She half rose from her seat and raised her lips to him as McGarvey reached her. He kissed her lightly on the cheek and sat down next to her, his back to the interior of the café. Her scent was the same as it had been ten years ago, and it brought back instant memories of the young Liese Fuelm who’d thrown herself at him from the moment she’d been assigned by the Swiss Federal Police to keep watch on him. She’d never made it a secret that she was madly in love with him, and wanted nothing more in life than to have him make love to her.
At the time McGarvey had been living with Marta Fredericks, another Swiss watchdog sent to find out why a former CIA assassin had come to Switzerland. And even Marta had once suggested that the best thing might be for Mac to sleep with Liese. Maybe it would cure the girl of her puppy love.
McGarvey hadn’t taken Marta up on the suggestion, and shortly after that he’d left Switzerland, and a year later Marta was dead. But looking into Liese’s eyes now, he could see that nothing had changed; she was still in love with him, her feelings open and easy to read, her disappointment that he had merely kissed her on the cheek obvious.
“It’s good to see you again, Kirk,” Liese said. She touched his hand, and again it was as if the past ten years had never happened.
McGarvey withdrew his hand. “What are you doing here? You didn’t come in an official capacity. And by now you have to know that I resigned, so I’m not here officially.”
Liese couldn’t hide her disappointment. “I’ve come to warn you that Prince Salman means to kill you.”
“What do you think I’m doing here?”
“Obviously you believe that the prince and Khalil are the same man, and you’ve come here to prove that, then to kill him not only for what he did in Alaska, but also because he’s almost certainly involved with the new bin Laden threat.” The waiter came. McGarvey ordered a café express, and Liese ordered another glass of vin blanc ordinaire. “But there are people in Switzerland who don’t believe it’s that simple.”
McGarvey wasn’t surprised. “Because of the Saudi oil connection.”
Liese glanced over toward the hotel, and McGarvey followed her gaze. But he still couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. She was waiting for someone or something.
She looked back at him. “That, and the fact you missed in Alaska. You don’t have many friends in Switzerland, but everybody respects your abilities. And some of them are afraid of you.”
“That’s nothing I don’t already know, Liese. Otto said that you called while I was out of Washington, wanting to talk to me about Salman. You’re running a surveillance operation on him. Your people think that he’s Khalil. But that was before Alaska. Why did you try to reach me?”
“Because it’s not only the prince who we’re investigating. You’re a part of it.”
“Yes, because we need oil and the Saudis have it.”
Liese’s mouth compressed. She was frightened. “It’s my immediate superior, Ernst Gertner. He’s nothing more than a Kantonpolizei director, but he has powerful friends and he considers you his enemy. He means to destroy you any way he can.”
This wasn’t making any sense. McGarvey had never heard the name. “Why does he have a beef with me?”
Liese lowered her eyes. “He was in love with Marta when you and she were living together in Lausanne. He thought that when it was over he would be there to pick up the pieces for her.”
“But she came running after me in Paris and got herself killed,” McGarvey said. “Is that it, Liese? He thinks I was responsible and now he’s gunning for me?”
Liese nodded. Her eyes were moist. It was obvious she was frightened, and that she wanted McGarvey to take her into his arms and tell her everything would be fine. “That’s part of it, but there’s more.” The waiter came with their order, and when he was gone, she squared her shoulders as if she had made a difficult decision. “He thinks he has proof that you and Salman are actually working together.”
McGarvey was irritated. She was going around in circles. “The Saudi thing, you’ve already said that.”
“I don’t mean Salman as a Saudi royal; I mean Salman as Khalil the terrorist.”
McGarvey had to laugh. “He can’t be that stupid.”
“Salman slept with your wife ten years ago, and yet you’ve done nothing about it,” Liese blurted. “He thinks it’s proof enough that you’re protecting him. You didn’t kill him in Alaska, and there are people from the cruise ship who said you could have done it at the end. And here you are now in Monaco. And you even went aboard his yacht this morning.”
McGarvey’s mind recoiled. He had to wonder how many people didn’t know about his wife and Salman all those years ago. But that wasn’t as important as the fact that Liese knew he’d been to the yacht. “How many people do you have here watching me?”
“I don’t know. Probably none of our people. Gertner has a lot of friends with Interpol and the Sûreté. So it’s probably the local cops on your tail.”
“That’s just great,” McGarvey said. Because of the Swiss interference his hands were effectively tied here in Monaco and anywhere in France. He wasn’t exactly a welcome guest of the French, who considered him a dangerous man. And any enemy of France was automatically an enemy of Monaco. As long as he was here under a work name and as long as he caused no trouble, his presence would be tolerated. But the moment he so much as sneezed in public without first covering his mouth, he would be arrested and put on the next flight back to the States. “How do you know Salman is going to Corsica?”
“We’re monitoring his telephone calls. We’ve got a pretty good decryption team and Arab speakers. He’s been talking to someone — we can’t figure out who, just yet — in the royal palace in Riyadh. This morning he told his contact that he was going to his compound at Bonifacio. And he wanted it made fully ready. His words.”
“Your boss is convinced that if I show up in Corsica it’ll prove that Salman and I are working together?”
Liese nodded. “That’s why I had to come here to warn you in person. Nobody thinks that bin Laden’s threat is an empty warning. Al-Quaida will try to hit you just like 9/11, and not too long from now.” She looked away for a moment. “That’s the other reason I came.” She turned back to face McGarvey, a defiant, resolute expression on her face. “I’ll help you kill him. No one can say that both of us were here to protect him.”
It was about what McGarvey figured she would say. He shook his head. “Not a chance, because nothing’s going to happen here in Monaco. I’ll take the ferry from Nice in the morning, and you’re returning to Lucerne.”
“I’m not going back.”
“Don’t be stupid, Liese. Gertner assigned you to investigate Salman and me, because you and I have a history. And you can bet that if Gertner has people watching me here, they’ve already told him that you showed up.”
“He believes that I’m still in love with you. He’ll think I’m here to throw myself at you.”
“Then that’s exactly what you’re going to do,” McGarvey said. He laid some money on the table to cover their drinks, then leaned over and kissed Liese on the lips. “We’re leaving.”
Liese’s eyes were wide, her face flushed with pleasure. A dream for her had suddenly come true. “Where?”
“The hotel. You’re staying with me tonight.”
FORTY-FOUR
Khalil had hacked into the hotel’s computer and downloaded the key code to McGarvey’s suite onto the electronic card key he’d been issued for his own room on the third floor. Standing now at the door to room 204, the corridor empty for the moment, he reached inside his jacket for the handle of his SIG Sauer P226 pistol with his right hand, while with his left he slid the key card through the slot. The mechanism flashed green, and the lock released with an audible click.