Deliver Us From Evil (A. Shaw 2)
Page 118
“I could have saved you the trouble. We have lots of paper on him.”
“People believed he was dead; killed in an uprising in Ukraine years before the Wall fell.”
“Carefully orchestrated escape strategy. A number of them did that.”
Shaw looked over the top of the file at her. “A number of them? Interesting word choice. What exactly is it that you and your comrades in arms do at Harrowsfield?”
“Something that I can’t tell you about. Ever.”
“You’re going to have to tell somebody.”
“Why? Have you already told your boss about the place?”
“I haven’t told him anything about anything. What I’m telling you is that you might need a friend on this.”
“And you’re that friend?” she scoffed.
“I didn’t say I was that friend. I don’t know enough to know whether I want to be your friend or not.”
“Meaning you might end up against us?”
“Just talk to me.”
Reggie rose and paced in her bare feet, scrunching her toes against the soft carpet, working out the cramps. “It’s not that simple. Nothing about this is simple, Shaw.”
“It’s only as hard as you make it.”
“Oh come on, that’s bullshit logic and you know it.”
“Maybe it is, but I’m finding the words hard to come by to convince you to trust me. I thought maybe I’d earned some of that back in Gordes.”
“That was then, this is now,” she said, throwing Shaw’s own words back at him.
“I guess risking life and limb doesn’t mean as much as it used to.”
Reggie stopped pacing and sat down next to him on the bed. She looked down at the floor and sighed. “No, it actually does.”
“So what’s the problem? I know Kuchin is a bad guy.”
“But you know what we were going to do to him.”
“Seemed pretty obvious.”
“I take it you don’t play by those rules?”
“Not unless it’s either them or me. Then I’ll do what I have to, to walk away.”
“That’s not exactly splitting hairs. It’s a big difference in philosophy.”
“Like I said before, I don’t have the authority to arrest anyone.”
“Right, sure.” She stood and drew over to the window and opened the drapes.
“Nicest views in London,” said Shaw, who joined her there.
Grateful for this momentary change in the discussion, Reggie pointed to a lighted structure in the distance and said, “Have you been on the Eye?”
It looked like a Ferris wheel on growth hormones.