‘Why? That strikes me as an odd sort of morality. It was a long time ago.’
‘You’re missing the point, MJ. Sex isn’t the morality. He was conned, seduced into almost becoming an international crook, and he can’t forget it or forgive himself maybe.’
‘Then I’ll relieve your concerns for the time being. Kendrick must not be told anything about San Diego at this juncture. In his state of mind God knows what he’d do if he even had an inkling of such a connection, and we don’t need any loose cannons. Make up something about an emergency business trip and be convincing. I want you to interrogate that very odd lady from left field. I’ll prepare a scenario for you by morning.’
‘I’ll handle it.’
‘I trust you brought your hat-switch papers out of Cairo, didn’t you?’
‘Of course.’
‘You may want to use them. We’re on extremely thin ice. Incidentally, none of our people know you nor do you know them. If I come up with something, I’ll somehow relay it through Weingrass in Colorado… Very thin ice.’
‘Even Evan realizes that.’
‘May I ask how things are going with you two? I warn you, I’m inordinately fond of him.’
‘Let’s put it this way. We had a lovely two-bedroom suite at Cable Beach and last night I could hear him pacing the living room outside my door until all hours of the morning. I damn near walked out and ordered him inside.’
‘Why didn’t you?’
‘Because everything’s so confusing for us, so consuming for him—and now tonight, so horrible. I don’t think either of us could handle personal complications.’
‘Thank heavens we’re on a scrambler. Follow your instincts, Field Agent Rashad. They’ve served us well in Special Projects… I’ll call you in the morning with instructions. Good hunting, dear niece.’
Khalehla returned to her seat and Evan’s anxious stare. ‘Other worlds go on and they’re just as deadly, I’m afraid,’ she said, buckling her seat belt. ‘That was the station chief in Cairo. Two of our contacts disappeared in the Sidi Barrani district—it’s a Libyan connection. I told him what to look for and whom to go after… How are you feeling?’
‘All right,’ he answered, studying her face.
‘Our distinguished passengers and our not too shabby crew,’ came the general’s deep loud voice over the intercom from the flight deck. ‘It seems we’re destined to repeat ourselves, Dr Axelrod. Remember that “southern island”?’ The pilot went on to explain that in order to avoid the excitement—and publicity—of an ‘AF bird’ dropping in at the airport of Durango or Cortez, they were instructed to head directly into the one at Mesa Verde. The runway was deemed officially adequate ‘but our touchdown could be a mite rocky so when I give the word, belt ’em up tight. We’re starting our descent from the satellites; arrival estimated in forty-five minutes—if I can find the damn place… Remember, Doctor?’
As the general had predicted with considerable understatement, the landing shook the aircraft with a series of massive vibrations, the blasting eruptions of the braking jets filling the fuselage. Outside on the ground, thanks were expressed, goodbyes said, and the brigadier delivered his special cargo to a field officer of the Central Intelligence Agency. Khalehla and Evan were ushered quickly to an armour-plated vehicle flown down from Denver, their motorcycle escort an armed six-man contingent from the State Police, oblivious as to why the governor’s office had ordered them to the backcountry ‘millionaires’ airport’ near the Mesa Verde National Park.
‘Let me get you current, Congressman,’ said the CIA man, sitting, as had his colleague in the Bahamas, in the front seat beside the driver. ‘There are five of us here, but two will fly back to Virginia with the prisoner and the three dead bodies… I’m spelling things out because I was told I can speak in front of the lady, that you were official, miss.’
‘Thank you for your confidence,’ said the unrecognized agent for Special Projects.
‘Yes, ma’am… We’ve contracted half a dozen forest rangers from the park for the night, each backgrounded, each a combat veteran, to guard your house and grounds. Tomorrow a unit from Langley will arrive to take up their posts.’
‘Christ, what if there’s another Fairfax?’ whispered Evan.
Khalehla pressed her elbow into Kendrick’s side, coughing as she did so.
‘I beg your pardon?’
‘Nothing. Sorry. Go ahead.’
‘A couple of points—and I don’t mind telling you that old Jewish guy should be put in someone’s hall of fame, if somebody else doesn’t put him in a padded cell—but you both have to know the facts, the cover. Weingrass worked it out before we got there—wow, he’s a pistol!’
