controlled in part by the information on which those decisions are based. If the information is controlled by a small group, so is the decision. We need to have conflicting opinions so those who make decisions can choose the interpretation for themselves.”
“Checks and balances. Sounds familiar. I agree Stuyvesant. General Donovan, your plans to form a single centralized intelligence service are rejected. I do not wish to see them raised again. Also, you will attend a meeting with the Strategic Bombing Commission to determine which of the operations run by your OSS will be better placed in their custody. With that decision, I call this meeting to a close. May I say I hope never to have to deal with a matter of this character again.”
“How is she Doctor?”
“Much better than expected. She is a very strong young woman and her constitution is remarkable. Do you know the fractures in her ribs are already beginning to knit? Quite remarkable. That’s not so good in one respect, her nose was also beginning to knit so I had to rebreak some of the bones. The damage is quite severe, there’s no hope of returning her nose to its original shape but we spent the morning going through some pictures and Miss Shafrid has picked a new nose she rather likes. I think she’ll be very happy with it.”
“Thank you Doctor. Send the account to me personally, it will be paid by return.”
“Paid? My dear young man.”
“Can we see her?” Inanna broke across the Doctor Maclndoe’s obvious distress.
“Of course, her young man is away for the moment, but you can all go in. I must caution you, she looks very bad at the moment, the original injuries plus the bruising from the surgery. So, it’s important you don’t show shock. But otherwise, she is recovering very well.
Quite remarkable.” Sir Archibald, went off, down the corridor to where some other patients were awaiting their turn for his services.
“Well, I don’t need make-up to play a clown do I?” Igrat was laying on her bed, surrounded by flowers, chocolates and fresh fruit.
“Mike?” The Seer spoke drily.
“Mike. How he got all this stuff I do not know. The black market must have done well. I’ve given some of it away already and I bet he’ll have more when he gets back.” Igrat tried to smile then winced at the effort. “Everything OK?”
“Everything’s fine honey. Donovan’s crashed and burned. So badly he’ll never be a threat to us again. That centralized intelligence idea of his could have been bad for us.”
“What?” Lillith’s voice was sharp, questioning.
“Can you imagine a greater danger to us that a centralized intelligence service with all the national records available to it? At best, hiding would become really hard, at worst impossible. So it had to be stopped.”
“You. You had the whole thing planned didn’t you? You sent Iggie into a meat grinder knowing what would happen.” Lillith’s face had changed completely, her skin had drawn back, outlining her bones in sharp relief and her eyes stood out. At this point she looked more like a vulture that anything else. “You played your games and Iggie got beaten into a pulp and you never even warned her. In the name of all the gods, she’s your daughter!”
“Uh-oh.” Naamah’s voice came quietly from the back of the room.
“Lillith, NO!” Igrat’s voice, blurred as it was cut right across the outburst. “Phillip did tell me. I knew the whole plan right from the start and I volunteered for it. It was OK with me. He explained why we had to do it and I agreed with him. I knew the risks, but I believed in Henry and Achillea. We just didn’t believe Donovan would go this far. Right? Now don’t make me talk too much again, it hurts.”
Lillith relaxed, her face returning to normal. “Sorry, Phillip. I didn’t mean to….”
“Don’t worry about it. Everything worked out in the end, that’s all that mattered.”
The party left, but Naamah remained behind for a moment. She sat quietly beside Igrat’s bed. “That was a lie wasn’t it. You didn’t know what was going to happen. Or what the plan was.”
“I didn’t. Oh I guessed some of it, but Phillip didn’t tell me and I didn’t volunteer. I just trusted him. But remember what happened when Lillith last went into vengeful harpy mode? Our family almost broke up forever and I couldn’t stand that. So the truth remains buried. Right? Because if you tell anybody, I’ll throttle you.”
Naamah chuckled. “Right, and I stand warned. You just get well. I can’t stay, I’ve got a one o’clock with General Donovan.”
“Why isn’t Stuyvesant here himself?” Donovan sounded aggrieved and put out.
“He’s got other business. In Bethseda. But I have full authority to act on his behalf. Tell me General, how was your steak?”
“Delicious, I thought steaks like this were unobtainable except on the black market?”
“My family has a farm in Kansas. They keep us supplied with striploins.”
Donovan spooned up the rest of the mushroom sauce with the last piece of steak. “This was excellent, thank you for cooking it. You’re not eating any?”
“I’m a vegetarian. Don’t eat meat. Anyway, cheese salad does well for my lunch, I have to watch my figure.”
“So, where do we go from here?” Donovan was back to being testy. In addition to the humiliation this morning, he wasn’t feeling very well. Overeating probably.
“Well, we need to have unrestricted access to all intelligence data on German industry. Of course we already have most of it but if there is any we don’t have, we need it. And we need to know our courier system won’t be compromised again. Other than that….”
Donovan leaned back. If that was all he was going to lose, things weren’t too bad. “Nothing else?”
Naamah looked at the clock. Over 45 minutes since Donovan had started eating. “Just one thing, you really shouldn’t have had Igrat beaten like that. She’s a nice girl. She sleeps around a bit, well a lot really, but she never did any harm to anybody who wasn’t threatening her. There was no need to do all that to her.”
“So what are you going to do, kill me?” Donovan’s face was split with a grin, one that quickly changed to a grimace as his stomach cramped. He gasped and doubled up, slumping over the table.
“I already have, General.” Naamah picked up his fork and pushed a tiny fragment of mushroom left on his plate. “Have you ever heard of death cap mushrooms?”
“Warning Boss, Mike’s on his way up.”
“Right Lillith, action stations.”
The Seer sat back and relaxed, he’d been expecting this. He’d reckoned it would take the morning for Mike Collins to get over his grief and work up a head of steam. Then, he’d be coming this way. Well, it looked like he’d got here. The door suddenly hurtled open, bounced off its hinges and almost laid out the man storming through.
“You bastard Stuyvesant.”
“Actually no, Mike, my mother and father were married when I was born.”
Collins blinked, then set out again. “You sent a wee girl to do a job rather than risk your own cowardly hide. And she got smashed up because of you. So get out from behind that desk and fight like a man.”
Styvesant grinned. “Mike, look behind you.”
“You’ll not fool me with that old trick.”
“Just humor me, look on it as respect for tradition if you wish.”
Collins glanced behind him. Then turned his head a little more carefully. While he’d been shouting, Lillith and Naamah had quietly entered the office and were pointing M3 sub-machine guns at him. They were carefully positioned so they could kill him without endangering anybody else.
“Hiding behind women again?”
“If necessary Mike. Won’t be the first time. I do what’s necessary to win Mike. Whatever is necessary.
