Passage by Night - Jack Higgins [54]
In that same moment, the walls started to undulate and he breathed deeply, fighting the darkness that moved in on him, threatening to drive every last shred of sanity out of his mind. But when the mist cleared, he found that his eyes hadn't deceived him.
It was Maria Salas who sat behind the desk on the far side of the room.
18
The Purpose of Terrorism is to Terrorize
Behind her, the wall was of curved glass and he was aware of little things. The sound of the sea rushing in across the rocks, the scent of hibiscus from the garden.
'Better have a drink, Harry,' she said. 'You look as if you could do with it.'
There were several bottles and glasses on a side table and he helped himself to a large rum. He emptied the glass in one quick swallow, filled it again and turned to look at her.
She wore a military-style drill shirt open at the neck and narrow khaki pants. Her hair was tied back with a red ribbon, the one concession to femininity, and her face was smooth and untroubled as she returned his gaze gravely.
'I must say you're looking remarkably healthy,' he said, dropping into the chair on the other side of the desk.
'More than I can say for you,' she replied. 'Hardly surprising under the circumstances. A lot seems to have happened since we were last together.'
'In bed as I recall,' Manning said dryly. 'Viner kept referring to a colonel when we were outside. Would that be you?'
'I'm a lieutenant-colonel of the Military Intelligence Special Executive of the Cuban Army,' she said calmly. 'Group leader for the Bahamas.'
'Since the beginning?' he said. 'Since the day I picked you up out in the gulf in that refugee boat?'
That's right.'
'And Viner?'
'It was easy enough to draw him into the net after I discovered his background.'
'And what about me?' he said. 'Where did I fit in?'
'You also had your uses, Harry.'
He frowned for a moment and then realized what she had meant. 'Of course, good old Sanchez and the letters I passed on to him for your mother.'
'One can't say everything over the radio,' she said. 'Not even in code.'
He moved back to the side table and picked up the rum bottle. 'Just for the record, what really did happen that night you left?'
She took a cigarette from a silver box on the table, lit it and leaned back in her chair. 'A combination of things. The assassination of Miguel de Rodriguez had been planned for several days. I was to have no connection with it myself.'
'Which was why you used Garcia?'
'He was expendable. A traitor to his country who thought he could buy his way back again.'
'Why the pretence that you were on the plane?'
She shrugged. 'Things seemed to be warming up. We knew that Morrison was a CIA man. When he arrived on Spanish Cay, I couldn't be sure that he wasn't on my trail. To die seemed the surest way to put him off the scent if he was. In any case, it was time for me to move on.'
And then Manning began to see things more clearly. 'You persuaded Jimmy Walker to help you?'
She nodded. I told him that you were getting too serious, that I wanted to break away. That if you thought I'd left for Miami, you'd follow me there.'
'So you never even got on the plane?'
She shook her head. 'Poor Jimmy. He thought I'd be waiting for him at his beach cottage. He was going to fly me to Vera Cruz next day.'
For a moment, Manning saw again the pale face, the hair waving gently in the green water. A spasm of anger moved inside him. 'He loved you, Maria. Didn't that count for anything?'
'Miguel de Rodriguez had to die. He was an enemy of the state. A threat to every free Cuban.'
There were three other people in the plane. Did they have to go too?'
'A regrettable necessity. We must show our enemies that we mean business.'
'So you butcher the innocent.'
'The purpose of terrorism is to terrorize. That's the only way in which a small country can hope to defeat an empire. Lenin said that.'
'The latest catchphrase goes one better,' Manning told her. 'We will bury you.' He was suddenly filled with disgust. 'My God, they must have done a good job on you.'