A Dangerous Liaison Part Five (3 page)

Petra struggled in my arm. “Alec. No!”

“Okay,” said Cooper quickly. “I’ll do it.”

“I’m not going anywhere with him.”

I cursed. Dammit, she was so stubborn. Didn’t she realize this was her only chance?

I looked at Petra.
I don’t have time to explain.
Go with him. You have to trust me.

Petra

Cooper was still pointing his gun at Alec. He held out his free hand for me.

“Come on, Petra, let’s get out of here.” 

I looked at Alec. His eyes were calm and deep blue. He looked tired but at peace.

I have the code for the device in your heart. I want you to use the code to deactivate the device.

I shook my head. How was I able to hear Alec’s thoughts?

It’s because of what they did to me in the program, Petra.

“Are you coming, Petra or am I going to pull this trigger,” said Cooper, waving his gun at Alec, his voice strained.

Alec ran his hand through my hair, sending a burst of electricity down my spine.

You can do it. I don’t have time to explain to you now. Trust me.

“Get the hell out of here,” Alec said out loud, pushing me towards Cooper.

I stared at him, open-mouthed, for a long moment then turned and walked towards Will Cooper.

***

When Cooper and I reached the Cathedral entrance I stopped and turned around. Alec was standing in the middle of the church – he hadn’t moved. As our eyes met I was transported back to my dream - to the beach. I was in the arms of my dream man again – safe and protected. The waves crashed behind us, and the sun was warm on my neck. I looked up. The face of the man in my dream had always been a blur. That’s why I’d spent every morning for the last 10 years with a legal pad and a pencil trying to capture his image. But now I could see his face clearly. It was Alec.  His skin was smooth, his eyes glowing. I saw myself reach out and stroke his cheek.

“We have to go.”

Cooper’s voice brought me back to the cathedral.

I nodded and let my arms fall to my sides slack.

“Let’s go.”

The words sounded like someone else’s. I hadn’t accepted the sacrifice Alec had made – but I seemed to have lost any will to resist. I turned away from Alec feeling like I was moving through treacle, and walked towards the Cathedral entrance like an automaton. Part of me was wondering why I’d let Alec die for me. As we stepped out into the bright Rome sunshine Cooper took my hand. I let him.

***

We’d gone about a hundred yards when the explosion went off. At that distance it was impossibly loud. I felt it rumble through my body rather than heard it. There was no way Alec or anyone within fifty yards could have survived. Then a moment later a shockwave hit, throwing Cooper and me onto the road.  Cooper pulled me to my feet. When I was upright he ran his hands over me – squeezing randomly here and there. It was like he was checking over a joint of meat he’d just bought – and didn’t want damaged. 

“Looks like you’re in one piece,” he said.

I didn’t answer him. His voice hardly registered.

I felt his fingertips dig into my shoulders. And then realized he was shaking me.

“Pull yourself together, Petra,” he said. “It’s all over.”  

I looked vacantly over his shoulder. My face felt slack.

Alec is dead. You let him die
,
said a voice in my head.

Cooper must have been thinking the same thing.

“Reader is gone now.” He couldn’t keep the note of triumph out of his voice or the smile off his face. I felt like I should have been angry at him.

He squeezed my shoulder again.   

“Reader has gone.”   

He leaned in closer. The smell of stale tobacco made me gag.

“You need to think about yourself now.”

When I didn’t answer he carried on.

“You’re a talented agent – one of the best. Yes, you’ve made a few mistakes, but nothing that can’t be worked out.”  

I hardly heard him – but he didn’t seem to notice. He was lost in a world of his own. His lips brushed against my ear. “We could help each other, Petra. I have a lot of influence in the Bureau. We could come to an arrangement…”

Cooper had won. He’d killed all those people and now he was going to get away with it. Why I wasn’t angry? I felt numb. 

Cooper went on for a while describing the arrangement. But eventually, when he realized he was wasting his time, he started to walk me back to the station. We were a block away when I saw Gabriel on the other side of the road – his cellphone pressed to his ear. He caught sight of Cooper and me, shoved his cell in his pocket, and hurried over.      

“I’ve just heard,” he said as he reached us. “St. Peter’s. My God.” Then his eyes drifted over me and Cooper. We were covered in fine gray dust from the explosion.   

His eyes widened.

“Jesus, you were there. Are you hurt?” His eyes flicked from Cooper to me. Cooper was holding me by the arm. He’d been half supporting me, half dragging me along.

“We’re fine,” he said.

Gabriel put his hand under my chin, lifted it up.

“Petra, are you hurt?”

He seemed to be speaking from the end of a long tunnel. I didn’t respond. Answering him seemed so unimportant.

Gabriel turned to Cooper – his voice harsh.

“What happened to her?”

“It’s just shock,” said Cooper. “We were close to St. Peter’s when the explosion went off. Don’t worry, we weren’t hit. Physically she’s okay but I’m taking her back to the station to get checked over.”

Gabriel nodded.  

“We’ve had reports there was a massive explosion under St. Peter’s – in the crypts somewhere. Half of it has been blown away. The city is in chaos. The government has put all security forces on high alert. The whole of the city center is being cordoned off. But it’s probably too late to catch the bastards that did this – whoever they are.”

“There’s no need,” said Cooper.

Gabriel did the mother of all double takes.

“What?”

“There’s no need to hunt for anyone,” said Cooper. “Alec Reader blew up St. Peter’s. The good news is that he blew himself up too. He’s dead, Gabriel.”

I heard an angry voice cry out in my mind. It wanted to crush Cooper. But that part of me had no power now.

