Agent Reynolds was wiry and athletic-looking. He seemed cocky, almost insolent. Teddy couldn’t tell if that was a defense mechanism, or just who he was.
Agent Rowan was younger and more attractive. Or perhaps she just seemed younger because she was more attractive. At any rate, Teddy was impressed. Agent Rowan would not at all be unpleasant to investigate.
The other two agents seemed to be vying to appear macho in front of her.
“I don’t get it,” Agent Reynolds said. “You’re sent here for an undisclosed reason, and we’re supposed to just take you in?”
“Yeah, I probably wouldn’t like me much, either,” Teddy said.
“So where are you from?” Agent Morrow asked.
“You name it, I’ve been there.”
“I meant just now.”
“I know you did,” Teddy said.
Morrow flushed slightly.
“He’s been sent to work with us,” Norton said. “For an undisclosed purpose even he may not know.”
“Bullshit,” Agent Reynolds said.
“My sentiments exactly,” Teddy said. “Frankly, I wasn’t happy to get the assignment. But don’t hold it against me, I don’t like most of what I do. May I assume since you’re all here you’re not specifically assigned?”
“Were you hoping to assign them?” Agent Norton said.
“I’m hoping to learn soon what the CIA wants of me and get out of your hair,” Teddy said. “In the meantime, if something comes up, I’m here. Not that I’m expecting anything. I’m trying to figure out if you are.”
Agent Rowan smiled. She had a nice smile. “That’s so reasonable it’s hard to hate you.”
“Trust me, people always find a way.” Teddy referred to the printout he’d been given. “Okay, that’s Morrow, Reynolds, and Rowan. So I assume Agents Paul and Workman are on assignment?”
Agent Reynolds looked at Norton accusingly. “How come he has a roster?”
“He asked,” Norton said. “You want one, I’ll make you a copy.”
* * *
• • •
FOR THE REST of the day, Teddy went through the tedious process of investigating the lower-level office personnel. Any one of them could have been the mole, but Teddy tended to doubt it. The person he was looking for would have more access to sensitive material than the average desk jockey. Still, he put secretaries through their paces and got a feel for the bookkeeper’s grasp on the workings of the organization.
Agent Reynolds went with him. Teddy said there was no need, he had the printout, and he could find the people by himself, but Agent Reynolds wasn’t buying it. Under the guise of camaraderie, a thin ruse that fooled no one, he insisted on showing Teddy around. It didn’t matter. As far as Teddy could see, everything was open and aboveboard. Routine matters were being handled, and none of the people who were handling them were showing any of the nervousness someone with something to hide would.
The first agent of any interest was a young man named Jacques who sat scrolling through screens on his computer. It was near the end of the tour, and Agent Reynolds was taking a bathroom break.
Jacques smiled when Teddy introduced himself. “You’re new? I wouldn’t know. People don’t stop by my desk that often. They think I’m a computer nerd.”
“Whatever gives them that idea?”
Jacques frowned, then his face lit up in a big smile. He pointed to his computer. “Yes, yes, good one. That’s what I am.”
“What do you do at the computer?”
“I monitor reservations.”
“You mean plane reservations?”
“Yes. And hotel. Not so glamorous, but every now and then something comes up. Like the arms conference a few years back.”
“‘Arms conference’?”
“Well, not an official conference, of course, but a bunch of international arms dealers met in Paris to buy and sell. They haven’t tried that again. It didn’t go very well for them.”
“Nothing since?” Teddy said.
“Nothing that ever pans out. I got a hit last week, of a suspected arms dealer coming to town. A couple of them, actually, both staying at l’Arrington Hotel. It looked promising, perhaps a clandestine business meeting, but it turned out they were both there for other purposes entirely.”
“That’s disappointing.”
“Not at all. I’d rather have nothing going on than get a pat on the back for finding something.”
“Are you French?”
Jacques smiled his big smile again. “What gave me away?”
“Then you would know. Where’s a good place to get a cup of coffee around here in the morning?”
“Ah. Café du Soleil. Right around the corner. Ask anyone.”
Teddy thanked him and moved on to the next desk.
Agent Reynolds came back from the bathroom. Before joining Teddy, he stopped to talk to Jacques.
“What was he asking you about?”
Jacques looked after Teddy, then back at the agent. “A place to eat.”
32.
TEDDY FINISHED HIS interviews without incident. He’d been there two hours and hadn’t seen anything particularly suspicious. Lance would think he was slipping.
Teddy left the embassy and strolled a few blocks, looking at the novelties in shop windows. As expected, Agent Reynolds was following him. Luckily, his shadow was not. It would have been hard to lose one and not the other.
Teddy walked one more block just to make sure Agent Reynolds was the only one taking an interest in him, and hailed a cab. He took it straight to the Gare de Lyon Railway Station, got out, and went downstairs to the bank of long-term lockers. He opened locker 26, which contained ten thousand dollars and Melvin Melbourne’s passport. He took out five hundred dollars, closed the locker, and left, making sure Agent Reynolds was close enough to have seen what he did.
Outside, he took evasive action, just good enough to be convincing, but not good enough to be effective. After that, he led Agent Reynolds to his apartment. He went in, sat on the bed, and looked around. It was every bit as depressing as a deep-cover agent’s apartment should be.
Teddy took out a burner phone and called Dino. “Everything all set?”
“Hey, it’s not rocket science,” Dino said.
“That’s why I ask. You’re a police commissioner. You can command a citywide task force. It doesn’t mean you can tie your shoe.”