“What?!” Will couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “They weren’t… weren’t supposed to be there. Were never there. Never traveled in the same car with him.”
Ellie lowered her head. “I know. It said as much in the files. But they were in the car that night and their deaths were hushed up.” She stared at him closely. “I’m sorry, Will. There’s more.”
“I…” Will felt sick and incredulous. “Six years old? Dear God. Six years…”
“Will.”
He felt utterly disgusted with himself and racked with grief. “If I’d known they were there…”
“Will! We don’t have much time!”
Will tried to compose himself, and nodded.
Ellie continued relaying what she’d read.
Though Ferryman’s access to Antaeus’s secrets had produced grade-A actionable intelligence, none of it compared to what Ferryman had recently ascertained: Antaeus knew that the terrorism financier Cobalt was holding a secret meeting with the Taliban in Afghanistan. Soon, Antaeus would know the precise date, time, and location of that meeting. This gold data prompted the leaders of Britain and the United States to call off the manhunt for Cobalt, for fear that if they continued they might force Cobalt to abort his Afghanistan meeting. Moreover, without giving details about their source, they persuaded every other Western nation hunting Cobalt to do the same. Ferryman said that Russia didn’t have the stomach to attack the Cobalt meeting, given that it would be held underground and would be heavily defended. That didn’t matter to America and Britain, because the States would drop a bunker buster on the meeting and kill the world’s most wanted terrorist.
Ellie concluded, “Project Ferryman will blow Cobalt into pieces. And that’s why you’re on the run. By disobeying orders, you could have very nearly jeopardized that outcome.”
Will’s mind was racing. “But something’s wrong with this.”
Ellie nodded. “I agree.”
“Herald told you about a high-ranking Russian mole…”
“In the Agency.”
An individual who would surely know that Project Ferryman was key to eliminating Cobalt, and would have relayed that to Antaeus, who in turn would instantly know that someone very close to him was giving the Americans all of Antaeus’s secrets.
“What’s Antaeus’s game?” Will whispered to himself.
“I keep asking myself that. Why hasn’t he killed Ferryman? It wouldn’t take Antaeus long to establish which member of his SVR team was the traitor working for us.”
Will was deep in thought as he asked, “Do you have anything else for me?”
“Before I read the Ferryman files, I found out who’s leading the manhunt for you on U.S. soil. Agent Marsha Gage, FBI. She’s top of the league, is as honest as they come, and doesn’t have any allegiance to the CIA.” She held out a slip of paper. “That’s her home address.”
“Excellent.” Will had reasoned that the Bureau could be useful once he’d discovered the truth about Ferryman. But he needed the Bureau to be proactively chasing him on U.S. soil, so that he could learn the identity of the person heading the FBI manhunt and make a decision as to whether that person could be trusted. That was why he’d deliberately shown himself at the Canadian border. Plus he wanted to unsettle the Russian spy in the CIA so that the mole would make a mistake and expose himself. Having Agent Gage’s home address was invaluable.
Will knew they’d spent too long in one place and needed to separate. “I presume the CIA officer who was posted with his wife to Prague in 2005 and recruited Ferryman was Charles Sheridan.”
Ellie shook her head. “It was Ed Parker.”
“Parker?”
“He was there with his wife Catherine. Ed first met Shonin at a U.S. embassy cocktail function.”
Will hadn’t expected that.
Not at all.
“Did you find out where Ed Parker lives?”
Ellie handed Will a second slip of paper. “As you requested in Norway, I got the addresses of the major Project Ferryman personnel — Parker, Charles Sheridan, and Senator Jellicoe. Also, this is for an apartment I rented for you in D.C.” She handed him a key and gave him the address. “I’ve stored the things you asked for there.”
“Excellent. I got a new cell phone.” As he gave her the number, Ellie programmed it into the cell phone that only Will knew about. “Call me if you need my help. But I can’t promise I’ll be able to get to you.” He smiled as he nodded toward the exit. “I’ve got a fair few distractions going on.”
Ellie placed the tips of her fingers against his hand. “Why did you disobey orders in Norway?”
Will looked at her fingers. “I felt… it was the right thing to do.” He pulled out the jewelry box that Ellie had secreted in Chinatown. “Thought you might like this back.”
Ellie frowned as she took it from him. She resisted the urge to shed a tear when she saw that inside was a new gold necklace. It was very similar to the one her father had given her and she’d subsequently lost. “Why…?”
“Why not?”
Ellie smiled. “Why not indeed.”
He stood. “Are you going to be okay?”
Ellie shrugged. “The Agency trained me too well. If I can get out of D.C., they’ll never find me.”
From the bottom of his heart, Will said, “I will never forget what you’ve done for me.”
Ellie smiled. “Didn’t just do it for you. Did it for the good ol’ U.S. of A.”
Will took her hand and held it. “I hope we meet again.”
“You do?”
Will nodded. “I’d like that.” He meant every word. Ellie was unlike any woman he’d met before, and he realized now that his feelings for her went way beyond professional admiration.
As she looked at him, Ellie now understood why her cool persona was rattled when she thought about Will. She was attracted to him, plain and simple, and her feelings were intensified by the circumstances and what they were doing. “I’ll let you in on a secret: I’ve always loved sunshine, particularly Mexican sunshine.”
“Mexico’s a big country to find a person who’s in hiding.”
“Not if the person looking is someone with your skill set.” She winked at him.
Just like she’d done in Norway while armed men were waiting to kill her.
“Providing I’m not in jail or dead,” Will said, grinning, “consider it a date.” He turned to leave, but looked back at her as a thought entered his head. “Was there any description of Gregori Shonin in the Ferryman files?”
Ellie shook her head while placing her hand inside her handbag. “No, but I was a bit of a naughty girl. I stole something I shouldn’t have from the archives: Shonin’s photo, taken without him knowing, in the early days after his recruitment.” She handed the photo to Will.
His heart was pounding as he looked at the image. “I’m the only person in Western intelligence who knows what Antaeus’s face looks like,” he said. “That’s one of the reasons why I was deployed to Moscow to kill him three years ago.” He held the photo out to Ellie. “This isn’t just a case of not understanding why Antaeus hasn’t identified Ferryman and killed him. It’s far worse than that. Gregori Shonin doesn’t exist. Because the man in this photo is Antaeus.”
“Antaeus?!” Ellie’s mind was racing. “But surely Ed Parker would have realized that Antaeus and Ferryman were one and the same, when he met Ferryman after your bomb injured Antaeus, and saw that he was disfigured?”