Sidney Sheldon's Reckless

by Tilly Bagshawe

  And mine, thought Tracy. She remembered what Cameron Crewe had told her, about Henry Cranston having a deal with the Greeks to extract shale gas that got shelved after Achileas’s suicide. Crewe Oil had that deal now. Not for the first time, Tracy felt as if there were dots swirling before her eyes, dots that revealed a clear picture if only she could look at them in the right way.

  Tracy didn’t warm to Frank Dorrien. The man was arrogant, rude and wildly judgmental. But she had to agree with him on this one. Miss Faiers sounded interesting.

  “Have you spoken to her?”

  “Frank’s not the right person,” Jamie MacIntosh jumped in. “Clearly this Faiers woman already distrusts him. As she may be our only link to Hunter Drexel, we can’t afford to alienate her. We thought perhaps you might try?”

  AFTER TRACY LEFT, FRANK turned to Jamie.

  “I don’t trust her.”

  “You don’t trust anyone, Frank.”

  “I’m serious. Someone needs to follow her. We can’t let her out of our sight for a second.”

  If it irritated Jamie MacIntosh to be told his job by a subordinate, he hid it well.

  “Don’t worry, General,” he replied smoothly. “It’s taken care of.”

  JEFF STEVENS STEPPED OUT of his club onto Piccadilly and into the pouring rain. Water cascaded off his umbrella as he scanned the streets in vain for a cab with its light on. All around him people were diving for cover, scurrying into shops or cowering under bus shelters.

  “Mr. Stevens?”

  A sandy-haired man in a crumpled Macintosh appeared at his side, apparently out of nowhere.

  “Might I have a word?” The man gestured towards a gleaming black Daimler with diplomatic plates that had pulled up to the curb. “In private.”

  Jeff frowned suspiciously. “Do I know you?”

  “Not yet.” Jamie MacIntosh smiled affably, adding, “It’s about Tracy Whitney.”

  Without hesitation, Jeff closed his umbrella and climbed into the car.

  LEAVING THE ICONIC MI6 building on Albert Embankment, Tracy decided to walk for a while to clear her head. Crossing Vauxhall Bridge she turned left towards Belgravia and Chelsea, her old stomping grounds. The rain began as a light drizzle, but was soon falling hard. Ducking into a newsstand, Tracy bought a cheap umbrella and kept going.

  For an hour she walked aimlessly, thinking about Sally Faiers and how best to make her approach tomorrow. Sometimes Tracy panicked that she was no nearer finding Althea than she had been when she arrived. Was the interview with Sally a diversion? Had General Dorrien set it up deliberately as a red herring, to throw Tracy off the scent? She didn’t trust Frank Dorrien, that much she knew. On the other hand, as she’d told Cameron Crewe, she felt in her gut that Hunter Drexel was a crucial link in all of this. Hunter and the fracking industry, together, held the key to Althea’s identity and her connection to Group 99. If Sally Faiers could tell Tracy anything, anything at all, that shed light on Hunter Drexel and the mysterious story he was working on, then it was worth making the trip to see her. Whatever General Dorrien’s motives.

  Tracy found herself wishing she had someone to talk to about all this. With a pang it struck her that all her life’s confidantes were gone, either dead or lost to her forever. Her beloved parents. Jeff. Blake Carter.

  Then it came to her. I know where I need to go.

  THE CEMETERY WAS JUST off the Fulham Road, on the border of Chelsea. By the time Tracy got there twilight had already fallen. Rain soaked graves glistened eerily beneath a silver moon. The rain was still beating down, as it had been all afternoon, pounding the gravel paths like a million angry bullets flung down by a spiteful heaven. Deep puddles forced mourners and dog walkers alike to veer off the paths onto the sodden grass, more mud than turf in places.

  Gunther Hartog, Tracy and Jeff’s former mentor and a father figure to Tracy in her wild, con artist days, had always loved this place. Personally Tracy never understood it. To her the solid, Victorian graves cut from dour gray stone were deeply depressing. But not to Gunther. Tracy could hear his voice now as if he stood beside her.

  “It’s the thrill of the Gothic, my darling! The kitschness of it all. One half expects Ebenezer Scrooge to jump out from behind a plinth and grab you. Muuuah ha ha ha haaa!”

