Stone - 25 - Collateral Damage

Foreign Minister, I must say that, after Architect’s very succinct and comprehensive presentation of the facts, I believe her actions to have been proper… in the circumstances. I know very well from her past cooperation with the Home Office and MI-5 that she is aware of the duties, obligations, and limitations placed upon her service by the government, and I believe that she had no intent to violate any of them. As far as the Home Office is concerned, this matter is closed.”
    “Thank you, Home Secretary,” the foreign minister said. “In that case, this meeting is closed, and any notes or minutes taken are to be destroyed. All questions from the press or media are to be referred to the Public Information Officer of the Foreign Office.” He closed the file before him, stood up, bowed briefly, and left the room. Before he turned down the hallway he looked back at Felicity and made a motion with his head, indicating that she should follow him.
    Felicity gave the Home Secretary and Sir Trevor a polite nod, then headed down the hallway to the foreign minister’s office.
    He motioned her to a chair. “Do you need a drink?” he asked.
    “Thank you, no, Foreign Minister,” Felicity replied.
    “Well, I do,” he replied, swiveling his chair to a cupboard and pouring himself a glass of sherry. He swiveled back to face her. “I consider that, with the help of the Home Secretary, to whom I will now be indebted for eons to come, we have dodged a bullet. I assure you, Architect, that should any other such bullets come this way, you will take them.”
    “Of course, Foreign Minister. Is it your wish that I should henceforth defer to MI-5 in the matter of Jasmine Shazaz?”
    “It is my wish that you should appear to defer to MI-5 in this matter, while pursuing Ms. Shazaz with all the resources at your disposal. It is this ministry that has been wounded, and I will not restrict the efforts of any member of it to put things right. I would suggest, however, that the next time a SWAT team is called for that it be provided by Special Branch, and that also extends to any bomb disposal work necessary.”
    “I understand, Foreign Minister.”
    “I wish you to know that I have already authorized that the full death benefit available be immediately provided to the families of the fallen officers, and I have instructed an official of this ministry to offer a generous gratuity to the surviving husband of the estate agent.”
    “Thank you most kindly, Foreign Minister.”
    “Please let me know if there is anything else I can do for your people.” He stood and offered her his hand. “Good day.”
    She shook it. “Good day, Foreign Minister.” She left his office and took the lift down to the garage, where her car and driver awaited. She got in, rested her head on the back of her seat, and breathed slowly and deeply all the way back to the Circus. Then she got out of the car and went back to work.
    —
    Thirty miles up the Thames, Jasmine sat in a comfortable chair, not watching the cricket match that was on television. The rear doorbell rang, and she got up to answer it.
    A look through the peephole revealed Habib standing on the back steps, and she opened the door to him.
    He walked into the house wheeling a nylon suitcase behind him. “Your replacement explosive device, madam,” he said.

The president and first lady alit from Marine One at the White House helicopter pad and were escorted by a pair of uniformed Secret Service agents into the building and upstairs to the family residence. Their luggage followed shortly, and a valet unpacked for them.
    “Drink?” Kate asked as they entered their living room.
    “Have I ever replied in the negative to that question at this time of day?” Will asked.
    “No, but a simple ‘yes’ would have gotten you a drink faster.” She poured them both one and took her time about delivering his.
    “Point taken,” Will said sheepishly.
    “Point scored,” she said, sitting down beside him. “I have a question.”
    “Fire away,” he said, taking a gulp of his bourbon.
    “May I take your sexual performance over the weekend as a harbinger of things to come during our retirement?”
    “You may,” he replied, clinking glasses, then kissing her. “And you may have noticed that my enthusiasm increases when we are in Georgia.”
    “I have noticed that,” she said, “which is why I haven’t insisted on a retirement residence in New York or Malibu.”
    “Suppose I told you