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She knocked on Dr. Shay’s door, and a voice she didn’t recognize said, “Come in.”
She opened the door and stared at the man who sat behind the desk. “Come in,” he repeated, smiling.
Lily entered the office and closed the door behind her. Silently she sat down in the seat she usually took.
“I’m Frank Vinay,” the man said. He looked to be in his early seventies, maybe, and he had a kind face but the sharpest gaze she’d ever encountered. She recognized the name with a sense of shock. This was the Agency’s director of operations himself.
A few dots connected, and she said, “Swain’s Frank?”
He nodded. “I’ll admit to that.”
“You were really in a car accident?”
“I really was. I don’t remember anything about it, of course, but I’ve read all the reports. It put Swain in a bind, because he found out there was a mole who was reporting to Rodrigo Nervi, but he didn’t know who it was and I was the only person he could say for sure wasn’t the mole, so he had no one to call. He was totally on
his own with that operation—except for you, of course. Please accept your country’s thanks for what you did.”
Whatever she had expected to hear, that wasn’t it. She said, “I thought you would have me killed.”
The kind face turned somber. “After all your years of service to the country? I don’t operate that way. I read the reports, you know; I saw the signs that you were stretched thin, but I didn’t pull you in the way I should have. After you killed Salvatore Nervi, I was afraid you were going to disrupt the complete network, but I still never contemplated having you terminated unless you gave me no choice. This was my first option,” he said, indicating Dr. Shay’s office. “But I knew there was no way you would believe it if the plan was presented to you. You would either run, or kill, or both. You had to be taken, so I sent my best hunter after you. It was a fortuitous selection, because another field officer might not have worked the situation as capably as he did when circumstances changed.”
“When he found out about the mole, and I found out what was really going on at that laboratory.”
“Exactly. It was a complicated situation. When Damone Nervi discovered what his father and brother were planning, he took steps to prevent the virus from being released by hiring Averill Joubran and his wife to destroy the work, and that set the whole ball of wax into motion.”
A man as handsome as a movie star, was how Mme. Bonnet had described her friends’ visitor. That was Damone Nervi, all right.
“So he knew all along who I was, that day at the laboratory,” she murmured. “And he knew I killed his father.”
“Yes. He’s an amazing man. He wouldn’t have minded if you’d been killed in the explosion, mind you, or if one of the guards had shot you as you and Swain were leaving, but he did nothing to compromise your mission.”
He was a bigger person than she was, Lily silently admitted. She had almost lost control and attacked Dr. Giordano—but she hadn’t, she realized. That was how Damone Nervi must have felt. Hah. He wasn’t a bigger person, after all.
“The thing is, we may not have done any good at all,” she said. “The avian flu virus may mutate on its own, at any time.”
“That’s true, and there’s nothing we can do to stop it. But the CDC and the WHO are working hard to develop a reliable method of producing the vaccine, and if the virus mutates before that happens—” He spread his hands. “At least no one is releasing it deliberately, and making a fortune from the deaths of millions. Which brings me to another health issue,” he said, smoothly switching subjects. “How are you doing?”
“I feel well, finally. The surgery wasn’t a picnic, but it worked.”
“I’m glad. Swain was there, you know.”
She felt as if he’d thrown a body block at her. “What?” The word came out as a weak gasp.
“For your surgery. He wanted to be there. When you were placed on the heart-lung machine, he almost fainted.”
“How . . . how do you know that?” She almost couldn’t speak, so profound was her shock.
“I was there, too, of course. I was . . . concerned. It wasn’t a minor surgery. He saw you in recovery, but had to leave before you were awake.”
Or he’d wanted to leave before she was awake. She didn’t know how to take all this in, or what to think.
“You can leave here anytime you want,” Mr. Vinay continued. “Do you know what you want to do?”
“See my mother and sister, first of all. After that . . . I don’t know. I need a new line of work,” she said wryly.
“If there’s any field in which you’d like to be trained. . . . We can always use someone who’s dedicated and resourceful, and loyal.”
“Thank you for the offer, but I’ll have to think about it. I honestly have no idea what I want to do.”