  His deep, melodramatic cackle used to make Tracy laugh.

  She wondered if she would ever laugh like that again.

  The night she’d had dinner with Cameron Crewe in Geneva, she’d felt some faint stirrings of happiness. But the guilt that followed was so profound and debilitating, she was in no hurry to repeat the experience.

  I’m afraid to be happy, she realized. Afraid to live.

  And yet she knew she must live. She must live to avenge Nick’s death.

  Unexpectedly, a feeling of defeat swept over her. I’m never going to find Althea. I’m never going to know what really happened to my darling Nick.

  Tracking somebody electronically was one thing. But it didn’t count for much in the real world. Trying to anticipate an invisible woman’s next move was like trying to play chess with a ghost.

  Was that how the police felt, trying to catch me and Jeff all those years?

  Was that frustration what turned Daniel Cooper mad?

  No, Tracy reminded herself. Cooper was a homicidal lunatic long before he even met me.

  It’s not you, Tracy. It’s not your fault.

  At last she arrived at Gunther’s grave. For all his love of Gothic pastiche, in the end his good taste had won out and he’d gone for a simple, understated headstone, devoid of gargoyles or roses or crosses ringed with thorns.

  The inscription read simply Gunther Hartog—Art Collector and the dates.

  Tracy stood next to the stone, so that her umbrella covered both of them. She hadn’t brought flowers or anything. Now that she was here she wasn’t even really sure why she’d come. Only that she’d needed the comfort of an old friend. Of someone who had loved her.

  As the rain beat down on her umbrella, Tracy closed her eyes and allowed herself to feel the pain. The loss. Like a roll call, the faces of her loved ones floated before her.

  Her father.

  Her mother.

  Gunther.

  Blake.

  Nicholas.

  Jeff Stevens was still alive, of course. But with Nick gone, it would be too painful for Tracy ever to see Jeff again. He might as well be dead.

  “I’m alone, Gunther,” Tracy murmured in the darkness. “I’m completely alone.”

  Standing in the muddy London graveyard, Tracy fell to her knees and wept.

  JEFF SAT IN THE back of the car in stunned silence.

  Jamie MacIntosh had been talking for almost forty minutes. For all of that time, Jeff had listened, processed, considered. Now, for the first time, he spoke.

  “You believe this Althea woman really killed Nick?”

  “I don’t know,” Jamie said honestly. “I know Tracy believes it. But it’s possible that the CIA put that idea into her head just to get her involved.”

  Jeff considered this, nodding. “OK.”

  Jamie said, “I know Althea ordered the murder of Captain Daley, and probably Henry Cranston. I know she’s a grave threat to Western security.”

  “I don’t care about any of that.” Jeff waved a hand dismissively.

  “But you care about Tracy?”

  “Of course.”

  “So you’ll help us? I know your history, Jeff.” Jamie MacIntosh softened his tone. “We have a file on you and Tracy as big as the Koran, going back almost twenty years now.”

  “I’m sure you do,” said Jeff, not without a touch of pride.

  “If anybody understands how she thinks, how she operates, it’s you. Please. For her sake, if not for ours.”

  Jeff closed his eyes. What this man wanted—what the British Government wanted—was for him to follow Tracy. Not just to track her physical movements. But to anticipate her strategy, spy on her, outsmart her. Play her. MI6
wanted to find Althea, and Hunter Drexel, before the CIA did. They wanted to win. Tracy was the Americans’ star player. Jamie was asking Jeff to become theirs.

  Following Tracy. Outsmarting Tracy. Protecting Tracy, or trying to. It was how Jeff Stevens had spent most of his adult life. The best parts of it, anyway.

  Of course, she’d probably hate him for it.

  He opened his eyes and looked at Jamie MacIntosh. “When do I start?”

  WHEN TRACY WOKE UP, sunshine streamed brightly through the window. For a moment she thought she was back home in Colorado. The light in Steamboat Springs was always dazzling, even in winter. But reality soon reasserted itself.

  She was in London, in the modest Pimlico hotel that the agency had paid for. The red damask curtains were pulled back. Traffic was honking outside. The clock by the side of Tracy’s bed said 11:15 A.M.

