"I hope you're not planning to re-apply for a position here."
He
turned away from her and started to walk down the corridor.
"Because if you do, I shall leave."
Jacey was sitting in the lobby of her small London hotel, reading the
British Medical Journal, when she sensed someone standing in front of
her.
She glanced up and saw Peter Draven smiling at her.
"Looking for a job?"
he asked.
"Yes," she said calmly, masking her total amazement.
"Why?
Do you know of one?"
He grinned.
"Very good.
Not even a glimmer of surprise.
A good doctor can
disguise her true feelings under all circumstances.
Very useful when
you have to tell someone they're going to die."
He sat down.
"Mind if I join you?"
"Only if you tell me what you're doing here?"
she said.
"I've been back for some time," he said.
"I mean here," she said.
"Would you believe coincidence?"
She shook her head.
"No.
I wouldn't."
"You'd be right," he said.
"I knew you were back.
It wasn't difficult to find out where you were
staying."
He grinned at her.
"Any good secret agent could do it."
"But you're a doctor," she said.
"So are you," he countered.
She stared at him.
"Tell me that what I'm thinking is nonsense."
"If you're thinking, does he work for Major Fairhaven's department too,
then it isn't nonsense," Peter said.
"Now tell me what you were doing at La Primavera," she said.
"More or less the same as you."
He shrugged.
"But with less success.
I didn't manage to penetrate Nicolas
Schlemann's secret circle of friends, probably because I don't think he
had a secret circle.
That man is a consummate professional.
I doubt
if he confides in anyone."
He smiled.
"Not even in the throes of passion.
Am I right?"
I "Absolutely," she
said coolly.
"So it was a waste of time giving you to Nicci," Peter said.
"I could have disobeyed orders, and kept you to myself."
i "Orders?"
she repeated.
"You were told to get me involved with Nicolas?"
Peter nodded.
"You don't think I'd have been stupid enough to do it otherwise?
Not
after what we had going for us.
Our mutual bosses were pretty certain
Nicci would notice you, but I had to make absolutely sure the two of
you got together.
And then I was told to come home, and leave you to
it.
I don't mind telling you, I didn't want to.
But you know how it
is.
Orders are orders."
"Oh, I know how it is," she agreed.
"Major Fairhaven wanted a Spanish-speaking doctor, attractive enough to
catch the eye of Nicolas Schlemann, and willing enough to jump into bed
with him, and he looked down his list and found me."
She noticed that
Peter looked uncomfortable.
"And you were told to help things along.
It was as cold-blooded as
that."
She smiled at him humourlessly.
"Don't look so miserable.
That's the way the game is played."
"I suppose it is," he said.
"And what are you doing now, Dr.
Draven?
Tailing me?
Making sure the
major knows where I am, in case he needs me for another exciting
assignment?
I wonder what it'll be this time?
Perhaps I'll be offered
to an eastern potentate as a bribe."
"Actually, I'm waiting to be sent out to America," Peter said
awkwardly.
"When I heard you were back, and in London, I thought I'd look you
up."
"Why?"
she asked.
He looked increasingly uncomfortable.
"I thought we could spend a few days together."
"For old times' sake?"
she asked pleasantly.
"Or because it's cheaper than hiring a whore?"
He flinched as if she had hit him.
"That's unfair.
I thought our affair was a mutual thing.
I thought we
had something together."
"We did," she said.
"Sex.
But that was all.
And I haven't forgotten that while you were
fucking me in that operating theatre, you knew very well Nicolas
Schlemann was watching."
"That was his idea," Peter said.
"I know very well it was his idea," she answered.
"But you could have refused.
And maybe you could have told me a little
of what was going on."
He was about to say something but she silenced
him.
"Don't say you couldn't because you were obeying orders."
"What else can I say?"
He shrugged.
"You know the rules.
If it's any consolation to you, I didn't enjoy
playing a double game with you."
"It isn't any consolation to me," she said.
"But do you know what's even worse?
I can sit here and know I've been
manipulated and used, and treated like some kind of whore, and I don't
even feel angry any more.
I just feel numb.
That's what working for
Major Fairhaven does to you, Peter.
And that's why I'm finished with
it, for real, this time.
I got out once before, and I let' the major
talk me back in, but this time it's over.
I'm going to go away and
turn myself into a nice, normal human being, with a nice, normal
boyfriend, and a nice, normal life."
"I wish you luck," he said.
"Thank you," she said.
"And if the major has really sent you to find me, and check out if I'm
ready for another assignment, you can tell him from me to hick off. And
please use those exact words."
She thought she saw a spark of devilment in Peter's eyes.
"If I was going to report back to the major," he said, 'it would be a
real pleasure to give him your message."
Jacey could not really decide whether it was the rain that had sent her
down to the travel agency to buy a ticket to Guachtal, or her daydreams
about Felix Connaught.
She had never bothered much about British
weather before, but now each grey morning made her miss the bright
colours of Techtatuan.
And she had never had daydreams about a man who
was less than exciting in bed either, but she found herself remembering
Felix Connaught's smile, his voice, his long legs in the faded Levis,
and the glint of the narrow bracelet on his wrist.
She could not get
him out of her mind.
What would it be like to work with him, live with
him, share her life with him?
The more she thought about it, the more
she wanted to find out.
Maybe we could both give Nicolas Schlemann a run for his money over the
logging, she thought.
Maybe we could drag this Lohaquin out of hiding, and turn him into more
than just a symbol for revolution.
The possibilities were there;
it just needed someone to give them impetus.
And maybe, she thought,
I'm that person.
As far as the staff at La Primavera were concerned, there had never
been any doubt that Jacey would return.
When they asked her if she
enjoyed the wedding, she made up some stories to satisfy them.
Ingrid told her that Curtis Telford had returned to the States.
"And I didn't fuck him," she said, with obvious satisfaction.
"Not once.
Do you think I'm becoming a good girl at last?"
"I think you just didn't fancy him," Jacey said.
"And I don't blame you."
She grinned.
"Did I tell you I kneed him in the balls?"
Ingrid gave a shout of laughter.
"You did not.
Tell me now."
Jacey explained briefly what had happened, and Ingrid punched the air
with her fist.
"Yes!
That's what he deserved.
Why didn't I do it myself?"
"Because you're a well-brought-up ice maiden," Jacey said.
After Ingrid had gone, Jacey worked through her patients' files and
realised that, as usual, no one had any serious ailments.
She
completed her notes, and completed her rounds, and decided to go back
to her apartment for a shower.
She unlocked her door to find Nicolas lounging in her armchair, wearing
a smart, dark-grey suit.
His jacket was undone and his shirt collar
unbuttoned.
"Welcome home," he said politely.
"Thank you," she said, equally polite.
"It would have been nice to know in advance that you were taking a
holiday."
"I thought you already knew everything about me," she countered.
"And that seems to include how to get into my apartment."
"I got the master key from the cleaning woman," he said.
"I'm told you went to a wedding?"