The Double

I can’t.

But I had to. I could accept what Konstantin was but I couldn’t be party to this, to cold-blooded murder and the war that would follow. Hundreds of innocents would die in the crossfire.

Unless I did the unthinkable.

Konstantin reached me and put his hands on my shoulders. “Hailey! What’s the matter? Who’s on the phone?”

The dread changed to hot, jagged pain. I’m so stupid. Everyone—even him—had warned me about men like him and I’d ignored them. I’d believed a criminal could be honorable. Carrie’s voice rang in my head. She’d been right. I’d forgotten who I was. I’d forgotten I was FBI.

My vision swimming with tears, I felt for the secret compartment of my suitcase and shoved my hand inside.

Konstantin’s voice was gentle but panic thickened his Russian accent. “Hailey! We have to go!”

Tears welled and heated and then, as my fingers found the grip of the gun and closed around it, they spilled free and started running down my cheeks.

He stared down into my eyes, his own eyes icy blue and full of worry. I remembered telling him at Battery Park that I didn’t need to know his secrets, that I trusted him. How could I have been so wrong?

He gripped my shoulders hard. “What’s the matter? Hailey!”

I pulled out the gun and pointed it right at his face. “You’re under arrest,” I panted through my tears.

58

Hailey

THE FBI OFFICE should have felt like home, but being back there felt... wrong. The buzz of conversation, the smell of bad coffee... even my gray FBI suit felt scratchy and alien. I stared at the paperwork on my desk, undisturbed since I’d flown off to meet Konstantin. I’d been gone two weeks. It felt like a lifetime.

I needed to be busy, so I wouldn’t think, but there was no more surveillance to be done. Not now our quarry was a prisoner downstairs.

Prisoner. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the look on Konstantin’s face when I’d arrested him. There was a party atmosphere at the office: we did it, we caught him. Someone had opened a bottle of champagne and was pouring glasses. It made me want to break down and scream.

I’d lost him. I’d torn us apart forever, betrayed him in the cruelest way possible, just after he’d spared my life and given me a chance.

But I’d had no choice. Had I?

There was no one I could talk to. The FBI agents all thought I was some sort of hero, sympathetic about what I must have had to go through at the mansion. I needed Calahan, but he was being debriefed and might be hours. He’d managed to cover for me, claiming that I’d alerted him to Konstantin making a run for the airport.

After an hour, I couldn’t take it anymore. I went down to the interrogation rooms, careful on the stairs because I was still wearing three inch heels. I’d changed clothes because I wanted to leave Christina behind as fast as possible, but I hadn’t had any spare shoes at the office.

I found Carrie in the observation room, staring through the one-way mirror into the interrogation room. I hesitated in the doorway, keeping my eyes off the mirror. I’d come down here to see Konstantin but, now that I was here, I couldn’t face seeing him.

Carrie saw me, marched over and pulled me into the room and then into her arms. “Good job,” she told me. “Very good job.” Her voice was shaky with emotion.

I squeezed her back. The mirror was behind me, now, and the hairs on the back of my neck were standing up: I could feel Konstantin’s brooding presence in the room beyond. I’m not going to be able to turn around.

Carrie pushed back from the hug and studied me. “I know it can’t have been easy,” she said carefully. “I’m glad you’re back with us.”

I said nothing. While I’d been at the mansion, she’d heard enough over the earpiece that she must at least suspect that I’d fallen for him. But she was letting me come home, all sins forgiven, because I’d delivered her the prize.

I nodded. “It’s good to be back,” I said weakly.

Carrie looked over my shoulder, towards the one-way mirror and Konstantin. “He’s not talking,” she told me bitterly. “Not a goddamn word.”

What?! “That makes no sense!” I looked at the clock, panicked. “The email said the assassination would happen at 1pm. That’s in two hours. We have enough to pin it on him. If he lets it happen, he’s going to jail for twenty years!” I felt ill: I’d wanted to stop a gang war, but the thought of Konstantin caged in a tiny cell until he was an old man…. And if the assassination went ahead, the war would still happen.

Carrie shook her head, scowling. “Maybe it’s worth it to him, to see one of his rivals fall.”