He saw Rachel’s face in the mirror and jumped, splattering water over his crotch. She had taken off her mask. She looked like a fright: her hair was plastered all over her forehead and there were red blotches on her cheeks where the edges of the mask had pressed against her skin. But she was still recognisably female.
‘What the shit is going on here?’ Symonds roared. ‘You are a bloody woman!’
He held on to the sink’s edge to steady himself and adjusted his spirit crown’s controls. Apparently the shock had been enough to interfere with his connection to his medium.
‘Yes, sir,’ Rachel said. ‘Rachel White. I used to work for Jasper Harker, in Counter-subversion.’
‘My God. You are the one who was right about Bloom. What on Earth are you doing here?’
‘I really need to talk to you, sir. This was the only way to get to you in time.’
Symonds took a deep breath and massaged his temples.
‘I suppose it is the kind of thing Bloom and I would have done, back in the day,’ he muttered. ‘I still can’t believe it. I knew him for almost a decade, and to think that all that time—’ He shook his head. ‘Yes, I suspected something. I pressed him, so he would tell me what was wrong, like he used to. But I never actually believed it.
‘You let him get away, Mrs White. I’m afraid that means my head as well as yours. I came here to try to get Sir Stewart to admit that the Winter Court knew about Bloom and did nothing, but he is too drunk for it to go anywhere. Or too preoccupied protecting himself from the Dzhugashvili fallout. I suspect I’ll be working in my father’s soup business again in the next day or two.’
‘Not if we get the second mole,’ Rachel said.
‘What do you mean?’ Symonds looked shaken, and had to adjust his spirit crown again. Rachel waited for him to recover his composure before continuing.
‘Bloom was warned. I suspect someone. There is a way to prove it, but I need your help.’
‘I can’t possibly be directly involved with another rogue operation, Mrs White. I am doing all I can to distance myself from the last one.’
‘You won’t have to. All you need to do is send a memo to a list of people I will provide you with. It will mention a sighting of Iosif Dzhugashvili in Spain, in a different location for each individual.’
‘You are proposing a canary trap.’
‘Exactly.’ If the Communists in Spain took action in any of those locations, the mole would be exposed. Rachel was fairly certain who it would be.
Symonds paused. ‘Bloom tried to recruit you—is that right? You set yourself up as bait.’
‘Yes.’
‘Did you … did you get a sense of why? Why he turned?’
‘I don’t know for sure,’ Rachel said, ‘but I suspect it was something that happened at Cambridge. He talked about a boy he knew who fell while night-climbing.’
Symonds massaged his forehead. ‘I should have seen it,’ he said. ‘He was never the same after that. What an idiot I was.’
‘It is hard to really know someone,’ Rachel said. ‘I … learned that recently. For what it’s worth, I don’t think everything about Bloom was a lie.’
Symonds tapped his foot. ‘Sending out the memos is literally all I can do for you. No operational support. You will have to take care of the rest.’
‘That’s all I ask.’
‘All right.’ Symonds took out a notebook and a fountain pen and scribbled down the list of names Rachel gave him. ‘When do you want these memos of yours sent out?’ he asked.
‘Tonight, if possible.’ Rache gave him her ectophone’s Hinton code. ‘Send me an ectomail when it is done.’
‘I’ll see what I can do,’ he said.
‘Thank you.’ Rachel breathed out a sigh of relief. ‘One more thing, sir.’
‘What is it?’
‘Could you go and find Captain White and tell him there is someone to see him in the men’s room?’
* * *
When Joe entered, he just stared at Rachel for a moment. She was leaning against the wall. The weight of the armour and the fatigue of the long day pulled her down. She tried to stand up straight but her legs buckled. The metal armour scraped against the marble tiles.
Joe leaped forward and caught her.
‘Is that my old armour?’ he said, eyes wide. ‘By Jove.’
‘That was the only way to get in here. Are you angry?’
‘Oh, hell, Rachel,’ he breathed. ‘Do you have any idea how ridiculous you look?’
‘I am betting it is not as ridiculous as I feel.’
‘I told you, Rachel. It is better if you just stay away from me.’
She sighed. ‘I didn’t come here only to see you. I think there is another mole and Mr Symonds can help me catch him. Although I am glad you are here.’
‘What do you mean? What is going on?’
‘Joe, I … I made so many mistakes. I should have told you everything from the start. I did transfer to the Finance Section, but I was really chasing a mole, off the books. It was somebody in the Iberian Section—that was one reason why I got so angry when you said you had to go to Spain. I knew it wouldn’t be safe. It all went bad, and … I think I am leaving the Service. Or they might make me go first.’
‘That’s awful, Rachel.’
She laughed. ‘You know, I don’t think it is.’
Joe squeezed her gloved hand.
‘Now, could you take me home, please?’ Rachel asked. ‘We still have things to talk about. I will tell you everything. And I desperately need to pee.’
* * *
Back in St John’s Wood, Rachel called Joan and Helen and told them about the plan. When they heard it was a chance to get back at the Soviets, they swore they would do everything they could to help. She asked Gertrude to make coffee—it was going to be a long night.
After that, there was nothing to do but to wait for Symonds to call. Joe and Rachel sat by the gas fire. She wore a dressing gown, luxuriating in the feel of silk on her bare skin after what felt like hours of imprisonment in the armour.
‘I wasn’t fair to you in the restaurant,’ she said, looking at the flames. ‘I asked you to tell me about what happened, and you did. I’m sorry I got angry.’
‘I understand. You didn’t know what I was.’
‘I know what you are, Joe. You don’t have to be anything else.’
‘I watched your expression change, when you understood, when—’
‘Look at me,’ Rachel said. ‘I slept with Roger Hollis.’
Joe’s face screwed up in a rugby-scrum grimace. ‘Rachel,’ he whispered.
‘I had to do something that would make me feel guilty, to hide my thoughts from Bloom.’ She realised how crazy it sounded. ‘And so I did it, without thinking, without hesitation. A few weeks ago, I kissed a Soviet defector to keep his face from the press. I nearly got shot, too. I stole documents from the Registry to win Bloom’s trust. The Soviets have them now. You did not have a choice in the war, Joe, but I did, with all those things. Does that not make me the bigger monster?
‘I thought about what you said the other night, how you can’t live without the war. Well, the Service has been like that for me, even before the baby. It wasn’t about fighting the Russians or finding out about Grabber plots. I wanted to show that I was just as good as everybody else.
‘But you know what? In the end, the reason I am still trying is not because I failed, not because of the Service, but to keep you safe. After that, I am done.’
‘Rachel—’
‘Don’t say anything. I just want you to stay here for one night, before you leave. And come back alive.’
He kneeled in front of her, took her hand in his and kissed it. She bent over and pressed her forehead against Joe’s. She wished she could transfer her thoughts through his skull, as spirits did in the aether.