And then a thought struck him. If he was in Europe and she was back in D.C. it would always be tricky keeping in touch and ensuring that everything ran smoothly. It would really be much more efficient if she was with him, right there on the spot, looking after him day to day. Obviously he couldn’t tell her who the people he was meeting really were, and he’d have to send her home well before the final phase of the operation. In the meantime, though, they’d be thrown together in some of the world’s most romantic cities. If nothing happened then, it never would.
Vermulen could simply have ordered Natalia to accompany him, but that wasn’t the best way to go if he wanted her to feel good about him. He’d be asking her to spend several weeks away from home, on call 24/7, with only him for company. If she didn’t want to do that voluntarily, he wasn’t going to gain anything by forcing her.
When he asked her to come into his office, his heart was pounding. He felt like a nervous kid summoning up the courage to ask for a prom-night date.
As always, Natalia looked poised and imperturbable as she awaited his instructions.
Vermulen reminded himself that he was a decorated combat veteran who had faced enemy fire on three separate continents and had commanded thousands of fighting men. How tough could it be to face one beautiful woman?
“As you know,” he said, adopting what he hoped was a relaxed but businesslike air, “I will be spending some time in Europe this spring. I need a break, need to get away-it’s been a tough few years.”
“Of course,” she said. “I quite understand.”
“Good… good… Anyway, as you know, I will be doing some business while I’m away, taking meetings and so forth, so there’ll be a fair amount of administration required, which would best be handled on the spot. I was wondering, therefore, whether you would be willing to accompany me on the trip. It would be in a purely professional capacity, of course, and I would compensate you financially for the loss of weekends and free time while you were away. Does that sound, ah… agreeable to you?”
She looked at him for a moment, frowning slightly.
“Do you want me to arrange separate tickets for myself, coach class?”
“Oh, no, that wouldn’t be right. You can travel first class, like me.”
She seemed surprised.
“That’s very kind, sir, thank you. And accommodation?”
“We’d stay at the same hotels. So, are you interested?”
She thought for a second.
“I will have to change some personal arrangements. And I would need to arrange for someone to cover for me here while I am away. But that should be possible, so, yes, I would be happy to travel with you, sir.”
“Outstanding,” said Kurt Vermulen.
That evening, Alix Petrova met the FSB agent who was her Washington handler on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
“The assignment is proceeding as planned,” she said. “Vermulen is clearly infatuated. He has asked me to go with him on a trip to Europe. He is telling everyone, including me, that he is taking an extended vacation, but I am certain that there is more to it than that.”
She handed over a plain white envelope.
“The itinerary for the first three weeks is in there, including flight numbers and hotels. It should not be difficult to arrange meetings and drops at any of the places we will be visiting.”
“Excellent,” said her handler. “So, what is he like, this General Vermulen?”
“If you want to know,” she replied, “he is a very fine man. I like him, which only makes me despise myself even more for what I am doing to him.”
The handler raised an eyebrow.
“I think I will leave that last observation out of my report to the deputy director.”
“No,” said Alix, “please don’t. It will make her happy to think that I am suffering.”
30
A week later, Kurt Vermulen was in Amsterdam. He’d given the woman he knew as Natalia Morley the day off. Now he was standing on a piece of scrubland down by the docks, where weeds grew between the boats pulled up onto the shore, and an old barge rusted in the water at the end of the plot. He was about to put a face to a name he’d known for a decade or more, an old Defense Intelligence Agency case file transformed into a live human being.
A car turned off the road, drove past him, and pulled up about fifteen yards beyond. A thin man in a black suit, lank hair falling over the collar, emerged, smoking a cigarette. He threw the stub onto the damp, gravelly earth and crushed it with his heel, immediately lit another, then walked toward Vermulen. They didn’t bother to shake hands.
“Jonny Koolhaas?” asked Vermulen.
The man shrugged. He angled his head and blew a plume of smoke into the air, away from Vermulen, still looking at him from the corner of his eye.
“So what do you want?”
“A supplier of untraceable weapons and equipment, accessible at short notice. I’ll need pistols, submachine guns, grenades, plastique. Nothing fancy. Also vehicles. Untraceable, of course.”
