Bond’s jaw dropped.
Heidi pointed to the monitor, where a satellite image of the medina was magnified hundreds of times. “We thought they had you there for a second. It’s a good thing you found us.”
“I found you? ”
Bond dropped into a chair. He was trying to project some semblance of composure, but he was, nonetheless, dumbfounded.
Heidi laughed when saw the expression on his face. “We got you good, didn’t we?” Then she noticed the stains. “Pee-uuu … ! What did you get on you?”
“Someone better start explaining. I’m in no mood for jokes,” Bond said.
“We are travel writers,” Heidi said. “But that’s just a cover. Hedy’s a senior agent with the CIA. I’m a junior agent. We don’t live in Japan. We live right here, in this building.”
Hedy added, “I’m the one who went into the CIA first. When they found out I had an identical twin, they came up with an unorthodox plan and made us a proposal.”
“As far as official records go, I don’t exist,” Heidi said.
“And neither do I,” Hedy continued. “But there does exist a Hillary Taunt, CIA agent, who works in the North African sector. Either one of us can pose as Hillary during the course of our work. The boys in Virginia figured that Heidi could be used as a decoy in special cases. We rarely travel together, which is why you never saw us at the same time on the train. We rode in separate cars on purpose. We confuse a lot of people, especially conductors and flight attendants.”
“If we have to be seen in public together, one of us wears the wig,” Heidi said. “The only people that know that we aren’t Hillary Taunt are our bosses at the Company. If, say, your own organization at SIS wanted to find out information about CIA agent Hillary Taunt there would be nothing in her file to indicate she might be an identical twin. This can be very advantageous in the field.”
“I can see that,” Bond said. “So you’ve known who I am all along.”
“Sure,” Heidi said. “We were sent to track you down. We got lucky and made contact with you on the train. If you hadn’t found us this morning, we would have had to come after you. You’re in a lot of hot water, mister.”
“Tell me about it,” Bond said. “I’m not sure what happened back there. The Union headquarters was blown up. Someone made it look like I was responsible.”
“To hell with Union headquarters,” Hedy said. “What about that doctor in London and the ferry in Tangier? What do you have to say about those things? You’re a wanted man. Your chief has put out an all-points alert for your arrest.”
Bond winced. “I didn’t do any of those things.”
“Tell it to the judge,” Hedy said. “Our orders are to escort you to London. We’ve already checked you out of the hotel and we have your things.” She pointed to his holdall on the floor in the corner. “Now, you have to hand over your weapons. All of them.” She held out her hand.
Bond was aghast. “You’re not serious.”
“Please don’t make me use force,” Hedy said. “I’m pretty good at what I do.”
“I believe you,” Bond said. He reached into his jacket.
“Carefully,” Hedy commanded.
Bond froze, then continued in slow motion. He brought out the PPK and tossed it on the desk.
“The knife?” she asked.
“Oh, right,” Bond muttered, and took the sheath off the back of his belt. “This really isn’t necessary, you know. I’d much rather be arrested by you two than the Moroccan police. I’ll be a good boy.”
“We’re just playing it safe,” Hedy said. She was definitely the “bad cop” of the two.
“I seem to have lost a Walther P99 in Tangier,” he said.
“Yeah, you left it on that ferry after killing those civilians,” Hedy said.
“No, I didn’t. I wasn’t there.”
“Sure,” Hedy said with a sneer.
“I’m sorry, James,” Heidi said with sincerity. “We might have had some fun together.”
“We still can,” Bond said. “It’s a long way to London.”
“Hush,” Hedy snapped. “We’ve got a car outside. We’re going to take a drive to the airport. There’s a plane that leaves in three hours. But first you’re going to shower and change out of those stinky clothes.”
“I must know what you think is going on,” Bond said.
“We don’t know what’s going on,” Hedy said. “All we know is that we have to escort you to London and hand you over to your chief.”
“You do know that was the Union headquarters that blew up this morning?” Bond asked.
“We had come to that conclusion but didn’t have proof,” Hedy replied. “Actually, our suspicions were focused on another part of town, the Central Market, southeast from here. Maybe what you found this morning could have been another entrance. Anyway, we were already in the process of coordinating a raid on the Central Market entrance with Interpol and the Moroccan police when all this business with you and the ferry happened. I guess that sorta screwed up our plans.”
“Sorry.”
“We were told that you had gone renegade, had joined the Union,” she added.
“That’s why you were in Casablanca, we thought,” Heidi said.
“Well, it looks like the Union might have suspected something and got the hell out of Dodge,” Hedy continued. “That building was completely empty. The police reports are still coming in. They’ve begun to explore it and apparently there’s some kind of underground complex. If I didn’t have to deal with you, I’d be one of the first officials in there to find out if it really was Union headquarters.” Hedy looked at him out the corner of her eye. “You sure you’re not Union?”
“I’m not a member of the bloody Union,” Bond said.
“I’d like to believe you,” Hedy said.
“I believe you,” Heidi added.
Hedy rolled her eyes. “My sister has a one-track mind.”
“Look,” Bond said. “There’s something … there’s something going on. Some kind of plot that the Union have cooked up. I’m a part of it. I can’t explain it, though. Not yet. If you take me to London, something terrible will happen. My hunches are usually pretty good.”
“We don’t know what you’re talking about,” Hedy said. “Better hit the shower so we can get going.”
“Wait a minute,” Bond insisted. “Listen to me. For the past few days, I’ve felt as if I’ve been knocked here and there like a pinball. Whoever committed those crimes in London and Tangier—he’s some kind of double. I think I’ve seen him. Once, in London. He looks just like me and he’s certainly Union. I’m also pretty damned sure that I’m being manipulated by them; to what end, I don’t know, but I would bet my life that there’s something monstrous behind everything that’s happened. The murder of Dr. Feare … the shootings on the ferry … the explosion in the medina today … They’re all connected somehow, and I think that this Spaniard, Domingo Espada, is involved.”
Heidi and Hedy looked at each other. “What do you mean?”
Bond reached into his pocket and pulled out the envelope he had taken from van Breeschooten. “I got this from one of the Union’s top men. He was responsible for recruiting—and killing—someone close to me at SIS. I tracked him from London to the very location where that explosion occurred this morning. As you can see, he had something to do with Espada.”
The girls looked at the bullfight ticket and the map. “What’s this ‘X’?” Hedy asked.
“I don’t know yet.”
“It’s not far from Marbella,” Heidi observed. “Domingo Espada’s home is just north of there. I think that ‘X’ marks the spot.”