by Paul McAuley
He couldn’t ask if she was alive or dead.
Welch shook his head and said, ‘I’m as sorry as hell, Adam.’
‘What about Petey?’
‘Her son’s fine. Got away without a scratch.’
Stone took a deep breath, filling his lungs all the way to the bottom, and let it out slowly. He had to stay calm. He had to stay calm so that he could work out what to do next.
‘Tell me everything.’
It didn’t take long. Two people, a man and a woman, had broken into the cabin at the farm just before midnight. Something must have alerted Susan - probably her dog, its body had been found near the barn - because she’d had time to wake her son and tell him to run to the neighbours’ house as quickly as he could.
‘We don’t know exactly what happened after that, but there must have been some kind of confrontation,’ Welch said. ‘Mrs Nichols shot the man dead and wounded the woman. And the woman shot her.’
‘Susan kept a pistol by her bed,’ Stone said. ‘Her husband was in the army - it was his sidearm.’
‘She knew how to use it. She killed the guy with two shots to the chest,’ Welch said, placing his thumb and forefinger close together over his heart.
‘Who were they?’
‘The dead guy is an ex-Marine. Buddy Altman. He worked for a firm of security consultants that supplies bodyguards for celebrities, that kind of thing. We’re turning it over right now, investigating everyone who had any business with it.’
‘What about the woman?’
Welch looked at Stone, looked away.
Stone said, ‘It’s someone I know, isn’t it?’
‘Marsha Mason.’
‘Jesus Christ.’
‘My sentiments exactly,’ Welch said.
‘Was it quick? When she killed Susan?’
‘Are you sure you want to talk about this now, Adam?’
‘Answer the question.’
‘Mrs Nichols shot and killed Altman, and wounded Marsha in the thigh. Marsha had a machine pistol, and we believe Mrs Nichols was killed instantaneously when Marsha fired off an entire clip.’
‘Susan wounded Marsha, and Marsha killed Susan. What happened after that? What about Petey?’
‘The kid managed to get to the neighbours.’
‘Susan bought time for him. She saved his life.’
‘That’s what I think,’ Welch said. ‘Mrs Nichols’s pistol made a pretty big hole in Marsha’s thigh. She packed the wound and bandaged it, but she couldn’t travel. A search party found her early the next morning, hiding in the barn. They also found an inflatable boat hidden in reeds on the river bank.’
‘I want to talk to her,’ Stone said.
‘Marsha killed herself soon after she was captured,’ Welch said. ‘A cyanide pill.’
‘She was involved in the black op, wasn’t she? In GYPSY.’
‘We believe it was a kidnap that went bad. Altman and Marsha were probably planning to snatch your friend and her son, hide them somewhere in the forest, and ask you to offer yourself in exchange.’
‘They must have made their move as soon as I was brought into this. How did they know? Who told them?’
‘Only three people were privy to the decision to ask for your help, Adam: the DCI, Ralph Kohler, and me. But a lot more knew about it after you came in, of course, and knew about that message Tom left, too. It’s going to take a little time to check everyone, but if we’re lucky, if we can find who ratted you out, we might be able to unravel this whole thing.’
‘How did Marsha and this ex-Marine get into the sheaf?’
‘They could have posed as locals returning home, or tourists. They could have smuggled themselves in with a freight shipment, or they could have waited until the gate was activated when a train was about to go through, and simply walked in ahead of it. We do know that an all-terrain vehicle was stolen from a farm at First Foot some time in the afternoon. It’s possible they used it to get to the East River, and then used that inflatable to get across to New Amsterdam. We haven’t found the stolen ATV yet, but we’re looking hard. We’re checking everything, Adam.’
‘They planned to kidnap Susan and Petey, offer a straight exchange. And after I surrendered myself, they were going to put me to the question, find out exactly what Tom told me . . . Except I hadn’t found Tom, two days ago. I’d only just arrived here, in New York. So either they were confident I would find him, and desperate to know what he might tell me, or this wasn’t about anything I might find out. It was an attempt to force me to quit the search before it began.’
