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“Well done, mate.” After a quick pause, Wren said, “I don’t have to guess why you’re calling, do I?”
“Doubt it. I’m doing inquiries into the assassinations. Looking into Mr. Hinton, I saw that you were his director of operations.”
“Just like you, I put down the sledgehammer and put on a suit myself. I’m glad to hear the Agency is poking around on this. I hope you’ll let me know of anything you learn, provided it’s not classified, of course.”
“Still fact finding, honestly. But that’s why I called. You’ve taken your boss somewhere safe?”
“I have.”
“Where’s that, if I may ask?”
“We’re outside Havana. Anton has a residence and a lab down here.”
Pace said, “You were present during the attempt in the UK?”
“A right mess, that was.”
“Anything you want to say about it?”
Wren blew out a sigh. “Not really. Was a pretty straightforward thing. Same as you’ll hear in the news. Two hitters, they took out Anton’s body man, wounded a university employee. Anton wasn’t hurt, and both bastards earned a one-way ticket to hell for their sins.”
“Yeah, that’s about what I heard. Look, I just left the home of Lars Halverson in Boston. He had compiled a list of names before he died, and Hinton was on the list.”
“Interesting. What does that mean to you?”
“I don’t know. Most everyone else on the list was dead.”
“Are you saying Halverson made a list of people who might be targets, or people he suspected of being involved in it?”
Pace shrugged before speaking into the phone. “Only if he suspected himself. His name was at the top. I’m trying to figure out if there’s some other relationship between everyone on this page. Does the name Xiang Di mean anything to you?”
“Doesn’t ring a bell. Chinese bloke?”
“Yeah.”
“Anton used to work with the Chinese on research and manufacturing, especially for his cars, but not any longer.”
Pace thought a moment. “I wonder if I could get a meeting with Hinton. I can come to Cuba. Tomorrow, preferably. Maybe he’ll have some ideas about—”
Gareth Wren interrupted. “Look, mate, I’d love to help, but there’s no bloody way Anton’s going to meet with you. He thinks the United States is behind the entire thing.”
This stunned Jim Pace. “Us? You’re kidding.”
“No. He’s quite serious. You’re one of the baddies, as far as he’s concerned.”
“But…but what about—”
“Rick Watt? Yeah, fair question. He thinks the U.S. killed him to deflect suspicion.”
This was crazy, Pace was certain, but he didn’t say this out loud. “I’d love to hear him out; I promise to look into any concerns he might have.”
“I’ll run it by him, but I know what he’ll say. You’re not going to get that meeting, Jim. He doesn’t go wanting in confidence when it comes to his conclusions.”
Pace sighed. “All right.” He shifted gears. “You’re certain he’s well protected down there?”
Wren barked out a little laugh into the phone. “Bloody certain. I’ve hired a new chief of security to replace Emilio, the poor sod killed in Oxford. You’ll never guess who.”
In a confused tone, the CIA officer said, “Someone I know?”
