Part 102 (1/2)
”Perhaps now someone can explain how-' ”Not yet,” interjected Thomas.
”I beg your pardon?”
”We're here to exchange information' said Thomas, 'not to give it away.
We have one half of the Sandler story. You have the other half.
Now we're going to put them together.”
”For what purpose?” buffed Whiteside with a certain hostility.
”You want the man who was printing pounds? You want the man who killed her mother, tried twice to kill her, then killed another girl in her place, the girl you were kind enough to bury?”
”I want him,” said Whiteside flatly.
”Then tell us everything” pleaded Leslie.
”We'll tell our half of the story, then you tell us the rest of yours ”
”The part you always held back on, ” said Thomas.
”It's critical, isn't it?”
”It's also cla.s.sified British intelligence” said Whiteside with a sigh.
”On my own, I have no authority-” ”Within another day the man we both want will have escaped from within our grasp,” Daniels said.
”You have your choice. Help us or he escapes.”
Hammond looked nervously at Thomas, feeling left out of things.
”There are official regulations about releasing information” said Whiteside.
”Break them!” ranted Thomas.
Please” Leslie begged.
Whiteside could see the scar across her throat, the one which had never healed. He glanced to Hunter, who offered no opinion or change of expression.
”All right' Whiteside finally said.
”Let's be genteel about this. Let's sit down' Gradually the four men and one woman stepped toward an aged, dusty, dining table. The room was illuminated by a pair of dim kerosene lamps set up by Hammond.
Shadows fell across the heavy, drawn curtains which dated from the 1920s. Three chairs at the oblong table remained empty. Whiteside seemed to study Leslie a final time, as if to test his senses.
She began.
”We finally all agree on whom I am' she said softly, looking from eye to eye.
”Good” she said. There's no disagreement.
She moved quickly over areas of common knowledge, her birth, the 1954 attempt on her life her relocation with the McAdam family, the subsequent attempt by the Italian in 1964, and her return trip to England in 1974.