“I went to see your parents, but I’m sure you know that.”
“And do you know about the man who visited them later? And the man who came to see me?”
“What did he tell you?”
“Would you like to guess? It’s actually not too difficult. What I need to know is, was it the truth?”
“Anna, I’m sorry. I never meant for this to happen.”
“You should know that lies always hurt people.”
“I know you’re upset. That you probably hate me right now. And you have every right to. But I came here to tell you the truth.”
“And I’m simply supposed to believe that it is the truth this time?”
Shaw glanced around the bedroom. Many happy hours had been spent in here. He knew every inch of Anna’s flat better than any place he’d ever called home. “All I can do is try.”
“Let me get dressed. You can wait in the other room.”
“It’s not like I haven’t seen you naked a thousand times.”
“You won’t see me naked tonight. Go!”
He left and she joined him a few minutes later, a long dressing gown wrapped around her. She remained barefoot. They sat at the small table overlooking the street at which she and Frank had sat.
“So explain,” she said tersely.
“Frank Wells is my superior at the organization I told you about.”
“Yes. Where you work at a desk job? How is that going, by the way? Any interesting work come across your nice, safe desk job?”
Shaw stared down at the floor. “The work I do is highly dangerous. There’s hardly ever a time when I go into a mission where I’m sure I’ll come out alive. That’s the truth.”
Anna let out a noticeable moan but then caught herself. “And you do this out of the goodness of your heart?”
“Seven years ago I shot Frank Wells in the head in Istanbul. He pulled a gun on me. I thought he was going to kill me. When I realized who he was I took him to a hospital. Otherwise he’d be dead. He probably forgot to mention that part.”
“He said he was trying to arrest you for some criminal activity.”
“That’s his story, but it doesn’t make it true.”
Anna sat back and pulled the robe closer around her. “So what is your version? What were you doing when you shot him?”
“I can’t tell you. Only that I’m not what Frank thought I was. But I couldn’t really prove it.”
She stared at him incredulously. “So I’m just supposed to take your word for it? You don’t have a good track record for veracity.”
Shaw mulled this over for a few moments. “Okay, but this can go no further, Anna. Seriously. No further.” She quickly nodded, her face strained. “I was in Istanbul that day to find out who was trying to frame me for working with a very violent drug cartel operating out of Tajikistan. I was a freelancer back then. I worked for the Americans, the French, the Israelis, among others, and none of it criminal.”
“Who would try to frame you?” Anna said, but her tone was more conciliatory now.
“There were lots of potential suspects. The work I did had put a dent in a lot of the bad guys’ activities. And I guess Frank’s organization got involved, became convinced I had gone bad, and were going to take me in. I thought Frank was one of the guys who’d framed me. I believed they’d laid a trap in Turkey and he was there to finish the job. So I shot him before he shot me.”
“Why would you later agree to work for Frank if you weren’t in the wrong?”
“Let’s put it this way. If it had gone to court I would have probably never seen the light of day. I had no proof, and the frame job was pretty convincing. Working for Frank isn’t exactly easy, but it seemed better than the alternative. And I think Frank and his people suspected I’d been set up, but instead of investigating further to establish my innocence they used it as an excuse to make me work for them, fine people that they are.”
“So why did your own people shoot at you in Scotland?”
“Who told you that?” he said sharply.
“Perhaps it was Frank.”
“Don’t lie to me, Anna.”
“That is a fine one, coming from you.”
“I’ve never really lied to you. I just didn’t tell you everything.”
“A distinction that is beyond absurd,” she retorted.
Shaw looked angry for a moment and then his face cleared. “You’re right, it is. Anyway, they’d agreed that I’d work for them for five years, and if I survived, I was a free man. As of right now I’ve stayed on for nearly six just to make sure.”
“Why would you work for these horrible people for an extra year? It makes no sense.”
“I did it because I wanted to be sure they’d let me go. I had to be sure because, well, because of a very important reason. I’d worked for them for nearly three years when I made that decision.”
“And when exactly did you decide to work for them for an extra year?”
“Three years ago. At 12 a.m. In Berlin.”
Their eyes met and held as Anna’s breath caught in her throat. That had been the exact moment when he’d saved her from the muggers. They knew this because a street clock had chimed the hour.
“But he told me that you’re not free. That you still work for him. That people don’t retire from that job. Ever.”
“I just found that out myself.”
He sounded so utterly crushed that she gripped his hand with hers.
“Can’t you just stop, just walk away?” The tears had started to gather in Anna’s eyes.
“I could, but I’d be dead or more likely in prison in less than twenty-four hours if I did.”
“But these people are the law! How can they possibly do that?”
“They are the law, a law unto themselves. They kill when the ends justify it. It’s a dangerous world and the rules of the game have changed.”
“That’s very comforting.”
“Do you want to be safe?”
“At any price? No!”
“That makes you a minority.”
“So where exactly does that leave us?”
“I asked you to marry me. You accepted. You asked me to get your father’s permission. I did. But I wasn’t truthful with you. And I can’t stop doing work for Frank. And I can’t expect you to marry me under these conditions. It’s not fair. And it’s not right. And I love you too much to do that to you. And now I’m going to do the hardest thing I’ve ever had to.”
“What is that?” she said in a hollow whisper.
“Walk out of your life.”
Shaw started to rise. “Wait!” she exclaimed. He sat back down.
Anna dabbed at her eyes with the sleeve of her robe. “Do you still want to marry me?”
“Anna, that’s not the issue anymore. When I go away you’ll never know if I’ll come home alive.”
“What do you think the spouses of soldiers and police officers do every day?”
“Anna, that’s easy to say but…”
She sat on his lap and placed his large, muscular hand over her engagement ring.
“You only have to ask yourself one question, Shaw. Just one. Do you still love me? If the answer is no, your problem goes away.”
He placed his head gently against hers. “Then I have a big problem.”
CHAPTER 35
NICOLAS CREEL HAD NEVER BEEN an overly religious man, yet this amount of good fortune must surely have at its epicenter a divine light. His life of balancing good works with the sale of deadly weapons was clearly paying off, judging by the latest golden opportunity to present itself.
He’d reviewed the surveillance tapes of The Phoenix Group’s building and watched in astonishment as a woman identified as Anna Fischer and none other than the legendary journalist Katie James walked into the place practically arm in arm!
He now had the remaining piece to his game plan. Creel had dossiers on a dozen promising candidates, yet Katie James had never even occurred to him because she’d dropped off the radar screen. He’d had an entire file assembled on her within an hour of seeing the woman on the video. And the man liked what he had seen.