Stuart Woods_Stone Barrington 14

every visitor to the island at their respective hotels, so as not to alarm the innocent; when that has been accomplished, I will start on the alien residents.”
    â€œDetach a complement of your men and interview the residents simultaneously with the visitors. Here on my desk is a file on every alien resident, and I wish you to immediately arrest the first six of them and interrogate them at police headquarters. Do not release any of them until you are entirely convinced of their innocence.”
    â€œIt shall be done, Prime Minister.”
    Sutherland handed duBois the six files. “Are you acquainted with any of these men?”
    DuBois quickly leafed through the files. “I know four of them; Colonel Croft dealt personally with Pemberton and Weatherby, the two Englishmen, so I have not met them.”
    â€œMeet them now, and report back to me,” Sutherland said. “Henceforth, you will report only to me, as Colonel Croft did.”
    DuBois saluted and left the office.
    â€œCongratulations, Colonel,” Sutherland’s secretary said. She was a tall white woman with beautiful legs and breasts, and he knew that Croft had been fucking her. “Thank you, Hazel,” he said, giving her a little salute. “And I hope that when circumstances permit, you and I might find time to dine together.”
    â€œIt would be my pleasure,” she said, exhibiting no grief for the departed Colonel Croft.
    DuBois gave her a big smile and exited the PM’s offices. Before leaving Government House he walked down a floor to the offices of the Home Secretary, and in the waiting room he spoke to the male secretary at the desk. “Please tell the home secretary that I wish to meet with him at once.”
    The man’s small eyes flicked over duBois’s uniform, noting the eagles on his shoulders. He picked up a phone. “Sir: Colonel Marcel duBois requests an immediate conference. Yes, sir, he is here.” He hung up the phone. “Please go in, Colonel duBois.”
    DuBois walked into the home secretary’s office, strode to his desk. “Good afternoon,” he said, placing the files in his hand on the desk. “I require search warrants and arrest warrants for these six men,” he said, “without delay. Please make a note of the names, as I shall be keeping the files.”
    â€œWhat grounds do you have for these warrants?” the home secretary asked.
    â€œThe prime minister’s request,” duBois replied.
    â€œI shall have them delivered to your office in an hour,” the home secretary replied. “Ah…where is your office?”
    â€œWhere Colonel Croft’s office once was,” duBois replied. He waited while the home secretary wrote down the names, then took the files and left the office and Government House.
    As he reached the bottom of the steps duBois noted with pleasure that his driver was standing next to a new, white Mercedes S500 sedan. His old BMW 3 was not in sight.
    â€œCongratulations, Colonel,” his driver said, opening the rear door for him.
    â€œThank you, Nigel,” duBois replied. “Take me to my new office.”
    â€œYes, sir,” Nigel replied. He put the car in gear and sped away.
    DuBois ran his fingers over the leather interior and fiddled with the rear-seat controls for the air conditioning and radio. “Nigel?” he said.
    â€œYes, Colonel?”
    â€œSee to the installation of satellite radio as soon as possible.”
    â€œOf course, Colonel. The phone and communications radio have already been installed; the handsets are in the rear armrest.”
    DuBois opened the armrest and examined the equipment with satisfaction. “Faster,” he said, then felt the seat press into his back with the acceleration.

41
    H olly and Stone sat and waited while Bill Pepper fired up his laptop and waited for it to boot. “Something’s wrong,” he said.
    â€œWhat?” Holly asked.
    â€œIt’s not booting properly,” Bill replied. “Instead, it’s crashing. Let me try again.” He rebooted.
    â€œI don’t like this,” Holly said. “When did they take the laptop?”
    â€œWhen they arrested me at my office,” Bill said. “Oh, shit, it’s crashed again.”
    Annie spoke up. “Use your backup boot disk,” she said. “It’s in your desk drawer.”
    Pepper went into his study and came back. “Gone,”