  11:15? Tracy rubbed her eyes. How was that even possible? She must have slept for fourteen hours, the first unbroken, dreamless night she’d had since Nick’s death. She couldn’t remember how she’d got back to her hotel from the graveyard, or how long she’d sat, slumped over Gunther Hartog’s grave, sobbing until her body had no more to give. But she remembered getting back to her room and feeling incredibly cold. Peeling off her wet clothes, she’d intended to take a hot shower, but exhaustion must have overtaken her before she could make it to the bathroom. Crawling under the covers, she’d sunk into a sleep so deep it was closer to a coma.

  She’d needed to cry and she’d needed to sleep. Thanks to Gunther Hartog, she’d managed both. Thank you, Gunther darling. Her body felt wonderful, her mind alert. But there was no time to enjoy these novel sensations, not if she were going to catch Sally Faiers before she left the Times offices for her lunch.

  Leaping out of bed, Tracy pulled on jeans and a sweater.

  Ten minutes later she was in a black cab, heading for Wapping.

  CHAPTER 15

  SALLY FAIERS WAS RUSHING for the tube when a waiflike woman approached her.

  “Sally!”

  “Yes,” Sally said uncertainly. The woman said her name as if she knew her but Sally was sure she’d never seen her before. The huge, sad green eyes, high cheekbones and tiny, birdlike body that was closer to a child’s than a grown adult’s were all striking enough that she would have remembered them. “Have we met?”

  “No. My name is Tracy Whitney.”

  Was that supposed to mean something?

  “I need to talk to you.”

  “What about?” Sally looked at her watch. She didn’t have time for guessing games with tiny women. Her boiler was on the blink and the annoying people from Eon were due at the flat in half an hour to fix it. “If it’s about a story you can call the news desk.” She fumbled in her pocket for a card.

  Tracy said, “It’s about Hunter Drexel.”

  Sally froze.

  “Not here,” she whispered. Scrawling an address on a piece of paper, she handed it to Tracy. “It’s a café, off East Street market. I’ll meet you there in twenty minutes.”

  THE CAFÉ WAS GRIMY, with steamed-up windows. It smelled of frying bacon and strong PG Tips tea and its clientele seemed to be made up entirely of Polish builders. Tracy loved it immediately.

  “Your local?” she asked Sally.

  “Not anymore. I was a student in this area. Briefly.” Sally wasn’t in the mood for small talk. “Who are you?”

  They ordered tea and Tracy told her, the edited version. That she was working with the CIA counterterrorism division dealing with the threat from Group 99. “Specifically I’m trying to track down an American woman believed to be one of their leaders. We think she played a part in Captain Daley’s murder and in Hunter’s abduction.”

  Sally looked skeptical. “So you’re a CIA agent?”

  “Not exactly.” Tracy heaped sugar into her tea. “I work with them, not for them. I guess you could say I’m a consultant. Of sorts.”

  “How did you find me?” Sally asked. Reaching into her pocket she pulled out a Dictaphone and placed it on the table, pressing the record button as Tracy looked on. “Just a precaution. Do you mind?”

  “Not at all,” said Tracy. “General Frank Dorrien gave me your name.”

  “Ah.” Sally rolled her eyes. “The general.”

  “You’re not a fan?” Tracy asked.

  Sally smiled. “Is anyone?”

  Tracy smiled back. “Mrs. Dorrien, perhaps?”

  I like this woman, Tracy and Sally thought simultaneously.

  “So what did General Frank tell you?” Sally asked.

  “Just that you’ve been asking questions about him and about Prince Achileas’s suicide. And that you and Hunter Drexel were close.”

  “Hunter’s close to a lot of women,” Sally said archly.

  “Not that he would trust to chase down a story for him. While he’s on the run from Group 99 and the U.S. government, and probably in fear for his life,” said Tracy.

  Sally looked at her admiringly.

  “He’s alive, then? He’s contacted you?”

  Sally focused on her tea. She liked Tracy Whitney instinctively, but her instincts had been wrong before. And she’d sworn to Hunter that she wouldn’t breathe a word about their contact to anyone.

  Sensing her hesitation, Tracy said bluntly, “If Group 99 finds him before we do, they’ll kill him. Whether Hunter believes it or not, we’re trying to save his life. But we need your help, Sally.”

