Undeceived (13 page)

Chapter 19

A few hours later, Elizabeth was in bed reading when a knock sounded on her door.

“What?” she barked.

The door opened a crack, and cerulean eyes speared her from the doorway. She looked back at her book.

“Are you feeling any better?”

“I’m fine, thank you.”

“Good.” Darcy opened the door wider and came in, sitting on the bed and looking at her expectantly. “Fitz brought some news.”

“Really?” She wondered whether Darcy would ever fess up about his role in splitting up Charles and Johanna. Or if it was way toward the bottom of his Care-O-Meter—like the way he completely forgot he met her before Budapest. Or the way he tossed Cara Bingley Hurst out of his room.

“Brightman is coming back.”

“‘Brightman is coming back.’ That means nothing to me, Darcy.”

“Brightman is the Soviet station chief.”

“Should you trust a grunt like me with such sensitive information?” She glanced up, gauging his reaction to her sarcasm.

He grinned at her.

So handsome, that slow, lazy smile.

Jerk.

“Not only that, but I’ve been called in to the office tomorrow.”

“Why?”

“Most likely to get a new assignment. It looks like everything is falling into place.”

Elizabeth set her book to the side and sat up straight. “You’re talking in riddles. Just say what’s on your mind, and put me out of my misery.”

He inched closer to her and grasped her hand in his. She stared at their intertwined fingers, too shocked to pull back. “I think they’re going to offer me the Soviet station chief job. In a way, I’m surprised—with all this hiding out business, I thought I might be too easily recognized, but with a disguise and the protection of the embassy, it could work. It might be a deputy position at first, but it’s a step in the right direction. Finally—it’s the big time, darling.”

Darling?
Her gaze bounced up from his hands to his face like a rubber ball.
What the hell…

“Don’t give me that look. You know I won’t leave you behind. When I meet with the director, I’ll insist you transfer with me so we can be together. It’s unusual but not unheard of.”

It was as if a foreign language was coming out of his mouth. She stared, bewildered, her color rising, her mind completely blank.

The silence only seemed to encourage him.

“I’ve wanted you for…God, it seems like forever. I can’t seem to rid my mind of you, and now, I won’t have to. I know you’re only a case officer, and I’m way above you career-wise, but it doesn’t matter to me. People will probably scoff a little about the station chief and the hot, young officer, but I’m prepared for that, and so should you be. The talk will die down eventually.

“I’m not quite sure how you did something no other woman has managed to do, but you snagged me. I did try to forget you, but when you showed up in East Berlin, I guess my fate was sealed. I’m crazy about you—hell, this whole thing is crazy. I can’t believe this is me.”

I can’t believe it either.

“Say something, darling.”

She shook her head in disbelief.

“I know. It’s hard to know
what
to say. Moscow! The most challenging, sought-after post in the agency. The top of the heap.” Some heat burned in those icy blue eyes. “You can thank me later.”

He started to lean toward her—was halfway to her mouth—when she realized what he was doing and put a hand on his chest to stop him. “Hold it.”

“What?”

For a fleeting moment, she almost felt sorry for the rejection he was about to suffer. They had been getting along okay, given their forced togetherness here in Fredericksburg. But then words like “I tried to forget you” and “she was just some asset’s daughter” flashed though her brain. He was so cocksure, so ready to believe she’d throw herself into his arms without considering his past, her career, or her friends.

“In a case like this, I suppose you think I should be grateful. But even if I shared your feelings—which I don’t—you won’t get any thanks from me. I never wanted to ‘snag you’ as you say, and given that ‘this whole thing is crazy’ anyway, I’m sure it won’t take you long to get over it.” She picked up her book and pretended to concentrate on the page.

His complete and utter shock initially drained all his color, but then his cheeks reddened with fury. His lips pressed in a firm, angry line while he struggled with a response. For Elizabeth, it was dreadfully awkward, but finally, he gathered his thoughts enough to speak.

“So, that’s it? That smart-ass response is the only answer I’m going to get?”

“Given that you’ve spent the last few months trying to forget me, you should be relieved I’m not interested. You know, Darcy, insults like the one you just tossed my way are reason enough for my so-called smart-ass response, but I have other reasons as well. Do you honestly think I’d start an…an affair with a man who intentionally prevented a relationship between two people just starting to care about each other, only because he could?”

“Who? What are you talking about? Is it Fitz? You have a thing for Fitz?”

