“When did you get in?”
“A couple hours ago.” Commercial airlines did not fly in the early morning hours, which meant she’d probably chartered a plane and bullied the pilot to fly her back to Washington. She was an inventive, forceful woman when she had to be. It was one of her attributes that McGarvey admired most.
“You must be tired, Katy.”
“Kathleen,” she corrected. “Tell me everything that happened, exactly. The television networks haven’t got it right yet.” Her eyes sparkled. “I have to know,” she said with subdued passion. She was strung out. “Where were you when it happened? Where was Elizabeth?”
“Are you sure that you’re up to this?”
She gave him an exasperated look, as if he were a complete idiot for asking such a question. But there was something else at the back of her eyes. Fear?
“I picked up Liz at the Farm for the weekend. We were meeting Jacqueline for drinks and then dinner later,” McGarvey said.
“They didn’t say anything about her. How is she?”
“Dead,” McGarvey said quietly. “She was leaving, going back to France, but she didn’t get any farther than the exit when the bomb landed at her feet.”
Kathleen reached out a hand against the window frame to steady herself. “I’m sorry, Kirk. Truly sorry. Elizabeth said that she was a good friend to both of you.”
“I have a habit of putting my friends and family in harm’s way,” McGarvey said. He’d known that facing his wife would be difficult.
“Where was Elizabeth when the bomb went off?”
“Coming back from the bathroom. She saw that Jacqueline was leaving, and she called out.”
“Then what?”
“I saw the car coming, the guys in the front and back, windows down. It didn’t fit, something wasn’t right. I don’t know. Instinct.” McGarvey was back there. “I shoved a table over, grabbed Liz and hit the deck.” He looked into his ex-wife’s eyes. “But I was too slow, she was too far away and she got hurt.” He shook his head. “I didn’t get a scratch. All those people killed, torn apart, and Liz was cut to shreds, and there was nothing I could do for her. It was too late.” He hung his head. “Twenty-five years too late.”
Kathleen came to him, took the cigarette and stubbed it out in a water glass, then took him in her arms, his head against her bosom. “You saved her life. If you hadn’t seen the car coming and recognized the monsters for what they were, and if you didn’t have your reflexes, your abilities, your strength and courage, our baby would be dead. Whatever else happens, whatever anybody says to you, my darling — including me — you saved our daughter’s life. Don’t forget it. Please don’t forget it.”
Twenty-five years for what, McGarvey thought bitterly. What difference had he and people like him ever made? Had he saved the world from Communism? The Soviet Union had disintegrated of its own accord, with perhaps a nudge from the Star Wars initiative dog fight, but he’d had no direct part in it. And certainly there were no major changes in Chile or Europe or Japan because of what he’d done in the name of good old-fashioned, red-blooded American loyalty. Almost every night he came back to the faces of the people he’d killed. Their look of fear, of surprise and pain at the end, would haunt him forever, because in a large measure they had died for nothing. It was a game, with human lives the score.
“Did you know who they were?” Kathleen asked.
“No.”
“Will they catch them?”
“They’re dead.”
Kathleen stepped back and looked down at him.
“A doctor came from across the street. As soon as he was with Liz I went after them.”
“On foot?”
McGarvey nodded.
She looked at her husband for a long time, a strange, almost dreamy expression on her pretty face. “Did they say anything to you?”
“No.”
“But they’re dead. You’re sure of that? They won’t stand trial and maybe make some sort of political statement. Maybe get charged with second-degree murder, God only knows what?” She was starting to shiver, but there was nothing McGarvey could do for her.
“They’re dead.”
“Good,” she replied reasonably. “But your coming back has created another problem too.” She gave him a searching look. “Are you involved in another project?”
“They’ve asked me to come back to work for them as deputy director of Operations. But I don’t know if I’ll do it. It doesn’t mean anything to me now.”
“Well, it better,” she said. “Because they almost killed your daughter, and they’ve come after me. You are the only one who can stop them.”
The same fist as before closed over his heart. “What are you talking about, Kathleen?”
“In the last three days I’ve received two phone calls and one e-mail that crashed my computer. Nothing works. It’s a virus or something. They want me to tell you to back off. They blocked my caller ID, so there’s no way of tracing them. I laughed at them.” She looked toward the door. “I didn’t think they’d go after Elizabeth.”
“Was it the same voice for both calls?”
“It wasn’t human,” she said. She was starting to come unglued. “It was a machine-generated voice. You know, the same computer voice you hear when you call somebody at their office. You get fucking choices.”
“They want you to tell me to back off from what?”
“It was a warning, not a dialogue,” Kathleen said. She searched his eyes. She’d given him comfort, and now she was asking him to repay the loan. She needed his reassurances. “Someone from your past wants you scared off or dead, and they’re willing to come after your daughter, your girlfriend and me.” She laughed at the edge of hysteria. “If I didn’t know better I’d say it was that pompous ass Howard Ryan. He hated you, and he’s certainly capable of something like this. You ruined his career, after all. Made him look like the fool he always was. But it couldn’t be Ryan. Not like this. Could it?”
“It’s not Ryan,” McGarvey said. He got up and took her in his arms. “I want you to listen to me, Katy. They weren’t after Liz, and they’re not after you. It’s me they want. And now they know that when they come after my family I’ll hit back, so you’re going to be okay.”
She studied his face. “It’s not going to be okay. Not since Greece. They’re playing by a different set of rules now. Everyone is. You can get killed for parking your car in the wrong spot. It’s crazy out there.” She shook her head. “You, of all people, should know that.”
McGarvey got an outside line and phoned the Operations duty officer at Langley. It was the same man from last night. He was pulling an all-nighter. “I want somebody watching my ex-wife,” he said. “She’s been receiving threats for the last three days.”
“I’ll have to clear this with Mr. Adkins when he comes in—”
“Do it now,” McGarvey said without raising his voice. “It would mean a lot to me.”
The OD didn’t hesitate. “You got it, Mr. McGarvey,” he said. “Do you know her whereabouts now?”
“She’s with me at the hospital. Pull up her file, but I want her house and movements covered. She’s had two blind telephone calls and one e-mail with a virus, warning her to make be back off.”
“Makes it Company business, in that case, sir.”
“That it does,” McGarvey said, looking at his ex-wife. She was watching him, a defiant, proud look in her eyes that made him feel like he was twelve feet tall. Why had he ever let her go? It was beyond all reason.
THREE