Then Ben and Alex were left alone in a quiet lobby for a few minutes while Murdoch went off to make some phone calls.
‘Thanks for what you did in there,’ she said. ‘It’s not fair, what they’re doing to you.’
‘Promise me two things,’ Ben said.
She nodded. ‘Name them.’
‘First, you’ll make sure Zoe gets back to her family safely.’
‘Of course I will. And the other promise?’
‘That you’ll look after yourself. Have a good life, all right?’
She smiled uncertainly. ‘This is your way of saying goodbye?’
‘Maybe. I don’t know what’s going to happen.’
‘Can I give you a call sometime?’
‘I’d like that,’ he said. He told her the number of his mobile. She repeated it.
A door swung open and Murdoch reappeared. ‘It’s done,’ he told Ben. ‘Your plane leaves for Israel at midnight.’
‘What happens when I get there?’
Murdoch frowned. ‘You’ll appreciate that we’re busking this to a large degree. I’m hoping I’ll know more by the time you touch down in Jerusalem. Our agents there will be figuring out the likely targets. You’ll be contacted.’ He looked at his watch and winced. He turned to Alex. ‘You’re working under Agent Callaghan now. We’re releasing Miss Bradbury into your care. She knows you, she’ll feel safe with you. She’s a little uptight, and maybe you can help calm her.’
‘No problem,’ Alex said. ‘She can come home with me tonight.’
For the first time that evening Murdoch looked pleased, real warmth in his eyes. ‘Thank you, Alex. There’ll be three agents outside your door, although I have a feeling Miss Bradbury’s no longer under threat.’ He gestured towards the door, looking expectantly at Alex.
She hesitated, glanced at Ben.
‘So this is it,’ he said to her.
‘I guess so,’ she replied. ‘I’ll see you around, then.’
‘Sometime,’ he said.
She touched his hand. Their fingers interlocked for a brief moment, then parted. Murdoch noticed it and looked away.
‘Take care,’ Alex murmured, and then she turned and Ben watched her walk away and disappear through the door.
‘Now let’s see if you and Callaghan can find your man Slater,’ Murdoch said.
Ben spent the next seventy minutes alone with Callaghan in a dark room filled with screens, sifting through the hundreds of ID photographs that the agent and the computer lab tech had narrowed down from the original thousands of files. When they’d gone through the whole lot, Ben sat back in his chair and shook his head.
Callaghan narrowed his eyes. ‘You’re sure about that?’
‘Absolutely sure,’ Ben said. ‘I never forget a face.’
‘Then he gave you a false name. Which I knew all along. I can’t figure out why Murdoch can’t see it. It’s obvious. And it leaves us with a big fat zero. Waste of time.’
Ben said nothing.
Callaghan peeled back his sleeve to check his watch. ‘Let’s move. I need to get you on that flight.’
Chapter Fifty-Seven
The CIA staff vehicle pulled up outside Alex’s little white wood house in the sleepy town a few miles from the Headquarters at Langley. Alex and Zoe climbed out of the back doors, and two agents walked them up the pathway through the tiny garden to the front door. The street was empty and quiet. Alex opened the door and the guards checked all over the house. Everything was fine. They returned to the car. In a few hours another would come to take its place.
Alex showed Zoe inside the open-plan living room. ‘Make yourself at home,’ she said, flipping on sidelights. The house felt a little cold and unlived in, she thought, and went over to the fireplace and turned on the imitation gas fire for instant flames. She checked her answerphone. No messages.
Zoe flopped on a white leather sofa, rubbing her eyes.
‘You look exhausted,’ Alex said. ‘I think we both could do with a drink. What do you say?’ She walked through to the neat kitchen and took a bottle of red wine from the rack, opened it and poured them each a large glass. Zoe accepted hers gratefully.
‘Well, here we are,’ Alex said.
Zoe smiled. ‘Here we are.’
‘It’s been a hell of a time, hasn’t it?’
Zoe nodded. ‘I don’t even want to think about it. It feels so strange to be here. I can’t wait to get home.’
‘Your parents will be glad to see you again.’
‘I called them from Langley.’
‘How did it go?’
‘They cried.’
‘There’ll be more of that when you get there,’ Alex said.
‘Probably.’
‘I’m going to make us some dinner. You like pizza?’
‘Anything.’
‘I just remembered you’re vegetarian. It has pepperoni and anchovies. Want me to scrape them off yours?’
‘Leave them on,’ Zoe said. ‘I could eat a pickled donkey.’
Just then the phone rang, and Alex answered on the speakerphone.
‘It’s all arranged,’ Murdoch’s deep voice said on the line. ‘Miss Bradbury is booked on a commercial flight to London from Arlington in the morning. Callaghan will be at your place just after ten to pick her up and escort her to the airport.’
‘Copy that,’ Alex said.
‘Then I want you to take some leave for a while,’ Murdoch said. ‘You’ve been through a lot.’
Alex thanked him, and the call ended.
Zoe was starting to look warm and relaxed on the leather sofa in front of the fire. She peeled off her jumper and tossed it down on the floor. ‘So it looks like you’re on vacation.’
‘I could use it, I tell you.’ Alex went back into the kitchen and fished the pizza out of the freezer. She stuck it in the microwave, and a few minutes later the two of them were sitting at the maple wood breakfast bar, washing down the pizza with more wine.
‘This is such a cosy little place,’ Zoe said through a mouthful.
‘It does the job. It’s practical and functional. I’m barely ever here, so it suits me fine.’
‘You live alone, then?’
‘Just little me.’
‘No boyfriend?’
‘No time.’
Zoe emptied her glass and set it down, a smile playing on her lips. ‘You like Ben, though.’
Alex was just raising the bottle to top up their glasses. She froze. ‘That obvious?’