Elizabeth gritted her teeth in frustration. “Don’t be such a dolt! I’m talking about Johanna and Charles! You know you talked him into dumping her, and don’t you dare try to deny it. I overheard you discussing it with Fitz when I came back today.”

He listened to this revelation with surprise but not remorse and even gave her a small smile of incredulity that infuriated her further.

“All right then, you little eavesdropper, if you must know. I have no wish to deny that I did my level best to protect my friend. I took better care of Charles than I did of myself apparently. Talk about irony.”

“But even that interference, egregious as it was, isn’t the only reason I dislike you. I’ve spent the last several months with you, and I’ve observed you up close and personal. But even before that, I knew how you operate.”

“And how would you know that?”

“Wickham told me everything.” Not exactly true, she realized. There were still things she didn’t know, but she was on a roll now. “You had him demoted. Sent him back to the States after that debacle in Prague.”

His voice grew deadly serious. “What, exactly, did he tell you about Prague?”

“Your decisions caused him to lose the asset, someone he cared about, someone he loved. The loss devastated him. And when he called you on it, you blamed
him
and ruined his career.”

Somehow, his quiet, white-lipped fury was more arresting than any shouting match could be. “Even after I warned you about him, you’ve worked up no little sympathy for Wickham.”

“Who wouldn’t feel sorry for him? At the very least, you used your station chief’s position to punish him.”

“At the very least? What do you mean by that?”

“At most, you—” She hesitated. “Come on, Darcy! You had to know that little stunt would look irregular to people in high places.”

“At most, I what?” he said, contempt infusing his voice. “What do
you
know about any of it? Nothing. You know nothing. You weren’t privy to any of the relevant particulars. It was before your time.”

“And a new, wet-behind-the-ears officer’s observations aren’t worth a shit?”

“Is this about those things I said during your class at The Farm? All those months ago? God, Elizabeth, get over yourself already!”

“That remark is only one cog in the Darcy Wheel of Disdain.”

He drew up to his full height and leaned over her. “And this is your opinion of me? This is what you think after working with me all this time? According to you, I’m a real son of a bitch. Thanks for the full-length dissertation on my various and sundry faults.” He paced to the window and back, stopping well before he reached her. “You know, disguise is our business, yours and mine. But I always thought I could be honest and straightforward with you, and you would appreciate it. You were a colleague; but more than that, I considered you a friend—no, someone I wanted to be even closer than that, so I was honest with you because I thought you felt the same for me. I can’t help but think you might have been a little more receptive to my offer if I’d fed your vanity rather than spoken the truth. If we were a couple, Elizabeth, there
would
be talk. No way around that. Maybe there would be other ramifications too—dangerous ones—but I thought my feelings for you were worth the risks. It’s not a good idea, for a variety of reasons, for me to saddle myself with female companionship.”

“Didn’t stop you in Budapest with Cara, or East Berlin with Anneliese.”

He stared at her. “I don’t know what you thought you saw when we were overseas, but you were way off base in both instances. Cara’s been after me for years, but she’s trying to rekindle a flirtation that died a long time ago after I came back from Nam. And East Berlin was all about appearances, like your so-called fling with Fitz. I was doing my damn job, and I managed to do it without compromising myself or engaging in inappropriate dalliances.”

She snorted her disbelief.

“If I’d approached you today with compliments and flattery, hidden the real struggles that prevented me from making my feelings known to you, this might have gone over just fine. If I’d spouted some romantic drivel that you were actually
good
for me in every way possible, you might have accepted it. But although disguise is my business, in my personal life, I abhor it. Should I rejoice in your inexperience, in your lack of career connections, in your substandard public education?”

Elizabeth felt her anger ratchet up another notch but tried her best to keep her composure. “You’re mistaken if you think that your arrogant tirade has affected me in any way. Except, I will say, you’ve spared me any concern I might have felt when I tell you that, when you walk into Bingley’s office tomorrow, he might not tell you what you’re expecting to hear. I don’t know where you’re going next, but I do know the deputy director is most likely going to inform you that—based on my counterintelligence report—you have been cleared of suspicion of committing espionage against the United States while engaged in the service of your country.”

She saw him startle as if she’d slapped him, and she felt mean enough to keep going.

“I had you under surveillance, you arrogant prick. All this time,
you
were my assignment. So you couldn’t have made a play for me in any possible way that would have tempted me to accept you.”

He still stared at her, saying nothing, mortification pouring over him as if she’d doused him with a pitcher of ice water.

