‘Come in, Elizabeth,’ he called out, frowning slightly to himself at Daisy’s informality. Liz walked in, looking cool in black trousers and a satin blouse. Was she getting slimmer? he wondered, admiring her figure.
‘Can we offer you some tea? Or something stronger perhaps, as the sun is almost over the yardarm?’
‘No, thanks,’ she said. Turning to Daisy, she added, ‘I’d just like a glass of water, please.’
With a flicker of a smile and a nod he dismissed Daisy, and watched her blonde curls bouncing as she retreated from the room.
‘Sit down, Eliz… Liz. What brings you over here on this lovely evening?’
‘Sorry it’s such short notice, Geoffrey, but it’s rather important.’
‘Ah, well, spill the beans,’ he said, showing by his smile that he was not taking her too seriously.
Liz remained standing and looked straight at him without a trace of a smile. She said, ‘We’ve come across something that makes us think Langley has an agent working in the UCSO Athens office.’
Fane was so surprised he said nothing. His thoughts were racing: if this were true why hadn’t Blakey told him? Or did Blakey himself not know? And how had Elizabeth found this out?
His voice remained unruffled. ‘Sit down, my dear Elizabeth, and tell me what makes you think that.’
‘It’s perfectly obvious,’ she said sharply, not sitting down. By now Fane was behind his desk.
‘What is? Do tell.’
Liz fished in her bag and plonked Mitchell Berger’s CV down on the desk. She stood back and waited while he scanned it.
‘I knew nothing of this,’ he said when he’d finished reading. ‘All I know about the man is that Blakey vouched for him. In unequivocal terms.’
‘Blakey must have known he was CIA.’
‘I’m not sure he did… What’s obvious to expert eyes is sometimes muzzy to the rest of us.’
‘Don’t patronise me, Geoffrey. Blakey’s eyes are expert.’
‘ Were would be a better word. He’s been out of the Service for ages now.’
‘Five years,’ she said through tight lips.
Fane shrugged. ‘That’s two decades in intelligence terms, as we both know. And between you and me, though David was a perfectly competent officer, he was not perhaps the sharpest knife in the box.’
‘That’s not how you described him before.’
‘Loyalty is our business’s first line of defence. You don’t need me to tell you that.’ Fane’s lips curled in a slight smile.
‘I don’t buy it,’ she said with an angry shake of her head.
‘I’m not selling anything, Elizabeth,’ he said coldly. Who the hell did she think she was, acting as if he were on trial?
Nevertheless, he was put out when she shook her head again, unpacified. ‘Blakey must have known… and you must have known as well. What I can’t understand is why you didn’t tell me.’ She looked at him with open exasperation. ‘You keep doing this, Geoffrey – you keep holding back information. I don’t see how we can work together if you won’t be straight with me.’
He thought how magnificent she looked when she was angry. Normally he wouldn’t have been at all bothered to find that she suspected him of not telling her everything. Normally, he had to admit, she would have been right. But she was accusing him of holding back on her when for once he actually wasn’t. He hadn’t had the faintest inkling that Berger was a CIA man.
Why should he have thought it? Blakey had assured him that Berger was OK – and if Blakey turned out to have been economical with the truth, Fane would have his guts for garters. If it were true, it meant the Agency knew that the woman who’d been murdered had been put in by his Athens Station. That was embarrassing to say the least. Particularly as he suspected that Bruno Mackay had not conducted that operation very cleverly. Damn!
‘Elizabeth, please hear me out. I give you my word that I hadn’t the faintest idea until three minutes ago that this man Berger was anything but what I was told – a chap with a lot of international experience who was doing a fine job running a charity office in Greece, but whose ships had started disappearing.’
Liz did not reply, and Fane waited as the silence between them expressed her doubt as loudly as words would have done. He was frustrated by her refusal to believe him, but couldn’t bring himself to reiterate his assurance. It was too undignified. Instead he said, ‘Look, I see I can’t persuade you now. But let me talk to the Agency. I’ll get Bokus over from the embassy. You know him?’
She nodded, still looking sceptical.
‘He’s not going to deny it if this chap is one of theirs. Langley never actually lies to us overtly – just by omission. A point-blank question will get us the answer we need, one way or the other. Will that do?’
Liz pondered this as Fane watched her, wondering when she might decide to relax with him, when she might realise he wanted to help her if only she would let him. He found it galling to have his offers so consistently refused, especially by someone he would happily admit to admiring.
At last she said, ‘All right. See what your friend Bokus has to say. But do it soon, please.’
