‘Much you know,’ she retorted. ‘They’re Praetorians like you, sent to’ – she made air quotes with her fingers – ‘protect me.’
‘What are you talking about? Nobody else was tasked to you except Flavius and me. And only one of them belongs to the Guard and he’s not my best buddy – he tried to kill me. I don’t have a clue who the other one is.’
She said nothing, but scowled at me.
‘We can wait here all day or until your friends out there bust in here. But I get the impression you wouldn’t be happy with that.’ She opened her lips to speak, then closed them. A full minute passed.
‘Okay, Vibiana, I’m wasting my time here, I can tell.’ I peeled myself off the wall and reached for the door handle. ‘I’ll leave you to it.’ I took a short silent breath. Gods, would she call my bluff?
‘No, wait!’ she shot out her hand and caught my jacket sleeve. She stared at me for a moment, then shrugged.
‘Tell me what happened after you ran away from the legation,’ I said.
‘I landed in that alleyway, then released the one way lock to the street. It was freezing and dark and I didn’t know what to do. I was going to find a hotel somewhere. I’d gone barely five metres, when a car drew up by me. The fat one jumped out and flashed an eagle badge at me and told me to get in. When I hesitated, he pushed me in. He apologised in a passive-aggressive way but said he had been sent to make sure I completed my mission.
‘I was going to complain that the other lot – you – wanted to stop me. Now they, these two, wanted to help me. Why couldn’t they make up their minds? But something jarred.’ She glared at me, chin forward. ‘They got me out of Quebec and here to New York where I needed to be. When your colleague sat down opposite me at dinner at the hotel last night, I nearly choked. I ran back to my room and told the fat one.’ She looked down. ‘I thought they’d just warn him off, that they were looking after me now. I thought it was some turf war inside the Praetorians.’
‘Really?’ I couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of my voice.
‘I didn’t care who got me to my rendezvous,’ she shot back. ‘But when they said they’d disposed of your colleague, and laughed nastily, then took my mobile phone, I knew then I’d made a horrible mistake going with them.’
‘What are you doing here, Vibiana? And don’t bullshit me.’
‘You really don’t know, do you?’
‘Are we going to play twenty questions or are you going to tell me?’
‘I’m an undercover investigator for the Silver Guild. Somebody’s stolen the central element for a prototype for a new process. The Guild received a message saying the thieves were willing to sell it back. I’m supposed to do the deal, but the priority is finding out who stole it and fixing that particular leak.’
‘And you didn’t think to report the theft?’
‘We’ve looked after our problems internally for over a thousand years. I didn’t want to get either the vigiles or your lot involved but I was overruled. The head of the Silver Guild, Prisca Monticola, knows a senator on the intelligence oversight committee and they fixed it up through some old girls’ network.’ She snorted.
My grandmother headed that committee. What did she know about this?
‘Anyway, the idea was to post me as the thief and send a couple of Praetorian squaddies after me to make it look realistic. That was you and your colleague.’ She rubbed the back of her neck. ‘Mercury, what a mess.’
‘Why have you come here to the library?’
‘I told that fat one I had to get the bank account number to draw the funds to do the deal. It was coded and in a book here.’
‘But you didn’t have the means to decipher it, did you?’
‘No,’ she mumbled.
‘So why did you come here?’
‘I couldn’t think to go anywhere else.’ She looked at me, her face pale. She clamped her hands under her armpits. ‘If I don’t come up with the code and do the deal, they said they’ll denounce me publicly as the thief and provide proof to the accusatrix’s office. I’d go down for at least ten years despite the cosy little set-up Prisca Monticola had arranged through the back door.’
‘But you know it’s illegal to pay ransoms and this is undoubtedly what this is.’
She looked at me as if I was a total idiot and gave a short burst of laughter. ‘What century are you living in? Do you think it’s never happened down the years?’
‘Nevertheless, it’s still illegal.’
She shrugged.
I fished the lace handkerchief, the code grille, out of my handbag and held it up in the air. Her eyes widened and she shot her hand out. But I was too quick for her.
