“And he told me he had a desk job. According to you that’s not true. So he lied to me. And he said he was retiring. According to this Frank Wells that is not an option. If he quits he goes to prison.”
“Anna, I don’t have all the answers, but I do have a suggestion. Talk with Shaw. He needs you right now. His own people tried to kill him. Maybe he’s trying his best to get out and they gave him a pretty deadly warning. But you have to talk to him.”
Anna composed herself. “I want to thank you for coming here and telling me all this.”
“You’re welcome,” Katie said a bit resentfully. “But you’re not going to talk to him, are you?”
“Please, that is not your concern.”
The door opened and a man came in. “Anna, Bill wants to speak to you for a moment.”
She turned to Katie. “I’ll be back.”
“There’s not much else left to say, is there?”
Anna hurried out while Katie slipped on her raincoat. Her gaze caught on some papers on Anna’s desk. Ever the curious soul, she drew closer.
“The Red Menace,” she read from the top of a printout. Anna’s desk was littered with research related to the world’s number one story along with her handwritten notes. She ran her gaze over the desk, taking in as much as she could. Names, dates, places, Web sites. She had a wonderful short-term memory. When she got outside she would write these things down. She didn’t know why. Well, she did – it was just who she was.
Then her eye caught on something else. She picked up the photo from the desk. Shaw and Anna looked very deeply in love as they stood there, arms around each other. In the background the Arc de Triomphe watched over them.
“Well, if you can’t fall in love in Paris, you’re not meant to be together,” she said quietly to herself.
She glanced up as Anna hurried back into the room.
“So you’re ‘analyzing’ the Red Menace?” Katie said, pointing to her desk.
“Just curious, like everyone else.”
The next moment Anna saw what Katie was holding. “Please put that down.”
As Katie passed Anna she pressed the picture into her hands and said, “Don’t expect that kind of love to come around again. Most people don’t even get it once in their lives. And I speak from experience.” She handed Anna a business card with an address written on the back. “Here’s where I’m staying in London, if you want to talk some more.”
Katie left Anna clutching the photo as she headed down the stairs.
CHAPTER 33
SHAW WAS WAITING in the British Airways lounge at Frankfurt Airport. He, along with the other passengers, was watching the news on several TVs sprinkled around the room. On one screen indignant senators from the United States were on the floor of that august chamber taking turns lobbing potshots at the Russians and their downward spiral into an autocratic state that rivaled the ruthless machine Papa Joe Stalin had cobbled together.
On another screen the BBC was showing the British Parliament giving the same treatment to the former Soviet Union. On yet another screen the German chancellor was putting her two cents in. While she was asking for calm and urging others not to rush to judgment, the chancellor still made it quite clear that the Russians should be deeply ashamed of themselves. This was the same tack the French president was taking, although he was erring more on the side of caution than his fellow leaders.
Shaw was not focused on the great international political question of the day. He’d made up his mind. He was flying to London and would tell Anna the truth about what he did for a living. If she still wanted to marry him, which he doubted she would, then he would figure out some way to do it. He was actually surprised that he hadn’t heard from her after his meeting with her parents. He’d called and left her a message telling her he was coming to London. She hadn’t called him back, which was also unusual. He was thinking about this when the men approached him. They didn’t have to flash their creds; he recognized them.
Frank’s goons.
A few minutes later, deep in the bowels of the airport Shaw entered a small room where Frank sat at one end of a table and a man Shaw didn’t recognize at the other. There were four other men here, all fit and, Shaw assumed, amply armed.
“I did Heidelberg.”
Frank nodded. “I know. Nice easy job, just like Scotland. How was the side trip to Wisbach by the way? Work out okay for you?”
This didn’t surprise Shaw. He knew that Frank tracked his every movement. “As a matter of fact it did.”
Frank glanced at the men standing against the wall and nodded. They each crept forward a bit, putting a wall of flesh and guns between Frank and Shaw.
“The Fischers are nice people, aren’t they?” Frank said. “My guy really enjoyed his chat with them. And I really enjoyed getting to know Anna when I visited her in London. Though I was really surprised at how clueless she was about you. But now, just so you know, she’s all filled in.”
About a minute of absolute silence followed as Shaw stared at Frank and Frank smiled at Shaw.