“Aren’t you fortunate this naïve girl with no connections and the substandard public education has some integrity? I reported the truth even though I don’t like you. I never saw any evidence that you were a double agent, and believe me, I looked. But ever since that night in Budapest when we met for the first time, your manners, your condescending arrogance, your selfish disdain for those you deemed unimportant to you laid a foundation of dislike so immovable that there could never be anything personal between us.”

“Enough. I’ve got it now. I understand. And all I have left is to be embarrassed at my mistake.” He opened the door. “I’m done here.”

He slammed the bedroom door behind him, and Elizabeth heard him race down the stairs and slam the front door so hard it reverberated through the entire house.

Angry tears coursed down her face. She probably shouldn’t have told him about the investigation. She should have let Bingley do it tomorrow morning. But he pushed her piss-off buttons like no one she had ever met before. And as her stepfather had often told her, angry people are not always wise.

Perhaps there was no good way to tell a proud man like that she’d been spying on him from the get-go. To learn he’d been attracted to her, to the point he wanted to be her lover and take her with him on his next assignment, was simply unbelievable! He said he wouldn’t flatter her, but in an offhanded way, he’d handed her the biggest compliment of all.

But the words he used and the feelings behind them were appalling. He said he wanted her, but he despised all she was. He interfered in other people’s lives without considering their thoughts and feelings. He’d ruined Wickham in retribution for his own mistakes. All these considerations overcame the pride his interest had momentarily sparked.

She went into the bathroom and washed her face in cold water. Her eyes were still red and puffy, but she tried out her voice until it sounded normal. Returning to the bedroom, she picked up the phone and dialed.

“Connect me to the director’s office please. This is Elizabeth Bennet. He’s expecting my call.”

She wrapped the cord around her finger as she waited, trying to calm herself from this bizarre emotional reaction. She thought that coming clean with Darcy would ease her mind, but her burdens weighed on her heavier than ever.

“Good evening, Director. You asked me to let you know if I told Single Man about the report that cleared him. Well, as of 1900 hours today, he knows.”

Chapter 20

“Mr. Bingley is available now.”

“He damn well better be!” Darcy growled as he barreled toward the office door.

With a defiant glare, Bridget managed to skirt in front of him, her hand on the knob. “I’ll show you in, sir,” she said in her prim bureaucrat’s voice.

Bingley was standing at the window, hands behind him, looking out on the headquarters complex below and the Virginia countryside beyond. He turned at the commotion by the door, vague melancholy in his expression, before covering it with a smooth smile.

“Darcy.”

“I’m in no mood for your shenanigans this morning. I’ve been up all night, driving around the beltway, trying to figure out if I can even stomach this place after what I’ve learned.”

“I’m not sure what you mean. I would have thought you’d drive up from Fredericksburg this morning. I said we’d meet today, but I wasn’t expecting you until later.”

“I left rather suddenly last night after receiving a disturbing bit of news.”

“Really?”

“I’ve discovered Ms. Bennet’s real mission for the past several months.”

Charles turned to the sideboard and got himself a cup off the serving tray. “Coffee?”

Darcy seriously considered telling Bingley to take his coffee and shove it, but then he sighed, resigned to the pleasantries that were required when an officer found himself back in the labyrinth of CIA headquarters. “Sure.”

Bingley poured as he talked, added too much sugar and cream. “Have a seat.” He gestured as he handed Darcy his cup.

“You owe me some answers, Charles.”

“Yes,” he said thoughtfully. “I suppose I do.”

“I know you’re my supervisor right now, but I’ve always considered you my friend as well.”

“And I’ve always considered myself your friend and colleague, not your boss. This current situation where you report to me is uncomfortable for both of us and, to my knowledge, was always supposed to be a temporary state of affairs.”

“Nevertheless, you’ve managed to please the top echelon of agency men enough to be in this office, whereas I, for some reason, have not.”

“Yet I am still your friend, maybe more than you know.”

“You had Elizabeth Bennet watching me.”

“I did
not
have Ms. Bennet watching you. The director did.”

“What the hell for?”

“He came to me before the glue was dry on my nameplate over there, insisting he had substantiated reasons for investigating you.”

“The debacle in Prague?”

“Yes, and…other developments.”

“Meaning Wickham’s half-truths and omissions found a sympathetic ear in counterintelligence.”

“You went off half-cocked after that mess in Prague. You made an enemy of George Wickham.”