‘Noted and accepted,’ said Kendrick. ‘What are the facts?’
‘The nurses know very little; they think there was only one terrorist, a hallucinating fanatic at that. The three bodies were hidden in the woods until the police left, then carried by your Mexican friend, Gonzalez, back to the garage without the nurses seeing him. They were on the other side of the house, on the porch with Manny—Jesus, how did he get me to call him “Manny”? Anyway, Gonzalez locked the doors to the garage and drove back to his restaurant. Mr. Weingrass guarantees us he’ll keep quiet.’
‘Mr. Weingrass is right,’ confirmed Evan.
‘We don’t like the arrangement, but I guess you three go back a long time.’
‘We go back a long time,’ said Kendrick.
‘So the Congressman shouldn’t make any references to the magnitude of the assault,’ broke in Khalehla. ‘Is that what you’re saying?’
‘That’s exactly what I’m saying. Everything’s containment, Mr. Kendrick, that’s the order from on-high in Langley. As far as anyone here is concerned, we’re just government personnel, no Agency, no Bureau, no identifications offered and none asked for. They’re all too frightened to look for complications, which is usually the case in these situations. A plane will fly in around three o’clock this morning. The prisoner and his dead friends will be taken back to Virginia. He will be sent to an interrogation clinic, the others to the forensic labs. Manny said—excuse me, Mr. Weingrass said I should make all this clear to you.’
‘It’s clear.’
‘Thank you, sir. Boy, that Manny! Do you know he punched me in the stomach when I told him I was taking over. I mean, he threw a fist into my gut!’
‘Standard,’ said Kendrick, peering out of the tinted window at the road. They were only ten minutes from the house. From Manny.
They embraced in the doorway, Evan holding the old man far more firmly than the other held him. Then Weingrass gently boxed Kendrick’s ears and spoke. ‘You never got manners from your parents? Behind you is a lady I want very much to meet.’
‘Oh, sorry,’ said Evan, backing away. ‘Manny, this is Khalehla… Khalehla Rashad.’
Old Weingrass stepped forward, taking Khalehla’s hand in his. ‘We come from a troubled land, you and I. You are an Arab and I am a Jew, but there are no such distinctions in this house, no preconceptions, and I must tell you that I love you very much for giving such joy to my son.’
‘My God, you are a marvel.’
‘Yes,’ agreed Manny, nodding twice.
‘I love you, too, for all that you mean to Evan.’ Khalehla placed her arms around the frail eighty-year-old architect, her face pressed against his. ‘I feel as if I’ve known you all my life.’
‘I sometimes have that effect on people. Also sometimes the opposite, as if their lives had taken a sudden turn for the worse.’
‘Mine hasn’t,’ said Khalehla, releasing Manny but holding his shoulders. ‘I’ve met the legend and he turns out to be a terrific person,’ she added, smiling warmly.
‘Don’t spread such disinformation, Miss Secret Agent. You’ll ruin my reputation… Now to business before I take you in to the others.’ Weingrass turned in the hallway and peered around the stone archway. ‘Good. The girls are on the veranda giving us a few minutes to ourselves.’
That fellow from the CIA filled us in,’ said Kendrick. ‘The one who came down to the airport to meet us.’
‘Oh, you mean Joe.’
‘Joe?’
‘They’re all “Joe”, “John”, “Jim”—you notice, no “Irvings” or “Miltons”—forget it… Payton told me you know about the Hassans.’
‘He knows,’ interrupted Khalehla, absently reaching for Evan’s hand and gripping it; the gesture was not lost on Manny and it obviously touched him. ‘It was horrible—’
‘It’s all horrible, my lovely child. Animals who kill their own! Kashi and Sabri, they spoke so lovingly of you, Adrienne Khalehla Rashad, and I don’t have to tell you what they thought of my son… So we will mourn privately, each to himself and herself, remembering what they meant to us. But that must be later, not now.’
‘Manny,’ broke in Kendrick. ‘I have to make arrangements—’
‘I’ve made them. There’ll be a private Islamic service, and their remains will be flown back to Dubai for burial in Ash Sharigah. The coffins will be sealed, of course.’