Midnight Runner Read Online Free PDF Page A

contacts, see what you can find out. Maybe we're wrong. Maybe she's changed. Who knows?"
    "I do," Blake said. "She hasn't, and she won't."
    "Fine. I bow to your superior judgment."
    "I'll go as soon as I come back from Kosovo," Quinn said. "Quinn Industries has a townhouse in London. I'll stay there. If I remember right, in fact, it's close to the Rashid place."
    "Good." The President smiled. "Now, for the more immediate future, let's discuss plans for dinner. I'm going out tonight, to the Lafayette. You should join us."
    "I'd be delighted."
    "Especially because--Blake always being a hundred and fifty percent right on intelligence matters--I understand that none other than the Countess of Loch Dhu and her cousin, Rupert Dauncey, are booked for dinner there as well."
    "What?"
    "You know me, Daniel, I always did like to put the cat in amongst the pigeons. Time to stir things up." He turned to Clancy. "You've got things in hand, presumably?"
    "Absolutely, Mr. President."
    "Fine. We'll meet at eight-thirty. Be kind enough to see that Senator Quinn is returned to the hotel."
    "At your orders, Mr. President," Clancy told him.
    "And, Clancy, if Dauncey is around, don't take any shit. He may be a Marine Major, but as I recall, you were one of the youngest Sergeant Majors in the Corps."
    "What is this?" Quinn demanded. "Parris Island? You expect him to kick ass?"
    Jake Cazalet laughed. "Would you, Clancy?"
    "Hell, no, Mr. President. I'd more likely put the Major on a seven-mile run with a seventy-five-pound pack on his back."
    "I love it," Quinn said. "All right, I'll see you there." He went out, Clancy following.
    "You'll speak to Ferguson?" Cazalet said to Johnson.
    "First thing in the morning."
    G eneral Charles Ferguson's office was on the third floor of the Ministry of Defence overlooking Horse Guards Avenue. He was at his desk the next day, the red security phone in one hand, a large, untidy man with gray hair, a fawn suit, and Guards tie. He put the phone down and pressed his intercom. A woman answered.
    "General?"
    "Is Dillon there?"
    "Yes, sir."
    "I'll see both of you now."
    Detective Superintendent Hannah Bernstein entered, a woman in her early thirties, young for her rank, with close-cropped red hair and horn-rimmed spectacles. Her black trouser suit was elegant and looked more expensive than most people could afford on police pay.
    The small, fair-haired man with her wore an old black flying jacket. There was a force to him, obvious the moment he entered the room. He lit a cigarette with an old Zippo lighter.
    "Feel free, Dillon," General Ferguson said.
    "Oh, I will, General, knowing the decent stick that you are."
    "Shut up, Sean," Hannah Bernstein told him. "You wanted us, sir?"
    "Yes. I've had interesting news from Blake Johnson concerning the Countess of Loch Dhu."
    Dillon said, "What's Kate been up to now?"
    "It's more a matter of what she might be up to. There are computer printouts on the way. Hannah, would you see if they've arrived?"
    She went out. Dillon poured a Bushmills and turned. "She's back, is that it, General?"
    "She promised to get the lot of us, didn't she, Sean? As payment for her brothers?"
    "She can try and I love her dearly." Dillon drained his glass and poured another. He raised it in salute. "God bless you, Kate, but not after what you tried to do to Hannah Bernstein. Try anything like that again and I'll shoot you myself."
    Hannah came in with fax sheets and printouts.
    Ferguson said, "I'll tell you first what Blake's told me, then you two read what's in here."
    A little while later, they were up to date.
    "So she's got herself a man," Hannah said.
    Dillon looked at the printout photo of Rupert Dauncey.
    "More or less, anyway." He grinned.
    Ferguson said, "I'll tell you what disturbs me. The information Daniel Quinn's people got about those donations: the Act of Class Warfare education program, the Children's Trust in Beirut."
    "Well, she is half-Arab, and the Bedu leader in Hazar," Dillon told