Nina was taken aback by the brusqueness of his introduction, but the agent was clearly already under pressure, and there was a time factor involved. She regarded the image of Cross, which she estimated was at least ten years old, possibly from his CIA file, before turning to her expectant audience. ‘Okay, I’ll tell you what I know. This man is called Ezekiel Cross; he’s an ex-CIA agent turned religious fundamentalist, who was responsible for the gas attack in Antigua that killed almost a hundred people. He tried and failed to carry out an attack on a much larger scale in Mecca earlier today. He also used a similar attack on the Vatican as a decoy; I believe that his real target is the United Nations.’
Talsorian cleared his throat impatiently. ‘Dr Wilde, my people have already been briefed — we know all this. We need you to tell us something we don’t know. Like: where is he now? How is he planning to make the attack?’
‘I… don’t know,’ she admitted, his tone immediately putting her on the defensive. ‘I can tell you that even though he has associates, at least four other people, I think he’ll try to carry it out personally. He wants to watch Babylon fall, see the Biblical prophecy he’s obsessed with come true—’
The agent interrupted her. ‘You think? Do you know for sure? You’re not a profiler.’
‘No, I’m an archaeologist—’
‘This isn’t ancient history. This is happening right now, and we need concrete information.’
‘The only concrete in here’s inside your skull,’ Eddie snapped.
Talsorian didn’t even look at him, merely pointing in his direction. ‘Remove him.’ A pair of burly men in tactical gear advanced on the Englishman.
Eddie raised a hand in warning. ‘I wouldn’t.’
‘Agent Talsorian,’ said Seretse placatingly. ‘Mr Chase may also have useful information. If you could please hear them out?’
Talsorian scowled, but gestured for the two agents to return to their seats. ‘Okay, then. Let’s have it. What can you tell me about Cross’s associates?’
‘Ah… not much, I’m afraid,’ Nina said. ‘He has a bodyguard, a big guy called Norvin; his pilot, Paxton—’
‘Norvin? Is that a first or last name?’
‘I don’t know. But they’re all American, and I can’t imagine it’s a common name. And there was another man called Hatch, I think.’ She described them as best she could, Eddie adding his own recollections.
‘Got a hit on Paxton,’ said a female agent, tapping on a laptop. The pilot’s photograph flashed up on the big screen beside Cross. ‘Daniel Aldo Paxton, age thirty-nine, ex-USAF, qualified to fly pretty much anything.’
‘That’s him,’ Nina confirmed.
The agent kept typing. ‘Not enough info to narrow down the others.’
‘Is that all you’ve got?’ Talsorian asked Nina. ‘Well, it’s something, I guess. Okay, get Paxton’s picture out there alongside Cross’s, and see if you can find a link between them and those other names. All right, let’s get back to it.’ The agents stood and began to file from the room. ‘Mr Seretse, Dr Wilde… Chase, thanks for your help.’
‘Wait, that’s it?’ said Eddie. ‘That’s all you want from us?’
‘That’s all you’ve got,’ he replied. ‘Unless you’ve any other insights? Some sort of Da Vinci Code thing from the Bible telling us where he’s going to strike?’
‘I’m afraid not,’ Nina told him.
‘That’s what I thought. Okay, I’ve got work to do. Mr Seretse, I’m heading back to the UN — you’re welcome to join me.’
Seretse gave Nina and Eddie an apologetic look before replying. ‘Thank you. That would be most helpful.’ He turned to the couple. ‘I am sorry. After all the effort involved in bringing you back here…’
‘It’s okay, Oswald,’ said Nina. ‘We did what we could.’
Eddie gave Talsorian an annoyed glare as the Secret Service man spoke to the agent with the laptop. ‘Even if some dickheads apparently don’t want our help. So now what do we do?’
‘We could go to the UN and help look for Cross,’ suggested Nina. ‘I know it’s a long shot, but…’
Seretse shook his head. ‘I am afraid that will not be possible. You do not have security clearance. After all,’ he reminded the archaeologist on seeing her surprise, ‘you no longer work for the United Nations.’
‘So there’s nothing else we can do?’ said Eddie.
‘Unfortunately not. Hopefully you have done enough already. You foiled the attack in Mecca, and from the failed attack in Rome realised that Cross’s true target was the UN. That may be enough.’
‘Only if you find him,’ Nina said unhappily.
‘I have to have confidence that we will,’ said the diplomat, drawing in a weary breath, ‘because the alternative is too terrible to contemplate.’ Talsorian called his name. ‘I must go. All I can suggest for now is that you return home. Although I would also suggest taking a route that gives the United Nations as wide a berth as possible. The traffic in Manhattan will be quite appalling.’
‘Don’t suppose we could hitch a lift in your helicopter?’ Eddie asked. ‘Just land in Central Park at the end of our road, nobody’ll mind.’
Seretse smiled. ‘I suspect that would not be the case. Nina, Eddie, goodbye, and thank you for all you have done. I hope that when I next speak to you, I will have good news.’ He shook their hands, then departed with Talsorian and several other Secret Service agents.
‘Bloody idiot,’ Eddie said, glowering after the departing SAIC.
‘I can kinda see his point,’ Nina had to admit. ‘He’s got his hands full trying to protect over a hundred world leaders in one of the busiest cities on the planet, and then we turn up and tell him there’s a new threat, but don’t actually give him anything that could help. I mean, he was right: I don’t know if Norvin was that guy’s first or last name.’
‘Got to be his last name. Who the hell would call their kid Norvin?’
‘You wanted to call ours Arbuthnot,’ she reminded him with a grin.
‘That was if it was a boy. Now I know it’s not… although actually, it would still work.’ He rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
‘No it wouldn’t,’ she insisted. ‘Come on. Let’s get out of here.’
That was easier said than done. Even outside Manhattan, the gridlock caused by the closure of roads around the United Nations had worked back through the bridges and tunnels to the island. Traffic was moving at a crawl, or not at all. ‘This is going to take ages,’ Nina sighed, looking out from their cab at the East River below. The driver had taken the Manhattan Bridge, assuring them it would be the quickest route, but they had been forced to a halt only a short way over the crossing.
Eddie peered past her. ‘So they did ground that thing for the summit.’ He pointed at the river’s eastern bank about a mile away. The great twin-humped shape of the advertising airship was now moored at the Brooklyn Navy Yard rather than plying up and down the East River. ‘Harvey told me they would.’
‘Harvey?’
‘You know, the chopper pilot. I got kidnapped just after having a flying lesson with him.’ He indicated the buildings closer along the shoreline. ‘That airship was one of the first things I saw when I escaped — the place they were holding me was just down there. When I went up on to the roof, I saw it landing at the Navy Yard.’