‘You need to calm down, Adam. Sit. Let me get you a drink.’
‘Susan was murdered. And the Company sat on the news until I found Tom. That’s why I was confined to this room, isn’t it?’
‘I wouldn’t know anything about that,’ Welch said. ‘And this isn’t the time to be making wild accusations—’
‘Fuck it, David. We both know how the Company works. This thing that Tom Waverly was involved in. GYPSY. It isn’t just a few rogue operators with some crazy, half-assed plan, is it? And don’t tell me you don’t know anything about it, either. There are rumours that something big is going down inside the Company, and you’re not only a well-connected guy, you’re also my handler.’
‘I was brought into this on a need-to-know basis, just like you,’ Welch said.
‘They didn’t tell you anything about GYPSY? Come on.’
‘Well, I did hear something on the old Chinese telephone—’
‘And?’
‘It’s only rumour, Adam. It isn’t hard information.’
‘And?’
‘It seems that a group of people inside the Company may have been planning some kind of coup,’ Welch said. ‘Possibly involving the assassination of the President.’
‘Was it something to do with a nuclear weapon?’
‘I heard there was a raid on a clandestine facility, but I don’t know any details.’
‘Tom Waverly was involved. So was Marsha Mason, and so was Nathan Tate, which is why Tom had no scruples about shooting him. And Knightly was involved, too, before he had his stroke. Who else? How deep does it go, David? What have I stepped into?’
‘If I knew anything concrete, Adam, I’d tell you. But I really was brought into this knowing about as much as you.’
‘Tom defected from this thing, and it started falling apart at about the same time. And Kohler knew Tom had defected, knew people were after him. That’s why I was brought in. That’s why I was fed a bunch of bullshit and set up as bait. Not just to draw out Tom, but also to draw out any bad guys who might have been looking for him. I was used.’
‘I’m sorry, Adam.’
‘I was used. And the worst thing is, I knew I was being used, and I agreed to it anyway. I let it happen and Susan was killed because of it. Because no one thought for one fucking second to protect her. Including me.’
Stone was having trouble maintaining his calm. His pulse was beating right behind his eyes, red and black. He wanted to punch out Welch. He wanted to smash everything in the room.
‘I’m sorry, Adam. Truly.’
‘Call Kohler. Tell him I have to go home right away.’
‘I don’t know if that’s a good idea. The area hasn’t been made secure.’
‘There isn’t what you’d call a funeral parlour anywhere on New Amsterdam. When someone dies, they’re usually buried inside of two days.’
‘I understand why you want to go,’ Welch said. ‘But suppose there are other unfriendlies involved? Suppose Altman and Marsha Mason had backup? A sharpshooter hiding out in the woods, say, waiting for you to show.’
‘Is that your opinion, or Kohler’s?’
‘I’d say half and half.’
‘It was most likely just Marsha and the ex-Marine, a quick in-and-out operation. Snatch Susan and Petey, hide them, wait for me to come back, and kill me. Or question me and then kill me. But they didn’t reckon on Susan.’
Her death was
becoming real. Stone was amazed that he could say her name.
‘Maybe they blew it this time,’ Welch said. ‘But you know they’ll try again.’
‘Because they know now that I talked to Tom Waverly. Because they think he told me something important and they want to find out what it was, or they want to shut me up. David, I hope to hell you have Linda Waverly somewhere safe. They’re bound to have targeted her as well.’
‘She’s being interrogated. She’s as safe as anyone can be. And you’ll be safe here, there’s already extra security in the hotel—’
‘I’m not staying here, David. Find out when the funeral will take place. And tell Kohler that if he won’t make the necessary arrangements, I’ll make my own way home.’
13
An hour later, Stone was driven in an armoured limousine to the Pan-American Alliance Assembly Building and escorted to Ralph Kohler’s office on the thirty-fourth floor.
Kohler offered his condolences and told Stone that arrangements had been made to return him to the First Foot sheaf as soon as possible. ‘The funeral will take place at noon, but I think we can get you there in time. I understand why you want to go, Mr Stone. And although it places you in clear and present danger I’m not going to try to talk you out of it. In return, I hope you’ll hear me out. Here, let’s sit down. Is there anything I can get you? Coffee, something stronger?’
