Tightrope (Burning Cove #3)(23)

“So he was left with the underworld market.”

“A very dangerous place in which to do business,” Matthias concluded.

Amalie pondered that for a moment.

“How does a mediocre inventor figure out how to sell a red-hot cipher machine in a rather spectacular manner in a town like Burning Cove?” she asked.

Matthias turned away from the night scene. His eyes glittered with appreciation.

“Another excellent question,” he said. “As it happens, Pickwell had a gambling habit. He made the mistake of asking the owner of an offshore casino ship for advice on how to unload a very hot but extremely valuable item. He was referred to an underworld figure known as the Broker. When the Broker found out exactly what Pickwell wanted to sell, he contacted an acquaintance here in Burning Cove.”

“Who?”

“Luther Pell.”

Amalie took a deep breath. “So it’s true. Pell does have mob connections.”

And that meant Matthias had underworld ties, too. But she did not say that aloud.

Matthias did not confirm or deny. He simply drank his coffee and watched her intently, letting her form her own conclusions. She decided to move on.

“I understand now,” Amelia said. “Luther Pell is one of the people who is after the Ares machine.”

“He definitely has a deep interest in the cipher machine,” Matthias said. “But what he really wants is the man who is believed to have made the deal with Pickwell, an ex-spy who went into gunrunning after the Great War.”

“Gunrunning, hmm? I’ve never considered the career options available for retired spies.”

“Smith didn’t retire,” Matthias said. “He was fired. There are rumors that the spymaster who recruited him tried to neutralize him, but no one knows if that’s true or not.”

“You mean his boss tried to kill him?”

“Smith was considered extremely dangerous,” Matthias said. “But his real crime in the eyes of his employer was that he knew too much. Evidently the spymaster who handled Smith concluded that the country’s secrets would be safer if Smith were dead.”

“I take it the spymaster did not manage to, uh, neutralize Smith.”

“No. Evidently Smith did not appreciate the way he was treated. On his way out the door, he murdered his employer, who happened to be the only person who knew his real identity. To top things off, Smith stole his own file and an unknown quantity of intelligence documents. Then he vanished. According to Luther, very few people were even aware that Smith existed. No one knew his real name or anything about his past. He became a legend in spy circles.”

“Smith was a code name, I assume?”

“Right,” Matthias said.

“Why does Luther Pell care about this former spy turned gunrunner and murderer?”

“Let’s just say that Washington asked Pell to take on the investigation. Pell, in turn, called me.”

“Are you telling me that the director of some intelligence agency back in Washington asked a nightclub owner with mob connections for help in a matter that involves national security?”

Matthias looked amused. “Yes.”

“But why would someone in Washington trust Luther Pell?”

“The individual back in D.C. doesn’t have much choice,” Matthias said. “He needs Luther.”

Amalie decided she found that very humorous. “Because the black market deal for the Ares machine was set up by a mob broker and the man back east probably doesn’t have close ties with the criminal underworld. Luther Pell does.”

“The gentlemen who run our country’s intelligence agencies don’t like to dirty their hands by consorting with men who might have mob connections.”

“Except when they need someone with those connections.”

“Except for those situations.” Matthias drank some more coffee and lowered the cup. “This isn’t the first time someone in Washington has picked up the phone to ask Luther for a favor.”

“I’m just surprised that they think they can trust Pell. Talk about life’s little ironies.”

Matthias’s jaw hardened. “Luther may have mob connections, but he is a genuine hero of the Great War.”

“Yes, I did hear something about that,” she said. She paused, trying to read his grim expression. “There’s a lot you’re not telling me, isn’t there?”

“A lot,” he admitted. “I’d rather not lie to you if I can avoid it.”

“I appreciate that.”

Matthias chose to ignore the sarcasm. “Lying gets complicated fast.”

“Why did the Broker contact Mr. Pell to tell him about the cipher machine deal?”

“Let’s just say the Broker owed Luther a favor.”

“It must have been a heck of a favor,” Amalie said.

“It was. But returning to our subject, Luther is convinced now that Smith has been operating out of Los Angeles for quite a while. Hollywood, to be precise.”

“The perfect place for an ex-spy to hide, if you ask me,” Amalie said. “Nothing is what it seems in Hollywood.”

“True.”

“Well, obviously things did not go according to plan.”

“They definitely didn’t go according to Pell’s plan,” Matthias said. “Somehow Smith figured out that he was being set up. He changed the location and the time of the transaction. Instead of taking place in the parking lot of the Paradise Club, it happened onstage at the Palace.”