“Of course.”

“And once one arrived in Provence, how one got there became irrelevant.” He stood and looked out at the breathtaking view of the Luberon valley. “It is glorious.”

She joined him. “It is.” She added, “My mother would have said that God was in fine form when he created Provence.”

“A religious woman, I take it?”

“A good Catholic, just like me.”

“On her dying bed my mother said to me, ‘Never forsake your faith in God. It will keep you, in the good and especially in the bad.’ She was a wise woman.”

“And has it kept you, in good and bad?”

“No life is without pain. I am rich now, but once I was not. Once I…” He smiled. “I think dinner is ready. You will sit next to me. Alan is joining us as well. You should ask him about his theory on French versus California wines. It is most interesting. He is completely wrong, of course, but it is worth hearing nonetheless.” He walked her into the dining room.

After the meal was done, they had more drinks and then dessert out on the lower patio next to the pool. Rice joined them for a few minutes but then abruptly left. Whether this was on a high sign from his employer or not, Reggie didn’t know. Waller stared moodily at the water.

“You have a pool at your villa, correct?”

Reggie nodded. “I swim. In fact, after this meal I should probably swim a couple of miles to work it off.”

He waved this comment away. “Ridiculous. You are in superb shape.”

“You don’t have much fat on you either.”

“I do what I can,” he said modestly. “Americans eat too much garbage, but you have obviously escaped that trap.”

“Being wealthy gives me certain advantages many Americans don’t have. I can afford to eat right, and I have the time to exercise.”

“Here, a peasant can go to market and get the freshest ingredients for a few euros. And they walk to market and thus get their exercise.” He paused and added, “But I judge no one.”

Reggie felt her face flush uncontrollably at this statement. Fortunately, Waller was not looking at her. You only judged hundreds of thousands of people to their deaths.

She rose. “Thank you for a wonderful day.”

He said, “You are not leaving.”

She flinched for an instant, since it was not clear if that was a question or a command. “It’s been a long day.”

“But it is still early.”

“Perhaps for you.”

“I wish very much that you would stay.”

“I’m sure I’ll see you soon enough. And not everyone gets their wish.”

He rose. “You will not reconsider? I would like to get to know you better.”

“I need to swim.”

“You can swim here.”

“Good night, Evan. I can show myself out.”

“There are few who would venture to disagree with me.”

“I’m not disagreeing with you.”

“But-”

She stood on tiptoes and pecked him on the cheek. “It’s all in the timing, actually.”

After she closed the door of her villa securely behind her, Reggie spit on the floor and then wiped off her mouth.

50

YES, Whit, I understand the situation quite clearly, perhaps better than you.”

Professor Mallory sat at his desk in his study at Harrowsfield, attempting to light his pipe at the same time he was clenching the phone against his cheek with his left arm.

“I took the action that I deemed most prudent.” Mallory paused as a string of words came over the line from the obviously upset Irishman.

Mallory finally got the pipe going and took a moment to suck greedily on the stem. He flicked the match out and dropped it on his desk, where it continued to smolder.

“I can’t see where it’s robbed you of any necessary manpower, but if you require reinforcements I can have them to you tomorrow. Yes, yes, well I can do the math too. You have four men for the outside and then the three of you on the inside. If you think that’s insufficient?” He paused and listened some more. “Yes, I have talked to Regina, and no, she doesn’t know about it. What really would be the point? Have the final details been worked out? I see. Projection equipment?” He listened some more. “Yes, I suppose that would come in rather handy. All right. Yes, just let me know.”

Mallory put the phone down and puffed on his pipe. He looked up to see Liza standing by the doorway.

“Problems?” she asked.

Mallory cleared his throat. “Nothing unmanageable. Whit is a bit put out, but he’ll get over it.”

Liza frowned. “We’re too close to D-day, aren’t we, to have anyone put out over anything?”

“It’ll be fine, Liza, don’t worry.”

“And you’re telling me you’re not concerned?”

“I’m always concerned until my people are back here safely. But they have everything under control and the plan is a sound one. In fact, Regina came up with a new wrinkle that I think will work out quite nicely.”

“There is one flaw in your plan,” pointed out Liza.

“No plan is perfect, and we had to put this one together rather on the fly.”

“But they aren’t even aware of the potential pitfall. You know I disagreed with you on that.”

“Without that we wouldn’t have gotten our shot at Kuchin.”

“Yes, but that might be the difference between ‘your people’ coming home safely or not.”

“I am quite aware of the risks,” Mallory said a bit indignantly.

“You are, but they aren’t, not fully.”

“There is inherent risk in everything we do.”

“Sometimes I wonder.”

“Wonder what?”

“We sit here in our cozy old English country house and plan these things and then send them out to execute our plans.”

“They participate in creating those plans.”

“Good night, Professor.”

She left Mallory to angrily puff on his pipe, until he knocked out the wedge of tobacco, stuffed the pipe in his jacket pocket, and sat there moodily in his old leather chair.

Whit sat gazing at the phone. Sometimes he just didn’t get Mallory. No, that was wrong. He almost never understood the man. The professor had handed Whit another task at a critical time in their mission and the Irishman didn’t appreciate it one bit. Babysitting Bill Young was not something he’d signed on for. He pocketed his phone and marched down the hallway.

“Give me the key, Niles,” he said to the man stationed there, and he handed Whit the key.

Niles Jansen knocked on the door and called out, “Away!” Then he pulled his gun and pointed it at the door as Whit inserted the key. The door clicked open and Whit stood just inside the doorway.

Shaw stood against the far wall, staring back at him.

“Ready to let me go?”

“Sit,” ordered Whit.

Shaw looked at the gun pointed at him and slowly walked to the chair and sat down. Whit moved forward a few inches.

“You know, you look familiar,” said Shaw.

“I look like a lot of guys.”

“So what can I do for you?”

“You can tell me what you’re really doing in France.”

“I’m on holiday. Why are you here?”

Whit leaned against the wall. “Lobbyist from D.C. who can scale walls and disarm people? You really think we’re buying that?”

Shaw didn’t say anything for a long moment. “I’m a retired lobbyist. And I was supposed to be returning to the States to be with my son. You obviously had a different idea.”

“You look too young to be retired.”

“I made my money and I wanted out. Is that a crime? Is that the reason you bashed me in the head and are holding me prisoner here?”

“Like you were told before, chill and you’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, but what about Janie Collins?”

“Who?”

Shaw crossed his arms and studied the other man. “What are you planning?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“But you’re working together.”

Whit shook his head slowly. “Again, don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Sure you do. I told Janie I was a retired lobbyist. I scaled her wall and disarmed her. No one else knew about that.”