Takedown

CHAPTER 36

“You’re full of crap,” Alex said. “You didn’t love her. That’s just another one of your tricks.”

Hopcroft shook his head. “There’s so much you don’t know about our past, Alex. Things we could never talk about.”

“You mean like my mother’s first marriage?”

He stiffened. “You know about that?”

“I’ve seen the video,” she said. “And you’re in it.”

“Did Munro show it to you?”

“I told you, I don’t know this Munro person. The video came to me anonymously. Talk about shattered illusions. I feel as if I was lied to my entire childhood.”

Hopcroft lowered his head again. “I’m so sorry about that. But they were all necessary lies.”

“Necessary? Why?”

He hesitated. “That’s something your father needs to tell you.”

“Fuck you,” she said. “You sit there and pretend to have sympathy for me, but you can’t even tell me the truth? Who’s the man my mother was marrying? Where is he now?”

“It’s not my place to say.”

“Of course not. Why would you even want to? You’re consorting with a known terrorist. A guy who’s wanted in six different countries.”

“Maybe that’s another illusion.”

She balked. “Which part?”

“The part about me.”

“Right,” she said. “Yet there you are with my gun, and here I sit cuffed in a chair.”

“What do you want from me, Alex? You want me to prove it to you?”

“Yes. That’s exactly what I want. You’re very good at showing me coin tricks, but all I see is a guy hanging around with thugs and facilitating the transfer of some very dangerous information.”

He paused. Looked at her. “You want the codes, don’t you? That’s what this was originally about.”

“I don’t really give a damn anymore.”

“You would if you knew what they are.”

“All right, then. Illuminate me.”

He was silent, but she could see by his eyes he was considering the pros and cons of telling her.

He said, “They’re the key to a little secret your friend Munro would just as soon keep to himself. But your father knows, and so do I. I’m guessing that’s why Munro sent you to kill me. It’s exactly the kind of thing he’d do. There’s a certain symmetry to it.”

“You still haven’t told me what they are.”

“GPS coordinates.”

“To what?”

“To seven different strategic locations around the world. All highly classified. What Munro calls the Seven Wonders.”

“Locations for what?”

“Chemical storage facilities, containing an organophosphorus compound that makes sarin gas look like a household disinfectant. The US government thinks the inventory has been destroyed, but Munro knows better. And with those coordinates in the wild, he has quite a problem on his hands.”

“Yet you’re about to help Frederic Favreau sell them to Valac.”

“I’m telling you, I’m not what you think I am. It’s all illusion.”

“And I still don’t believe you.”

“Then maybe this will help.”

He got to his feet, took a key from his pocket, then walked around behind her and unlocked her cuffs.

Alex looked at the P380 on the bed but remained where she was.

“Go ahead,” he said. “I’m unarmed.”

She still didn’t move.

He went to the bed and picked up the pistol, released the magazine, and showed her it was full. After slapping it back into place, he offered the weapon to her, grip first.

“It’s what you came here to do, isn’t it? If you don’t trust me, if you believe the lies that Munro has filled your head with and you think I would kill the woman I loved, the woman my best friend married, then by all means, take it. Pull the trigger.”

Alex stood up, took the pistol from his hand, then kicked the chair aside and stepped back, pointing the muzzle at his chest.

“Tell me the truth,” she said.

Her hands were trembling.

“I’ve told you all I’m willing to, Alex. Everything else has to come from Frank.”

“And when is that supposed to happen? I haven’t seen him since I was a teenager.”

“He’ll come to you when he thinks you’re ready.”

“When he thinks I’m ready? You’re lying,” she said. “You killed her. He told me you killed her.”

“Did he? Did he really?”

She almost said, “Yes, he did!” but that would have been a lie. The accusation had come from Thomas Gérard. And while that poem and the story surrounding it had been a powerful convincer, how could she be sure others didn’t know about them? The people she was dealing with, the people she worked for, were all very good at extracting information by whatever means necessary. She knew for a fact that Thomas Gérard was a liar. No speculation there. He’d lied to her from the very beginning.

Had what he told her about her father been a lie, too?

Had the text message?

If it’s too much to ask, I’ll understand.

Her certainty crumbled as she realized that of course it was a lie. Her initial instincts had been right. Her father would never have asked her to kill Hopcroft even if the man had killed her mother. He would have never asked her to kill anyone.

“Make your choice, Alex. But think about one last thing before you do.”

“What?”

“Why would I be standing here if none of this were true?”

And that was the clincher, wasn’t it? Why would he bother to come here? For old times’ sake? That seemed unlikely. Why not have her shot and been done with it?

Yet here he was, trusting her with a loaded weapon in her hand.

She lowered the pistol.

“You’re your mother’s daughter, Allie Cat. I can’t tell you how much you remind me of her.” He gestured. “You even have her ring. She got that from her grandmother.”

“Stop, Uncle Eric. I don’t want to hear any more right now.”

“Then you’d better put that weapon in that holster strapped to your leg. It’s time for you to meet the man I work for.”

“But why?” she said. “Why do you work for him?”

“Because I want the truth, too. And the people he works for have it. The closer I get to him, the closer I get to them.”

She didn’t bother asking him what he meant by all that. He wouldn’t tell her anyway.

She said, “You know I didn’t come here just for you, or those codes. I came for Valac. That’s what I do. I’m supposed to take him back with me.”

Hopcroft nodded. “Then let’s try to make that happen.”