Requiem For a Glass Heart (40 page)

Cate remembered Ann Loder’s last remarks: you won’t be hearing from us again unless there’s something critical. Good God, what was their definition of critical? She could hardly believe what was happening to her. It seemed almost too naive of her to think it, but she was only now realizing how serious her situation was. Suddenly Hain, all of them, seemed mercenary beyond belief. She wasn’t on the front line in this theater of the war on crime; she was underneath it, down in the sinkhole where none of the trappings of legitimate battle were allowed, things like uniforms and codes of conduct and guidelines and rules of order, the kinds of symbols and structures of empowerment that gave her confidence and made her believe she was doing the right things for the right reasons. None of these elements was present in this part of the war. The intensity of the battle, the unorthodox nature of its course, were such that she quickly—surprisingly quickly—found herself in imminent danger of losing sight of all the reasons, and therefore justifications, for being in the sinkhole in the first place. In fact, she began to lose sight of just about everything— except survival.

Automatically, without even having to make a conscious commitment, Cate began to think instinctively. Even now, as she absorbed this new, dark revelation from Irina, as she realized that she was not going to be getting any help from her superiors in this subterranean theater of battle, she was able to reach down inside herself and drag up from her guts a kind of resolve that she did not recognize, a unique thing, a new and radical creation. It was the resolve of dire necessity, a calculation born of the elemental will to live that had lain dormant inside her, heretofore unneeded and therefore unbidden. Even in the midst of her fear, she felt the burgeoning instincts of a harried animal. Mentally crouching, her eyes and ears quickened to the possibilities of threat, she weighed her odds, trying to determine whether her next move should rely on claws or cunning.

“S
ON OF A BITCH,”
H
AIN SAID IN DISMAY.
H
E FLIPPED OFF THE
toggle switch on his microphone and turned to Ometov. “This is finally it. These guys are negotiating to put together an American co-op.”

Ometov nodded, wearily rubbing his face with his hands. “We are sitting here listening to all of our dire predictions coming to life. They are building the monster we all have feared. Who knows how far they’ve already gone with it?”

“But it’s falling apart, Leo,” Hain said, perplexed. “Major people are dead here, and they’re all in one camp. Krupatin is losing important men. And he’s the only one.”

“No, no, no. We cannot jump to conclusions,” Ometov argued, tilting his head skeptically. “We do not know if Sergei was aware of Stepanov’s betrayal, though it would not surprise me in the least if he was. Perhaps Carlo and Wei learned of it, and perhaps getting rid of Stepanov was one of their stipulations for agreeing to organize with Sergei here in the U.S. Maybe it was they who discovered Stepanov’s betrayal and told Sergei. Who knows?”

“And Izvarin?”

“His ambition was well known. He was always crowding Sergei, stepping on his heels. He was too eager. Sergei may have gotten tired of it or come to distrust it. Paranoia is a
Krupatin trademark. Sometimes it saves his life. Sometimes others lose theirs because of it.”

“No,” Hain said. “I’m not buying that. I think they’re moving against Krupatin. Maybe he knew it was coming, or suspected it, and that’s why he hasn’t shown his face.”

“How do you explain Irina, then?”

“Shit, I don’t explain her,” Hain said. “That’s your job.”

“Okay, then,” Ometov said, resting his elbow on the metal table and raising a thumb. “Let us consider some possibilities. One, Irina was overseeing the killings for Sergei, who, for whatever reasons, wanted Stepanov and Izvarin eliminated. With help from Volkov, his trusted lieutenant from his eastern operations, who will now undoubtedly hold a higher position, and with the help of Bontate. This suggests too that Sergei and Carlo may have a closer alliance than we thought. It is not common for two organizations to cooperate in such a manner. But we see it happening here, with the Sicilians consistently acting as Irina’s escorts.”

“Maybe Wei is in on it too,” Erika suggested, “only we do not know this yet.”

“Okay, yes, that could be true,” Ometov conceded. He went on, “Two, Irina is working for Bontate, and perhaps Wei, and is indeed moving against Sergei. Three, Irina has allied with Bontate and has agreed to help him remove both Krupatin and Wei, his chief competitors. It would be easier to get rid of them here, away from their better-organized situations in Europe. If that is true, Carlo’s men are probably moving simultaneously against their operations in Europe. We should contact our counterparts there and see if they are experiencing a rash of assassinations.”

