Tommy Carmellini 02 - The Traitor Read Online Free PDF Page B

and ..." He grinned. "She's
    hard to say no to and make it stick. She convinced me that I had loafed long enough and desperately needed a challenge."
    We chuckled politely. I knew Grafton well enough to think that statement was probably true. I liked him, and I really admired his wife. Callie was first class all the way.
    "The good news is she's coming over to Paris. We're getting an apartment."
    "Sounds like an adventure."
    "Yeah." The smile faded. "As you know, in the age of terror, we need all the help we can get from the European intelligence agencies. Washington sent me to see if I can get a little more cooperation. No one in Europe knows me, so I'll have a little grace period."
    I tried to smile. That was a Grafton funny. He didn't do many, so you had to enjoy the occasional mot, even if it wasn't so bon.
    Now he turned serious. "You've probably been reading about the G-8 summit coming up in Paris in two weeks. The folks in Washington are nervous, and rightfully so. The heads of government of the eight largest industrial powers all in one place, at one time—it's a tempting terror target. After the Veghel conspiracy was busted, it finally occurred to them that Al Queda or a similar group is fully capable of mounting such an operation in Europe."
    Named after a town in the Netherlands where a group of Islamic fundamentalists lived and did their plotting, the Veghel conspiracy was the latest suicide plot against the United States to be broken up and the conspirators arrested. The arrests happened about six months ago; the accused conspirators had yet to go on trial. According to the newspapers, they planned to blow up the New York Stock Exchange with a tractor-trailer full of explosives, a la Oklahoma City.
    "One would think they learned that years ago when the Israeli athletes were attacked and murdered at the Olympics," I remarked.
    "They're slow learners," Grafton said. "Veghel was the catalyst."
    "Weren't the U.S. authorities tipped about the conspiracy?"
    "They were," Grafton said, nodding. He didn't say anything else, so Sarah asked one more question.
    "Who tipped them?"
    "Henri Rodet, the director of the DGSE."
    "How did the DGSE learn about Veghel?" Sarah asked. She wasn't the shrinking-violet type.
    Now Grafton grinned. Sarah had asked the right question. "I don't know, and Monsieur Rodet refused to tell our people. So we are going to find out."
    Uh-oh. There was going to be more to this than sitting around French waiting rooms and chatting with bureaucrats.
    Grafton continued. "Rodet's an office politician who rose through the ranks of the new DGSE to replace the hard-line, right-wing leaders who were systematically retired or fired during the 1980s under Francois Mitterand. Twenty-five years ago he went to the Middle East. He's been working hard ever since to ensure that France got its share of the Arab pie. Ten years ago he was picked to run the agency. When Jacques Chirac sent a letter to Saddam Hussein pledging that France would veto any Security Council resolution authorizing a U.S.-led invasion, Henri Rodet hand-carried the letter to Baghdad and personally placed it in the dictator's hands."
    "I thought France was an old American ally," I said as Grafton paused for air.
    "France has never helped anyone unless it was in France's best interest," Grafton said flatly. "These days they are busy taking care of number one. Baldly, the French intend to eventually rule a united Europe on the principle that what's good for France is good for Europe, and vice versa."
    "I seem to recall someone saying that about GM and America," I remarked.
    Sarah Houston studiously ignored me, pretending she didn't even
    hear my voice.
    Grafton's eyes flicked from me to her and back to me. He took a deep breath and went on with the story. "Rodet's number two is Jean-Paul Arnaud, me head of counterespionage. Arnaud's specialty is commercial espionage, which is a nice way of saying that he runs a
    string of agents who have bought