Beguiled her with delicious allusions to episodes of daring and danger. Fucked her senseless, later that month, on Bermuda’s pink sand.
With little in the way of education and nothing in the nature of history, she’d lapped up his legend like a series pilot. They were married in London, where his two little granddaughters lived, and spent their honeymoon among the breweries and golf courses of Scotland.
Even then Lola had been growing bored—her notion of a honeymoon being to rent out the entire city of Cannes and fly in her three hundred closest friends—but she’d put up with his tiresomeness rather bravely. She had the prospect of furnishing the Great Falls house, bought with her father’s money, awaiting her at home.
It had been a riotous two years, Scottie thought as he flashed his badge at the security police officer manning the Agency’s back gate, but he knew Lola was restless. She’d expected more glamour: sudden trips to Europe and Asia on private Agency planes; exclusive Washington parties where his odor of power and her long legs were noted and envied; invitations to the White House; perhaps even a thigh holster. He’d suggested they might be posted abroad—to Greece, maybe, or London. She’d been agog with fantasy.
And now, because Eric Carmichael was alive, Scottie would probably be fired.
He composed the cable he’d come here to send while he was still crossing the empty parking lot.
IMMEDIATE BERLIN BUDAPEST WARSAW PRAGUE PARIS LONDON ISTANBUL SECRET/NOFORN/WNINTEL HEADQUARTERS 3455
1. C/CTC ADVISES THAT CASE OFFICER MICHAEL O’SHAUGHNESSY ALIAS NIGEL BENNING DECLARED DEAD APRIL 1997 IS ALIVE AND MEMBER OF 30
APRIL TERRORIST GROUP. HE IS BELIEVED TO HAVE SURVIVED RECENT RAID ON SARAJEVO HEADQUARTERS.
2. INTERPOL CURRENTLY SEEKING O’SHAUGHNESSY/BENNING IN KIDNAPPING AND MURDER OF U.S. VICE PRESIDENT. O’SHAUGHNESSY/BENNING ALSO WANTED BY FBI. HEADQUARTERS REQUESTS ALL CONTROLLED TERRORIST ASSETS IN EUROPE BE TASKED FOR INFORMATION LEADING TO O’SHAUGHNESSY/BENNING’S ARREST.
3. O’SHAUGHNESSY/BENNING BELIEVED ARMED AND DANGEROUS. ALL PERSONAL CONTACT AND/OR AID TO FUGITIVE WILL BE CONSTRUED AS CRIMINAL. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION TO FOLLOW.
O’Shaughnessy was Eric’s official cover name within the CIA; Nigel Benning was the alias Scottie alone had known Eric used. It was unfortunate to have to sacrifice him so ruthlessly—but Scottie could not imagine Lola settling happily into retirement at his side, content to dig among the marigolds while he perfected his golf game. She was far more likely to skip town for good, her bank account in tow. He would have to arrange his future differently. While it was still his to arrange.
Chapter 11
GEORGETOWN, 1:14 A.M.
“Where is she?” Tom Shephard demanded as he stepped through the front door. The narrow Georgetown house was crowded with people, as though Dare Atwood had decided to throw an impromptu shindig in the middle of the night. Only the klieg lights focused on the body and the wash of blood seeping into the Oriental carpet suggested that something had gone terribly wrong.
“Over there,” Cuddy answered. “With the dog.”
Caroline was crouched beside a black and tan terrier, her left hand rhythmically smoothing the animal’s springy coat. Shephard could see her lips move. Muttering sweet nothings to soothe the dog—or herself? He stepped carefully around a white-coated crime scene tech and edged past one of the Bureau’s ballistics experts, who was having a heated argument with a uniformed D.C. cop. Jurisdiction, Shephard thought. The issue rarely arose in the District’s all-too-frequent murders. But Cuddy had possessed the presence of mind to call Shephard’s cell in the first few minutes after he dialed 911. Shephard hadn’t waited for authorization to dispatch a team from the FBI’s Laboratory Division. Dare was a government official. Her murder fell automatically under the Bureau’s aegis.
