Tapestry of Spies Part 44

She turned back, eyes gray green, face tight and beautiful. She smelled so wonderful.

"I don't work for your major, Robert," she said. "I swear to G.o.d I don't." She took a deep breath. "It's what's called MI-5, actually," she said. "Security Service. We go after traitors, Robert. That's our job. Yes, I spied on you, because I thought you were my country's enemy. That is the truth. Without illusions and, d.a.m.n you, without apologies."

"Poor Julian. He thought we were both his friends. With friends like us, the poor sot hardly needed enemies."

"He was a traitor, Robert. You reported so yourself in Tristram Shandy." Tristram Shandy."

"I was wrong. I leaped to a conclusion. I made a mistake."

"No, you weren't wrong. No matter how brave he was at that bridge and how he chummed up to you, he was a Russian agent. No matter what he told you, the truth was, he was working for the Russians. He was a spy, Robert. He was the enemy. And you wouldn't have had the guts to deal with him if I hadn't played my little game. Yes, Robert, I made you a killer. You killed Julian because I made you. Because it was the right thing. You couldn't see your duty, but I saw mine."

"You and all the rest of the voodoo boys, you're wrong. About Julian. About everything. Julian was the only one that was right. He knew. In the end, it was just a game."

"Stop it, Robert. You're still an innocent."

"Sylvia," he said. "You are my last illusion, and my most painful one. G.o.d, you're a cold b.i.t.c.h."

"Somebody has to be, darling," she said, turning back to the water, "so that the silly fools like you can write your silly books and feel as if you've done something for your country. It's the Sylvia Lillifords and the Vernon Kells and the MI-5s that make the world safe for the fools like you, Robert. You really are the most perfect a.s.s I've ever met."

But he could see that she was crying.

"Good-bye, darling."

"No, don't you leave, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d," she spat at him. "I'll tell it all. I went to Spain to get them. To get them all, all those clever, bright pretty young people in the Hotel Falcon who think revolution is so beautiful and communism is a new religion. Yes, I got them all, by name and by number, and it all goes back to the MI-5 files. They're dead in England, and they don't know it. And I'll get you, Robert, I will. You think you're going to write a book about all this, Robert? Well, we'll stop you. With Official Secrets, we'll close you down. You'll never publish anything, Robert. You're done, before you've even begun, G.o.d d.a.m.n you, you're just like them. Soft, a dreamer, ready to p.i.s.s on your inheritance."

Florry looked at her, and realized how full of hate she was, how she was nothing, in the end, except a kind of terrible hate.

"You've made me a clever boy, Sylvia. You've taught me some very interesting lessons about the future. And I don't think you'll stop me writing what I know. The funny thing is, darling, I still love you."

He smiled, then stood up and walked away, wondering if it would ever stop hurting.

Florry went back to England and presented Julian's mother with the ring. The old lady was still beautiful and she lived in a glorious town house all hung with pictures of the Raines men down through the ages, but the thing did not seem to mean much to her. She simply put it on the table and did not look at it again. She did not appear to have been crying much, but then weeks had pa.s.sed since the news.

"Did my son die well, Mr. Florry?" she asked.

"Yes," said Florry.

"I thought he might have. It's a gift the Raines men all seem to have," she said. "They are perfect rotters in life, but they die well. It was true of his father. Would you care for some tea?"

"No ma'am. I'd best be going."

"Do you know, they're saying awful things about my son. That he was a traitor. Have you heard these stories?"

"Yes, I've heard the stories. They're untrue. No man knows that better than I."

"Good. Well, if you know that, it's a start, one supposes. Are you sure you won't stay?"

"No, thank you."

"Good-bye, Mr. Florry."

"Good-bye, Lady Cecilia."

And then she added, "Tell the truth, won't you?"

"I shall try," he said.

"You do know what the truth is, don't you, Mr. Florry?"

"I think I do, yes," Florry said.

"Incidentally, they sent me something from Spain. It was some poetry that Julian was working on before he died. I can't think why. I always hated Julian's poetry, and this last I can't begin to understand. I believe the work was called 'Pons.' I'd like you to have it."

"Well, I really-"

"Please, Mr. Florry. I insist. You gave me the silly ring, now let me give you his last verse, all right?"

Florry waited patiently until the old lady returned, and took the foolscap. Yes, come to think of it, he'd seen Julian scribbling away in their little bunker in the trenches.

He thanked her, took it, and left.

Only later, in his little bed-sitting room, did he look at it.

To the trenches outside Huesca, We came as comrades but stayed as lovers.

Our fingers froze, our rifles jammed, And when we died, were doubly d.a.m.ned, for History had pa.s.sed to others.It had no lesson, or only one: that the test was ours and had begun.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR.

Stephen Hunter is the author of nine novels, including the national bestsellers Black Light, Dirty White Boys, Point of Impact Black Light, Dirty White Boys, Point of Impact, with over three million copies in print, and his latest Time to Hunt Time to Hunt. He is also the chief film critic for The Was.h.i.+ngton Post The Was.h.i.+ngton Post and the author of a collection of criticism, and the author of a collection of criticism, Violent Screen Violent Screen. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

Also by Stephen Hunter

FICTION.

Pale Horse Coming

Hot Springs

The Second Saladin

Time to Hunt

Black Light

Dirty White Boys

Point of Impact

The Day Before Midnight

The Master Sniper

NONFICTION.

Violent Screen: A Critic's 13 Years on the Front Lines of Movie Mayhem