The Whole Truth (15 page)

“Yes, well, too bad no one was listening.”

“I’m sure many people were, Ms. Fischer.”

Anna looked up from the remains of a barely eaten lunch. “Please, it’s Anna. We should be on first-name basis considering what you’ve just told me about the man I’m engaged to,” she added in a resigned tone.

“And you had no idea?”

“Of course I had
some
idea. And I had my suspicions.”

“But you never pushed him on it?”

“I did. After he asked me to marry him,” she added, her voice choking. When she started to snuffle, several other patrons looked around to stare at her.

“Would you like to go to someplace more private?” Katie suggested in a low voice.

Anna wiped her eyes and rose. “My office. It’s close by.”

A few minutes later the women sat in Anna’s book-lined office at The Phoenix Group. A secretary brought them in hot tea and then retreated. Katie gazed around the room with interest.

“So what is it that you do here?” she asked, obviously trying to break the ice a bit.

“Here, we think,” Anna replied. “We think about vitally important global issues that most people have neither the time, expertise, nor desire to dwell on. Then we write our white papers, publish our books in hundred-copy runs, and make our speeches to half-filled rooms and the rest of the world goes merrily along ignoring us completely.”

“Is it really that bad?”

“Yes.” Anna took a sip of tea. “You said Shaw had been wounded?” Her face twitched even as she tried to appear casual.

“He didn’t seem to even care. Bullet didn’t go in, he said, or something close to that. But they were shooting at him. His own people, the good guys.”

“Or so he told you they were the good guys,” Anna said sharply.

Katie was taken aback for a moment. “Well, I guess I only had his word for it. It wasn’t like I had the opportunity to ask everyone for official IDs.”

Anna rose and paced the room, making precise ninety-degree turns as she did so. “It could very well be that Shaw is
not
who I thought he was.”

“He saved my life, Anna. And he let me go.”

As though she’d just used up all her energy, Anna slumped down in her chair, put a hand to her face, and quietly sobbed.

Katie rose and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Is there something else?”

Anna took a deep breath and wiped her face with a tissue. “Shaw went to see my parents, in Germany. He did so at my request. To ask for my hand in marriage from my father.” She glanced up at Katie. “I know, it’s silly. But I just wanted . . .”

“To see if he’d do it?” Anna nodded. “And what happened?”

“My father happily gave his consent.”

“So what’s the problem?”

“After Shaw left another man came. He told them things about Shaw. Very disturbing things. Then the night you called me, a man came to see
me.
He was with an international agency I’ve never heard of. He said Shaw worked for them.”

“So he is a good guy!” Katie exclaimed.

But Anna shook her head. “He said that Shaw was
forced
to work for them.”

“Forced to? How?”

“To avoid going to prison for serious crimes. This man told me Shaw shot him in the head. Almost killed him.”

“If he did that why wouldn’t they just put him in prison? Why cut him a deal like that?”

“I asked that same question. And this man—he said his name was Frank Wells—he said that Shaw was very good at doing what they needed done. He was brave with strong nerves. That he could walk into dangerous situations and come out alive like no one else.”

“From what I saw I can believe that. So he
is
working for the good guys.”

“Wells said that Shaw kills people.”

“When they’re trying to kill him.”

“Why are you defending him so?” Anna asked in a sudden fierce tone. “You do not know him. You met him, by your own admission, one time.”

“That’s true, but it was a helluva one time. You learn a lot about someone in a situation like that. There’s no opportunity to put on a false front. He saved my life and he let me go, Anna. So, I feel like I owe him. But it doesn’t matter what I think. What counts is what you believe.”

“I
thought
I knew Shaw.” She paused. “My father has revoked his consent.”

“You’re a big girl, you don’t need your father’s permission to marry.”

“Would you marry a man under such conditions?”

“I’d talk to him about it
before
I made any decisions.”

“I’m . . . I’m afraid,” she admitted.

“Anna, if he were going to hurt you, he would’ve done it by now.”

“I’m not afraid of him hurting me physically. But what if he did commit these crimes the man spoke of? What if he tells me so? I cannot live with that. I don’t want to know.”

