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Anderson leaned forward. “Can you explain that to me?”
It was all Richards could do not to let out a howl. Working for three masters was nerve-wracking enough without this interference. “Some other time maybe.”
Anderson was just about to ask another question when his mobile buzzed. Answering it, he listened to the voice on the other end of the line. “Fuck.” The more the voice spoke, the more he scowled.
Richards risked a glance over at him. “What is it?”
But Anderson was already striding across the room. Snatching up his coat, he raced out the door.
Shrugging, Richards returned to his intricate sabotage.
"I need a body.”
Secretary Hendricks spoke to Roger Davies, his first adjutant, on his mobile. “Male, no family ties. A B&E rap sheet would be ideal. Also, I need you to send over a hand-picked clean-up crew. An apartment needs to be sterilized.” He listened briefly to the buzz of Davies’s voice on the other end of the call before he interrupted. “I understand. Just make it happen now.”
Hendricks disco
“So do I.” A
Hendricks, hands in the slash pockets of his overcoat, wiped his brow with the back of his hand. He’d had A
He picked up her Walther PPK/S and began to methodically wipe it clean of her prints. “You think you can handle Li by yourself?”
“I’ve worked for you in secret for, what? Sixteen years?” A
“No.” Hendricks sighed. “It’s whoever he reports to.” He turned away, not wanting to look at the corpse again until Roger arrived with his burden. He could have given this dirty job to any one of a number of subordinates, but he knew that was the way leaks developed, even in the most secure of clandestine organizations. The dirtier the job, he had learned, the more imperative it was that you handled it yourself. And this was an exceptionally dirty business. He sighed. “The structure of the Chinese Secret Service is more than a bit opaque. It would be immensely helpful to know who we’re really up against.”
He turned back to her. “That’s what I’m going to need from you now, A
It was possible, the secretary mused, that A
“Don’t worry,” A
One thing you could say about A
“Nevertheless, you do look worried.”
“It’s Soraya.”
“Ah, yes. I heard.” A
“She almost died,” Hendricks said with more emotion than he had intended.
A
“No.”
“Then let’s thank our lucky stars.”
“I should have chosen—”
“You chose her because she was the right person for the job.”
“Once you told me that your husband was infatuated with her.”
“Really, Christopher, that wasn’t the reason at all. Charles’s infatuation with her just made the assignment you gave her that much easier. She would have found another way; she’s an exceptionally clever girl. And from what you’ve told me, she enjoyed passing on the bits of disinformation to Charles.”
Hendricks nodded. “It gave her a great deal of pleasure to have a direct hand in taking down Li and his cohorts.”
“There,” A
That wasn’t it at all, Hendricks thought sadly. Or, at least, not all of it. What worried him most of all was Soraya’s pregnancy. It seemed clear to him that she was carrying Charles Thorne’s child. If that was the case, how was A
The question that vexed Hendricks most was the identity of Li’s handler. Not one of the DoD’s vaunted sources could tell him who might be ru
Hendricks turned his mind to more practical matters. “A
She nodded. “A room at the Liaison. I use it when I have late nights on the Hill.”
“Go there now. Tomorrow you will assume your role as a grieving widow.”
“What about Li?”
“He’ll want to convey his condolences,” Hendricks said. “Encourage him to do so in person.”
“It won’t be easy. As we’ve seen, he is a very wary man. If he becomes suspicious now, we’ll never find out who’s ru
“You’re right.” Hendricks thought for a moment. “You’re going to have to give him something that will allay any suspicions he might harbor.”
“It’ll have to be something big—something important.”
Hendricks nodded. “Agreed. Give up his girl.”
“What?” A
“Do you have a better idea?”
Silence.
“Good God,” A
She licked her lips. Her face was pale. “It’s people’s lives we’re manipulating.”
“Not civilians,” Hendricks said. “We all signed the same document.”
“In blood.”
He did not contradict her.
She glanced over one last time at the corpse of her husband. “At what point,” she said, “are you completely drained of all human emotion?”
“You’d better get going,” Hendricks said. He had no clear answer for her.
Four minutes after A
Fuck,” Peter Marks said, “I’m alive.”
“You sound disappointed,” Anderson said.
There was a jouncing, along with the steady vibration of a vehicle engine. His eyes roved.
“Ambulance,” Anderson said. “It was Delia who got to you first. She was inside the school when the shooting took place. She called me first thing.”