“Does he let all of his employees use it?”
“Only those with whom he’s romantically involved.”
Her scandalized expression was contrived. “Martin and me?”
“These things happen.”
“Poor Monique.”
“Fortunately, she’ll never know.” He dimmed the lights. “I would like you to make a brief appearance in the window.”
“Why?”
“Because that is what a young woman does when she arrives at her lover’s grand apartment on the Seine.”
Isabel started toward the windows.
“Remove your coat, please.”
She did as he asked and tossed it carelessly over the back of an armchair. Then she slipped between a pair of ivory-colored curtains and opened the room’s center casement window. The evening wind took her hair. And five floors beneath her, an employee of the private intelligence company known as the Haydn Group took her photograph.
She closed the window and emerged from behind the curtains to find Gabriel rearranging her coat. “You don’t like things out of place, do you?”
“You’ve noticed?”
“It’s rather hard to miss. Everything is always just so. Paintings, violinists, Swiss financiers, disgruntled employees of the world’s dirtiest bank. And you seem to have a cover story for every occasion.”
“It is an essential part of our operating doctrine. We call it the small lie to cover the big lie.”
“What’s the small lie?”
“That you are having an affair with Martin Landesmann.”
“And the big lie?”
“That you are here with me.”
“Why?”
“Because it wasn’t safe for us to meet in Geneva.” He paused. “And because I have a difficult decision to make.”
“Lunch at Arkady’s on Saturday?”
He nodded.
“Is there any chance he didn’t know that Martin was going to be in Warsaw this weekend?”
“None whatsoever. It was a clever ploy on his part. He wanted to invite you all along to test our bona fides. If you don’t attend, he will suspect there’s a problem.”
“And if I agree?”
“You will be observed closely by several current and former Russian intelligence officers for any signs of discomfort or deception. You will also face seemingly benign questions about your past, especially your time at RhineBank. If you somehow manage to pass this examination, Arkady will in all likelihood go forward with the deal.”
“And if I fail?”
“If we’re lucky, Arkady will send you on your way, and we’ll never hear from him again. If we are unlucky, he will subject you to a far different kind of questioning. And you will tell him everything, because that is what one does when a loaded Russian gun is pointed at one’s head.” He lowered his voice. “Which is why I’m inclined to cash out my chips and call it a night.”
“Do I get a say in the matter?”
