“The other is currently CIA, but graduated from West Point about nine years ago, served in various unpleasant places, mostly warm, so I’d guess he’s been in the Middle East quite recently due to the tan. Due to the fact he wears his wrist watch on his right wrist, and that his index and central fingers of his left hand are slightly crooked, I’d say he is left handed.”
Howard looked at both men with one of his bushy eyebrows raised, as if to say, ‘Now what do you think?’
The pair glanced at me with strange expressions and then briefly at each other. Howard smiled knowingly.
“Gentlemen, you’ve read the official report of the events in France, so please let me be quite specific here, Rebecca is more than a match for any other agent, either before or since. Her skills and experience would put both of you to shame, so the only thing I would urge, please do not judge her by her looks alone.”
They still looked doubtful, which was to my advantage.
Howard sat behind his desk and smiled patiently. We were waiting for someone else. After a few moments, the door opened and a man walked through. I instantly recognised him. It was the man I’d nicknamed as the Major, who injected me with the truth drug, what seemed ages ago now.
“Ah, Mike, glad you could join us,” Howard said, watching me like a hawk. I simply nodded.
“You know everyone, I believe?” he continued. “Rebecca, this is Mike Hanley. A key player with the Agency.”
The man looked at the others and nodded, but when he saw me, he frowned and then blushed slightly.
“Nice to see you again, Mike, or is it really Martin?” I said, offering him a hand.
To give him his due, he never hesitated, took my hand and smiled at me. It was a charming smile, showing me all his very white and near perfect teeth.
“No, it is Mike, Rebecca. I believe I owe you an apology?”
“I believe you do.”
“Would dinner suffice?”
“I’m not sure, I’d have to see how good it was.”
“If it’s any consolation, you fooled us completely.”
“Good.”
“If I may interrupt this happy reunion for a moment, we do have some pressing business to attend to,” the Colonel said, giving me one of his small smiles.
There followed an intense and rather dreary meeting, where we all laid our cards on the table. I still didn’t trust the Americans, and I don’t think they trusted us. However, we needed to work together if we were to retrieve the device, and the only real leads were Maxim and Mrs Standing.
Howard brought things to a close.
“The main thrust of what we know is based on the supposition that the research is almost, but not quite complete. Our people have caught up to the point where Standing left them, thanks to the information downloaded by an agent who is now sadly deceased. It is reasonable to assume that we are looking for Standing to finish his version by the summer, say June or July at the latest. Our own people say that they might complete by August, which I personally believe is a little optimistic. That gives us time to try to locate him, using all our joint methods at our disposal.”
I was given Mrs Standing, as I already had an in with Jon. The others were to focus on Maxim, with a view to ascertaining all the company’s holdings to isolate the most likely hideaway for Standing to complete his work. The Americans had access to satellites and other high tech equipment about which the British could only dream.
“Excuse me, but what if Maxim actually has nothing to do with this?” I asked. It was Major Mike who replied.
“Then we need to eliminate them from our short list of suspects at the first opportunity. The main reason we have to suspect them is the vast reserve of capital they have at their disposal. More even than many suspect nations, because they have links with some whom we would desperately not want to obtain this device.”
“Is there any way our research can devise a method counteracting the device, thereby rendering Standing’s version worthless?” I asked.
All the men looked at me, so I wondered whether I’d said something stupid.
“Good point, Rebecca, I shall speak to the project leader immediately.”
I blushed, but wondered why nobody had already thought of this aspect. However, as I wondered at the great military and secret agent mentality, our tasks were allocated. Howard then left to contact Roger Whiteside, the new project leader. I found myself alone with Mike.
“May I ask you one question?” I asked.
“Sure.”
“Are, or were you ever a Major?”
He grinned at me, “You read my dossier?”
“No. That evening when you doped me up, I nicknamed you the Major. So I was just wondering.”
“I was. I worked my way up in the US Marines, then Special Forces.”
I smiled, pleased that I could still spot them.
“Thanks.”
“Is that it?”
“Yup.”
He frowned, looking at me strangely.
“Can I ask you a question?”
“If you like.”
“I read the file on Paris, what’s your history?”
“Ah, there are some things that I can’t tell you.”
“That leaves the one lame question that I thought I’d never ask.”
“Oh?”
“How the hell did a beautiful girl like you get mixed up in a game like this?”
“Ah, that’s an easy one. I wasn’t always beautiful!”
He laughed, shaking his head. “I don’t believe that.”
“Then the truth would be even harder to handle. Let’s just say that I’m a late developer.”
“Now, I can almost accept that, if it wasn’t for a couple of things.”
“Like?”
“They way you dealt with our little serum session, and then there was France.”
I just smiled.
“So, no boyfriend?”
“If I had, do you really think I’d tell you?”
“If you had, you wouldn’t be here.”
I looked at him. In a way, he was right, for this wasn’t a game for couples. I’d made that mistake the first time around, and now I had nothing.
“Okay, I admit that there’s a young man who is keen on me, but he thinks I’m an actress.”
“Believe me, you are, and a damn good one!”
“Seriously, I haven’t yet decided what the future holds. But should cupid shoot an arrow into my arse, you can bet I’ll be out of the service as soon as look at you.”
“Okay, what about dinner?” he asked, chuckling at my earthy language.
“Fine, when we’ve saved the world and can all sleep soundly in our beds again.”
He laughed again, a deep, rich sound. I found myself warming to him. This wasn’t a naïve hopeful like David Lyddall, or a gauche student like Jon. This man had been to places like I had, done similar things and thought the same way. There was a chemistry here that I found strangely exciting. He lacked a smooth culture that British officers inevitably possessed, but in its place was a self-confident brashness that was very American. It was far more obvious and in your face, yet somehow I found it quite refreshing from the reserved arrogance of the Colonel and his chaps.
“May I know how old you are?” he asked.
“Old enough to know better, but young enough to be bloody good at it.”
He smiled again, handing me a small card.
“Take it. It’s my personal cell-phone number. I’d like you to have it.”
I looked at it. “Why?”
He smiled slightly self-consciously, which was odd for a man of his obvious self-assurance.
“Because it’s very rare for a girl to completely captivate me, so I don’t want you to get away without at least having dinner with me.”