I gave him the summary. The glass of the phone booth fogged even more with my breath as I spoke, and I had to wipe it clear to watch the street. When I finished, Manakin was quiet for a long moment. I heard aflickand knew he was lighting a cigarette. The man smoked far too much.
“The Order,” he said finally. “You’re sure?”
“She’s sure. Everything matches what we saw in Rome. The method is consistent, and they left their calling card on the body.”
“Goddamn it.” Another exhale. “We’ve picked up chatter about something brewing in Switzerland, nothing concrete, just whispers about Soviet interest in the region. I thought it was just noise.”
“She’s asked for our help,” I said. “She wants us to come to Bern to help her investigate.”
“Absolutely not.”
The refusal was immediate and unequivocal.
“Emu, I know she’s a friend and you have history, but this is a Swiss domestic matter. You two would be American intelligence officers operating on foreign soil without authorization. If you got caught poking around, it wouldn’t just be your careers on the line. It would be a huge fucking international incident.”
“Sir—”
“I’m not finished.” His voice hardened. “The Baroness is a valuable asset, and I have no desire to see her harmed, but I can’t authorize an operation on Swiss soil without clearance from above. That means State Department, possibly the Director himself. Hell, the President might want his eyes on this. It takes time.”
“How much time?”
“I’ll make some calls. If everyone’s on board, it could move quickly.”
“But?” My hand tightened on the receiver.
“But it could take a week or more for the brains in Washington to come to a decision, and I doubt this will fly anyway. The Reds are all over our asses right now. You know that. We can’t afford to go pissing in their bathwater.”
“Sir, Switzerland isn’t—”
“I fucking know what Switzerland is. And so does Stalin.”
“We may not have weeks,” I said. “She’s being targeted. Her sources are being eliminated. If we wait—”
“Then she uses her own resources. She’s the head of fucking Swiss intelligence, for God’s sake. She has people and capabilities, and other European countries would offer aid if she asked for it. This is her backyard, not ours.”
“Her backyard is compromised. She doesn’t know who she can trust.”
“That’s her problem, Emu. Not yours.” Manakin drew on his cigarette and breathed out loudly, then his tone softened slightly. “Look, Will, I know this is hard. I know you want to help. But I’m ordering you to stand down until I can get proper authorization. Stay in Paris. Maintain your cover. Do not—repeat, do not—follow her to Switzerland.”
He’d usedmy name, not my code name. There really wasn’t a path forward.
I closed my eyes.
This was the choice I had known was coming since the moment I’d stepped into the phone booth.
“Understood, sir,” I said. “We’ll stand by for further instructions.”
“Good. I’ll be in touch as soon as I have clearance. And Emu?”
“Sir?”
“Don’t do anything stupid.”
The line went dead.
I left the phone booth and walked to the bakery.
When I stepped back into our home, the flat was filled with the bitter scent of freshly brewed tea. Thomas sat at the kitchen table.He was studying the Baroness’s documents. She stood at the stove, doing something complicated with eggs that I suspected would put my own cooking to shame. They both looked up when I entered. Something in my expression must have told them I had news, because their brows creased in an almost comical unison.
