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Authors: Rebecca York

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“I’m glad to be back,” Mark said as they followed her down the hall.

Eden gave him a quizzical look. Her feelings about the Aviary and everything it symbolized were still ambivalent. The Falcon had brought her here to save Mark. Yet when she’d first joined his very dangerous game, she’d been little more than a pawn. It was only later that she’d become one of the decision makers. But that role had carried its own responsibilities. The security of the free world had been hanging in the balance during their private ordeal.

Spymaster Amherst Gordon was standing where she’d first seen him in the solarium. Cicero was on his wooden perch. To her surprise the brightly colored parrot flapped its wings and squawked a greeting to her as she entered the roomful of tropical foliage. Outside it might be fall. But it would always be summer in here.

“You’ve just received a high honor,” Amherst Gordon observed. “Cicero doesn’t give his approval lightly.”

Eden inclined her head slightly as she acknowledged the compliment.

“I’d like to add my congratulations for a job well-done.” He turned to Mark. “And on your promotion to full colonel.”

Eden and Mark exchanged glances.

“Congratulations,” she whispered.

“Thanks.”

They pulled up chairs at the wrought-iron table and Constance came in with a tea tray. Eden was struck with a feeling of déjà vu. It had all started like this, she remembered.

“By the way, the President has been fully briefed on what happened in Berlin. He adds his thanks to mine,” the Falcon said.

After stirring sugar and cream into his tea, he continued. “I’m sure the two of you still have questions. Let me give you some tidbits that I didn’t dare discuss outside these four walls. I have an informant in Madrid, code-name Raven. He verified that your decoy microdot got back to Moscow. They’re furious about losing their man in the Pentagon.”

“That almost makes me feel sorry for Rozonov,” Mark admitted.

The Falcon raised a questioning eyebrow. “Why?”

“It isn’t in my report, but there’s a good probability that he saved my life.”

“Undoubtedly he was sent to Berlin not just to get the microdot but also to make an example out of Erlich. That part of his mission must have been successful. I’ll wager the East Germans will think twice the next time they butt into a Soviet Intelligence operation,” Gordon said.

Eden nodded as a few more pieces of the picture fell into place.

Mark finally introduced the topic she hadn’t wanted to bring up. “And what about Wayne Marshall?”

“What about him?” the Falcon asked.

“How did he get into that military hospital in Berlin?”

“When I went back through his records, I found he’d done a tour there. So he knew the hospital and its routine. He must have kept his identification card. As for the Kojak disguise, that was probably the easiest way for him to change his appearance with limited time and resources.”

“We assume he was acting on his own twisted initiative,” Constance added, looking at Mark. “Killing you must have become an obsession with him after you escaped from Pine Island.”

Under the table, Eden’s fingers gripped the edge of her chair. She knew firsthand how dangerous someone with a twisted mind like Wayne Marshall’s could be. Thank God he wasn’t going to be a threat to her or Mark ever again.

They went on to discuss Humphrey Strickland’s arrest, along with the arrests of several other agents in his spy network.

“You’ll be happy to know Ross Downing is in charge of the interrogation,” the Falcon informed them.

“Poetic justice,” Eden murmured.

“And what’s your assessment of the damage Strickland did to Orion?” Mark asked, looking across the table at Gordon.

“By catching him now, we have minimized the damage. If he had gone undetected much longer, the contracts would have been awarded, and it would have been astronomically expensive to change any of the designs. All the Russians have now is overviews that won’t do them a damn bit of good once the project is operational. Downing’s job will be to find out what other projects he may have jeopardized, along with the identities of other Soviet agents we haven’t yet picked up.”

For the next two hours they discussed other aspects of the operation. Eden couldn’t believe how quickly the time slipped by. It was late in the afternoon when Constance finally asked if they wanted to relax for a few hours before dinner. Several times during the discussion she’d silently slipped out of the room. Each time she’d returned with a preoccupied look on her face.

Connie’s suggestion could have been made for Mark’s benefit. After all, he was still recovering. Yet from the woman’s expression Eden guessed that the director of the Peregrine Connection and his assistant probably had urgent business they needed to discuss.

“I’ve given you the Jefferson room, and your luggage is already unpacked,” Connie informed them crisply. There was no pretense of their being assigned separate quarters this time.

Once they were alone, Eden glanced at Mark. He was a remarkable man, and her love for him knew no bounds. Yet she’d heard the old enthusiasm in his voice when he’d recalled the Orion mission.

When they’d talked about Mark’s immediate future, Gordon had ruled out fieldwork for him. He was scheduled for three months R and R, during which they would continue his therapy program. When he returned to active duty, he would be assigned as an air force liaison in the Situation Room at the Pentagon. She wondered if that would satisfy his need to be where the action was. He would no longer be in physical danger. But he’d certainly be handling crises on a global scale.

And if that wasn’t enough, perhaps she could help supply the element of adventure he needed in his life. She’d already started putting out feelers for a job in the D.C. area.

“Well, where do we go from here?” she asked.

He looked across at the wide bed with its quilted damask spread. “How about over there for starters?” As he spoke he tossed the crutch against a high-backed armchair and pulled her body tightly to his. As always, she melted against him, and her head tipped eagerly upward for his kiss.

When his warm lips finally lifted from hers, he splayed his fingers out across her cheeks. “I love you,” he whispered.

She tucked that knowledge into a corner of her heart. “I love you, too.”

But she didn’t need to cling to Mark for strength. Over the past few months she’d found a reserve of fortitude she’d never known she possessed. She’d fought for the man she loved, and won. That knowledge made her sure she could do the same with whatever lay ahead in the future.

ISBN: 978-1-4592-8360-2

Talons of the Falcon

Copyright © 1986 by Ruth Glick and Eileen Buckholtz

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

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BOOK: Talons of the Falcon
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