The Eleventh Commandment (1998) (54 page)

Maggie’s legs felt weak. She stared at the man she had never stopped loving, and thought she might collapse. Tears welled up in her eyes. She demanded no explanation. That could come later, much later. She ran towards him, oblivious of anyone around her.

The moment he saw her, he gave that familiar smile which showed he knew he’d been found out.

‘Oh my God, Connor,’ she said, flinging out her arms. ‘Tell me it’s true. Dear God, tell me it’s true.’

Connor held her tightly with his right arm, his left sleeve dangling by his side. ‘It’s true enough, my darling Maggie,’ he said in a broad Irish accent. ‘Unfortunately, although Presidents can fix almost anything, once they’ve killed you off you have no choice but to disappear for a little while and take on another identity.’ He released her and looked down at the woman he had wanted to hold every hour of the past six months. ‘I decided on Dr Declan O’Casey, an academic considering taking up a new appointment in Australia, because I remembered your once telling me that you’d wanted nothing more from life than to be Mrs Declan O’Casey. I was also confident that I wouldn’t be unduly troubled by too many Australians testing me on my mathematical prowess.’

Maggie looked up at him, the tears streaming down her cheeks, not sure whether to laugh or cry.

‘But the letter, my darling,’ she said. ‘The crooked “e”. How did you … ?’

‘Yes, I thought you’d enjoy that touch,’ said Connor. ‘It was after I saw the picture of you in the
Washington Post
, standing by the grave opposite the President, and then read the glowing tributes to your late husband that I thought, Declan, my boy, this could be your last chance to marry that young Margaret Burke from the East Side.’ He smiled. ‘So how about it, Maggie?’ he said. ‘Will you marry me?’

‘Connor Fitzgerald, you’ve got a lot of explaining to do,’ said Maggie.

‘I have indeed, Mrs O’Casey. And the rest of our lives to do it.’

THE ELEVENTH COMMANDMENT

J
EFFREY
A
RCHER
, whose novels and short stories include
Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less
,
Kane and Abel
and
A Twist in the Tale
, has topped the bestseller lists around the world, with sales of over 250 million copies.

He is the only author ever to have been a number one bestseller in fiction (fourteen times), short stories (four times) and non-fiction (
The Prison Diaries
).

The author is married with two sons and lives in London and Cambridge.

ALSO BY JEFFREY ARCHER

NOVELS

Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less

Shall We Tell the President? Kane and Abel

The Prodigal Daughter First Among Equals

A Matter of Honour As the Crow Flies

Honour Among Thieves The Fourth Estate

Sons of Fortune False Impression

The Gospel According to Judas
(
with the assistance of Professor Francis J. Moloney
)

A Prisoner of Birth Paths of Glory

A Quiver Full of Arrows A Twist in the Tale

Twelve Red Herrings The Collected Short Stories

To Cut a Long Story Short Cat O’ Nine Tales

And Thereby Hangs a Tale

Beyond Reasonable Doubt Exclusive The Accused

Volume One - Belmarsh: Hell

Volume Two - Wayland: Purgatory

Volume Three - North Sea Camp: Heaven

Mallory: Walking Off the Map False Impression

A
CKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank the following for their help in researching this book:

The Hon. Richard Thornburgh, former United States Attorney-General

The Hon. Samuel Berger, United States National Security Advisor

Patrick Sullivan, United States Secret Service, Washington Field Office

Special Agent J. Patrick Durkin, United States Diplomatic Secret Service

Melanne Verveer, Chief of Staff to Hillary Rodham Clinton

John Kent Cooke Jr, owner, Washington Redskins

Robert Petersen, Superintendent, United States Senate Press Gallery

Jerry Gallegos, Superintendent, House Press Gallery

King Davis, Chief of Police, Sierra Madre, California

Dr Galina Andreeva, Keeper of the Department of Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Painting, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

Aleksandr Novoselov, Assistant to the Ambassador, Embassy of the Russian Federation, Washington DC

Andrei Titov

Three members of the St Petersburg Mafya who refused to allow their names to appear

First published in the UK 1998 by HarperCollins
Publishers

This edition published 2010 by Pan Books

This electronic edition published 2011 by Pan Books
an imprint of Pan Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
Pan Macmillan, 20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR
Basingstoke and Oxford
Associated companies throughout the world
www.panmacmillan.com

ISBN 978-1-447-20301-8 PDF
ISBN 978-1-447-20300-1 EPUB

Copyright (c) Jeffrey Archer 1998

The right of Jeffrey Archer to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

The Macmillan Group has no responsibility for the information provided by any author websites whose address you obtain from this book (‘author websites’). The inclusion of author website addresses in this book does not constitute an endorsement by or association with us of such sites or the content, products, advertising or other materials presented on such sites.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Visit
www.panmacmillan.com
to read more about all our books and to buy them. You will also find features, author interviews and news of any author events, and you can sign up for e-newsletters so that you’re always first to hear about our new releases.