“Why didn’t we know about this party?”
“Latham is St. Cajetan’s answer to Howard Hughes. He’s very cautious about his privacy. You’d only know about the party if he wanted you to.”
“Yet you know. Which doesn’t say much for Stonewell’s intelligence division.”
“My opinion of Stonewell has never been very high.”
“There’s just one problem,” she said. “If I’m not supposed to know about this party, how do I get myself invited?”
“We believe Favreau will be. All you have to do is convince him to take you with him.”
“And how am I supposed to do that?”
“Come now, Alex, why are you always so quick to dismiss the effect you have on men? Why try so hard to be one of us when you can use your natural gifts to be so much more?”
“Even if I convince him,” she said, “that doesn’t mean I’ll do what you want me to.”
“Not me. I’m merely the messenger.”
“Then I want to hear it directly from him. From my father.”
Gérard balked. “I’m not sure that can be arranged before tomorrow.”
“Try,” she said. “Otherwise I’m concentrating on Valac and Valac only.”
The message came much sooner than she expected.
She was still lying in bed, Gérard’s words swirling through her mind, when her cell phone vibrated, indicating she had received a text.
She called it up with trembling hands, entered the encryption key Gérard had given her, and looked at the screen:
If it’s too much to ask, I’ll understand.
And that was it. Nothing more followed. She had no real proof this was even from her father, but that poem had been a powerful convincer.
She waited a full ten minutes before she responded.
She thought of her mother being torn apart by that bomb in Lebanon. Of their lives being torn apart by her death.
And she thought of good old Uncle Eric, the man who had once shown magic tricks to Allie Cat and Dan the Man. Good old Uncle Eric, who was supposed to be dead but was very much alive and working for one of the most ruthless terrorists the modern world had ever known.
Then she called up her cell phone’s keyboard and wrote:
Consider it done.
CHAPTER 26
“Hello?”
“Mr. Gray?”
“I was hoping to hear from you. I assume this line is secure?”
“As always.”
“Can I also assume this means you have good news?”
“Yes,” Gérard said. “She was much easier to convince than I thought she would be. And with any luck, Mr. Hopcroft will soon cease to be a problem for you.”
“Bastard should have stayed dead.”
“He will be soon.”
A pause. “Perhaps I’m not paying you enough.”
“I’m happy to discuss a bonus when the job is done.”
“And I’ll be happy to arrange for one. You’re a valuable asset, Thomas.”
“I appreciate that, sir. Just one question.”
“Yes?”
“How did you know about the poem? I know you and Colonel Poe were close at one time, but if you haven’t seen him since he disappeared…”
“The joys of surveillance, my friend. In the days before Frank fled, we were monitoring his home quite extensively. That moment with Alexandra was a particularly private and touching one. Which is why I chose it.”
“Well, it worked like a charm,” Gérard said. “I almost felt sorry for her.”
“Don’t allow yourself to go down that road, son. That was Frank Poe’s downfall. He too often let his heart rule his mind.”
“And Hopcroft?”
“Always a pragmatist. Which is why he’s such a danger to us.”
“Us, sir?”
“You’re part of it now, Thomas. Don’t forget that.”
“I won’t,” Gérard said. “How did it go with McElroy?”
“The man’s a rube. He supplied his own theory about our request for Alexandra’s involvement and I saw no reason to discount it. That’s the problem with the private sector. They’ll believe anything if there’s a dollar attached.” He paused. “There’s one last thing before we hang up.”
“Yes?” Gérard said.
“When the deed is done, there’s something I want you to do at your first opportunity.”
“And that is?”
“I want you to send a message to my old friend Frank. I want him incapacitated by grief. It took him a very long time to recover from the death of his wife, and I doubt he’ll be able to survive another loss, even if time and distance has separated them.”
A pause. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
“Yes,” Gray told him. “I want you to kill his loving daughter.”
CHAPTER 27
When Alex finally emerged from her room, doing her best to offer the others no sign of her continued distress, Cooper took her aside and filled her in on the latest phone call from McElroy.
“He says the Hopcroft thing is pure coincidence.”
“He does, does he?”
“That’s what his guy told him. They had no idea Hopcroft was even alive, let alone working for Valac.” He paused. “But I’ve known McElroy long enough to sense he’s holding something back.”
He’d also known her long enough, she thought, but he was smart enough not to ask her about it. He hadn’t even asked where she’d gone.
“Screw McElroy,” she told him. “Let’s do this.”
“You sure you’re up to it?”
“I’m sure.”
But she wasn’t really, was she? At least not for the part Cooper knew nothing about. She had killed men in Iraq, and done her share of shooting since she’d started working for Stonewell. And she would never hesitate to use a bullet or even her bare hands if she, or those she cared for, were attacked, something she’d proven in Crimea and in Istanbul.
But killing a man in cold blood was a different story. Even if that man deserved to die. And despite the message she had sent to her father, she wasn’t fully committed to the task.
Not yet, at least.
Yes, her mother’s death had hardened her, but not to the extent it seemed to have overtaken Frank Poe. And when the time came, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to do the deed. Maybe that would change when she and Hopcroft were standing face to face, but she couldn’t be sure of anything right now.
So why had she sent that message?
“There’s just one problem,” Cooper said. “How are we supposed to proceed if this guy Hopcroft knows you?”
“What did McElroy say?”
“He doesn’t think it’s a concern as long as you don’t bump into him on the street.”
She nodded. “Even then, I’m not sure he’d recognize me. The last time he saw me, I was a scrawny teenager.”
“It still seems a little dodgy. But McElroy wants us to go forward as planned. He thinks if Hopcroft does happen to recognize you, there’s a chance it’ll work in our favor. Get you closer to the lion’s den.”
“I agree with him.”
Cooper’s brows went up and he swiveled his head, looking around the room.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“I guess I was expecting the planet to explode, but it looks like we’re okay.”
When Favreau finally came awake, Alex and the rest of the team watched him on the monitors as he sat on the edge of his bed again. After a couple of minutes of barely moving, he jumped to his feet and scrambled into the bathroom.