Okay, I know there’s a lot of supposition here, but I admit it makes a hell of a lot of sense. It still leaves the question of the AK. Where did that come from?”

“It certainly wasn’t in his hotel room,” Clancy said. “We figure it was probably left in some locker, maybe a train or bus station.”

“By his unknown contacts in New York,” Blake put in. “By prearrangement. He’d have been given the location, supplied with a key. Again, it’s supposition, but I’d say he didn’t pick that bag up until he was on his way to work.”

“Yes, it makes sense, all of it,” Cazalet said. “He would have made an interesting prisoner, but now he’s dead, which leaves us with a dead end.” He frowned. “Except for Ferguson and his people.”

“Exactly what I was thinking, Mr. President. Maybe we can find out more from the English end.”

“The mother,” Cazalet said, “maybe she knows something.”

“I don’t know. A handicapped, aging lady in a wheelchair is hardly the sort of person that Al Qa’eda would be recruiting,” Blake said. “But she and her son were welcomed warmly at the local mosque.”

“Which is where we should look.” Cazalet nodded. “ Ferguson ’s the man to handle it.” He smiled. “It’s London next stop for you, Blake. I’ll speak to Ferguson myself and promise him every assistance.”

“What about me, Mr. President?” Clancy said.

“No way. I need you to watch my back. You took a bullet for me once, Clancy. You’re my good-luck charm.”

“As you wish, Mr. President.”

Blake said, “I’d like to keep a low profile on this one. I’ll fly over in one of our private planes, with your permission, and use Farley Field outside London, Ferguson ’s base for special operations.”

“By all means. As soon as you can.” He hesitated. “When you asked me to cancel dinner with Senator Black, you didn’t tell me much, and I hesitated. Thank God I had enough faith in you.”