Part 49 (1/2)
”It all gives off the same stench when it burns ” They turned another corner and were now on a side street east of Lexington Avenue.
”Can I ask where we're going?” he said.
”See that sign down there?” she asked, pointing halfway down the block to a sign saying READER AND ADVISER, MADAME DIANE.
”That's where we're going.”
They walked. She continued to speak.
”My foster father had contacted another man in the Service. The man in Whitehall who was his immediate superior and to whom he would be reporting once his new a.s.signment began. They planned to rendezvous in Maracaibo. They did, in fact. Then they went on to Caracas.
Eventually they were heading north to the United States. There might have been a meeting with some U.S. intelligence service. I don't know.
I only know they never arrived.”
”Why not?”
They stopped short and stood immediately beneath the READER AND ADVISER sign.
Leslie glanced at the vacant doorway to the gypsy's parlor.
”The airplane blew up an hour after takeoff,” she said.
”A Caracas-to-Miami flight. June 14, 1971. Sabotaged And it wasn't an accident that they were on it. I suspect it was sabotaged for them expressly. After all, there are agents from the 'other side'-as my foster father used to call it-who are actively seeking the oil down there. And with one well-placed bomb, the top British sandhog and his superior were eliminated from the region.” She looked at Thomas, studying him for his reaction.
He listened to her story with compa.s.sion and sympathy. He believed her just as he had on the first day she'd come to his office.
And just as he'd believed the man in London calling himself Peter Whiteside.
”And that, Thomas'” she said in softer tones, ”is why my foster father can't be of help anymore.”
”What about Peter Whiteside?” he asked.
Her smile was pained. She shook her head.
”Sometimes you can be very slow,” she answered.
He looked at her quizzically as if to ask what she meant.
”Who do you think his superior was?” she asked.
”The second man on the airplane' There was a long pause and he felt a tumbling sensation in his stomach.
”Naturally,” he finally muttered.
”You've learned a lot today,” she said.
”Now I'll teach you one thing more. The defense of the rabbit. The fleet escape. Never go into a place which you can't get out of in at least three ways. Follow me in five seconds. You'll see what I mean She leaned forward and was no longer a teacher, but rather a woman and a lover. She kissed him on the lips and had him so starved for her physical affection that he tried to pull her closer by drawing her into his arms.
But she'd have none of that. It wasn't time. No sooner did he try to draw her closer than she resisted firmly and pulled back.
'I'll be back in touch,” she said.