“Hey,” he said.
Caroline
With little in the way of education and nothing in the nature of history, she’d lapped up his legend like a series pilot. They were married in London, where his two little granddaughters lived, and spent their honeymoon among the breweries and golf courses of Scotland.
Even then Lola had been growing bored—her notion of a honeymoon being to rent out the entire city of Cannes and fly in her three hundred closest friends—but she’d put up with his tiresomeness rather bravely. She had the prospect of furnishing the Great Falls house, bought with her father’s money, awaiting her at home.
It had been a riotous two years, Scottie thought as he flashed his badge at the security police officer manning the Agency’s back gate, but he knew Lola was restless. She’d expected more glamour: sudden trips to Europe and Asia on private Agency planes; exclusive Washington parties where his odor of power and her long legs were noted and envied; invitations to the White House; perhaps even a thigh holster. He’d suggested they might be posted abroad—to Greece, maybe, or London. She’d been agog with fantasy.
And now, because Eric Carmichael was alive, Scottie would probably be fired.
He composed the cable he’d come here to send while he was still crossing the empty parking lot.
IMMEDIATE BERLIN BUDAPEST WARSAW PRAGUE PARIS LONDON ISTANBUL SECRET/NOFORN/WNINTEL HEADQUARTERS 3455
1. C/CTC ADVISES THAT CASE OFFICER MICHAEL O’SHAUGHNESSY ALIAS NIGEL BENNING DECLARED DEAD APRIL 1997 IS ALIVE AND MEMBER OF 30
APRIL TERRORIST GROUP. HE IS BELIEVED TO HAVE SURVIVED RECENT RAID ON SARAJEVO HEADQUARTERS.
2. INTERPOL CURRENTLY SEEKING O’SHAUGHNESSY/BENNING IN KIDNAPPING AND MURDER OF U.S. VICE PRESIDENT. O’SHAUGHNESSY/BENNING ALSO WANTED BY FBI. HEADQUARTERS REQUESTS ALL CONTROLLED TERRORIST ASSETS IN EUROPE BE TASKED FOR INFORMATION LEADING TO O’SHAUGHNESSY/BENNING’S ARREST.
3. O’SHAUGHNESSY/BENNING BELIEVED ARMED AND DANGEROUS. ALL PERSONAL CONTACT AND/OR AID TO FUGITIVE WILL BE CONSTRUED AS CRIMINAL. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION TO FOLLOW.
O’Shaughnessy was Eric’s official cover name within the CIA; Nigel Benning was the alias Scottie alone had known Eric used. It was unfortunate to have to sacrifice him so ruthlessly—but Scottie could not imagine Lola settling happily into retirement at his side, content to dig among the marigolds while he perfected his golf game. She was far more likely to skip town for good, her bank account in tow. He would have to arrange his future differently. While it was still his to arrange.
Chapter 11
GEORGETOWN, 1:14 A.M.
“Where is she?” Tom Shephard demanded as he stepped through the front door. The narrow Georgetown house was crowded with people, as though Dare Atwood had decided to throw an impromptu shindig in the middle of the night. Only the klieg lights focused on the body and the wash of blood seeping into the Oriental carpet suggested that something had gone terribly wrong.
“Over there,” Cuddy answered. “With the dog.”
Caroline was crouched beside a black and tan terrier, her left hand rhythmically smoothing the animal’s springy coat. Shephard could see her lips move. Muttering sweet nothings to soothe the dog—or herself? He stepped carefully around a white-coated crime scene tech and edged past one of the Bureau’s ballistics experts, who was having a heated argument with a uniformed D.C. cop. Jurisdiction, Shephard thought. The issue rarely arose in the District’s all-too-frequent murders. But Cuddy had possessed the presence of mind to call Shephard’s cell in the first few minutes after he dialed 911. Shephard hadn’t waited for authorization to dispatch a team from the FBI’s Laboratory Division. Dare was a government official. Her murder fell automatically under the Bureau’s aegis.
“Hey,” he said.
Caroline