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“The woman took off through the woods.I followed and saw her get into a vehicle waiting outside the estate’s perimeter.Unfortunately, my car was on the opposite side of the estate, so I had no chance of following her.”
“Did you get a plate number?”
“It was a black vehicle, plates obscured, and they never turned on the lights.”Puck rolled his shoulders.“I staked the place out for several days, awaiting her return.”
“And?”
“She showed up on Christmas, and while she looked almost identical to Seshat, that’s when I confirmed she wasn’t.”
“What led you to that theory?”
Puck rolled up his sleeve and showed me the tattoo on the inside of his right wrist.It was quite small, but when I leaned in, I saw it was a date.“This is the day Seshat and I met.She has an identical tattoo.The woman’s wrist was bare.”
“Seshat could’ve had it removed.”
Puck shook his head.“Other things were off.Her mannerisms.Also, Seshat made an oath she took seriously.It was something she was intransigent about and refused to work for MI5 until it was guaranteed in her contract.”
I nodded, remembering its entirety.“I will use my power to help the sick to the best of my ability and judgment; I will abstain from harming or wronging any man with it.”
“First, do no harm,” said Puck, nodding.
While I still wasn’tentirelyconvinced Seshat was alive, I kept that to myself for now.
“That was almost a year ago,” I prompted.
“I spent the next few months alternating between searching for Seshat and monitoring the other woman.”
“Do you have any theories as to who this woman is?Or was, as it were?”
“She and Seshat look so much alike I would go so far as to say they’re twins.”
“This is a great deal to take in.Wait, isn’t there more?”I asked when he closed his laptop.
“We’ll readdress later.”He stood and approached the door.“I was there two nights ago.As soon as I realized they were going to kill Oleander, I intended to act.Before I could, Poseidon and the others arrived.I would’ve killed her, Z, without hesitation.That’s how certain I am that it wasn’t Seshat pointing the gun at Oleander.”
“Wait,” I repeated when he was about to walk out.“The body is at the morgue.The woman’s identity could easily be confirmed.”
“Precisely.”
“I’ll need to make a call in order for that to happen.Better yet, you could release me.”
“Not yet.”
“Sven, why in the bloody?—”
“You haven’t heard the rest of the story, Z, and until I receive one final bit of information, you will not.”
I wanted to roar in anger at him.Instead, I did everything I could to keep my wits about me when he left the room.It was what I’d been trained to do in order to survive any hostage situation.
I went through a training protocol once at Fort Monckton, after graduating from Oxford.The weeks I’d had to spend apart from Katherine seemed endless then.It was unfathomable to me that she’d been gone twenty-five years.
I underwent additional training when I returned to the UK from Texas and took over as assistant DG of MI5.Before I was made chief of MI6, I went through more advanced training.
* * *
I remainedstunned that Rivet had hired me for the assistant DG job, until I met my superior.The man, Oscar Harris, had one foot in the grave, as they say.Thus, my first few weeks on the job were spent reading piles of briefs and other documents in order to familiarize myself with all the active MI5 cases.
Thankfully, Mrs.Udele, my boss’ secretary, knew where virtually everything was, which meant I had to interact with the man very little.
