Читать книгу Dirty Little Secret - Jon Stock - Страница 12

Lakshmi lay in the darkness, thinking about Spiro’s offer. Marchant was still outside on the rocks. She had considered joining him again, but the call from her father a few minutes earlier had changed everything.

‘He explained he was from the IRS,’ her father had said, sounding like a broken man. ‘Said the company’s books were not in order, and accused us of all manner of damn things: tax evasion, money laundering.’

‘Slow down, Dad,’ Lakshmi had replied, already detecting Spiro’s hand at work. ‘Did he give you a name, a number?’

The caller had left enough details for Lakshmi to be certain it was a sting. Somewhere on the Langley campus a junior officer would be sitting by a phone in an empty office, ready to field any calls to the Internal Revenue Service.

‘You know it’s all lies,’ her father had continued. ‘I trained as an accountant in Madurai, best results in my year. How dare he accuse me of these things?’

‘I’m sure it’s just a mistake,’ Lakshmi had said. The last time she had heard him this agitated was on the day after 9/11, when he had been stopped by police officers in a shopping mall and detained for eight hours. ‘Leave it with me. I’ll make some enquiries.’

‘I’m sorry to have bothered you with this, Lakshmi,’ he had said, almost in tears. ‘Twenty-five years it’s taken me to build the business, isn’t it. I came to this country with nothing, just –’

‘Dad, leave it with me. Everything will be fine.’

She walked back over to the window. Below her was the man she thought she loved. If she quit the Agency, Spiro would still follow through on his threat. He was that kind of man. The only way she could protect her father was if she agreed to his terms. She had no choice. For a moment, she understood how Leila must have felt when the Iranians threatened to kill her mother if she didn’t spy for them. Whenever Marchant had spoken of Leila, she had hoped she was different, not the sort to betray those closest to her. Now she was about to join the club.

She looked again at Marchant, his tall rower’s frame silhouetted in the moonlight, then dialled Spiro’s number.

‘I’ve made my decision,’ she said.

‘And?’

‘I’ll do it.’

‘You’re smarter than I thought.’

‘I need to know my cover story. Marchant thinks I’m about to quit the Agency.’

‘Actually, we were going to fire you, then put you on trial. Let’s stick with that, shall we? You’re on the run, you got too close to Marchant. Disobeyed orders. Grossly violated your duties. A warrant’s been issued for your arrest – it will give you some credibility. We just won’t bring you in.’

‘What’s Marchant’s current status?’

‘Fielding’s defending him, but he won’t be around for much longer. I’m seeing to it personally. As soon as Fielding’s out of the way, we’ll pick Marchant up from the Fort. Until then, I want you to stay close to him. Find out what the hell he was doing in that plane with Dhar, why he didn’t take the guy down. I won’t expect you to make contact. It’s essential you don’t arouse Marchant’s suspicion – unless you’ve got important intel. Even then, be careful. It pains me to say it, but Marchant’s good.’

‘There’s one thing you should know.’

‘Go on.’

‘Marchant says there’s a Soviet mole, high up in MI6.’

The information was a down payment, something to reassure Spiro that more would follow. He seemed unimpressed.

‘Tell me something I don’t know.’

Five minutes later, Marchant crept back into the room. Lakshmi was in bed, eyes closed, dreading his return.

‘Are you OK?’ she whispered in the darkness. She had hoped her voice would sound stronger.

‘I’ve just come off the phone to Fielding.’

‘How was he?’

‘Tired, defeated. He’s been in a difficult COBRA meeting.’

‘And?’

‘I’d say his days are numbered.’

Marchant slid off his jeans and climbed into bed. His body was cold. She couldn’t bring herself to hug him.

‘I know how he feels,’ she said.

‘Have you heard from Langley?’

‘Not officially. One of my colleagues rang. A friend.’ She closed her eyes again, bit her lip.

Your legs are sweating. Are you OK?’ he asked.

‘I caught a chill on the beach.’ But she knew she hadn’t.

‘And what did this friend say?’

‘The Agency want to throw the book at me.’

‘For not stopping the Russians?’

Lakshmi hesitated, doubting whether she could go through with this. She wanted to cradle Marchant in her arms, feel his warmth. Then she thought again of her father.

‘Disobeying orders, gross violation of duties,’ she said, repeating Spiro’s words. ‘A warrant’s been issued for my arrest.’

‘They won’t be able to touch you here. That’s why Fielding sent you. He saw this coming.’

They lay in silence, listening to the water lapping at the rocks beneath the window. Already she could feel them drifting apart on the tide of professionalism swelling back into their lives. And she hated herself for it, for the games they were forced to play.

‘I helped you in the restaurant because I believe we won’t win by force alone,’ she eventually said, for her own benefit as much as his. She turned towards him, resting her broken wrist on his chest. The cast trembled against his skin. ‘There are other ways of winning the war on terror. I despise Spiro, his brutal approach to intelligence-gathering.’ She paused. ‘And I did it because I wanted to be with you. You do know that?’

Marchant turned towards her. ‘I’m very grateful.’

‘What’s going to happen to us? To you?’

‘It doesn’t look good. An MI6 officer apparently defects to Moscow only to show up in a hostile Russian plane with Salim Dhar. Without Fielding to protect me, I’m buggered.’

She thought again of Spiro, his instructions to find out more, and swallowed hard.

‘Why didn’t you kill him?’ she asked, as if it was the most natural question in the world. But she knew it sounded forced. She was no good at this any more, not with someone she loved.

‘Dhar? You haven’t asked me that before.’

‘I know you can’t tell me everything, Dan, but you never talk about him, the whole half-brother thing. Is that why you wanted the Russians to take you? And why you didn’t kill him?’

But Marchant didn’t answer.