Peter reached up and lifted off his churchly black hat to reveal a bandage wrapped around the top of his head.
Jon stared at the bandage and shook his head as Peter adjusted the hat back onto his head. “I’ll be damned. So you were the Algerian orderly at the Pompidou who caused all the trouble.” He remembered a flitting sense of familiarity as the orderly had run backward down the hospital corridor, waving a mini-submachine gun in warning to keep everyone at bay. It was Peter’s head that had left the trace of blood on the banister. “So you were there to protect Marty, not to kill him. That’s why when you finally shot, it was high.”
“All true.” Peter nodded. “Happened to be in the hospital keeping an eye on our friend when I heard he had a ‘family’ visitor. Since Marty has no close family left, if you don’t count the dog we picked up on the Hades thing, I got the wind up and flew up there didi mau with my little Sterling. Saw you spot me and had to bunk or blow my whole pantomime.”
From the back, Randi said, “Which means SAS or MI6 is watching Marty.”
“Ah, a trifle old for the Special Air boys, but MI6 does still find me useful from time to time. Whitehall is salivating over this DNA gadget.”
“They called on you?”
“I know a bit about the DNA potential, and I’ve worked fairly often with the French, which is not MI6’s best feature. One of the perks of being retired, out of the game, so to speak, is that I get to go my own way a bit. If they think they need me, they have to come to me. Then whenever I don’t want to play, I gather my toys and toddle back to my lair in the Sierras with Stan. Drives them silly, of course.”
Randi repressed a smile. Peter often referred to his age disparagingly, maybe to distract people from his actual abilities, which would shame many a thirty-something.
Jon frowned. “But why not identify yourself to me? Why let me chase you? Hell, you made me jump over a gurney!”
Peter grinned. “That was a pretty sight. Worth anything just to witness that.” He paused. His voice grew serious as he admitted, “Never sure, are we? Couldn’t know why you were there, eh? Downing Street and the Oval Office don’t always back the same pony. Better to find out first who’s doing what.”
Jon continued to frown. “But after that, I saw you go into General Henze’s pension. The one where he wasn’t supposed to be. Sounds as if you were interested in the same pony there.”
“You spotted me? Don’t like that very much. Others could have as well.”
“I didn’t have a clue it was you. Either time, if that helps.”
Considerable satisfaction was in Peter’s voice as he decided, “That was the idea, wasn’t it?”
“Especially when you’re visiting an American general,” Jon said, studying his friend.
“He’s NATO, too, you see. Have to make nice with the EU.”
“And tell the NATO general what?”
“Classified, my boy. Strict orders.”
With that Peter was clearly going to say no more, friends or no friends.
To those accustomed to the heavy traffic of Madrid, the highway was almost an empty parking lot. A few cars roared past, speeding, but Peter was behaving himself and kept the town car under control. Near the lush, green city of Aranjuez, a former summer retreat for Spain’s kings and queens, he left the N400 and turned the car north toward the A4 and Madrid, which was now fifty kilometers distant. The moon peeked out, spreading a silver glow across fields of newly planted strawberries, tomatoes, sugar beets, and wheat, as Randi leaned forward, resting her forearms on the back of the seat.
“Okay, Jon, who the hell do you work for?” The moment she said it, she regretted it. Irritable and confrontational. But dammit, she wanted to know. “Tell me it’s not my dear, devious bosses at Langley lying through their teeth again.”
“I’m here on my own, Randi. Peter believes me, right, Peter?”
Peter smiled behind the wheel. “It do stink a bit, you know. Not that I especially care, but I see Randi’s point about her people. Behind her back and all that. Shouldn’t like it myself.”
Among Randi’s finer traits was a laserlike focus, and she would worry a bone of contention with the tenacity of a pit bull. He had resisted long enough, it was time to trot out his believable lie.
“Okay, you’re right,” Jon told her. “There’s something else going on, but it’s not Langley. It’s the army. Army intelligence sent me to find out whether Dr. Chambord actually did create a prototype operational DNA computer. And if he did, whether it and his research notes were stolen and the bombing a coverup.”
She shook her head. “Langley never found you on the army intelligence roster.”
“It’s a one-shot. If they go high enough, they’ll find me.” He was confident of Fred Klein’s deviousness.
She seemed to believe him this time, and for a moment he felt guilty. “See?” she said. “That wasn’t so hard. Be careful, thoughtruth can become addictive.”
“Never heard it put that way,” Peter said dryly.
Jon had a clear impression that Peter did not believe a word of his fiction, but at the same time, Peter did not care, either.
To the Brit, his own assignment came first, and he returned to it. “Let’s get back to the mission. Since Chambord is alive and kidnapped, then something’s not shipshape at the Paris police.”
“You mean the fingerprint identification,” Jon understood. “I’ve thought about that. The only way I can figure the Black Flame and Crescent Shield made that happen was a simple reverse. They planted a corpse in the Pasteur before they blew it up. Put the corpse right on top of the bomb, except for the lower arms and hands the police found. They must’ve cut those off and planted them far enough away that at least one had a good chance of being recoverable, but close enough to be battered by the explosion. Then they had someone substitute the corpse’s prints for Chambord’s in his file. They also could’ve substituted DNA information, in case less identifiable body parts survived. Once the Paris police had a reason to make an identification one way or the other, they’d be satisfied. They’d have bigger problems to deal with, such as the DNA computer.”
Randi thought about it. “The terrorists must’ve sweated blood when it took so long for the remains to be found. Not that it mattered much, since the police would assume they hadn’t found his body yet.”
“Wonder how they managed to sneak a corpse in at all? Could have scuttled their entire plan had they been spotted,” Peter said. “Curious.”
“I think,” Jon suggested slowly, “the corpse simply walked in with them, unknowing, or maybe he was a dedicated martyr for Islam, counting on a guaranteed place in heaven.”
“Good God,” Randi breathed.
“Another type of suicide bomber,” Peter said. “What’s the world becoming?”
They were silent with the implications. Finally, Jon asked, “We’ve both told you how we got here, Peter. How about you?”
“Fair enough question. After the bombing, M16 spotted a known Basque separatist in Paris, Elizondo Ibarguengoitia. The Second Bureau had missed him. MI6 factored that information into what the French told Whitehall about the other Basque that they did pick up, and it seemed like a chance to steal a march on the Second Bureau that was too good to miss. As it happened, I’d crossed berets with Elizondo more than once, so my assignment was to tail the bugger and see what mischief I might uncover.” He stared ahead at the highway. “My nose for chicanery also tells me Whitehall would not be averse to snatching the thingamajig for Queen and country, eh, and my unofficial status could give deniability should the grab go wrong.”
“As I expect would every other government and military,” Jon observed, “including my own.”
While Randi and Peter pondered this, Jon leaned back and let his head rest against the leather seat. He gazed out the windshield. The moon was lower in the sky, leaving a vast sweep of stars in the La Mancha sky. When he looked at such a brilliant display, he knew the earth and the universe would always be here. When he dealt with his fellow species, he was not as sure.
His gaze still up on the stars, he said, “You know, it’s obvious we’re all under the usual strict orders to play it close, tell nothing to anyone, especially agents of any other country on the same quest.” He glanced at Peter and then back at Randi. “All of us have said the insane rivalry, even within our own governments, will destroy us. This one has all the potential for an Armageddon. My guess is that the Crescent Shield is planning a big bang somewhere. Probably against the United States. Maybe against Britain. Don’t you both think it’s time to cooperate? We know we can trust each other.”