“But neither Carlo nor Wei is dead, Leo,” Ann argued. She was studying the Russian across the table. Her face was stiff with growing impatience.

“That is true,” Ometov acknowledged, looking at his watch. “But it is relatively early in the evening,” he said with a sarcastic smile. “And it promises to be a long night.”

“There is another possibility,” Hain said.

“What is that?”

“That Irina is still working for you—and only for you.” Ometov was not intimidated.

“I wish it were true, Curtis. I will not lie to you. I wish it were true. I think then we would have a chance of getting our
hands on Sergei Krupatin. But honestly, I would have no reason to kill Stepanov and Izvarin. They would be much more valuable to me alive—and talking.”

Hain looked at Ometov. It was difficult to decide whether the Russian was being devious or simply straightforward.

“Irina is all over the board, Leo. First she says one thing, then she says something else. What is this? Is this typical? Is this what she’s like to work with?”

Ometov shook his head. “No. She sounds distracted. I think she is saying whatever she thinks she has to say to keep Cate with her, to keep her from running.”

“Then this business about their being in danger—how much of that is manipulation?”

Ometov looked away, pulling down the corners of his mouth in an unconvincing gesture of dismissal. “Who knows? I don’t know how much drama to believe anymore.” He looked back at Hain. “You have your own files on this Asian, don’t you? What is your judgment?”

“I don’t know either,” Hain admitted. “Yeah, it’s hard to say.”

Silence followed as both men set about rationalizing a tacit decision to let the situation proceed. They were close, very close, to three men who were causing havoc for international police agencies. Were they going to jeopardize this unique opportunity by being overly cautious about one of their agents? What kind of danger would justify forfeiting such an unexpected advantage? They were going to have to justify losing Stepanov, explain why they hadn’t had a better handle on their double agent’s safety. But in the end, Stepanov had been a double agent, after all, and such people led precarious lives. It was disappointing to lose them, but you couldn’t always say it was a surprise.

But Cate’s safety was something else altogether. Her loss was not something Hain would want to have to explain. Still, neither man really wished to examine the question of her safety openly. Privately, each of them was actually engaged in the question, and privately each was making a decision to defer serious scrutiny of the issue. The situation in which Cate and Irina now found themselves was unforeseen and incredibly fortuitous. The hunt for the Russian fox had unexpectedly brought them near the lairs of the Sicilian leopard and the Asian tiger as well. This astonishing circumstance had the
same effect on Hain’s and Ometov’s moral compasses as greed or lust often had on other men. Their judgment was affected. Wisdom withered in the face of such temptation. Suddenly it did not seem like such an unreasonable thing not to intervene.

Ann Loder abruptly jerked the headphones off her head and stood up, raking both her hands quickly through her dark hair.

“This is making me sick to my stomach,” she hissed, looking down at the two men on the other side of the table, “watching you two silently equivocating about Cate’s safety.” She paused, trying to get control of her voice. “But not only that. Tell me the truth—don’t either of you feel just a little bit sleazy?”

Both men gaped at her, honestly puzzled by her outburst. But it was Erika who responded.

“You mean Cate’s situation with Wei?”

“Yes, goddamnit.” Ann snapped her head around at Erika. “That’s exactly what I mean.”

Erika regarded her calmly. “You have run undercover agents before,” she said. “You have never been bothered before?”

“Not like this.”

“Why is this different?”

“Well … Shit, we’re pimping her out to these people.”

“You knew this was a possibility when we were planning this. Why didn’t you say something then?”

“To tell you the truth, I didn’t really think it would come to this.”

“Tell me something,” Erika said, turning to face Ann squarely. “You have put men in dangerous situations before, haven’t you?”

“Yes, sure.” Ann nodded. She knew what was coming.

“And there was the possibility that these agents might have to shoot someone, kill someone.”

“Yes.”

“And you have put men into situations in which the best tactic they could use to get information from a woman was to have sex with her?”

“Of course.”

“Did you feel sleazy then?”

“No,” Ann answered honestly.

“Killing, then, it is not so bad as having sex? Or a man having sex to obtain information is not so bad as a woman having sex to obtain information?”

“For God’s sake, Erika, we’re asking her to allow herself to be raped.”

“It would be better if we asked her to kill someone?”

Ann looked at her without answering.