‘If you want my help to get you out of this mess, you have to play it my way. I’m prepared to help you find whoever is behind the theft, but they have to be brought before the people’s court at home – no covert little arrangements.’
‘Aren’t you the upright one?’ She nearly sneered.
I grabbed her collar points and tugged hard. ‘Don’t get smart with me Vibiana.’ She coughed and spluttered, so I released her.
‘I don’t have much option, do I?’ She grumped and made a big production of rubbing her neck.
‘Try to sound a little more grateful, why don’t you?’
10
Back in the library, I stood over Vibiana as she deciphered the bank details, meeting place and time – later that afternoon. She’d washed her face and combed her hair in the bathroom and composed herself enough to give Dubnus a curt nod when she joined him and his buddy in the library vestibule. In the street, the two men hemmed Vibiana in while they hailed a cab. It was only a few blocks away so I made my way to the bank on foot by cutting through passages I’d known when I’d lived here for seven years. They’d take forever in New York’s traffic.
I loitered in the banking hall, looking at leaflets about unsuitable loans and dubious investments. After a quarter of an hour they arrived. The men looked flustered; Vibiana showed her usual downturned mouth. I joined the line next to hers, my dyed hair loose to hide my face. I’d make some random enquiry of the teller if I did reach the counter. Vibiana withdrew some cash, some bonds and the rest in sight drafts. Obviously, all prearranged. The black and white features of Governor Franklin on the five-hundred-dollar bills smiled impassively as Vibiana counted them. I still felt a surge of anger at serving up money to blackmailers. She interrupted my mood when she snapped the case shut, grasped it and marched out of the banking hall with Dubnus and buddy in tow. They took another cab back to the hotel and all three disappeared into Vibiana’s room.
Now I had to figure out how to pick up Flavius from the hospital at his release time. I’d be busy shadowing Vibiana at the meet to retrieve the stolen element. Flavius wouldn’t know I was here in New York, what the changed plan was or anything. I couldn’t risk him coming back to the hotel and trying to arrest Vibiana. Maybe I could send a cab with a message. Nah. They might miss him. With his regular features, brown hair, brown eyes and quiet manner, Flavius looked so unremarkable. Perfect for a spook, but useless now.
Of course! Hayden. He knew Flavius, knew his cover name and when he would be discharged.
Hayden was in the inevitable business lunch at Bornes Black, but I left a message with his superior assistant. From her voice, I’d bet good solidi she was the same near-godlike being who’d glided up and down the carpeted corridors when I’d been an account assistant there.
I called the car rental and arranged for an SUV, fully fuelled, to be delivered to kerbside outside my hotel entrance at six that evening. I’d pay them to wait for up to four hours. I winced at the quotation, but gave them my personal credit card number. The clerk insisted on seeing ID so I had to go to the office across town. As I had no driver’s licence nor any document showing an EUS address in the name of Lauren Jackson, I was forced to show him my Roma Novan diplomatic passport with licence certificate and give the Washington legation as my address. Risky, but hopefully it wou
ld take a few hours for my name to come up on any watch list. We’d be gone by then, but the clock would be ticking. Then, using Flavius’s scrambler, I phoned home.
* * *
‘What in Hades are you doing in the EUS?’
I explained and Conrad’s voice became crisper as we talked through options.
‘Agreed, you couldn’t do anything else,’ he said. ‘I don’t like this business with Dubnus.’ I heard tapping on a keyboard. ‘He’s marked as being on leave, on a research travel warrant. What in Hades is that?’
‘Signed by Legate Vara?’
‘Yes. Damn the woman. And don’t repeat that.’ However frustrated Conrad felt with his superior officer, he was intensely loyal to the Praetorian Guard and respected the command structure.
‘Well somebody’s been leaking info about us and our mission,’ I said. ‘Maybe we should make sure the FBI haven’t been tipped off about me. Who’s the liaison officer?’