I was like a robot – moving and talking but not really there. The most important part of me – the person that gave my life meaning – had gone. Alec wasn’t only brave and talented, he’d been willing to sacrifice himself. I supposed I should have been proud of him. But all I felt was rage.

“You’re very quiet, Petra.”

I turned and blinked at Gabriel.

“Yes.” 

“What have you got to say about this?”

“It’s just like Cooper said – Reader blew up St. Peter’s and now he’s dead.”

The voice in my mind screamed. Cooper smiled.

Gabriel adjusted his glasses.

“How did Reader get out of custody? I thought you had him locked in the basement.”

Cooper looked startled for a moment.

“I let him go.”

“What?”

“I realized I couldn’t break him. So I let him go. It was the only way to prove he was guilty. I followed him. Only I was too late to stop him killing again.”

Cooper ducked his head and pinched his nose. The bastard almost had me fooled. He looked up and continued in a cracked voice.

“That’s why I wanted him alone, Gabriel. I didn’t want to involve anyone else. If it all went wrong I didn’t want anyone else to take the flak.”

I could hardly bear to listen to this crap.

Gabriel flicked a glance at me.

“Petra?”

I nodded. I couldn’t bring myself to speak. The pain of my loss was gnawing away at me from the inside.

Gabriel turned back to Cooper.

“How did you know what Reader was going to do?”

“I didn’t. But I knew he was a cold-hearted killer – intelligent in a way but still predictable. I knew he hadn’t finished killing but I wasn’t going to break him either. So I let him go, and followed him to St. Peter’s. By the time I knew what he was up to it was too late. He’d locked himself in the crypt with a bomb. Thank God we managed to get everyone out before it went off.”

Gabriel took a deep breath in and let it out slowly – then wiped his forehead with the back of his hand.

“So we’re no closer to finding out why Reader killed all those people?”

“He was insane. Surely that’s reason enough.”

“And why the hell did he lock himself in the crypt with the bomb? He’s an assassin.”

Cooper’s face darkened a little. “Don’t ask me to explain Reader’s actions.”

Gabriel took off his glasses and wiped them on his shirt before placing them back on his nose. Then he looked back at Cooper.

“To be frank, sir, I’m having a hard time believing the story you’ve just told me.”

Cooper pulled his eyebrows hard together.

“For a minute then I thought I heard a senior and respected FBI agent throw away his career for a scumbag killer.”

Gabriel didn’t blink.

“And there’s something wrong with Petra, isn’t there?”

Cooper’s eyes narrowed.

“You’re desire to take on lost causes is admirable, Gabriel, but Petra is beyond help now. When we get back to the states I’m recommending she be suspended pending investigation of her actions during this case.”

Gabriel’s eyebrows shot up. Then he turned to me, almost pleading. “Petra?”

“He’s right,” I said. “I messed up, Gabriel – big time. You don’t want to get dragged down with me.”

“I’ll see you back at the station, Gabriel,” said Cooper, pushing me down the sidewalk. “I’m sure you’ll come to the right decision.”

He hooked his arm through mine as if we were a newlywed couple and guided me toward a waiting car. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Gabriel’s jaw drop.

Alec

The ringing brought me round. It was like someone had set off a fire alarm next to my ears. Beside that I couldn’t hear a thing. Pushed open my eyelids but couldn’t see a thing; it was pitch black. My mind was spinning. I should be dead. Somehow I’d survived the explosion. I tried to move but couldn’t. Something very heavy had fallen across my legs and chest – making it hard for me to breathe. I coughed as the dust caught in my lungs.

I had to get out of here. I had a long overdue appointment with Will Cooper. But that was easier said than done. I wiggled my toes. They moved – good. At least whatever had fallen on me hadn’t broken my back.

Fragmented memories were coming back to me now. I hadn’t expected to survive the explosion. I’d gone down into the crypt and stared at the bomb, watching the clock tick down. I probably could have diffused it but there was no way I was going to try. Petra needed all the time I could give her to get away.

Carefully I reached down, looking for whatever it was that was pinning me to the ground. My hands found a rough timber beam. It lay across my body from my shins to my chest. It must have weighed a ton. It would have crushed me but the end of it had jammed on the wall behind me. The wall had taken most of the weight – otherwise I’d have been killed outright.

By twisting and flexing my body I was able to slide out from under the beam. Gingerly I made my way out of the crypt. When I got to the top of the stairs leading out of the crypt I opened the door into the cathedral. Light flooded into the crypt. I looked back down and saw that I’d been thrown fifteen feet by the force of the explosion. The beam had fallen over me afterwards. I shook my head. Somehow I’d survived.

When I walked out into the cathedral – or what was left of it – my survival seemed even more incredible. The whole eastern wall of St. Peter’s was gone. The interior of the cathedral was like a war zone. Rubble was scattered everywhere, priceless statues and artwork ripped apart.

Moving as best I could I limped towards the exit of the cathedral and then onto the street beyond. It was chaos. Dust and rubble were scattered everywhere. Sticking out from some of the debris here and there were human arms and legs. Dozens of people were milling around looking dazed, covered in white fine dust from head to toe.

Reader is dead
.

It was Cooper. I was picking up his thoughts. If he was alive… I listened for Petra. If Cooper had survived then she must have. Eventually I heard her. But her thoughts were strangely muted – hardly recognizable.

I shook my head. I had to save Petra from that son of a bitch. And I had an idea of how I might do it. I turned my head left and right – located their position and limped after the sound of their thoughts. One way or another I was going to finish this.