Dana took a chair across from him. «You and Taylor Winthrop were negotiating a trade deal between your two governments.»
«Yes.»
«And you became friends?»
«For a little while, forse. »
Dana glanced at the photograph on the desk. «Is that your daughter?»
He did not answer.
«She's beautiful.»
«Yes, she was very beautiful.»
Dana looked at him, puzzled. «Isn't she still alive?» She watched him studying her, trying to make up his mind whether to talk to her.
When he finally spoke, he said, «Alive? You tellme. » His voice was filled with passion. «I took your American friend, Taylor Winthrop, into my home. He broke bread with us. I introduced him to my friends. Do you know how he repaid me? He made my beautiful virgin daughter pregnant. She was sixteen years old. She was afraid to tell me because she knew I would kill him, so she…she had anabortion. » He spat out the word like anathema. «Winthrop was afraid of publicity, so he did not send Pia to a doctor. No. He…he sent her to a butcher.» His eyes filled with tears. «A butcher who tore out her womb. My sixteen-year-old daughter, signorina …» His voice was choked. «Taylor Winthrop not only destroyed my daughter, he murdered my grandchildren and all their children and their grandchildren. He wiped out the Mancino family's future.» He took a deep breath to calm himself. «Now he and his family have paid for his terrible sin.»
Dana sat silent, speechless.
«My daughter is in a convent, signorina. I will never see her again. Yes, I made a deal with Taylor Winthrop.» His cold steel-gray eyes bored into Dana's. «But it was a deal with the devil.»
So there are two of them, Dana thought. And Marcel Falcon still to meet.
On the KLM flight to Belgium, Dana was conscious of someone taking the seat next to her. She looked up. It was an attractive, pleasant-faced man, and he had obviously asked the stewardess to switch his seat.
He looked at Dana and smiled. «Good morning. Permit me to introduce myself. My name is David Haynes.» He had an English accent.
«Dana Evans.»
There was no recognition on his face. «It's a lovely day for flying, isn't it?»
«Beautiful,» Dana agreed.
He was eyeing her admiringly. «Are you traveling to Brussels on business?»
«Business and pleasure.»
«Do you have friends there?»
«A few.»
«I'm well acquainted in Brussels.»
Wait until I tell Jeff about this, Dana thought. And then the realization hit her again. He's with Rachel.
He was studying her face. «You look familiar.»
Dana smiled. «I have that kind of face.»
When the plane landed at the Brussels airport and Dana deplaned, a man standing inside the terminal picked up his cellular phone and reported in.
David Haynes said, «Do you have transportation?»
«No, but I can—»
«Please allow me.» He led Dana to a waiting stretch limousine with a chauffeur. «I'll drop you at your hotel,» he told Dana. He gave an order to the chauffeur and the limousine moved into traffic. «Is this your first time in Brussels?»
«Yes.»
They were in front of a large, skylighted shopping arcade. Haynes said, «If you plan to do any shopping, I would suggest here—the Galeries St.-Hubert.»
«It looks lovely.»
Haynes said to the driver, «Stop a moment, Charles.» He turned to Dana. «There's the famous Manneken Pis fountain.» It was a bronze statue of a little boy urinating, placed high in a scallop-shell niche. «One of the most famous statues in the world.»
While I was in prison, my wife and children died. If I had been free, I could have saved them.
David Haynes was saying, «If you're free this evening, I'd like—»
«I'm sorry,» Dana said. «I'm afraid I'm not.»
Matt had been summoned to Elliot Cromwell's office.
«We're missing two of our key players, Matt. When is Jeff coming back?»
«I'm not sure, Elliot. As you know, he's involved in a personal situation with his ex-wife, and I've suggested he take a leave of absence.»
«I see. And when is Dana coming back from Brussels?»
Matt looked at Elliot Cromwell and thought:I never told him that Dana was in Brussels.
XVIII
THE HEADQUARTERS OF NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is at Building Leopold III, and over the roof the Belgian flag flies, three equal vertical bands of black, yellow, and red.
Dana had been sure it would be easy to find the information about Taylor Winthrop's premature retirement from his post at NATO, and then she would be on her way home. But NATO turned out to be a nightmare of alphabet soup. Beside its sixteen member states, there were offices for NAC, EAPC, NACC, ESDI, CJTF, CSCE, and at least a dozen more acronyms.
Dana went to NATO's press headquarters on rue des Chapeliers and found Jean Somville in the pressroom.
He rose to greet her. «Dana!»
«Hello, Jean.»
«What brings you to Brussels?»
«I'm working on a story,» Dana said. «I need some information.»
«Ah. Another story about NATO.»
«In a way,» Dana said cautiously. «Taylor Winthrop was the United States adviser to NATO here at one time.»
«Yes. He did a fine job. He was a great man. It's such a tragedy about that family.» He looked at Dana, curious. «What is it you wish to know?»
Dana chose her next words carefully. «He left his post in Brussels early. I wondered what the reason was.»
Jean Somville shrugged. «That's very simple. He finished what he had come here for.»
Dana felt a sharp sense of disappointment. «While Winthrop was serving here, did anything…unusual happen? Was there any scandal about him of any kind?»
Jean Somville looked at her in surprise. «Certainly not! Did someone say that Taylor Winthrop was in a scandal at NATO?»
«No,» Dana offered quickly. «What I heard was there was a…a quarrel, some kind of disagreement between Winthrop and someone here.»
Somville frowned. «You mean a quarrel of a private nature?»
«Yes.»
He pursed his lips. «I don't know. I can possibly find out.»
«I would appreciate that very much.»