‘Leave it with me. And I’ll personally prepare a different extraction RDV and get back to you within the hour. Whatever happens, Dubnus is finished. With your testimony, we’ll be able to chuck him out once and for all, whatever Vara says.’ He paused. ‘Pluto, I hate you being in that place. Be careful.’ His voice almost cracked. ‘Please.’
* * *
Thank Juno, Hayden messaged me shortly afterwards and agreed to pick up Flavius from the hospital and meet me at my shabby hotel. Hayden was respectable and looked respectable. People tended to do as he asked. I was confident that Flavius would be there in good order and good time. Asclepius look out for him, though.
I grabbed a quick sandwich in the bar where I’d shared my first meal with Conrad five years ago. Nostalgia? Maybe, although it was a good memory despite our bickering then. From there, I walked until I found a thrift shop for a change of clothes. Teamed with some retro spectacles, a black faux leather backpack and a grey coat, I doubted some of my closest colleagues would recognise me as I exited the shop.
I dived into a party shop and bought a black wig. I’d pin it on later, but well before I went to observe at Vibiana’s rendezvous. Not perfect, but people underestimated how good they were as a temporary disguise. Most people took no notice of others walking along the street unless they were looking for them or were suddenly stunned by their fabulous appearance.
The vehicle screech tore into my thoughts.
‘You!’
A nasal tone to a shout directed at me. A blue flashing light. Merda! I stopped and looked around as if to find out who they were shouting at.
‘You in the grey coat, stand where you are.’
I pointed at my chest and mouthed, ‘Me?’
A woman, hair plastered to her skull and ending in a bun that looked glued on, jumped out of the car. Tight grey suit and tight pale face. She hadn’t changed her look for five years. Special Agent O’Keefe.
Double crap.
She’d threatened me when I was still Karen Brown, average New York officer worker. If she caught me with my fake ‘Lauren Jackson’ passport, I was toast. Fifteen years minimum in the federal pen for espionage plus a monumental diplo-row between Roma Nova and the Eastern United States.
No way.
I swallowed hard then pasted on a smile I didn’t feel.
‘Yes?’
‘Well, Miss Brown or should I say Mrs Mitela? Here we are again.’ She smirked. My fingers itched to smack it off her face, but instead I thrust my hand in my pocket. She tensed, went for her waist holster, but I was faster. I brought out my cell phone and tapped the video app.
‘Special Agent O’Keefe,’ I said. ‘You’re looking as wonderful as ever. What can I do for you?’
She flushed. Her head tilted up. ‘I’m arresting you, a known fugitive and traitor to the EUS, and taking you in for questioning relative to espionage activities.’ She stretched out her arm to grab me. The man who had been driving her car came round the back and advanced towards me.
‘Stop!’ I shouted. Just for a moment, they hesitated. ‘I am an accredited Roma Novan diplomat. You cannot search or detain me without my nuncia’s agreement. You may send details of your so-called charges to the legation and they will decide on the next steps. Right now, I’ll be on my way.’
She stepped in front of me and lunged for my phone but I dodged her.
‘Just because you signed some papers doesn’t mean you’re not a traitor,’ she snapped. ‘You may have gone to live in that stupid little country, but now you’re back here, I’m going to put you away.’
‘Really? I think you’re exceeding your authority, Agent O’Keefe. I’ve done nothing to concern you here. I’m on a private visit. I’ve even stopped by to see my old boss and say hello. You can ask him if you like.’ I gave her a steady look, praying she wouldn’t see any of my internal fear. If she or the man actually pulled a weapon on me, I’d be sunk. ‘As you can see, I’m recording this and the nuncia will be sending a copy to your director and to your external affairs secretary. Still Mr Hartenwyck, is it?’
She took a step towards me, thrusting her face forward so her breath warmed my skin. Peppermint. ‘Don’t you fuck with me, Brown – Mitela – whatever your name is. It might take me an hour or even two to get the paperwork, but you aren’t going anywhere.’
‘Step away from me, Agent O’Keefe. You’re invading my personal space for the purpose of intimidating me. This is police harassment. I’ll be filing a complaint through my legation.’
