Suspects(58)

“Thank you,” Theo said, feeling dazed. “Can I give you my number so you can call me if anything happens?” Jocelyn took down her numbers in Paris, office, home and cell, and her email address, and Theo thanked her for telling her the truth. She sat without moving in her chair when she hung up, and Martine walked in and stared at her.

“You’re looking very pale. Do you feel okay?” She hadn’t looked that bad when she was poisoned. Theo glanced up at her with huge eyes in a snow-white face.

“Mike had an accident. I need a ticket to New York, right away. I want to leave as soon as I can. I’ll go home and pack. Call me there.”

“God, Theo, I’m so sorry. A car accident? Will he be okay?”

“I don’t know.” She couldn’t give Martine the details because she couldn’t explain why he’d been shot, and didn’t know anyway, but it was in the line of duty, and no one except Theo knew that he was CIA. She got up quickly then, grabbed her purse, and headed out the door, signaling to her bodyguards to follow rapidly.

“I’m going to New York for an emergency. A friend of mine is very ill,” she explained to them. They wondered if it was Mike, but didn’t ask her. They just hurried after her, down the stairs and out the door to her car. Two of them got in with her, and the other two got in their chase car on the street. She went straight home and started packing as soon as she walked in, speeding around her dressing room, throwing black jeans, some sweaters, shoes, and underwear into a small valise. When she had almost everything she needed, she went to call the hospital, and asked to be connected to the ICU. She got the nurses’ station and inquired about his condition, and the nurse asked immediately if she was related to him.

“Yes, I’m his sister,” she lied to them.

“He’s still in critical condition, there’s been no change and he’s still intubated.”

“Is he still in a coma?” she asked in a choked voice.

“He’s medicated,” the nurse said more precisely, in a gentle but serious voice.

“I’m in Paris, I’m flying in to see him. I just heard about it.” She gave the nurse her name and cellphone number, and asked to be added to his contacts, and the nurse said she would. Theo didn’t know if she was breaking any CIA rules, but she didn’t care, she wanted to know what was happening to him.

Martine called as soon as she hung up. “You’re on a seven forty-five flight to Kennedy tonight,” she told her. “You have to be there at five forty-five to check in. You should leave in the next fifteen minutes. You’re in business class, first was full, and I got a seat for Patrick to fly with you in business too. He was the only one who could do it on such short notice. He has clothes at the apartment. And you’re staying at the Four Seasons. The Carlyle was fully booked. I got you a suite.” It was everything Theo needed to know.

“Thank you. You’re an angel.” She went to get her passport out of her desk, checked that she had everything she needed, and closed her valise, just as Patrick came down the stairs carrying his suitcase. She had never traveled with him before, and she explained to the head DGSE agent that she was flying to New York to see a sick friend. They said they would advise Agent Thomas, and wait for further orders from him. He called her in the car on the way to the airport. She was staring out the window, feeling dazed. She couldn’t believe that fate could be this cruel to her again. She had lost Matthieu and Axel, and Mike had fallen into her life like an angel from the sky. She couldn’t lose him too. And regardless of her, he didn’t deserve that. He was such a good person and kind man, who had spent a lifetime protecting others. He couldn’t die at forty-nine. But another voice in her head said he could. If Axel could die, an inncocent child, so could Mike.

She answered the phone when Guy Thomas called her.

“I understand you’re leaving for New York to see a sick friend?” He sounded puzzled and surprised. “I hope it’s not serious.” But he knew it must be if she was leaving so hastily.

“It’s Mike. He was shot during an operation last Tuesday. I just found out. He’s in critical condition, in a coma, in the ICU in a hospital in New York.”

“Oh, I am sorry. He’s a good man, and a strong one. He’ll pull through it,” he said with a conviction he didn’t feel but thought he should show to her. The poor woman had been through enough. “Give him my best. We’ll handle everything here. And hopefully we’ll have your other problem taken care of by the time you get back. I’m in close communication with MI6. They’re combing England for our man. My men will be waiting to take care of you when you get home. I hope everything turns out well in New York.” He hoped that fervently for her. If anyone ever deserved not to lose another person close to her, it was Theo. She had been unspeakably brave through some of the worst that life had to give. Then he added, “I’ll say a prayer for him.” It wasn’t something he offered to do often, but he thought it was warranted in this case, for both of them. Her eyes filled with tears and she could hardly speak when she answered.

“Thank you. I am too,” was all she could say for a minute. “I’ll be at the Four Seasons Hotel in New York, if you need to reach me.”

“I’m sure I won’t,” he assured her. “Take care of yourself,” he said kindly, and they hung up. She sat staring out the window after that, thinking of Mike, with tears running down her cheeks.