“I had my reasons. With friends like that…”

“Yes, well. There were other questions too. Not by me, never by me. But from others.”

“Meaning the director. Regarding…?”

“Family matters. Your background.”

“What?”

“Some of the intelligence reports said the mole had family of Eastern European descent.”

“You’re kidding me? This whole double-agent fantasy scenario was credible because my father’s mother was from Latvia?”

“I don’t know the specifics.”

“She immigrated years ago as a little girl. She was a US citizen. Her father served in the military. As, I might remind you, did I.”

“No one’s questioning your years of service.”

“Someone sure as hell is questioning it! They’re questioning my loyalty, my service, my integrity—everything that makes me William Darcy.”

Bingley stared out the window for another second before speaking. “I was asked to meet with you today and assure you there is no evidence to indicate you’re working for the Soviets. You have the lovely Ms. Bennet to thank for that. Wickham was none too pleased with her report.”

“I’m sure.” It rankled that he had Elizabeth to thank for exonerating him.

“And I wanted to give you your next assignment in person.”

The idea of going to Moscow held a lot less appeal than yesterday, given that now he would go alone. Like a good agency man though, he’d take the job and run with it. He’d worked for the opportunity to head up the Soviet division for years. Plus, his career was all he had left anyway.

“As soon as you can pack and get out of here, you’re the new station chief…” Bingley drew out an expectant pause, beaming. “…in Trinidad.”

“Trinidad?”

“It’s a great assignment. Amazing weather. Not a hot bed of intelligence activity, so you’ll get some good relaxation, some extra recuperation time for that arm.”

“What about me being in danger? What about Elizabeth Bennet’s safety?”

“We think you
are
safe. Nothing has happened. No attempts on your life or hers. Even though it was common knowledge where you were. They must think we’d have figured out who was the double agent after we debriefed you if we’d had the right information.”

“What’s being done to find the mole?”

“CI’s business, not mine.”

“If there’s a mole, it’s everybody’s business.”

“It’s not a good idea for you to go sniffing around CI these days. Get out of town for a while. Go to Trinidad.”

“What about Moscow?”

Bingley shuffled some papers on his desk. “Station Chief Brightman is staying in place.”

“In Moscow?”

“They tell me he’s staying…for now.”

“I see.”

“I know you thought you might want Moscow.”

“No, I
knew
I wanted it. I’ve been working towards it for the last five years.”

“You can’t always get what you want. My advice? Take Trinidad. Take the sun and the palm trees and the slower pace of living. Go sailing. Let yourself settle a little.”

“I don’t believe this!”

“This is a position that’s on par with your skills and experience. It’s a station chief’s job. Not some case officer like you were in Eastern Europe. Not some NOC. Those assignments were beneath you. This is much more in line with your rank and experience. Right now, Trinidad is the best place for you, my friend.”

“And it conveniently keeps me out of the way. No chance of anything truly sensitive or useful coming from Trinidad.”

“Will…”

“So being cleared isn’t enough. The London Fog still has the stink of suspicion on him.”

“I don’t know what to say to that.”

“How about the truth?”

“I…”

“Have I done anything to make you suspicious of my loyalty?”

“Me personally? No, Will. That’s a promise.”

“I don’t understand this. Not at all.”

Bingley looked at him helplessly and shrugged. The two men stared at each other, neither giving way, neither quite sure how their friendship could survive this chasm unaffected.

“Well, I guess this is goodbye then.”

“Best of luck to you.” Bingley held out his hand. “Take care of yourself. We’ll be in touch.”

Darcy shook his friend’s hand. He turned as if to walk out, but stopped when his hand was on the doorknob. “I do have a favor to ask though.”

“Name it. I’ll do it if I can.”

“The files on Operation Ramsgate.”

“Yes? What about them?”

“I want Elizabeth Bennet to have security clearance to access them, if she wants. The videos too.”

Bingley frowned. “Are you sure about that?”

“Yes, I’m sure. Or can you not make that decision either?”

“Of course, I can. There’s nothing in there someone with her clearance couldn’t see, except, of course, for what was kept under wraps at your request.”

“It may not sound it at the moment, but I do appreciate your faith in me, Charles.”

“You’ll always have it.”

“Thanks.” He paused. “If only it were enough to save my career.”

Darcy closed the door behind him with a soft click that belied his temper. The agency bureaucrats might shuffle him off to Trinidad, but he had some things to wrap up first.