Stone knew then he was being allowed to go back because the Company still needed him, and for the first time since David Welch had broken the news of Susan’s death he felt a small faint hope. ‘Say your piece, Mr Kohler. Tell me what this is going to cost me.’
They sat in leather armchairs in front of the floor-to-ceiling window. Neither of them paid any attention to the view across the sweep of the East River to Brooklyn’s crowded hills.
‘I’ll cut straight to the chase,’ Kohler said. ‘According to Linda Waverly, her father stole something crucial to the success of Operation GYPSY. Something that the people involved in it would very much like to get back. And she said that she needs your help to retrieve it.’
‘This is what she and Tom talked about, back in the motel room.’
Kohler nodded, calm and alert in his tailored grey suit and polished black wingtips.
Stone said, ‘After Tom shot himself, Linda told me that I could help her make things right, but she wouldn’t explain how. I guess she finally saw sense.’
‘Up to a point,’ Kohler said. ‘She told us that her father stole something, but she can’t or won’t tell us what it is, or where he hid it. She also denies having any knowledge of where her father had been or what he had been doing after he disappeared three years ago. We tried questioning her under sodium amytal, but she became delusional. She told us that if it all worked out, she would find her father and he would explain everything. And she claimed that the thing he stole has the potential to change history, but she couldn’t or wouldn’t explain how.’
‘Maybe she was telling the truth,’ Stone said. ‘Maybe Tom set both of us up. He told Linda half the story, and expected me to fill in the rest.’
‘That’s one possibility,’ Kohler said. ‘I have to say that it’s also possible that he wanted to send us on a snipe hunt, to draw us away from the real action.’
‘You think Tom was really working for the bad guys all along? You think he was spinning some kind of fantasy story, and killed himself to make it seem convincing?’
‘It’s a hard reach, I know. But Waverly told you that he was involved with GYPSY, and as for his suicide, well, he was suffering from a terminal illness.’
‘And I suppose you think that the kidnap attempt was part of this so-called story too,’ Stone said. ‘I suppose you think they killed Susan Nichols as some kind of diversion.’
Kohler didn’t flinch. ‘I think you deserve to know everything. I won’t apologise for having touched a raw nerve.’
Stone looked away at the blue sky beyond the window until his calm returned. He knew that he was going to be offered a choice, and couldn’t afford to let anger and grief distract him. When he was ready, he said, ‘All right. Where do I fit in?’
‘Things are very fluid right now,’ Kohler said. ‘We can’t rule anything out. So although there’s a chance that this could be some kind of diversion, we have to follow it up. We couldn’t get any sense out of Linda Waverly with sodium amytal, and I’d rather not put her to hot questioning. She’s one of our own, and she has an exemplary record. Also, breaking her could take several days, and we have to settle this as quickly as possible.’
‘Because you have to get hold of this thing before the bad guys do.’
‘If it exists, yes.’
Stone ignored that. ‘You’re going to let Linda Waverly go after it, and you want me to help her out.’
‘She wants you to help her out,’ Kohler said. ‘She was very insistent on that point.’
‘She can be very determined.’
‘I must tell you that in addition to the need for a speedy resolution, there are two other reasons why I have agreed to this,’ Kohler said. ‘First, as I have already said, there is a very strong possibility that this is a snipe hunt. Second, we have no evidence that Ms Waverly is involved with GYPSY, and she has a very good reason to play this straight, because she believes that it will clear her father’s name. She wants you to go with her, and I want you to make sure she comes back. You have a reputation as an honest soldier, Mr Stone. Despite that little trick you played yesterday when you dropped your tail, I believe that I can trust you to do the right thing.’
Although Kohler delivered his pitch with plausible sincerity, Stone was certain that there was more to it than he was being told, and suspected that he was probably being set up again. But as long as this gave him an opportunity to bring down the people responsible for Susan’s murder he didn’t much care. He said, ‘How do you want to play this?’
