“It will be closer than the polls are predicting, but he cannot win.”
“Will he accept the outcome?”
“Not a chance.”
“And then what?”
Graham went to the window and effortlessly lowered the sash. He seemed unsuited for so mundane a task. With his even features and plentiful pewter-colored locks, he reminded Gabriel of one of those male models who appear in ads for gold fountain pens and expensive wristwatches, the sort of needless trinkets that went out of fashion with the pandemic. He made lesser beings feel inferior, especially Americans.
“Rumor has it you arrived in London on a fancy new Gulfstream,” he said, reclaiming his seat. “The registry is rather opaque.”
“With good reason. My many friends and admirers in the Islamic Republic are rather angry with me at the moment.”
“That’s what you get for blowing up their centrifuge factory. Frankly, I’m surprised you found time in your busy schedule to come here on such short notice.”
“A dear friend of mine was feeling under the weather. I thought I’d pay her a visit.”
“Your dear friend is just fine.”
“Unfortunately, the same can’t be said of Viktor Orlov.”
“Viktor is none of your affair.”
“He was my asset, Graham. And if it wasn’t for his money, I would be dead. So would my wife.”
“As I recall,” said Graham, “I was the one who talked Viktor into surrendering his oil company in exchange for your freedom. If he’d had any sense, he would have kept a lower profile. Instead, he purchased the Gazeta and deliberately placed himself in the Kremlin’s crosshairs. It was only a matter of time before they got to him.”
“With Nina Antonova?”
Graham made a face. “At some point, we might have to reestablish some boundaries between your service and mine.”
“You don’t really believe she’s a Moscow Center assassin, do you?”
“Sometimes two plus two does in fact equal four.”
“But sometimes it’s five.”
“Only in Room 101 of the Ministry of Love, Winston.”
“Sarah has an interesting theory,” replied Gabriel. “She believes Nina was deceived into delivering the contaminated documents.”
“And when did Sarah reach this conclusion? During the thirty seconds she was inside Viktor’s study?”
“She has excellent instincts.”
“That’s hardly surprising. After all, you were the one who trained her. But Moscow Center would never have entrusted such a dangerous weapon to someone who wasn’t fully under its control.”
“Why ever not?”
“What if she had opened the parcel on the British Airways flight from Zurich?”
“But she didn’t. She delivered the package to Viktor. And Viktor, who was justifiably paranoid about his security, waited until she had left before opening it. What does that tell you?”
“It tells me that Nina Antonova and her controllers at Moscow Center devised a rather cunning method of slipping a contaminated package past Viktor’s formidable defenses. They’re probably celebrating their latest success as we speak.”
“There’s no way she’s in Moscow, Graham.”
“Well, she isn’t in Zurich, and her phone is off the air.”
“What about her credit card?”
“No recent activity.”
“That’s because she knows the Russians are looking for her. Obviously, we need to find her first.”
“By midday tomorrow, she will be the world’s most wanted woman.”
“Unless you delay releasing her name and photograph long enough for me to find her.”
Graham was silent.
“Give me seventy-two hours,” said Gabriel.
“Not possible.” Graham paused, then added, “But you can have forty-eight.”
“That’s not much time.”
“It’s all you’re going to get.”
“In that case,” said Gabriel, “I’m sure you won’t mind if I borrow Sarah.”
“Not at all. Where do you intend to start?”
“I was hoping to have a word with someone who used to work with Nina at the Gazeta. Someone who might have an opinion as to whether she was a real journalist or a Moscow Center assassin.” Gabriel smiled. “You wouldn’t know where I could find someone like that, would you, Graham?”
“Yes,” he said. “I think I might.”
8
London–Norwich
Transport left a Vauxhall sedan in Pembridge Square, a key taped beneath the rear bumper, a Beretta 9mm concealed in the glove box. Gabriel collected it at half past nine the following morning and drove to Knightsbridge. Sarah was drinking a cappuccino at Caffè Concerto in the Brompton Road, a mask dangling from one ear. Laughing, she slid into the passenger seat.
“A Vauxhall? What happened? They couldn’t find you a Passat?”
“Evidently, there were none available in the whole of the United Kingdom.”
“We should have taken Christopher’s Bentley.”
“Intelligence officers don’t drive cars like that unless they’re moonlighting for the Russians.”
“Says the man who has his own airplane.”
“It belongs to the state of Israel.”
“Whatever you say, darling.” Sarah glanced at the facade of Harrods. Quietly, she said, “The bricks are in the wall.”
Gabriel gave an involuntary start.
Sarah placed a hand on his arm. “Forgive me, I shouldn’t have done that.”
“Obviously, you and Christopher have been engaging in a little pillow talk about past operations.”
“We were locked in the maisonette together for three months with nothing to do but watch the pandemic on television and share our deepest, darkest secrets. Christopher told me all about the Eamon Quinn affair and the real story behind the bombing of Harrods. He also mentioned something about a woman he fell in love with while he was working undercover in Belfast.”
“I assume you reciprocated with a tragic tale of your own.”
“Quite a few, actually.”
“Did my name come up?”
“I might have mentioned that I was once desperately in love with you.”
“Why on earth would you tell him that?”
“Because it’s true.”
“But you’re not in love with me anymore?”
“Not even a little.” She gave him a sidelong glance. “You are still a handsome devil, though.”
“For a man of advancing years.”
“You don’t look a day over—”
“Careful, Sarah.”
“I was going to say fifty.”
“How generous of you.”
“What’s your secret?”
“I’m young at heart.”
She gave a dismissive laugh. “You’re the oldest soul I’ve ever met, Gabriel Allon. It’s one of the reasons I fell in love with you.”
He followed the Strand to the Kingsway, then headed through the northeastern boroughs of London to the M11. The traffic was pandemic sparse, mainly lorries and essential workers. They reached Cambridge before noon and an hour later were approaching Norwich, the unofficial capital of East Anglia.