Dick Stivers - Royal Flush

Leo appeared at the embassy in the company of Sergeant Paul Henry, USMC. Sergeant Henry's expertise was survival under combat conditions. In Indochina, he'd earned a cluster of citations for bravery and resourcefulness. Before his London assignment he underwent a secret intensive training program taught by the U.S. Secret Service. The topic of that program was personal protection.

Henry called for an assembly of all those concerned in the Shillelagh matter and for the sleeping to be awakened. Within minutes, the three visiting American specialists caught their first sight in a long while of Stony Man buddy Leo Turrin. The men beamed recognition at each other.

Sergeant Henry presented himself to the small group of assembled staffers and visitors. "I was told that this was on a 'need-to-know' basis," he announced. "All I need to know is which of you gentlemen is Able Team."

The three warriors stepped forward and greeted Leo warmly, as others in the room began to talk amongst themselves, exchanging late-breaking information.

The four men were joined by the Marine sergeant as they went down to the garage to supervise the unloading of the weaponry. Leo watched Able Team open the trunk of the limo and reveal weapons of war provided by Sir Jack Richardson and the Secret Service. When Sergeant Henry saw the nature of the weaponry, he understood the scale of the coming war.

Three M-16/M-203s lay on top of the hoard. The M-16 was the battle-proven, standard-issue assault rifle for the U.S. armed forces. A breech-loaded grenade launcher, the M-203, was mounted under the M-16's barrel; 5.92mm ammo and 38mm high-explosive grenades made for a deadly combination.

Poking out between the fat rifles were radios, sheaths and webbing. Lyons delved into the smaller implements of war — HE and stun grenades, garrotes, additional magazines for the Colts and Ingrams, three Startron nightscopes. The battle ordnance was complete.

"How are you guys going to unpack this stuff and carry it around?" Leo asked. "Where am I supposed to get you a vehicle at this short notice?"

"How about right here," said Sergeant Henry. He tossed a set of keys to Blancanales, along with the instructions: "A Ford Transit van is parked in Section B. It was mine. Now it's yours."

Pol left to locate the vehicle. Henry looked down at the arsenal stashed tightly in the huge trunk.

"I feel sorry for the bastards on the receiving end of this," he muttered.

"Don't waste your sympathy on them," Lyons said. "They deserve everything we're going to give them. What shape is the van in?"

"It's been modified in anticipation of your kind of needs," Henry said. "It's an RV that'll keep you alive, sir."

Gadgets drove the vehicle into view. The boxy van looked big enough to provide sleeping accommodations for four. Evident talents had been applied to a suspension system that was visible behind the wheels, and the engine cowling sported air-gulping cooling louvers. The vehicle looked prepared to hold its own against any of the leading British high— speed sedans. It had the additional quiet advantage of not bearing diplomatic plates, so the vehicle could blend in with Windsor's other tourist traffic.

The Americans spent the next half hour stowing the armament in the war wagon.

Then Leo spent time briefing Able Team on Windsor Castle. He mentioned a Mr. Geoffrey Hall, a former castle employee who would handle the final briefing. Hall was one of Brognola's contacts, and Leo wasn't too sure where the man fit in. The meeting would take place in a small pub in Windsor — the Boar and Bull.

Then Leo and Ripper spent hushed minutes going over the plans for a meeting later that day with one of Leo's contacts. The woman's name was Lady Carole Essex.

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.