Noble Intentions: Season Four by L.T. Ryan

pack of cigarettes and the lighter he'd used earlier. He
    pocketed the items, then dragged the man close to Milano. After dropping Endrizzi, he searched Milano's pockets. All he found was a billfold with six
    hundred dollars and an ID.
    Paolo kept the cash, smokes and lighter. He tossed the first two into the car and kept the latter in hand. He went back to the trunk and pulled out the
    full, red plastic gas can, which he then carried over to the bodies. After the contents were emptied onto them and the surrounding ground, he dropped the
    can, and then stripped down to his boxers, tossing the rest of his clothing on top of the dead captains.
    He went to the trunk again. Pulled out a pair of gym shorts and a t-shirt and put them on.
    Seated inside the BMW, bare feet touching the ground, he inhaled deeply from a lit cigarette. When the smoke had burned down about halfway, Paolo tossed
    the smoldering remains onto the pile of clothing and bodies. As he drove away, he watched the flames rising into the night sky in the rear-view, consuming
    his friends.
     

Chapter 9
    London, England.

    SASHA KIRBY FLATTENED the lapel of her jacket as she entered the building affectionately known within the intelligence community as
Legoland
.
    Despite the playful moniker, the dealings that went on inside of Vauxhall Cross were anything but pleasant. The building acted as the headquarters of the
    British Special Intelligence Service, better known as MI6. The agency was responsible for keeping tabs on the world.
    And a great deal of that responsibility fell upon Sasha's shoulders, whether directly or otherwise.
    She passed through security with a nod and a smile, and continued on to the elevator bank. There were no buttons jutting out of a plate mounted to the
    wall. She swiped a card in front of the reader and waited for the doors to part. When they did, she entered the lift alone. She pressed the button for the
    fourth floor and waited while the lift dropped a few feet while the cable tightened, then propelled the car upward some forty feet.
    The lift halted. The doors remained sealed. Sasha used the same card and swiped it through a reader positioned above the floor and call buttons. A red
    light turned green. The doors parted.
    In the hallway, a security guard pushed off the wall and stood at attention with his hand precariously close to his sidearm. He gave a slight nod to Sasha
    as she passed, then reached behind his back and pressed a button. The lock to the double doors clicked.
    Sasha entered the gray floor.
    Every inch, drab and devoid of color. The floors, cubicles, walls, office doors. Even the blinds that covered the windows were dull. She often thought that
    the look of the space contributed to ineffectiveness, although some above her pay grade cited bullshit studies that said otherwise. She could counter in
    one of a hundred ways, but when someone who reached a rank too high gets an idea, they hang on for dear life. They wouldn't change. It had been that way
    for years, and it'd stay that way.
    As she approached her office, her assistant leaned forward in her chair and gestured for Sasha to stop.
    "Mason Sutton phoned and said he'd be ten minutes late for your meeting. Is that all right, or should I reschedule with him?"
    Sasha had forgotten about the meeting. It was the first of a planned series of weekly meetings between Mason and her. He occupied a similar role in MI5.
    After the terrorist bombings a few months ago, they realized their collective intelligence might have helped prevent the carnage.
    "No, that will be OK," she told her assistant. "Send him in when he arrives please."
    She continued to her office, the one place where she could personalize and colorize. The wide window behind her desk overlooked the Thames. Stormy
    conditions kept the scullers off the river. Pictures of nothing but color splattered on canvas hung on each wall. She'd filled the space with flowers and
    plants, real and fake. Her desk was bare except