Chapter 6

BRIGHTON 1984

The Polish woman was a special case because she was more the professional and her experience equaled his own.

Danny didn't like that fact but it was orders from up above and he was stuck with her. Besides, she had contacts that he didn't have and would most likely prove more valuable on the back-end rather than in the middle of the mess.

Pretending to be an ignorant tourist, Danny traveled around the area noting the military and police strong points and was astonished at the lax security in the area of the hotel. He theorized that it was primarily because it was Brighton and not Belfast that the lines of defense were so loosely relaxed.

With only the press credential as his badge of access, Danny was able to tour the hallways and the interior recesses of the hotel without interference and it proved to him that the recent headlines of the push for peace had lulled the opposition into a sense of benign disregard for possible threats. He felt a pang of pity for the foolish civilian thirst for peace so strongly felt that they choose to ignore the danger around them. Danny felt no such pity for the military or the police who were walking around with their thumb up their bum more interested in chatting up the female help or idly discussing some favorite football team or game to be played that weekend. In his estimation, it was the best of both worlds and he was like a shark swimming in a school of tasty fish.

Whitehall was playing a game that he couldn't quite put his finger on but it wreaked more of politics than warfare and hidden agendas that had never seen the light of day.

The second day was his busiest.

He had dismantled the lower third of the hotel cleverly leaving the detonators visible to those who knew where to look for them. But the detonators by themselves were incapable of bringing anything down without the proper connection to the charges, much less a sturdily built building of the size and scope of the hotel.

He bustled about the hallways snapping the odd shot here and there to keep his cover and made a half-hearted effort to interview one of the sub-secretaries. The poor fellow was so worried about the blond he had in tow that he almost ran down the carpeted hallway to take cover in his room. Danny had to smile at that because she was obviously not his spouse and almost twenty years younger. Brighton had a reputation for making new friends in an up close and personal environment and being pampered whilst doing so.

The atmosphere in the area of the Conference was one of complete holiday-making and even the actual wives who had accompanied their husbands were caught up in the excitement of the moment and the flush of victory at the polls. There was no sign of the female leader and that was cause for celebration in itself because she was known to put a damper on such excesses with a stern and proper manner.

He met with Katya in the basement kitchen right in the middle of the huge pots and pans that shone brightly with recent polishing. She looked devastating even though her hair had been pulled back and hidden under a maid's bonnet and her breasts were camouflaged by a horrid vest that looked more like a strait jacket.

Danny knew that the capable Polish agent was not at all comfortable with his presence. It was understandable because she didn't know him and wasn't quite sure what he was doing in the middle of "her" operation. He wondered if Patrick had been banging her these past few hectic years while he was setting up the project. He put the thought out of his head because it just brought him back to speculation on the body under the maid's uniform. That was a no-no in the middle of an operation and a vice that he never succumbed to in the past.

"You never told me Danny why you are here in Brighton. I thought Patrick was still in charge. Has he been replaced for some reason?"

Danny did a good job of being tactful but not answering any of the beautiful girl's questions. He corrected himself because Katya was certainly not a girl but a beautiful mature woman in her late thirties just slightly younger than he. In a sense, he sympathized with her because he had been dormant for a bit more than a decade staying out of the limelight and not on the MI5 or the SAS screen as an active player. The only reason he was there was to try and retract the stabbing dagger before it struck home and to cover up the tracks of the organization in the best way possible. If that included disposing of Katya as well, he was prepared to do so but it seemed like an awful waste of a beautiful woman.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves my dear. Patrick is just fine and I am merely checking on some fine points that need to be tended to before we hit zero hour. Just think of me as a clerk checking off some items on our checklist to make certain everything goes smoothly."

He was lying through his teeth and Katya was sharp enough to see right through it but she was also wise enough to keep her thoughts to herself and just nod her head like a good little girl. She was the consummate professional using all her assets to complete the mission. In other circumstances, Danny knew he would be drawn to her like a bee to honey unable to restrain his Irish passion. Now was the time for him to think with his head and not his equipment below the belt.

She told him that Patrick had placed a back-up string in the center section that would be the final telling blow to the entire structure and it was startling news to him as it was the first time he had heard anything about it. He wanted to pump Katya for every small detail but knew his interest would be so suspicious that she might be tempted to eliminate him on the chance he was a plant by the opposition and not a superior agent from Dublin by way of Belfast. His head was spinning when he went to the main lobby to get a quick shot of whiskey to steady his nerves. If what she said was true then he had no chance to stop the explosion in its entirety. At best, he would be able to save about two-thirds of the building and most of the upper floors.