Page 70 of Licence To Howl
‘If Paris pay up and London don’t then Britain will forever be castigated as the villain. And vice-versa. They’re using politics against the politicians and peer pressure to force both countries’ hands. Hell, at this point they don’t even need to plant any explosives. By making good on their threats up till now, they’ve done enough to get the money that they want by doing nothing more than asking for it.’ She blew air out through her cheeks. ‘What a shitshow.’
‘They’ve not won yet.’
‘I’m all for optimism, Devereau, but this is beginning to feel like a lost cause. We’ve been out-manoeuvred at every turn.’
‘The Italians still have Vissier. Maybe he’ll yet reveal something vital that we’ve missed. We have the shortlist of specific targets from him…’
Scarlett interrupted. ‘We already know from what happened in Berlin that they’re circumnavigating that shortlist. The information we have is useless. You know how many important buildings there are in both London and Paris. You know how much history and meaning is tied up in each one. To cover every single building and every single bridge is next to impossible. You could draft in the entire army from every corner of the world and it still might not be enough. It didn’t work in Berlin. There’s no reason to think it would work now.’
Devereau drummed his fingers. ‘Maybe there’s something else we’re not thinking of.’
From the corner, Greensmith cleared her throat. ‘Maybedoesn’t cut it. In the end, Mr Webb,’ she said, ‘you’re really not James Bond. MI5 are not invincible and most certainly not infallible. And sometimes, sadly, the bad guys do win. We don’t know where they are. We don’t have any leads. If you can think of anything, by all means, let me know. But they could be in Paris. They could be in London. They could be fucking anywhere,’ she said, swearing in front of him for the first time, ‘andwe don’t know where. The clock is already ticking. London and Paris have until two o’clock in the morning to pay up.’ She held up her watch. ‘That’s less than six hours from now. And this time the terrorists, whoever they truly are, have not provided any helpful clues to allow us to locate the bombs. Anything we do to stop them now is nothing more than a stab in the dark. It’s only pure luck that will help us now and that’s in short supply. They’ve already won.’
Sharp pain stabbed between his shoulder blades. No. She was wrong. There had to be something they could do. This was MI5 for goodness sake.
Something softened in Greensmith’s expression. ‘Don’t get me wrong, we’ll catch up to them eventually. It’s simply not possible in this day and age to stay hidden forever. But it won’t happen today. Today,’ she said, gazing off into the distance, ‘they win.’
He stared at her, watching the angular shadows of the plane flit across her face. ‘No,’ he said, ‘I’m not going to accept that.’
‘Then it’ll end up destroying you,’ she said simply.
‘Not before you destroy me first.’ There was more than a trace of bitterness to his tone.
Something flickered in her eyes. ‘Despite what I said before, we won’t actually blame you for any failures with this operation. Everything you have done this far has proven what an asset you can be and everyone at MI5 now appreciates that.’
Devereau genuinely doubted anyone at MI5 believed he was an asset. It didn’t take a super spy to know that she was lying through her teeth.
Greensmith seemed to realise that herself and added lamely, ‘You’ve done everything you could. Finding that device at the Oberbaum bridge will stand you in good stead. Consider yourself off the hook. You won’t receive any blowback. On that part, I promise you. The Germans wouldn’t stand for it.’
‘Just as well,’ Scarlett half snarled, ‘because none of this is Devereau’s fault.’
Greensmith merely gave her a wan smile.
‘Somebody will need to be made the scapegoat,’ Devereau said. ‘Which poor bugger have you decided to pick on now?’
‘As it turns out, Mr Webb, there are no shortage of candidates. Other governments have been involved and numerous other nationalities. Not to mention other people at MI5. It’s a case of stick a pin into a map and come up with someone to blame. It shouldn’t be too hard. They’ll find someone.’
He shook his head. Unbelievable. ‘They’re going to pay the demands, aren’t they? The British government will pay up.’
She sighed. ‘I believe so. It’s a mistake but it’s far out of my own hands. We underestimated what these terrorists were capable of. And we will pay the price for that. Literally.’ She turned her head and looked away from him. There was something she wasn’t saying. He was sure of it. All of a sudden, Devereau realised what it might be.
‘I was sent to investigate Solentino on my own,’ he said. ‘With only you as my guide. There was a limited budget. I’ve got no experience. And I’m a supe to boot. This was really nothing more than another test, wasn’t it?’
Greensmith jerked. ‘Anothertest?’
Devereau smiled humourlessly. ‘Yeah. Nobody at MI5 actually believed Christopher Solentino was a threat. He was on your radar. You knew something was up. But you never thought for a second that it would be something like this or that he could possibly be remotely successful. Sending me to Rome was merely a shot in the dark. You were sticking a pin in a map,’ he said, turning her own words against her, ‘and seeing what happened. If I fucked up, it didn’t really matter. I’m just a werewolf. If I messed up, it would only prove the prejudices.’
Greensmith’s eyes slid away.
‘Bloody hell,’ Scarlett breathed.
‘I’ve always been on your side, Devereau,’ Greensmith said.
Perhaps she had. Perhaps she hadn’t. He chose not to challenge her on that for now. ‘And the rest of MI5?’ he asked. ‘What about them?’
This time she didn’t answer.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