Two dark pink blotches bloomed on her face. ‘I’ll find you. This city has cameras everywhere. And then I’ll have the pleasure of taking you down.’ She stomped back to her car, snatched the door open at the same time as jerking her head at the man, signalling him to get in the car.
I stood on the sidewalk and watched them drive off. When they’d disappeared, I stumbled over to the nearest building, leant against its rough brick wall and released a long breath.
* * *
Totally forbidden when on operation, I nevertheless downed a brandy at the nearby bar. Perched on a high stool, elbows on the plastic-topped counter, I replayed the conversation with O’Keefe in my head. She couldn’t get any kind of effective paperwork through the diplo channels that fast, could she? Even if the legation in Washington cooperated, which I didn’t think it would. But I knew how relentlessly she and Jeffrey Renschman, the EUS enforcer, had been hunting me five years ago. He was dead now. I left some bills on the bar counter and went back to the thrift shop to change my clothes again.
Exiting the subway ten minutes before Vibiana was due to leave for her rendezvous, I ambled along, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. There were plenty of shops full of glittering nonsense to stare into.
She marched out of the hotel glass door, her chin forward and a concentrated look on her face. Dubnus and buddy stuck close behind her. He searched around as if expecting to find somebody. Juno, had Vibiana spilled and told him about me? His gaze flickered for a moment as it touched me, then passed over me on to other women walking along.
They hailed a cab and dived in. As it lurched into the dense traffic I stripped off my coat to show my smart suit jacket underneath and waved frantically at the next cab.
‘See that cab with the stupid glowing toy? Follow it.’ I leapt in. ‘Go!’
‘Okay, lady, keep your hair on.’
I pulled the wig off and smirked at him in the mirror. He burst out laughing. ‘Now I’ve seen it all!’
‘We’re heading for Little Italy, just off Mulberry Street.’
‘Are you some kind of cop?’
‘More of a private insurance agent.’
‘Uh-huh. I guess you want me to wait, too.’
‘Unless you’ve got somewhere else you need to be.’ I fluttered a fifty-dollar bill within his peripheral sight.
He reached out and plucked it from my hand.
Vibiana’s cab stopped in the narrow side street designated in the coded message. Red-brick buildings rose six storeys, making this dull day even more o
ppressive. I glanced at my watch. Sunset in twenty minutes. Dubnus stabbed at a bell push in a recessed entrance. The metal door opened inwards and the three disappeared inside. We parked up, miraculously finding a space on the street near an open stacked parking lot whose contents looked as if they’d spill out over the road. I plugged in my headphones as if listening to music on my phone during a boring wait, and switched on the receiver, then the recorder. The bug I’d attached under Vibiana’s collar was so tiny, and well shielded. As long as she didn’t take her coat off, we were good.
Silence. Surely they hadn’t detected the bug. Or were they doing that staring at each other thing they did in the movies. Rustling of clothes. No, Vibiana was being searched.
‘She’s clean,’ came a New York voice in English.
‘Now to business.’ A woman, older, accented voice. ‘I’m sure our local colleagues will excuse us if we revert to Latin. Much easier for us.’
‘Sure, but no funny business.’
‘Do not be concerned – you will receive your part.’ Her English was formal, not fluent, so she wasn’t at home here.
‘Well, Vibiana,’ she reverted to Latin. ‘Your guild has seen sense. You have the funds?’
‘Yes.’ Vibiana sounded as if she’d flunked the most important test of her life.
‘Show me.’
I heard the sound of the lock clicks opening, then a thunk as the case lid hit something. A table?
More rustling, this time paper, and the thrum of somebody flicking banknotes. The case closed again.
‘That all seems in order.’ The older woman’s voice.
‘My transformer element?’ Vibiana.
‘Of course. I almost forgot.’ Whoever she was, this older woman was enjoying herself. Well, that would stop once the voiceprint identified her.
Crackling of plastic, then silence for a minute. I thought the bug had stopped working.
‘It seems intact.’ Vibiana said in a sullen voice.
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