“You Americans,” Erika said, answering her own question, “still have this strange sense of moral imperatives. What is the moral difference between a man and a woman? None. We are all human beings. If something is beneath the human dignity of one, it should be beneath the human dignity of the other; if something is permitted or prohibited for one, it should be permitted or prohibited for the other. We are all human beings, aren’t we? But Americans, my God, you always are creating new moral imperatives that separate the sexes. I don’t know why. Men can kill in organized groups on behalf of governments, but women may not. Men routinely use sex in the course of gathering state intelligence, but for women it is somehow an unseemly offense, a degradation. I am sorry, but this kind of thinking doesn’t make any sense to me,” she added flatly. “And frankly, it makes me angry to hear Americans always whining about it.”

“A female agent’s rape is hardly equivalent to a male agent’s seduction strategy,” Ann shot back.

“Listen, Ann, if Cate is consenting to this sex, then it is not rape, you know that. And so far, I haven’t heard her use her code signals for calling this off. Cate is making her own decisions here, and I seriously doubt if she is deciding to be raped.”

“So it isn’t going to bother you to hear this encounter broadcast over the radio?”

“That, yes, that will make me uncomfortable,” Erika admitted. “It is a cruel twist, I must say. But I do not believe that she is committing any greater offense, or that she is being offended against in any greater way, than a man doing the same thing.” She hesitated. “I do regret that the first agent to use this device is a woman. I regret it on Cate’s behalf—as a matter of privacy, not on moral grounds.”

“Jesus.” Ann was still angry—angry at herself and at the two men across from her, whose sexist assumptions were so deeply buried they could only give her puzzled looks. She was
also frustrated. Erika’s argument held water. It was harsh, but it held water. It was a shitty situation any way you looked at it.

“Do you know anything about Wei’s taste in sex? Is this going to get dicey?” she finally asked.

“That depends on what you consider dicey.”

“Is she going to be in danger of getting hurt here! Christ!” Ann couldn’t keep her temper in cheek. “This whole thing is getting way out of line. I don’t give a damn what you think about
my
double standards. It still feels sleazy to me. And it
ought to
feel sleazy to them,” she spat, her right arm shooting out and pointing across the table.

“I have read the BKA file on him,” Erika said. “He has a fondness for Caucasian women.”

“In pairs?”

“If he can get them in pairs.”

“Well, he’s got them now.”

“It seems so.”

“What about the rest of it?”

“Just about everything, I would say.”

“Shit!” Ann jerked her head and grimaced. “Shit, shit, shit.” She looked up at the ceiling, feeling trapped by circumstances and, she hated to admit it, afraid. “How in God’s name is she going to live with herself?”

“If Cate believes we do not know what she has done, it will be bearable,” Erika said. “She can live with herself so long as she does not know that we heard everything.”

“That’s a hell of a secret for us to have to keep.”

“That’s the reason for the bandages.”

“Those goddamn Band-Aids,” Ann said. “That’s a lie
I’ll
have a hard time living with.”

“Your problem is that you are too selfish, Ann. We have to hear everything. Cate’s safety is the main concern here, not your conscience.”

“Shit. Tell me a lie,” Ann said, rolling her eyes. “The fact is, we’re so damned greedy for information that we don’t really give a damn how we get it, even if it rides on the sounds of Cate’s sacrificial rape. And we don’t even have the decency to turn our heads while she does this for us. As to the question of her safety, that’s bullshit. You know—we all know—that the way this is shaping up, we don’t have a chance in hell of
getting to her in time if things start to go bad. This is not about her safety.”

“It was merciful to lie to her about the bandages,” Erika insisted, choosing not to address the other issue. “It gives her a psychological way out.”.

“That’s neat.” Ann seethed.
“We’re
giving her a psychological out. The lie was a sleazy thing to do to her. But more than that, this whole thing is beginning to smell a little sick to me. We want this so bad we’re willing to put Cate in a whorehouse to get it. Okay, I know, ‘she didn’t have to do it.’ But she didn’t know, really, did she, what she was dealing with here. She didn’t know when she tacitly agreed to fuck for law and order that we were going to be right there inside her, listening.”

Her words hung in the air, lingering amid the crackling sounds of the radios, the background buzzes and beeps of electronics.

“I appreciate your sentiments,” Hain said, his voice sober, controlled. “But you’re not calling the shots here.”

“Fine,” Ann snapped, glaring at each of them in turn. “I hope this haunts every one of us, all the way to the grave.”