Shadow Tag Read Online Free Page B

doesn’t seem too well versed in popular culture. We can use that. Why don’t we just give him something that’s been done before.”
    “Dangerous. They might catch us—or they might actually go out and do it.”
    “If they catch us, we can just claim we never read it or saw it. And as for them going and doing it—what are the odds of these morons actually pulling off something that big?”
    “They just might,” Berry said. “Remember Debt of Honor ? Tom Clancy had a pissed off Japanese Air Lines pilot crash his jumbo jet into the Capitol building during a special joint session of Congress killing the President and everyone else, and that was seven years before 9/11.”
    “You think Bin Laden read Clancy?”
    “Maybe. He was a jet-setting Saudi millionaire before he turned into an asshole.”
    “Okay, let’s get back to our asshole,” Khoury said. “What bone can we throw him to buy some time?”
    “He wants big. Epic. And no bombs or viruses.”
    “Something from a Bond movie?”
    “Risky. Too popular.”
    “Maybe you’re right. If he hasn’t seen them, one of his goons probably has.”
    “Okay, so let me ask you this,” Berry asked, “what’s the best plot you ever read? Or saw? What’s the one you wish you’d come up with?”
    “In terms of a brilliant plan, I’ve got to go with the first Die Hard —”
    “Genius—”
    “Totally. But our guy is no Hans Gruber. And there’s another problem. Like a lot of these stories, it’s about personal gain, not destruction. The fireworks, like Goldfinger’s nuke, are just a sideshow to the real motive: money.”
    “This guy didn’t give us much to work with.”
    They both mulled over the question.
    “Okay,” Berry offered. “What about the second Die Hard ? Bringing down airliners by hacking into air traffic control.”
    “Nasty. But scarily doable, don’t you think?”
    “Nah, come on. We both know there are all kinds of firewalls built into these things. It’s virtually impossible to pull off—if you’ll pardon the pun.”
    “But what if it wasn’t?”
    Berry thought about it for a moment, then nodded. “Too risky, you’re right.”
    “Yeah, but the hacking thing might work. In fact, it’s perfect. No explosives. Nothing basic that could kill lots of people. And it’ll be too sophisticated for them to be able to control every aspect of it.”
    “Meaning we’ll have plenty of opportunities to shut it down if it ever got that far.”
    “Exactly. Have you been watching this new TV series, Mr. Robot ?”
    Berry shook his head.
    “It’s very cool.” Khoury considered it briefly, then smiled. “Yeah, I think this might work.”

8
    The man only had a few seconds’ head start, but he was fast. He already had a fifty yard lead by the time Reilly and Malone burst out of the restaurant.
    “You gonna tell me what the hell that was all about?” Malone asked, panting.
    “Later,” Reilly shouted back. “Need to grab him first.”
    The man spun around for a quick look, gauged how far back they were, then cut across the wide sidewalk and onto the road, oblivious to the cars coming in his direction. He zigzagged through them and made it to the opposite side, where cars and buses were heading south towards Hyde Park.
    Reilly and Malone tried to follow, but they were interrupted by a wave of cars that screeched as they swerved to avoid them while blaring their horns.
    The two agents were dodging the traffic when they saw a red Routemaster bus, one of the new models, drive past on the opposite roadway, obscuring their target momentarily before the man reappeared behind it, only now he was sprinting even faster, fast enough to leap onto the open platform at the rear of the bus just as it accelerated away.
    “Crap,” Reilly shouted. “He’s getting away.”
    He looked around in a panic and spotted possible salvation: a trio of tourists pedaling peacefully down the road on Santander bikes, ones provided across the city as part of