Eagle Strike

One! The CIA have been going crazy. Alan Blunt was called in to see the prime minister last week. It may well be that he is forced to resign.”
    “Well, that breaks my heart,” Alex said.
    Mrs Jones ignored this. “Alex … what you‟ve been through … I know this has been very difficult for you. You were on your own, and that should never have happened. But the fact is, you have saved millions of lives. Whatever you‟re feeling now, you have to remember that. It might even be true to say that you saved the world. God knows what the consequences would have been if Cray had succeeded. Anyway, the president of the United States would very much like to meet you. So, for that matter, would the prime minister. And for what it‟s worth, you‟ve even been invited to the Palace, if you want to go. Of course, nobody else knows about you.
    You‟re still classified. But you should be proud of yourself. What you did was … amazing.”
    “What happened to Henryk?” Alex asked. The question took Mrs Jones by surprise, but it was the only thing he didn‟t know. “I just wondered,” he said.

    “He‟s dead,” Mrs Jones said. “He was killed when the plane crashed. He broke his neck.”
    “Well, that‟s that then.” Alex turned to her. “Can you go now?”
    “Jack is worried about you, Alex. So am I. It may be that you need help coming to terms with what happened. Maybe some sort of therapy.”
    “I don‟t want therapy. I just want to be left alone.”
    “All right.”

    Mrs Jones stood up. She made one last attempt to read him before she left. This was the fourth occasion she had met Alex at the end of an assignment. Each time she had known that he must have been, in some way, damaged. But this time something worse had happened. She knew there was something Alex wasn‟t telling her.
    And then, on an impulse, she said, “You were on the plane with Yassen when he was shot. Did he say anything before he died?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Did he talk to you?”
    Alex looked her straight in the eye. “No. He never spoke.”
    Alex watched her leave. So it was true what Yassen had said. Her last question had proved it. He knew who he was.
    The son of a contract killer.

    **
    Sabina was waiting for him under the bridge. He knew that this was going to be a brief meeting.
    There was nothing really left to say.
    “How are you?” she asked.
    “I‟m OK. How‟s your dad?”
    “He‟s a lot better.” She shrugged. “I think he‟s going to be fine.”
    “And he‟s not going to change his mind?”
    “No, Alex. We‟re leaving.”
    Sabina had told him on the phone the night before. She and her parents were leaving the country.
    They wanted to be on their own, to give her father time to recover fully. They had decided it would be easier for him to begin a new life and had chosen San Francisco. Edward had been offered a job by a big newspaper there. And there was more good news. He was writing a book: the truth about Damian Cray. It was going to make him a fortune.
    “When do you go?” Alex asked.
    “Tuesday.” Sabina brushed something out of her eye and Alex wondered if it might have been a tear. But when she looked at him again, she was smiling. “Of course, we‟ll keep in touch,” she said. “We can email. And you know you can always come out if you want a holiday.”
    “As long as it‟s not like the last one,” Alex said.

    “It‟ll be weird going to an American school…” Sabina broke off. “You were fantastic on the plane, Alex,” she said suddenly. “I couldn‟t believe how brave you were. When Cray was telling you all those crazy things, you didn‟t even seem scared of him.” She stopped. “Will you work for MI6 again?” she asked.
    “No.”
    “Do you think they‟ll leave you alone?”
    “I don‟t know, Sabina. It was my uncle‟s fault, really. He started all this years ago and now I‟m stuck with it.”
    “I still feel ashamed about not believing you.” Sabina sighed. “And I understand now what you must have been going through. They made me sign the Official Secrets Act. I‟m not allowed to tell anyone about you.” A pause. “I‟ll never forget you,” she said.
    “I‟ll miss you, Sabina.”
    “But we‟ll see each other again. You can come to California. And I‟ll let you know if I‟m ever in London…”
    “That‟s good.”
    She was lying. Somehow Alex knew that this was more than goodbye, that the two of them would never see each other again. There