Patriot Games - vastav

against you or your family. Therefore it was decided that they should be moved to a
more secure location. Under the circumstances, we decided that they might most
easily be moved to the Palace – it was the least thing we could do. When we left,
your wife and daughter were fast asleep, and we left strict instructions that they
should not be disturbed."
"The Palace?"
"We have ample room for guests, I assure you," the Queen replied.
"Oh, Lord!" Ryan muttered.
"You have an objection?" the Duke asked.
"My little girl, she –"
"Olivia?" the Queen said, rather surprised. "She's a lovely child. When we saw
her last night she was sleeping like an angel."
"Sally" – Olivia had been a peace offering to Cathy's family that hadn't worked; it
was the name of her grandmother – "is a little angel, asleep, but when she wakes up
she's more like a little tornado, and she's very good at breaking things. Especially
valuable things."
"What a dreadful thing to say!" Her Majesty feigned shock. "That lovely little
girl. The police told us that she broke hearts throughout Scotland Yard last evening.
I fear you exaggerate, Sir John."
"Yes, ma'am." There was no arguing with a queen.
Chapter 3
Flowers and Families
Wilson had been mistaken in his assessment. The escape had taken longer than
anyone at the Yard had thought. Six hundred miles away, a Sabena flight was
landing outside of Cork. The passenger in seat 23-D of the Boeing 737 was entirely
unremarkable; his sandy hair was cut medium-close, and he was dressed like a
middle-level executive in a neat but rumpled suit that gave the entirely accurate
impression of a man who'd spent a long day on the job and gotten too little sleep
before catching a flight home. An experienced traveler to be sure, with one carry-on
flight bag. If asked, he could have given a convincing discourse on the wholesale
fish business in the accent of Southwestern Ireland. He could change accents as
easily as most men changed shirts; a useful skill, since TV news crews had made
the patois of his native Belfast recognizable the world over. He read the London
Times on the flight, and the topic of discussion in his seat row, as with the rest of
the aircraft, was the story which covered the front page.
"A terrible thing, it is," he'd agreed with the man in 23-E, a Belgian dealer in