“Listen to me now. I don’t want you trying to make any personal contacts. I want you to wait for me to call you. No matter how important it is. Do you understand?”

“Oh, sure, but listen up, compadre, the people over there are definitely looking for you. And worse than that they’re beginning to suspect a mouse in the pantry.”

“Meaning you?”

“Bingo. But I’ve got a few more tricks up my sleeve if you want me to go for broke.”

“Have you found anything so far?”

“Only in the negative sense. It’s definitely not the government. Nor is there any…

material missing from their power plants, if you catch my drift. So whoever is going for the bacon isn’t picking it up at home.”

“I need the help, but it’s up to you,” McGarvey said carefully. “You know what’s happened already. Including the latest?”

“It may take a little while, but I’ll stick with it. I hate getting pushed around, you know. And besides, I’m out of Twinkies again.”

“I’ll buy you a carload.”

“I’ll hold you to it.”

McGarvey got the stateside operator back, and had her place a call to Kathleen’s number. But there was no answer, and hanging up he tried to put her out of his mind.

Rencke had called her. She’d told him nothing, because she knew nothing. And that was the end of it. He hoped.

Chapter 32

Roland Murphy got up and came around from behind his desk as Kathleen McGarvey entered his big office with Phil Carrara. Another, prim-looking man, who’d been seated on a leather couch across the room, languidly got to his feet at the same time. He was scowling.

“Kathleen, what an unexpected pleasure,” the DCI said.

“It’s good of you to see me on such short notice, General,” she said. They shook hands.

“Have you met our General Counsel, Howard Ryan?”

“No,” Kathleen said, exchanging glances with the man. “I won’t take up much of your time this morning. I simply need a little of your help, and I’ll be off.”

The DCI motioned for her to take a seat, and when she was settled he went back to his own chair behind his desk. Carrara remained standing by the door, and Ryan perched on the arm of the couch. For a moment it felt to Kathleen as if she were in for an inquisition. But then her reception was nothing less than she’d expected.

“I’m assuming that your visit to us this morning has something to do with your ex-husband,”

Murphy said.

“Mrs. McGarvey is of the opinion that Kirk is working for us,” Carrara said.

“What makes you think so?” Murphy asked. “Did Kirk tell you that himself? Did he tell you that he’d taken on an assignment for us?”

“He didn’t have to. I know him well enough to know when he is off in the bush.”

“Apparently you don’t know him well enough to keep him,” Ryan said.

Kathleen shot him a dirty look, and she started to say something, but changed her mind. She’d heard about him. They called him the “toy spy.”

“Let’s assume for the moment that he is on assignment for us,” the DCI said. “You understand that we could not confirm or deny it, let alone tell you where he was.

You do know that.”

Kathleen nodded. She’d gotten at least part of what she’d come for, and it didn’t make her happy. “I want you to get a message to him.”

“That might not be possible, Kathleen.”

“Tell him to come home. Immediately. His family needs him.”

“Just what’s that supposed to mean…? Ryan said, but Murphy cut him off.

“Even if he was working for us, would you expect me to pass such a message to him?”

Murphy asked.

“Yes,” Kathleen said. “And in exactly those words. Shall I repeat them?”

Murphy stared at her for a long second, but then shook his head. “It’s not necessary.”

“Well?” she asked.

“I’ll do what I can. But let me ask you something. Do you believe that you are in some danger?”

Kathleen was startled. It was exactly what she believed because of the warning she’d received, but hearing it here was disquieting. “Am I in some danger, General?” she asked, keeping her true feelings out of her voice.

“No,” Murphy said. “No more than any of us are who live in Washington.”

“Somehow that’s no comfort,” Kathleen said rising. “See that Kirk gets that message.”

“I’ll do what I can,” Murphy said.

“That was some cryptic message,” Murphy said when Carrara returned from escorting Kathleen downstairs. “Any thoughts on it, Phil?”

“Well, besides his ex-wife, he’s got a daughter attending school in Switzerland, and a sister, her husband and a couple of kids out west somewhere. Utah, I think.

Mother and father are dead. And so far as I know there’s no one else.”

“What’d she say to you on the way downstairs?” Ryan asked.

“Nothing. Not a word.”

“What about this daughter in Switzerland?” Murphy asked. “Could there be any connection between her and Lausanne? Do you think Spranger’s people might go after her?”

Carrara shook his head. “There’s no reason for them to believe at this moment that McGarvey is investigating them. And of course after what’s happened in Tokyo, he might have his hands full over there for the foreseeable future.”

“Any word from him yet?”

“Nothing,” Carrara said. “But what about his ex-wife’s request? We’re not going to send that sort of a message to him, are we?”

“Of course not,” the DCI replied. “But what was the hidden message?”

“Maybe there wasn’t one. From what I understand McGarvey was on his way here in any event to try to get back together with her.”

Ryan sniggered.

“You believe she wants him back?”

“It may be nothing more than that.”

“Why did she come out here then?” Murphy asked.

“She’s a bright woman, General. We showed up at her house looking for Kirk, and he suddenly disappears. We either arrested him, or sent him off on assignment. She’s seen the precedents.”

“Have her followed,” Ryan suggested.

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” Carrara said. “As I say, she’s an intelligent woman. If she were to get wind that we were watching her, she could raise a stink.

She knows half of Washington.”

“For the moment I’m going to go along with Phil,” Murphy said. “But I think I’ll have the Bureau put a tap on her telephone. Just for the next few days or so. If she makes any kind of a move, we’ll step in.”

“We shouldn’t have any problems with that,” Ryan said. “I can make a decent case of the request, considering what McGarvey is doing. Might take twenty-four hours though.”

“See to it, Howard. But I want to come back to my original question. Her message was cryptic. Does she know something? Did Kirk tell her some of his little secrets?

Or is it possible after all that someone has gotten to her?”

Вы читаете Critical Mass
Добавить отзыв
ВСЕ ОТЗЫВЫ О КНИГЕ В ИЗБРАННОЕ

0

Вы можете отметить интересные вам фрагменты текста, которые будут доступны по уникальной ссылке в адресной строке браузера.

Отметить Добавить цитату