The Marching Season

really think October is still alive, let someone else go after him."
    "He murdered Sarah, and he tried to kill us both."
    "That's why someone else should handle the case. Recuse yourself, Michael. Let Adrian give the job to someone else, someone with no personal stake." She hesitated a moment. "Someone who's not out for revenge."
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    "What makes you think I'm out for revenge?"
    "Come on, Michael. Don't be dishonest with yourself or me. You want him dead, and I don't blame you. But revenge is a dangerous game. Didn't you learn anything while you were in Northern Ireland?"
    Michael turned away. She took his face in her hands and pulled him back.
    "Don't be angry with me—I just don't want anything to happen to you." She kissed him gently. "Take the advice of your lawyer on this one. It's over. Let it go."
    31
    MYKONOS
    The executive council of the Society for International De-velopment and Cooperation convened its spring meeting on the island of Mykonos on the first Friday of March. Delaroche's vacant villa on the cliffs of Cape Mavros served as the site for the gathering. It was too small to accommodate anyone but the Director, his bodyguards, and Daphne, so the other council members and their entourages took refuge in the hotels and guesthouses of Chora. At sundown they trickled across the island—the intelligence chiefs and arms merchants, the businessmen and organized crime figures—in a caravan of black Range Rovers.
    The Director and his staff had seen to the security arrangements. There were heavily armed guards around the grounds and a high-speed motorboat on Panormos Bay filled with former amphibious troops from the SAS. The villa had been thoroughly swept for bugs, and radio jammers broadcast electronic chaff to disrupt long-range microphones.
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    They had cocktails on Delaroche's fine stone terrace overlooking the sea and a meal of traditional Greek food. At midnight the Director gaveled the proceedings to order.
    For the first hour the executive council dealt with routine housekeeping matters. As always the council members addressed each other by their code names: Rodin, Monet, van Gogh, Rembrandt, Rothko, Michelangelo, and Picasso. The Director turned his attention to Society operations now under way in North Korea, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kosovo, and, finally, Northern Ireland.
    "In February, Monet saw to it that a shipment of Uzi submachine guns reached the hands of the Ulster Freedom Brigade," the Director said. "Those guns were used in the attempted assassination of Ambassador Douglas Cannon. Unfortunately, they seemed to do no good. The ambassador survived the attack, but the Ulster Freedom Brigade did not. Most of its members are either dead or in custody. So for now, our involvement in Northern Ireland is terminated."
    The Director recognized Rodin, the operations chief of the French intelligence service. "If we wish to renew our involvement in Northern Ireland, there might be an opportunity sitting in Paris," Rodin said.
    The Director raised one eyebrow and said, "Continue, please."
    "As you know, one member of the team involved in the assassination attempt in Norfolk managed to escape," Rodin said. "A woman named Rebecca Wells. I happen to know she is hiding in Paris with a British mercenary named Roderick Campbell. I also know she has sworn to even the score after the incident in Norfolk. She is trying to find an assassin capable of killing the American ambassador."
    284 Daniel Silva
    The Director lit a cigarette, clearly intrigued.
    "Perhaps we should make direct contact with Rebecca Wells and offer assistance," Rodin said.
    The Director made a show of careful deliberation. Ultimately, the decision would be made by the executive council, not by him, but his opinion would hold considerable weight with the other members. After a moment, he said, "I doubt Miss Wells could afford our services," the Director said.
    "I agree," said Rodin. "The work would have to be pro bono. We'll have to think of it as an investment."
    The Director turned to Picasso, who appeared uneasy.
    "For obvious reasons, I cannot support an operation like the one that's being suggested," Picasso said. "Support for a Protestant paramilitary group is one thing, direct involvement in the murder of an American diplomat is quite another."
    "I understand you're in a difficult position, Picasso," the Director said. "But you knew from the outset that some of the actions taken by this