“Fedor? It’s Annabel Taplin. I need to speak with Trevor.… Well, where is he? … No, I can talk to you.… It’s my understanding that your project with Wills wasn’t completed.… Because it’s my job to know, that’s why.… Thirty minutes ago, while one of my agents was cleaning Wills’s office, a call came in from someone who’d been working for Wills. They transferred it to me.… Someone who was working on
She listened for a moment longer, then hung up.
“Did he buy it?” Quinn asked.
“He had no reason not to. At least not my part of it. He may think you were feeding me a line, but I’m supposed to be on his side.”
“How long do you think before they call back?”
Taplin shrugged. “Fifteen minutes. Thirty tops.”
“Then we wait.”
Trevor Robb. That was the name of the light-haired Englishman who’d had the unfortunate luck of sharing a physical similarity to a Russian psychopath. His life had only been a placeholder for the day the Ghost would take it over. Over two decades dead, his was the body the man now using the name Trevor Robb wanted Quinn to remove.
“According to the file, the Ghost rented several offices in the basement of a building in the financial district,” Annabel had told Quinn in the bathroom before he had reemerged.
“The Alexander Grant Building,” Quinn said.
“Wills told you?”
Quinn nodded.
“Then you know it’s pretty rundown. In 1988 it wasn’t much better. After the real Robb returned to the U.K., he was instructed to go straight there. Palavin was waiting for him. He killed Robb there, then entombed the body in a small closet, walling him inside. Apparently, Palavin planned it as a temporary solution. When he came to MI6 to sell what he knew, he expected that we would remove the body for him. But my predecessors told him we wanted no part of it. They were afraid that he might kill others in the future and expect us to help again.”
“You mean like he’s doing right now?”
She squirmed uncomfortably. “At some point Palavin decided that the risk of leaving the body in the wall was less than attempting to get it out on his own. Ironically, MI6 realized that even though we had told him no, there was always a chance that if the body was found it might blow back on us. It took a couple of years, but it was finally decided to have the body removed. Only we didn’t want Palavin to know, so we made sure the closet tomb looked the same.”
“Then, the body he wants me to remove isn’t even there?” Quinn said.
“Not for almost two decades.”
The return call came twelve minutes after Annabel’s conversation with Fedor.
“Hello?” Quinn said.
“Mr. Quinn?” It was the same voice that had called him not long after Wills had been gunned down.
“Yes.”
“We spoke yesterday,” Palavin said. “I was told you would be expecting my call.”
“I appreciate you getting back to me.”
“Perhaps we should put yesterday’s conversation behind us. It was a very stressful day for everyone.”
“I think that’s a good idea.” Quinn gave it a beat, then said, “Do you still need your project completed?”
“As a matter of fact, I do. Can I assume you’re willing to reconsider?”
“I’ve had a conversation that leads me to believe you’re on the level. So I’ll do your job, but my fee has just gone up.”
There was a pause. “Gone up how much?”
“A hundred and twenty thousand. U.S.”
Quinn could hear the other man clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth. “You have me in a difficult position. And I don’t appreciate people trying to take advantage of me.”
“I’m not taking advantage. I’m just being practical. With Wills’s murder, the risks have increased.”
More silence. “I’ll give you eighty.”
“I’ll go as low as a hundred thousand, but any lower and I walk.”
“Fine, Mr. Quinn. One hundred thousand. I’m not happy about it, but I guess I can understand. I’ll wire it to you as soon as the job is done.”
“You’ll wire it to me now.”
Palavin took a deep breath. “Very well.”
Quinn gave him the account number, then said, “To confirm, you want the package removed and delivered to you, correct?”
“Correct. I will give you a place and a time where my associate will meet you once you let me know when you will be in possession of … it.”
“It’ll be tonight,” Quinn said.
“Tonight?” The Ghost sounded surprised.
“I already did the preliminary work before yesterday’s events. We’re ready to go. I anticipate having the package ready for you before midnight.”
“That’s excellent,” the Ghost said. “We will call you this evening with the drop-off location.”
“Perfect.”
Quinn disconnected the call.
“So?” Annabel asked. “Did
“Everyone believes in greed,” Quinn replied.
Chapter 43
“Hungry?” Nate asked, standing in the doorway.
Liz was lying on the bed, curled in on herself, her eyes staring at the wall.
“What’s going to happen to me?” she asked. “Am I going to have to live on the run like this forever? And what’s going to happen to Mom? Is she going to have to give up her home? She’s too old for this.”
“You shouldn’t worry about any of that right now. Your brother is going to take care of things.”
She turned to him. “How can I not worry?”
He wasn’t sure what to tell her. He certainly didn’t have an answer. So he said, “Let me get you something to eat.”
“I just want to sleep.”
He nodded. “Sure. Okay, I’ll come back later.”
As he started to turn away, she said, “No. Lie with me. I think that’ll help.”
He smiled. “That I can do. Just let me put the food away first.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
In the kitchen, he gathered the meats, cheeses, and vegetables he’d set out to make sandwiches, and returned them to the refrigerator. He then got a glass and filled it with water.
He was carrying it across the living room when someone knocked on the front door.
He stopped and looked toward the entry, but made no other move.
Another knock. Not pounding, and not a polite tap. Something in between.
Nate remained still, listening. But the exterior hallway was carpeted and the door was thick, so he picked up