  A heavy silence descended over the table. Finally, Sally broke it. “OK. Yes, he’s alive. Yes, we’ve spoken. But I don’t know where he is. And even if I did I wouldn’t tell you.”

  “What’s he working on? His story.”

  “I don’t know.”

  “You must know something,” Tracy pressed her. “He asked you to look into Frank Dorrien, didn’t he? Why?”

  “I swear to you, I don’t know.” Sally ran a hand through her dirty-blond hair in frustration. “Hunter would rather die, literally, than let anyone else in on his scoop. Even me. I know he suspected the general of having a hand in the Greek prince’s death. That’s why he asked me to check him out.”

  “And did he?” Tracy tried to make the question sound casual.

  Sally shook her head. “No. It was suicide. Like I told Hunter, there is no dirt on this guy. And I mean none. He may not be warm and cuddly, but Frank Dorrien’s as clean as a whistle. The man’s never gambled, barely drinks, never been disciplined, never cheated on his wife. I wouldn’t mind betting his shirts are all perfectly color-coded in his closet. He’s rude and a bit weird, maybe, but being OCD and a stickler for good form doesn’t make you a killer.”

  “No, it doesn’t,” Tracy agreed. “But Hunter still suspects him?”

  “He suspects him of something,” Sally said. “I don’t think even he knows what exactly. One of Hunter’s problems is his stubbornness. When he gets an idea in his head, it can take a lot more than facts—or in this case a complete and utter lack of facts—to change his mind. It’s the same way with his gambling. Once he’s playing his hand at poker, or he’s put his money on a horse, it’s as if, for him, the outcome is already decided. He must win, so he will win. It’s as if he thinks he can make something true by believing it hard enough.”

  Tracy remembered that Cameron Crewe had told her something very similar about him.

  “Not a good trait for a journalist,” she observed.

  “No,” Sally agreed. “Hunter has his strengths. But he can be willfully blind when he wants to be.”

  “Do you know why he ran from his rescuers?” Tracy changed tack abruptly.

  Sally shook her head. “I mean clearly he didn’t trust them. But if you’re asking why, I have no idea.”

  “And he never mentioned Althea to you? Or anyone else in Group 99?”

  “No.” Sally drained her mug of tea. “The weird thing is, they are trying to kill him.” She told Tracy about Hunter’s near miss with Apollo, being careful not to let slip any locations. “
But I get the strong sense that this story he’s writing goes way beyond Group 99. It’s something big. Big enough for your friends at the CIA to want to bury.”

  Tracy considered this, chewing on her bacon sandwich in silence. Suddenly Sally said, “Do you know why Hunter and I broke up?”

  “Another woman?” Tracy hazarded a wild guess.

  Sally smiled. “That didn’t help. But the straw that broke the camel’s back was actually his gambling. We owned a place together, a lovely garden flat in Hampstead. Most of the money came from my parents. Hunter remortgaged it behind my back to pay off a poker debt.” She laughed but there was no happiness in the sound. “I love him. But he is so dishonest, it takes your breath away. I lost that flat, and honestly, he wasn’t even sorry about it. He just kept saying it was ‘only’ money, ‘only’ bricks and mortar. You’re wondering why I’m telling you this, aren’t you?”

  “A bit,” Tracy admitted.

  “The thing is, Hunter and I are close. But I’ve never understood him. I’m probably the last person you should ask about his motivations. I never know what he’s going to do next.”

  Tracy paid the bill and they walked out onto the street. They swapped numbers, and promised to stay in touch.

  “Does anyone else know you’ve heard from Hunter? Or about him running from the SEALs?”

  Sally shook her head. “No one. I’m only telling you because, honestly, I’m scared. All Hunter cares about is his stupid story. But like you said, if Group 99 find him, they’ll kill him. Whatever it is that he doesn’t want your lot to find out, I don’t believe it’s worth dying for.”

  “You really do love him, don’t you?”

  Sally pulled her coat around her shoulders forlornly. “Unfortunately, yes. I do. He’s an asshole and a player. Totally toxic. But there literally is no one else like him. Once you’ve loved someone like Hunter, it ruins you for normal, stable men.” She laughed, embarrassed. “You probably have no idea what I’m talking about.”