easily? “So what now?” I said.
Cooper ducked his head for a second and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, then looked back at me. “I’d like to keep you down in this basement and make you suffer. But I’m not going to do that. I have a job for you.”
“What do you want?” I said, warily.
He pulled out a battered attaché case from underneath the table.
“I want you to deliver something to the American Embassy for me.”
Chapter 2
Petra
I hustled down the corridor trying to forget how much Gabriel had let me down. At the end of the corridor I took the stairs to the next floor up. My mind was racing. But I wasn’t getting any answers. I kept coming back to the same point. Why had Cooper gone to such extreme lengths to make sure no one saw him interrogate Alec? If he thought Alec was the killer then why not involve the other agents? Surely they’d help? It just didn’t make sense. Unless Cooper had something to hide. So what the hell was his secret?
Because of his rank Cooper had an office to himself. It was on the floor above the communal office space we shared. Cooper hardly used it. He’d said he preferred to be where he could keep an eye on everyone. It was a long shot, but maybe I’d find something there that would tell me what he was really up to. Anyway, I couldn’t think of anything else to do. Barging in on Cooper in the interrogation room would get me nowhere. He’d just ask another couple of agents to throw me out. And without proof that Cooper was corrupt none of them would break ranks, not even Gabriel.
I stepped onto the floor where Cooper’s office was and headed down a long corridor, checking the name on the front of each door as I went. I moved quickly, pushed on by an inner voice that told me Alec was running out of time. About halfway down the corridor I found Cooper’s office, and a few seconds later thanks to the breaking and entering skills I’d picked up over the years, I was inside.
***
It was a pretty ordinary-looking office. In front of me was a large desk, beyond that a window looking out over central Rome, and on my right a row of filing cabinets. That was it. No family photographs, no knickknacks no mementos from two decades of working for the Bureau – a strictly utilitarian office. I wasn’t exactly sure what I was looking for. I didn’t expect Cooper to leave anything obviously incriminating lying around. But he had been showing signs of stress recently. Maybe he’d slipped up?
I glanced at the desk. Aside from a phone it was bare. Trying to fight a bad feeling I was wasting my time, I dashed over to the filing cabinets. They were locked, of course, but I prised them open with my apartment key. I searched every one of the cabinets from top to bottom. But they were all empty. I suppose it made sense; we were only here temporarily, and Cooper hardly used this office. But that didn’t stop the wave of panic that was growing in my stomach.
Feeling desperate, I moved over to the desk. There were several drawers underneath. It was the same story here. Each of the drawers was empty – and as I slid back the last one I felt my throat tighten.
What the hell am I going to do now ?
Then just before the drawer slid home I noticed it was sticking. There was something underneath it. Quickly I pulled out the drawer and flipped it over. Taped to the bottom was a large Manila envelope. My heart racing, I yanked it off the bottom of the drawer, ripping the black electrical tape sticking it down. Cooper had gone to a lot of trouble to hide this. Whatever was in it he didn’t want anybody to see.
With shaking hands I opened the envelope and pulled out a dog-eared photograph.
As I stared at it my body went slack. I heard the Manila envelope I’d been holding in my left hand flop onto the desk. I was clutching the photograph tightly in my right.
It was a picture of Alec and me back when we were teenagers. Taken in the main lecture hall
Cooper ducked his head for a second and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, then looked back at me. “I’d like to keep you down in this basement and make you suffer. But I’m not going to do that. I have a job for you.”
“What do you want?” I said, warily.
He pulled out a battered attaché case from underneath the table.
“I want you to deliver something to the American Embassy for me.”
Chapter 2
Petra
I hustled down the corridor trying to forget how much Gabriel had let me down. At the end of the corridor I took the stairs to the next floor up. My mind was racing. But I wasn’t getting any answers. I kept coming back to the same point. Why had Cooper gone to such extreme lengths to make sure no one saw him interrogate Alec? If he thought Alec was the killer then why not involve the other agents? Surely they’d help? It just didn’t make sense. Unless Cooper had something to hide. So what the hell was his secret?
Because of his rank Cooper had an office to himself. It was on the floor above the communal office space we shared. Cooper hardly used it. He’d said he preferred to be where he could keep an eye on everyone. It was a long shot, but maybe I’d find something there that would tell me what he was really up to. Anyway, I couldn’t think of anything else to do. Barging in on Cooper in the interrogation room would get me nowhere. He’d just ask another couple of agents to throw me out. And without proof that Cooper was corrupt none of them would break ranks, not even Gabriel.
I stepped onto the floor where Cooper’s office was and headed down a long corridor, checking the name on the front of each door as I went. I moved quickly, pushed on by an inner voice that told me Alec was running out of time. About halfway down the corridor I found Cooper’s office, and a few seconds later thanks to the breaking and entering skills I’d picked up over the years, I was inside.
***
It was a pretty ordinary-looking office. In front of me was a large desk, beyond that a window looking out over central Rome, and on my right a row of filing cabinets. That was it. No family photographs, no knickknacks no mementos from two decades of working for the Bureau – a strictly utilitarian office. I wasn’t exactly sure what I was looking for. I didn’t expect Cooper to leave anything obviously incriminating lying around. But he had been showing signs of stress recently. Maybe he’d slipped up?
I glanced at the desk. Aside from a phone it was bare. Trying to fight a bad feeling I was wasting my time, I dashed over to the filing cabinets. They were locked, of course, but I prised them open with my apartment key. I searched every one of the cabinets from top to bottom. But they were all empty. I suppose it made sense; we were only here temporarily, and Cooper hardly used this office. But that didn’t stop the wave of panic that was growing in my stomach.
Feeling desperate, I moved over to the desk. There were several drawers underneath. It was the same story here. Each of the drawers was empty – and as I slid back the last one I felt my throat tighten.
What the hell am I going to do now ?
Then just before the drawer slid home I noticed it was sticking. There was something underneath it. Quickly I pulled out the drawer and flipped it over. Taped to the bottom was a large Manila envelope. My heart racing, I yanked it off the bottom of the drawer, ripping the black electrical tape sticking it down. Cooper had gone to a lot of trouble to hide this. Whatever was in it he didn’t want anybody to see.
With shaking hands I opened the envelope and pulled out a dog-eared photograph.
As I stared at it my body went slack. I heard the Manila envelope I’d been holding in my left hand flop onto the desk. I was clutching the photograph tightly in my right.
It was a picture of Alec and me back when we were teenagers. Taken in the main lecture hall
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