The King's Deception

But her words did not help. He’d left Gary with Antrim. Made that choice. He placed him in the situation. Of course, if Pam had been honest and told him the name of the man she’d had the affair with, he would have known. If she’d been open with Gary, then they both would know. If Malone had not been an ass sixteen years ago and cheated on his wife, none of it might ever have happened.

And if … and if … and if.

He told his brain to stop.

He’d been in tight spots before.

But never like this.

* * *

Antrim had to know what was contained in the email the analyst had forwarded. Denise had died trying to secure that information, but he’d taught her a lesson. Contrary to what the Daedalus Society thought, he wasn’t incompetent. He could handle himself just fine.

He and Gary had fled the warehouse, running several blocks to the nearest Underground station and boarding the first train that appeared. He decided to take a page from Malone’s playbook and find an Internet café. From there he could access his secured account and find out what was so important.

“Why’d you have to kill those people?” Gary asked him as they exited the train in a station near the Marble Arch.

He was in survival mode, and the presence of an inquisitive fifteen-year-old seriously complicated things. But this was a question he wanted to answer.

“In every operation there are good guys and bad guys. Those were the bad guys.”

“You blew them up. They had no chance.”

“And what would have happened if I hadn’t? We’d both be either dead or in custody. I didn’t want either of those to happen.”

His words came sharp, his voice tight.

They headed for the WAY OUT signs and the street above. Gary stayed silent. He decided that he shouldn’t alienate the boy too much. Once this was over and things calmed down he might want to pick up where they left off. And the thought of Pam Malone winning this fight irked him. Cotton Malone was still out there. Delivering Gary in one piece, even if he wasn’t around to see the reunion, would go a long way toward keeping that bulldog off him.

He stopped.

“Look. I didn’t mean to jump all over you. A lot is happening and I’m a little tense.”

Gary nodded. “It’s okay. I get it.”

* * *

Kathleen followed Malone into the Goring Hotel. She knew this place. A hundred years ago a man named Goring persuaded the Duke of Westminister to sell him a plot of land at the rear of Buckingham Palace. There he built the last grand hotel of the Edwardian era, each room a suite, equipped with central heating — which, for its time, was quite remarkable. She’d once enjoyed afternoon tea on its terrace, the biscuits and clotted cream heavenly.

No time for such niceties today, though.

Malone was clearly troubled. He’d tried twice more to call Blake Antrim, but with no answer. She sympathized, though she could only imagine his torment. Her SOCA badge made it easy for the front desk to provide Tanya Carlton’s room number. They found the door on the third floor, which was answered by Ian Dunne, who seemed glad to see them both.

“Why aren’t you two with Gary?” Malone immediately asked.

She caught the heightened level of concern in Malone’s voice.

“You were all supposed to be together.”

Tanya Carlton sat at a small desk, her twin sister standing behind her. A laptop computer was open before them.

“Gary left with Antrim,” Ian said. “We didn’t want him to go, but he went anyway.”

“So I decided we should leave,” Miss Mary said. “It was clear Antrim was through with us. I had a bad feeling about that place.”

“What place?” Malone asked.

Miss Mary told them about a warehouse near the river.

“Any idea where Antrim and Gary went?” Malone asked.

Miss Mary shook her head. “He didn’t say. Only that they would be back soon. But something told me that wasn’t going to happen, so we left. Prior to that, though, Ian managed to steal Mr. Antrim’s cell phone. Which turned out to be a good thing.”

“How is that?” Malone asked. “I’ve been trying to contact Antrim on that phone.”

“We left it in the warehouse,” Ian said.

Which meant either Antrim and Gary had not returned to find it, or something else had happened.

Tanya pointed to the laptop. “We have discovered what this is all about.”

Malone nodded.

“So have I.”

Fifty-five