Page 131 of Shadow of Doubt

“That was one question I was not given an answer to. Powell’s replacement, this man Jansen, hinted that the Kremlin has some sort of a beef with another foreign intelligence service.”

“And the passports in that one dead guy’s pocket?”

Brunelle smiled. “Meant to throw us off the track and keep us guessing.”

“What about how Jadot’s killer had a key that allowed him to disappear behind a faux façade for a Métro airshaft?”

“Allegedly, he was an incredibly resourceful assassin.”

“Was?”

She nodded. “I’m told he’s dead too. Along with his getaway driver.”

“So, somebody got to them before us.”

“Correct.”

“But why is France ground zero for all of this?” Gibert asked. “Why can’t these people handle business in their own respective countries?”

“Apparently, it had something to do with Elovik, the military attaché.”

“Who was the mastermind behind the entire spy ring,” said the cop, shaking his head. “Was there anything that guywasn’tinto?”

“According to our sources, he’s now vanished, so we may never know.”

“What was his raison d’être? Why set up that spy ring? Did it have a military purpose of some sort?”

Brunelle nodded. “By recruiting spies in our government, Moscow bragged that they could get their hands on any classified NATO intelligence it wanted, particularly as it applied to Ukraine. And, post-Brexit, with Britain out of the EU, the Russians are very nervous about the leadership role they see France growing into. The Kremlin about lost its mind when President Mercier suggested French troops could soon be sent to Ukraine.”

“So Jadot was poised to expose everything, but made the mistake of turning to Powell, who was on Russia’s payroll and sold him out.”

“Correct,” she replied. “But as you wisely said, the best thing about this was that we got the list. Without it, we never would have known who the traitors were.”

“And without you,” the cop said, “the government might never have come up with such a clever plan to bring them all in at once, get as many as possible to confess, and control the fallout.”

“I don’t know how much fallout we contained. It’s still a massive scandal.”

“Don’t undersell what you did. It could have been much worse. Playing to their egos and gathering them up in one fell swoop was a stroke of genius.”

“We got lucky,” Brunelle admitted.

Raising his glass, Gibert proposed another toast. “To luck.”

Clinking her glass against his again, she took another sip.

“How’s MoMo?” he asked after swallowing his champagne.

“He’s good.”

“What about his buddy, Amir?”

“Still pissed-off, but he’ll get over it,” said Brunelle. “Which brings us to why we’re here. Outside of Amir’s apartment, when you agreed to log the flash drive into evidence for me, you said you wanted a favor in return. Your text said that meeting you for lunch today would be that favor. What does that mean?”

“It means that I want to apologize.Properlyapologize. I am sorry for lying to you. I should have told you the truth about my wife. I didn’t. That was wrong. I still think you’re a little bit crazy, Karine, but you are the most intriguing woman I have ever known. I wish our circumstances had been different. Someday, I hope you can forgive me.”

“Thank you,” said Brunelle. “I was very hurt. Still am to a degree. But as long as we’re apologizing, I’m sorry if I caused you any unnecessary pain.”

Raising their glasses, they clinked. There was no toast. There didn’t need to be. It was an act of détente; of something very painful, for both of them, finally being laid to rest.

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