The second photograph showed a house, completely destroyed, or at least it seemed so, missing doors and windows, only the skeleton of walls remaining and the street number over what had been the portico.
‘But… but… this is my…’ Words failed her.
‘It’s true,’ said the only agent speaking at the moment. ‘This is what’s left of your house.’
‘But how?’ She was unable to take her eyes from the photograph.
‘Really, you should thank Agent Templar for being so solicitous when he went to find you.’
‘I don’t understand,’ Sarah continued, astonished, eyes wide, examining every inch of the photo.
‘As you can see, all this damage was done by an explosive device triggered by turning the key in the lock. It could have been you, Sarah.’
Sarah reflected on this for a few moments, completely devastated. Someone had tried to kill her and gone to enormous lengths to do it. It could have been her turning the key in the lock, as the agent pointed out. It could have been…
‘Oh, my God.’ She raised her voice nervously. Simon. She remembered her intern. He was the one who opened the door. She told him to. She hid her face in her arms, leaning her head on the table. This couldn’t be true.
‘He’s alive,’ was all the agent said.
‘He is?’
‘He suffered some scrapes, some broken bones, but he’ll survive. It could’ve been worse. He’s in the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital,’ he informed her.
A wave of relief passed over Sarah. Scrapes and broken bones could be dealt with. Death could not.
‘We have to go into this more deeply,’ the agent alerted her. ‘But, as you know, this isn’t the reason we’ve invited you here,’ he said as he took the photographs back from Sarah.
Invited me? He calls this inviting? He’s craz y, she thought.
‘My house has been destroyed. What else is there to talk about?’
‘I understand your reaction, but, believe me, right now there are more important things.’
‘Yes, Sarah.’ The first words Simon Templar had spoken since he picked her up nine hours ago. ‘Let Agent Fox ask the questions. Later we’ll talk about what happened to your house.’
‘It’s natural for the lady to be worried about what happened to her house, Simon,’ the recently baptized Agent Fox added.
‘Sure, but with all due respect to Miss Monteiro, we have more important things to talk about. You know that, John.’
‘More important than putting a bomb in my house, and wounding my assistant?’ Sarah was furious.
‘In fact… there are things much more important than that,’ Agent John Fox informed Sarah, while handing over three more photographs to her. ‘Recognize any of these people?’
This time there were three portraits in three-by-five format. The first, an older man with immaculate white hair. Sarah’s hand caused the glossy paper to tremble. Her nerves were on edge. Of course, they’d blown her house away without a thought, and she’d been the target. Almost a year later, her life was again hanging by a slender thread that could break at any moment. The photograph was taken when the man was getting into a green taxi with Arabic script indicating somewhere in the Middle East.
‘I don’t know him,’ she concluded.
‘Are you sure?’ Agent Fox pressed her.
‘Absolutely,’ Sarah insisted. ‘I’ve never seen that man.’ She looked again at the old man in the photograph. ‘Why? Should I know him?’
‘It depends on your relations with CIA operatives,’ Simon Templar cut in bluntly.
Sarah didn’t expect this. What would the old man in the photograph have to do with the CIA? In moments like this she doubted what she could say or not, what they knew or acted like they knew. It was difficult to handle these connections. What was certain was that she didn’t know the man in the photograph and they couldn’t accuse her of anything… until she knew different.
‘I have no relationship with the CIA, as you ought to know.’ She decided to protect herself. ‘I have as much as I have with you.’
If they suspected something, they’d continue following the same line of questioning; otherwise they’d move on. This was how they worked, and Sarah knew it. They throw out the bait and wait to see what they reel in.
‘That man was named Solomon Keys, and he was a longtime CIA agent,’ John informed her.
‘Was named?’ Now he’s not?
‘He was killed two days ago in Amsterdam.’
The men looked at Sarah as if expecting a confession or a comment.
‘If you think I had something to do with that, several people can confirm I was covering the G8 summit in Edinburgh.’ She hastened to clear herself.
‘We’re up to date on where you’ve been. Don’t worry,’ John Fox informed her. ‘What about the rest?’ He pointed at the photographs remaining in her hand.
Sarah hadn’t even remembered to look at the others. She assumed they were of the same person, but realized not, when she looked at the next photo. A blond man about thirty-five. The last photograph showed a woman about the same age, an idyllic smile on her lips, with blond hair falling over her shoulders to breasts covered by a tight blouse. What did all this mean?
‘These I know,’ she said.
‘Who are they?’ John Fox wanted to check.
Sarah resisted answering for several moments. Didn’t they know? Yes, in all certainty. It wouldn’t be difficult to discover their identities, affiliations, professions, prior records, and political leanings. She decided to trust them. She had nothing to gain by concealing things.
‘He’s Greg Saunders. She’s Natalie Golden.’
‘And what’s your relationship with them?’
‘We’re friends and professional colleagues. Natalie works for the BBC, as you know, and Greg’s a photojournalist. Now he’s doing animal photography and travels frequently to Africa on assignment with National Geographic, as you ought to know from his passport.’
John Fox and Simon Templar exchanged uncomfortable glances. Sarah picked up on that and a chill ran down her spine.
‘What’s going on?’ she asked.
‘Do you know what the relationship was between them?’ John Fox asked, leaning on the table.
‘The relationship between them?’ Sarah didn’t like the turn in the conversation.
‘Yes, the relationship. Were they lovers? Friends? Engaged?’
‘They’re not the marrying kind,’ Sarah said, smiling a little as she imagined the scenario. ‘They might’ve had a roll in the hay, but nothing serious.’
‘And these affairs were frequent?’
‘It depends. I’d call it a casual relationship. When the occasion happens.’ Where is this conversation going?
‘I understand.’ Simon Templar took a cigarette out of the pack and put it in his mouth. ‘Do you mind if I smoke?’
He didn’t wait for Sarah’s reply, but flicked a silver lighter and immediately touched the end of the cigarette, lighting it. Two deep breaths made the cigarette glow, and he released a mouthful of smoke into the air.
‘Are those encounters still going on?’ John Fox asked.
‘I haven’t seen them for two or three weeks, but I presume so.’
John Fox got up and started to walk around the room.
‘Sarah, there’s no good way to say this, but-’
The telephone rang at this precise moment and made Sarah jump. The strident, continuous sound came from the cell phone on John Fox’s belt. He finally took the device and put an end to the loud torture.
‘Fox,’ he said into the phone. He listened to what they were saying on the other end of the line for several moments and began to show tension in his muscles. Whatever it was, it was not good news, that was certain. A dry sound marked the end of the call.
‘Let’s go,’ he ordered, closing the file and taking the photographs out of Sarah’s hand without ceremony or courtesy.
‘Her, too?’ Simon Templar asked.
‘Yeah, all of us. Let’s go,’ the other replied, heading for the door.
Simon got up, Sarah, as well, confused.
‘Where are we going?’ she inquired.
‘To Redcliff Gardens,’ John Fox informed them.