“But then he doesn’t get to tell you his side of things. That’s not fair to him.”

“And he told me he had a desk job. According to you that’s not true. So he lied to me. And he said he was retiring. According to this Frank Wells that is not an option. If he quits he goes to prison.”

“Anna, I don’t have all the answers, but I do have a suggestion. Talk with Shaw. He needs you right now. His own people tried to kill him. Maybe he’s trying his best to get out and they gave him a pretty deadly warning. But you have to talk to him.”

Anna composed herself. “I want to thank you for coming here and telling me all this.”

“You’re welcome,” Katie said a bit resentfully. “But you’re not going to talk to him, are you?”

“Please, that is not your concern.”

The door opened and a man came in. “Anna, Bill wants to speak to you for a moment.”

She turned to Katie. “I’ll be back.”

“There’s not much else left to say, is there?”

Anna hurried out while Katie slipped on her raincoat. Her gaze caught on some papers on Anna’s desk. Ever the curious soul, she drew closer.

“The Red Menace,” she read from the top of a printout. Anna’s desk was littered with research related to the world’s number one story along with her handwritten notes. She ran her gaze over the desk, taking in as much as she could. Names, dates, places, Web sites. She had a wonderful short-term memory. When she got outside she would write these things down. She didn’t know why. Well, she did—it was just who she was.

Then her eye caught on something else. She picked up the photo from the desk. Shaw and Anna looked very deeply in love as they stood there, arms around each other. In the background the Arc de Triomphe watched over them.

“Well, if you can’t fall in love in Paris, you’re not meant to be together,” she said quietly to herself.

She glanced up as Anna hurried back into the room.

“So you’re ‘analyzing’ the Red Menace?” Katie said, pointing to her desk.

“Just curious, like everyone else.”

The next moment Anna saw what Katie was holding. “Please put that down.”

As Katie passed Anna she pressed the picture into her hands and said, “Don’t expect that kind of love to come around again. Most people don’t even get it once in their lives. And I speak from experience.” She handed Anna a business card with an address written on the back. “Here’s where I’m staying in London, if you want to talk some more.”

Katie left Anna clutching the photo as she headed down the stairs.

CHAPTER 33

S
HAW WAS WAITING
in the British Airways lounge at Frankfurt Airport. He, along with the other passengers, was watching the news on several TVs sprinkled around the room. On one screen indignant senators from the United States were on the floor of that august chamber taking turns lobbing potshots at the Russians and their downward spiral into an autocratic state that rivaled the ruthless machine Papa Joe Stalin had cobbled together.

On another screen the BBC was showing the British Parliament giving the same treatment to the former Soviet Union. On yet another screen the German chancellor was putting her two cents in. While she was asking for calm and urging others not to rush to judgment, the chancellor still made it quite clear that the Russians should be deeply ashamed of themselves. This was the same tack the French president was taking, although he was erring more on the side of caution than his fellow leaders.

Shaw was not focused on the great international political question of the day. He’d made up his mind. He was flying to London and would tell Anna the truth about what he did for a living. If she still wanted to marry him, which he doubted she would, then he would figure out some way to do it. He was actually surprised that he hadn’t heard from her after his meeting with her parents. He’d called and left her a message telling her he was coming to London. She hadn’t called him back, which was also unusual. He was thinking about this when the men approached him. They didn’t have to flash their creds; he recognized them.

Frank’s goons.

A few minutes later, deep in the bowels of the airport Shaw entered a small room where Frank sat at one end of a table and a man Shaw didn’t recognize at the other. There were four other men here, all fit and, Shaw assumed, amply armed.

“I did Heidelberg.”

Frank nodded. “I know. Nice easy job, just like Scotland. How was the side trip to Wisbach by the way? Work out okay for you?”

This didn’t surprise Shaw. He knew that Frank tracked his every movement. “As a matter of fact it did.”

Frank glanced at the men standing against the wall and nodded. They each crept forward a bit, putting a wall of flesh and guns between Frank and Shaw.

