It was disturbing all right. But he put it down when he spotted a rectangular shape under the thin bedcovers: a laptop. He carefully lifted the lid and stroked the trackpad: it came to life. Nolene’s Escorts. Proudly serving Houston surroundings, available 24/7. A girl for every taste. What’s yours? Call now to meet one of our fifty luscious babes. So far, so normal. There was an AOL email account, one of the last in existence, but it needed a password. He clicked on the Search History. The last twenty or so pages were more of Nolene and her luscious babes, then some local news pages: UH tops Florida on Senior Night. Evidently his racial obsessions didn’t get in the way of his interest in basketball. Then Teen leads cops on high speed chase . . . Arms seized in South Houston drug bust . . . Grand Mosque nears completion. He opened it: a front page from the Houston Chronicle – Houston’s largest mosque nears completion. The photo: a group of men in suits and hard hats, posing in front of a tower of scaffolding, with a much shorter, smiling bearded man, olive complexion, in a white topi and white robes. The caption: City councilors get sneak peek at Houston’s newest Islamic Center Masjid As-Sabur, hosted by Mullah Asim Zuabi.

Asim Zuabi – this guy was Stutz’s ‘associate’, whose would-be assassin he had sent them to kill?

From down the road not far away came the sound of sirens. Blue and red lights flickered in the distance. Tom closed the laptop and turned his attention to Jefferson. He took a photograph of the corpse, then patted down the pockets. Then he relieved him of his phone, pulled the blinds down, closed the door behind him and stepped out into the night.

Chapter 53

53

Whitehall, London

Cabinet secretary Alec Clements was in the chair. ‘Thank you all for making the time to be here. The PM sends his sincerest apologies but, as I’m sure you can imagine, he is rather busy just now. I will relay to him whatever comes out of our discussion. In any case this is a good opportunity for those of us who don’t know him to get to know Vernon Rolt.’

He indicated Rolt, who smiled and raised a hand. Clements went on, ‘There is no formal agenda, hence the mix of attendees. May I remind all those here that this is a background briefing? Chatham House rules: nothing said here leaves these four walls.’