‘There isn’t much to it,’ Kohler said. ‘When you’ve paid your respects, you’ll be brought back here and put on a train with Linda Waverly. It will go through the mirror to the Real. The train will slow down, you’ll both get off, and hitch a ride from there.’
‘As easy as that, huh?’
‘So Ms Waverly claims. A simple retrieval from a dead drop.’
‘Did she tell you anything at all about where we’re supposed to be going? Which sheaf, which city?’
‘No, she didn’t,’ Kohler said. ‘We’ll be watching every gate, of course, but we won’t know where her father told her to go until she takes you there. Most likely, it will be one of the places where you and Tom Waverly worked together, but we can’t rule anything out. So, will you help us?’
‘I have one condition of my own,’ Stone said. ‘I don’t want anyone following us. No tail, no backup. If I do this, I’ll have to convince Linda Waverly that I’m on her side. I’ll lose her trust the instant she spots someone tailing us. And I won’t wear a wire, either. I found the bug you put in the heel of Linda Waverly’s shoe, and I had her change her clothes, too. If she’s got any sense she’ll take the same precautions.’
‘You’re asking a lot,’ Kohler said.
‘You want my help, Mr Kohler, and you know that I have a very good reason for wanting to help you. But you have to let me do it my way, or I guess, seeing that you can’t order me to do it, you’ll have to let Linda Waverly go in on her own.’
Kohler thought about this for a few seconds, then smiled and said, ‘Very well.’
‘I’d appreciate a sidearm.’
‘There’ll be one waiting for you when you meet Ms Waverly.’
‘And it really would help if I had some idea of what exactly it is I’m supposed to retrieve.’
‘We really don’t know what it is, Mr Stone. It could be anything at all, including a figment of Tom Waverly’s imagination.’
Kohler’s gaze was locked with Stone’s, his eyes bright and sharp behind his gold-rimmed glasses. It was impossible to tell if he was lying.
�
�I guess you can’t tell me anything about GYPSY, either.’
‘I’m in charge of the investigation into the murders of Eileen Barrie’s doppels, not the investigation into GYPSY.’
‘I heard that it’s something to do with a plan to assassinate the President.’
‘There are all kinds of rumours, Mr Stone. I’m afraid that I’m not in a position to confirm or deny any of them.’
‘I guess it doesn’t really matter,’ Stone said. ‘One more thing. What happens to Linda Waverly when this is over? Will she have to face charges?’
‘If you’re successful, it shouldn’t be necessary.’
‘Draw up a letter guaranteeing her immunity even if we don’t find anything,’ Stone said. ‘If I’m satisfied with it, you’ve got yourself a deal.’
‘I told her that she can leave the Company with an honourable discharge if this goes right,’ Kohler said, with some steel in his gaze now. ‘If not, she’ll be prosecuted. For disobeying direct orders, for wilfully withholding information necessary for national security, and anything else the DCI’s office can think up. That’s the deal I made with her. It isn’t up for negotiation. How long will you need at New Amsterdam?’
‘As long as it takes. That’s not up for negotiation either.’
14
The ferry that linked New Amsterdam to the mainland was an army-surplus assault craft, a steel shoebox with a forty-foot cargo well, and a small steering platform and a powerful motor at the stern. Stone came aboard with a squad of officers in combat gear. The ferryman, Ted McDougal, ignored his greeting and busied himself with hauling up the bow ramp and casting off. Once they were under way, Stone commented on the holstered pistol hooked to Ted’s belt. The ferryman looked down at him from the slight elevation of the steering platform and said, ‘You brought a lot of trouble on us.’
‘I know. And I’m more sorry for it than I can say.’
‘Wouldn’t have come across for you if your friends hadn’t insisted,’ Ted McDougal said. He opened up the throttle, and the roar of the motor made further conversation impossible.
As the ferry butted through the swell, Stone stood at the side wall of the cargo well and watched the wooded shore of New Amsterdam grow closer. The sky was as flawlessly blue as it had been on the day he’d left, the sun golden and benign. Another perfect day on the breast of this wild, empty world. It was probably the wind that was making his eyes water.