Chace brought the Makarov up, holding it in both hands, placing the sights high on Ruslan’s body, as far away from his son as she dared.
“I did kill him,” she answered.
He wasn’t looking at her now, looking instead past her, focusing on where the Sikorsky would rise into sight. The noise of the helicopter went from faint to suddenly much louder, and without needing to turn and look, Chace knew it was off the ground. The window was open for his shot, would only remain so for a few more seconds.
Ruslan looked down at his son, still clinging tightly to his legs, then to Chace. He hoisted the Starstreak back into firing position on his shoulder, turned his face to settle his right eye against the sight.
“You are the mother of a child,” Ruslan Mihailovich Malikov reminded her. “You will not shoot me in front of my son.”
“You’re wrong,” Chace said, and then she shot him four times in the chest.
CHAPTER 54
London—Camden—Chace Family Residence
1 September, 0033 Hours GMT
She’d sent a message from Mazar-i-Sharif before she and Lankford had caught the transport to Turkey, telling Val that she was on her way home, and that she hoped to see her and Tamsin in London on her return. It was a break in protocol to send any such communication while on a job, and if Crocker had known about it he’d have gone into fits, but after seeing Stepan back to Uzbekistan and returned to Sevara Malikov-Ganiev’s care, Chace didn’t really give a damn. They had the last Starstreak back and Ruslan Malikov was no longer a problem for anyone except perhaps his son.
If that didn’t make Crocker happy, Chace had no interest in performing whatever task would.
The little boy had looked at her with eyes devoid of any comprehension or soul when she’d pulled him from his father’s body. There had been no more tears and no more sobs, there had been no sound at all. There had been nothing because, Chace suspected, Stepan Malikov no longer had anything.
She told herself that he would forget, that he would recover, and on the plane to Frankfurt, Lankford tried to tell her the same thing.
Both of them knew it for the lie it was.
Her house was quiet and still and the lights were all off when Chace came through the door, and she wondered if Val had received the message. She shut and locked the front door behind her, hung her coat on the stand, dropped her go-bag at its foot. She would have to replace its contents, substitute clean clothes for the dirty, replace those things she had used.
Then she saw her mail piled neatly on the table beside the couch.
She checked in the guest room, parting the door just enough to confirm that Val was indeed asleep there, then made her way to the bedroom. She stripped, changed into pajamas, and then went to look in on Tamsin, finding her sixteen-month-old daughter awake and on her feet in her crib, waiting quietly in the darkness.
“Mama,” Tamsin said.
“That’s right,” Chace agreed, taking the child in her arms. “Mama.”
GLOSSARY
Article Five
Referring to NATO signatories; Article Five declares that an attack against any one of the member nations is an attack against all of the signatories; further, that member nations shall, in the instance of such attack, render assistance and aid to fellow members.
BOX
Used to refer to the Security Services, more commonly known as MI-5 (U.K.)
C
Head of SIS; also Chief of Service
CAO
Cultural Affairs Officer
CENTCOM
United States Central Command, oversees U.S. security interests in 25 Middle Eastern and Arab nations
Chancery
The principal office of an Embassy, housing the Ambassador’s office
CIA
Central Intelligence Agency (U.S.)
CIS
Confederacy of Independent States
COB
“Close of Business”
COM
Chief of Mission (U.S. State Department); generally refers to the Ambassador
conops
Concept of Operations—official document describing parameters and goals assigned to a prospective operation, and securing necessary permissions to pursue the undertaking
COS
Chief of Station (CIA)
CQC
Close Quarters Combat
D
Deputy Secretary of State (U.S.)
D-Int
Director of Operations (SIS); sometimes Director Intelligence
D-Ops
Director of Operations (SIS); sometimes Director Operations
DC
Deputy Chief of Service (SIS); also Deputy Chief
DCM
Deputy Chief of Mission (U.S. State Department)
DOO
Duty Operations Officer
DPM
Deputy Prime Minister, DPMs plural
EIJ
Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Al-Jihad al-Islami; founded late 1970s, merged with al-Qaeda in June 2001. Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri one of its founders.
FCO
Foreign and Commonwealth Office (U.K.)
FSB
Forward Support Base (U.K. Military)
FSO
Foreign Service Officer (also FO); indicates a career State Department Officer (U.S. State Department)
GSPC
Groupe Salafiste pour la Predication et la Combat (The Salafist Group for Call and Combat); violent religious extremist group based in Algeria
GWOT
Global War on Terror
Hizb-ut-Tahir
The Islamic Party of Liberation, a banned Uzbek opposition party seeking greater religious freedom in Uzbekistan
HOS
Head of Station; also Station Number One (SIS)
IMU
Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan; terrorist organization with ties to al-Qaeda, responsible for terror attacks in Uzbekistan. Often confused with Hizb-ut-Tahir
JI
Jemaah Islamiyah (Islamic Community); extremist terror organization operating in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines. Has ties to al-Qaeda.
JIC
Joint Intelligence Committee (U.K.)
LNG
Liquefied Natural Gas
LS
Landing site
MANPAD
Man-portable air defense system; a surface-to-air missile capable of being launched by a lone individual
MCO