“The Fischers are nice people, aren’t they?” Frank said. “My guy really enjoyed his chat with them. And I really enjoyed getting to know Anna when I visited her in London. Though I was really surprised at how clueless she was about you. But now, just so you know, she’s all filled in.”

About a minute of absolute silence followed as Shaw stared at Frank and Frank smiled at Shaw.

Shaw instantly sized up the situation. They would kill him long before he could reach Frank. But if the last six years had taught him anything, it was patience.

He turned to the short, thick-necked, curly-headed man about Shaw’s age seated at the table. “Who’s this, Frank? Your boss or another flunky?”

If Frank was disappointed that Shaw had not tried to attack him he didn’t show it. Hs just continued to smile and motioned with his hand at the other man.

The man said, “I’m actually neither. The name’s Edward Royce, MI5.” He handed Shaw his card.

“And what’s so important that you had to pull me away from a comfortable chair and a bottle of Guinness, Mr. MI5?”

Royce glanced at Frank, his eyebrows slightly upraised. “Sorry to inconvenience you.”

“No you’re not and hurry up. I have a plane to catch.” Shaw stared directly at Frank as he said this.

That comment got another eyebrow hike from Royce. “Well, frankly, if it were up to me, Mr. Shaw, I wouldn’t even be here. MI5 is working with Interpol in investigating this Red Menace phenomenon. I think we’re perfectly capable of handling the situation, but it’s not my call. And my superiors have asked Mr. Wells’s people for assistance. And he, in turn, recommended that I meet with you.”

“What do you want me to do about it?” Shaw said bluntly.

“I’ve been told that you have very good contacts in Moscow, speak fluent Russian, and can handle yourself in dangerous situations. That makes you pretty unique.”

“The time I spent in Russia was against my will. So you might want to find another
unique
person to carry your bags.”

“Don’t you want to find out who’s behind the Red Menace?”

“Why?” Shaw asked pointedly. “Is what they’re saying about Russia not true?”

“Who the bloody hell knows?” Royce exclaimed. “Well, some of it undoubtedly is. But the truth is quite beside the point. In fact, it’s really the last thing we need. As you probably know, MI5 protects the UK against terrorists, spies, extremists, and the like. Well, the Red Menace business has opened quite the Pandora’s box. The world is in a delicate state right now. Many countries are powder kegs ready to blow.”

“Really? I must’ve missed the warning signs,” Shaw said.

This response drew a snort of laughter from Frank.

Royce hurried on. “Anyway, this campaign is driving the Russians in a direction neither we nor the rest of the EU want them to go. A brooding, hunted Russian Bear is dangerous to everyone, Mr. Shaw. We have to defuse the situation. To do that we have to find out who’s really behind this whole campaign.”

“Why not team up with the Americans? They can pull the bear’s claws if it comes to that.”

“The Americans are, as usual, going their own way on this matter. But Wells here has agreed to allow you to work with us. He said you even knew Sergei Petrov, who was just murdered.”

Shaw shot a glance at Frank, who stared back at him imperturbably.

“That was very generous of Frank to offer my services. But I respectfully decline.”

Royce said angrily, “Fine. No bloody skin off my nose.”

Frank stood. “Look, Shaw, you get this done, then maybe we talk about those other things.”

“Is that right?” It was all Shaw could do not to leap over the table and rip out the man’s throat.

Frank hitched up his pants. “That’s right. I’m giving it to you straight, Shaw. I always do.”

“I’ll have to get back with you.”

“What? Why?” Frank exclaimed.

“I’ve got something more important to do right now.”

Royce said, “More important than the whole bloody world going to hell?”

“Yep.”

“What could that possibly be?” Royce demanded.

“I need to go see a lady,” Shaw answered, staring at Frank before walking out of the room.

Royce glanced at Frank. “Not exactly what I was hoping for, Wells,” he barked.

Frank was solemn-looking, staring after Shaw. “Surprised me too, but for a different reason.”

“Why? What the hell were you expecting?”

“For him to try and kill me.”

“Good God. And the man
works
for you! You’re both bloody insane.”

“The man doesn’t really
work
for anybody, Royce.”