Pender couldn’t hide his pleasure. “Just doing my job.”
“Oh, does that mean you don’t want the bonus?”
Both men laughed, Pender a little nervously.
“Thank you, Mr. Creel.”
After Pender left, another door to the conference room opened. Caesar sat down across from his master.
“Of course you still know where James is,” Creel said. It wasn’t a question.
The other man nodded. “Hiding out in London, but we kept her on a tight leash after we took care of Lesnik.”
“Aron Lesnik. I never trust people who do things for altruistic reasons. You never know when they might want to do the right thing again and end up screwing you.”
“He was pissed about his old man getting killed by the Soviets, that was for sure. So do you want us to kill this guy Shaw?”
“No. At least not yet. If I were a betting man, and occasionally I am, I would say the time will come when the answer to that question will be yes.”
“How about James?”
“She’s performed her part and I see no reason to keep her around for a return engagement. She did reveal the Russian piece in her story so the solution is fairly obvious.” He eyed Caesar suggestively.
“Not polonium- 210,” Caesar protested. “That shit is dangerous to handle and it’ll take me a while to get some.”
“It would be stupid to make it that obvious.” Creel sat forward and peered directly into Caesar’s eyes. “But once upon a time there was a Bulgarian dissident named Georgi Markov, who ironically enough was killed in London with an umbrella. I trust you’re familiar with the tale?”
Caesar grinned wickedly. “I am.”
“Then do it.”
Creel waved his hand and Caesar vanished as quickly as he’d appeared.
CHAPTER 66
SHAW WATCHED SILENTLY as Royce’s men continued to scour the interior of the massacre site for clues that just wouldn’t come. The MI5 agent had gone outside to meet with someone, leaving Shaw to wonder if things could get any worse. Royce had been furious about the story Katie James had written but he could hardly blame Shaw for that, because he’d told the man nothing about his involvement with James and the late Aron Lesnik.
Lesnik had been pulled from the Thames with the slug that ended his life still parked in the back of his brain. He wouldn’t be giving any answer sessions.
Frank walked down the hallway and joined him. “You never told me where you took off to after we left Anna’s apartment.”
“That’s right, I never did.”
“Have anything to do with Katie James or her exclusive?”
“I don’t hang out with the woman, Frank.”
“Right. So how the hell did she get that story with the Polish guy? And who killed him?”
“No clue,” Shaw said dully as Frank scowled at him.
A forensic tech Shaw had never seen before passed by him at the same time that he heard the front door downstairs slam shut. The tech said, “You mind? I need to use the facilities.”
Shaw looked over his shoulder and realized he was standing in front of the bathroom door. He moved aside and the man went to open the door, or at least tried to.
Feet were stomping up the stairs. Shaw could hear Royce yelling. The agent was clearly upset about something, and from what Shaw could make out, that something was him.
The tech jiggled the handle of the bathroom door as a uniformed sergeant who’d been on duty here from the first day passed by.