The Whole Truth

CHAPTER 99

OPERATING ON A TIP, the local police discovered the body of Mrs. Creel in a freshly dug hole at the bottom of the excavation pit the next morning. A few minutes after that, Shaw was released from an Italian jail. He walked out a free man with a fresh shirt on and his arm wound stitched up nicely courtesy of a local doctor called to the prison.

It would take a long time to uncover, catalog, and dissect what had happened with the Red Menace, Nicolas Creel, and Pender amp; Associates. But regardless, that truth could never be told to the public, decided the powers that be, including the United States, Russia, and China. Every scrap of information unearthed about Nicolas Creel’s grand plot was immediately classified and buried forever. It might seem amazing that this was possible, but it was also true that such “burials” happened all the time all over the world.

Katie, Shaw, and Frank, among others privy to the details, were sworn to secrecy for the rest of their lives.

Katie had not taken this directive well. “Why keep it a secret? So we can make the same mistake again?”

She was told that if the world learned how close it had come to Armageddon and how governments around the globe had been deceived it would cause people to lose faith in their leaders.

“Well, maybe people should,” Katie had shot back.

Yet when the president of the United States himself pleaded his case and appealed to her sense of patriotism, Katie had finally relented. But she had issued a caveat.

“Next time, why don’t you people think about these things before rushing to judgment? How’s that for a strategy?”

Eventually the world shrugged off this near-cataclysmic event and moved on, as it always seemed to do. It might not have been as safe as it was during the cold war, yet at least it wasn’t a mere perception of security built on lies.

Shaw, Katie, and Frank traveled to London where there was a memorial service for the victims of the London Massacre. Anna’s parents were in attendance, but Shaw kept his distance from them. Being attacked by Wolfgang Fischer in a London cathedral was not how he wanted to memorialize the woman he loved.

He did travel once more to Wisbach, to visit Anna’s grave. On the second day he was there, and unknown to him, Katie and Frank arrived in the small town and knocked on the door of the Fischers’ home.

Wolfgang, looking very old and tired, answered.

Katie said, “I’m Katie James. This is Frank Wells.”

Wolfgang looked at them suspiciously. “What is it you want here?”

Frank said nervously, “I need to set the record straight, so to speak, about Shaw.”

“I do not need the record set straight with that man,” Wolfgang said, his face flushing.

“Yeah, I think you do,” Katie said firmly.

“Why is that?”

“Because he deserves it. He deserves the truth. And you need to do it for Anna.”

“For Anna? What do you mean!”

“Your daughter was brilliant and beautiful and accomplished and also head over heels in love with that man. And you need to understand why.”

“Let them come in, Wolfgang.”

They all looked at Natascha, who was standing behind her husband. “Let them come in and we listen. She is right. We must do this for Anna.”

Frank and Katie swept past Wolfgang and for the next couple of hours the four of them discussed what had really happened.

“My God,” Wolfgang exclaimed when it was over. “I would like to see Shaw. Tell him, tell him…” He looked helplessly at his wife.

“Tell him how we feel, that it is different now, how we feel,” Natascha finished for him.

“Yes,” said Wolfgang. “Different.”

Katie said, “Get your coats.”