Iron Orchid

THIRTEEN

TEDDY LEFT NW YORK CITY in a rented car after midnight and drove south. At six a.m. he arrived at a diner not far from McLean, Virginia, where he waited for half an hour in the parking lot until she drove in and parked her SUV near the front door. He gave her a minute to be seated before following her in.

Irene Forster was sitting alone in the same two-seater booth she had occupied for breakfast for at least fifteen years, perhaps longer, certainly during all the time she and Teddy had been sleeping together, sometimes in the motel next door. Teddy slid into the booth opposite her. She looked up at him, preparing to tell him to get lost. “Good morning, Irene,” he said.

She stared at the man in the tweed cap with the gray hair and beard, and slowly comprehension came into her face. “Teddy?” she said under her breath.

“Ah, you didn’t think you were rid of me, did you?”

“My God,” she said, “I thought the planet was rid of you.”

“Not quite yet. You’re looking very beautiful.” He wasn’t just flattering her. In her late forties, she had ripened perfectly. Her ex-husband was a fool.

“Why aren’t you dead?”

“I thought I’d avoid that as long as possible.”

“But the announcement from the president and the FBI…”

“Somewhat exaggerated. I’m sure they know by now that I’m alive, but they’re keeping that quiet.” He looked appreciatively at her breasts under the sweater. “You’re as beautiful as ever.”

She managed a nervous smile. “Good Lord, I’m wet,” she said. “I didn’t think that could still happen.”

“I’m flattered. And I’m hard.” He extended his leg until their ankles touched.

“This is very dangerous for you,” she said.

“Not unless you’re dangerous to me.”

She shook her head slowly. “Not in the least I cheered everything you did.”

The waitress appeared at their table with a coffee pot and filled both their cups. “What’ll it be, Irene?”

“The usual,” she said.

“The same for me,” Teddy said.

The waitress went away.

“I’m relieved to hear you say that,” Teddy said. “I must say, I thought you might approve.”

“You always knew me better than anybody else.”

“And you, me.”

She smiled. “Nobody knows you, Teddy, not down deep.”

“Well, I must say, I like being an enigma. By the way, please call me Mike.”

“Mike, it is. What on earth are you doing here? Other Agency people come here, you know. What do you want?”

“Immediately, a good breakfast and to make love to you in the motel next door.”

“Done,” she said. “And then?”

“We can talk about that afterwards.”

“Did you know I was promoted?”

“That must be very recent, or I would have known it.”

“Last month. I’m special assistant to the deputy director for Operations.”

“How is old Hugh?” he asked. “Hasn’t Kate Lee found a way to get rid of him, yet?”

“Not yet. I think she’s just going to wait him out until retirement. She seems to have found a way to work with him, which I never thought would happen.”

Their breakfast arrived, and they dug into it.

“Did you go through the usual vetting for the promotion?” he asked.

“Oh, sure.”

“Polygraph and all?”

“The works.”

“That’s good; they won’t test you again for at least a year.”

“Probably not, unless I give them cause.”

“Don’t worry; I’ll disappear after this morning, though we can still get together, if you want to.”

“You know I’ll want to. Finish your breakfast; I’m randy.”

THEY LAY BESIDE EACH OTHER, sweating into the motel sheets.

“God, I’d forgotten what it was like,” she said.

“I hadn’t,” Teddy replied.

She turned toward him and rested a cool hand on his belly. “Okay, now that we’ve fucked each other’s brains out, what do you want?”

“Information.”

“You’re not done, yet?”

“Oh, I’m done with assassinating right-wing politicians,” he said. “Now I’m looking for bigger, even more dangerous game.”

“What sort of game?”

“My country’s enemies,” he said.

“I’D BETTER GO FIRST,” Teddy said, after they were both dressed.

“How will you contact me?”

He reached into a pocket and took out a cell phone, wiped it with his handkerchief and laid it on the bed. ”It’s a throwaway, untraceable.“

She nodded and put the phone into her purse. “Don’t call me at work,” she said.

“Of course not. Always after hours.”

“Now that I know what you’re looking for, how do I call you?”

“You don’t. That would be dangerous for both of us. Don’t make any calls on that phone at all. If anyone should ever ask, you found it, tossed it in a drawer. It won’t make a record of incoming calls, it’s a bare-bones device. I’ll be in touch in a day or two. In the meantime, start making mental notes, now that you know the sort of thing I’m looking for.”

She nodded. “When can we see each other again?”

“Soon, but not here. Do you ever have occasion to travel on business?”

“I’m going to New York with Hugh in a couple of days. There’s some sort of meeting.”

“Take the cell phone with you,” Teddy said. They kissed once more, and he was gone. He could trust her, he thought. He hoped so.