Patrick Robinson - To The Death

All the way across the Atlantic from Andrews Air Force Base, east of Washington, the operators inside the NSA jet had swept the skies for sign of a tracking device. And Rick Hunter had slept in peace, dining like a king on New York sirloin and apple pie with ice cream.

There were no other passengers on board, and Rick, who had left Lexington at 4 A.M. (local), had been attended by just two stewardesses. The No. 2 crew, who would fly the aircraft home tonight after the refuel, were at the rear of the cabin, as opposed to the presidential suite in which Rick was ensconced.

The ex-Navy SEAL had been told specifically by Lt. Commander Ramshawe that President Bedford would take care of the transportation, and he sure as hell had done that.

SAM 38000 swooped low over the town of Paisley and touched down at three minutes after 6 P.M. The pilot taxied up to an open, designated place outside the international terminal, and a mobile set of stairs was instantly put into place. Rick exited the aircraft and came down the stairs carrying his CAR-15 light machine gun in an olive-drab-colored holder as if it was a group of salmon-fishing rods.

A customs officer was awaiting him, in company with a Royal Navy lieutenant commander, and both men saluted him. The customs officer put a small discreet chalk marking on both the machine gun case and the duffel bag that Rick carried with him.

Just beyond the group was a red Royal Navy helicopter-the high-speed Dauphin 2 which can, if required, fire Sidewinder AIM-9M air-to-air guided missiles. Rick carried his bag and sniper rifle on board and strapped himself in, and the helicopter immediately took off, heading northwest, straight over Loch Lomond to Loch Fyne and Inveraray.

The Dauphin 2, in battle conditions, is capable of flying at almost 200 mph, and this evening it flew very fast, coming in to land on the lawn of the MacLean residence only thirty minutes after takeoff. Rick arrived at precisely the same time as Lady MacLean, who did not have the slightest idea who he was.

She stood outside the house with three policemen and watched the Dauphin take off, heading back to the Navy base of Faslane on the Gare Loch.

“We assume he’s on our side?” Lady MacLean asked the policemen as Rick walked toward them.

“Oh, yes, m’lady,” replied the young constable in a rich Argyll accent. “We’ve been expecting him. He just landed in Glasgow from America on Air Force One, the president’s private aircraft.”

Annie MacLean’s eyebrows rose. “Good Lord,” she said. “Who is he?”

There was no time to answer that, since Rick had very much arrived. He walked directly toward her and surveyed the slim, blonde-haired, sixtyish Scottish aristocrat who stood before him and said, “Ma’am, I’m Commander Rick Hunter, United States Navy. I believe Admiral MacLean is expecting me.”

“Yes, yes, of course,” said Lady MacLean, hurriedly. “You just took me slightly by surprise. I’ve only just returned myself.”

“Ma’am, in my trade I’m real used to surprising people,” replied Rick.

“Aha,” said Lady MacLean. “Are you the Navy SEAL my husband told me about?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said. “I’m actually retired. I’m on special assignment.”

“You look a lot too young to be retired,” she smiled, with the practiced grace of the wife of a very senior Navy commander, a wife who had spent a lifetime trying to put young officers at their ease while knowing perfectly well they were terrified of her husband.

“Oh, I had a lot of family commitments,” he offered. “My dad runs a pretty big thoroughbred breeding farm out in Kentucky, and he kinda needed me.”

“Oh, you must tell me all about it,” she said. “But we’d better get inside. I’m already an hour late, and I expect you would like to get rid of your luggage.”

Rick followed her in, through the open French windows and into a large sunlit room that contained a highly relaxed Admiral Sir Iain MacLean, Admiral Arnold Morgan, and Kathy Morgan, old and trusted friends in comfortable surroundings.

Arnold Morgan stood up immediately and walked across the room. “Hello, Rick,” he said. “It’s been a long time. I’m glad to see you.”

Lady MacLean made the introductions, checked her watch, and said, “Well, it’s almost seven o’clock, shouldn’t we be having a drink? Has no one offered you anything, Arnie? Honestly, Iain, sometimes I think you were too long in the Navy being waited on hand and foot-and here’s poor Rick, flown thousands of miles from the middle of the United States. He’s probably dying of thirst.”

Angus appeared magically and took everyone’s order, white burgundy, except for Rick, who would accept only mineral water, “Just in case we come under attack…”

Arnold Morgan laughed wryly. “The way things are going, that might not be too far from the truth,” he said. He did not of course realize that at this precise time General Ravi Rashood was high in the woods behind the house, staring through the telescopic sight from his long-range sniper rifle.

Five minutes later, when the drinks arrived, Ravi was gone, slightly unnerved by the sheer strength of the security that surrounded the admiral. Had he waited around much longer, up there in the woods, he would have been even more unnerved, as another Navy helicopter swept the area with infrared radar, searching for the slightest sign of unauthorized human presence among the pine and spruce trees of the Argyll Forest.

There was no doubt that the police and military on both sides of the Atlantic had been seriously spooked by that wayward silver-headed bullet that had ripped into the skull of agent George Kallan. Especially since the National Security Agency had been predicting something like it for several weeks. Security services hate being made to appear even remotely slow-witted.

Annie MacLean showed Rick up to his room and pointed out where Arnie and Kathy would be sleeping. “I don’t suppose you need to sit outside their door, armed to the teeth, do you?” she said.

“Not with those beautiful dogs of yours in the house,” he said. “But I probably will not shut my own door. I need to pay attention if they bark.”

“If you leave your door open, they’ll all be on your bed,” she said.

“Ma’am. There’s two things I’m real good at: that’s dogs and horses. They won’t bother me.”

“Well, I noticed they all clustered around your feet downstairs… funny thing about Labradors, they always know who likes them.”

“I got a couple back home in Kentucky,” said Rick. “Black like yours. They wander in and out of the stallion boxes, and I’m amazed they never get kicked.”

“Well, you have full permission to kick them off if they invade your bed,” she replied. “Come down for dinner at around eight-fifteen. It’s a warm evening; Iain and Arnie will both wear polo shirts, no jackets.”

Rick stared through his bedroom window at the long view down the lawn and across to the far shore of the loch. He knew Admiral Morgan was also sleeping on this side of the house, and with the all-night guard posted outside, he doubted any would-be assassin could get anywhere near him, not from this side.

At dinner, he was questioned about his forthcoming role as head of Arnold’s security and told them frankly, from what he had seen, it would be just about impossible to hit the admiral within the confines of the house.

“So far as I can tell, this is likely to be an urban operation, where your gun is not the priority. In big cities like Edinburgh, you need your brain, you need to be quick, observant, on top of your game.

“I’ve read the Scotland Yard report on the Ritz Hotel murder, and I’m left with one thought-someone fired that rifle from that building across the street, so the window to the room must have been open.