Deception of the Heart

‘They are arriving in Rome in two days, so time is of essence.’

B
ehind the lethal calm, Jon heard a sense of urgency that managed to capture not only his total attention, but that of the three other men in the room as well. He put down the paper he had received upon arrival, and his eyes went to the front of the room. His boss of the last ten years stood there, his short, wiry silhouette casting a grotesque shadow on the white projector screen.

‘Apparently Pete changed his mind and rebooked his flight
,’ Bernard White continued, his bushy dark eyebrows drawn into a straight line of displeasure. ‘Which messes up a lot of things, as you can imagine. Mr. Spitieri contacted me today after their phone conversation. Pete will arrive in Rome in about forty-four hours, I believe.’

‘You said, “they”?’ Jon lean
ed forward. His tall frame barely fit into the ridiculously small office chair. If he had a say in the agency’s furniture, it would have been replaced and sent to the Salvation Army. ‘I thought he was coming alone?’

‘That’s another complication, yes.’
Bernard nodded, his thin mouth tightening. He looked very sour altogether. Jon wondered about the true reason behind his bad mood. They dealt with lots of unexpected difficulties and changes of plans over the years, so that couldn’t be it. He’d have to ask him later, he decided.

‘
He decided to take his assistant with him. Kind of a last moment decision, it seems.’ Bernard walked over to the computer and pressed a button. A woman’s face appeared on the projection screen. ‘Melanie Bennett, who probably is his lover. Although that part hasn’t been confirmed yet.’

Jon star
ed at the screen, his mind completely blank for the shortest of seconds. His brain registered snippets of conversation as the other men asked questions, but it all seemed to come from far away, too distant to be properly understood and processed. Instead, he watched the screen. Melanie Bennett’s magnified picture commanded all of his attention, which was ridiculous. The size made it a bit grainy, the quality of the image far from being even decent.

And yet he couldn’t look away. The girl smil
ed into the camera, her eyes looking straight at him. He guessed that the snapshot must have been taken outdoors, a gust of wind ruffling her hair and blowing a few dark strands into her face. Her left hand pushed it back, the gesture oddly vulnerable and private.

S
he was very pretty. Heck, he had just heard Matt cracking a joke about it and the other men laughed out loud at his comment. Jon felt a wave of resentment rising and threatening to overpower his outward calm. That alone should have rung some of the alarm bells in his head. He had no reason to be upset with his colleagues for trying to make light of the situation. Wasn’t that normal? Working for the agency was never the easiest of jobs, even without a crisis looming on a horizon. Those insider jokes and comments were nothing but a way to vent some of their frustration and stress, which he knew and understood perfectly well.

So why was he feeling so ballistic as he heard them talk about this unknown woman, who for all he knew
might be involved with a crime he was about to stop from happening?

‘She is
twenty-six and graduated from Toronto University with a degree in English Literature two years ago. She worked for a publishing house for two years before getting hired as Pete’s assistant. She has been on the job for the last three months.’ Bernard kept talking, his voice calm and dispassionate. He could just as well be describing a distant acquaintance, Jon thought cynically. Nothing in his voice betrayed that the woman in question was anything but ordinary. She worked for Pete Brunner, after all.

‘
He is bringing her with him to meet the Spitieris. He asked Daniel if she could take notes of their conversation, and he could hardly say no.’

‘Well, at least his taste in women is impeccable
.’ Matt shrugged his powerful shoulders, his grey eyes merry. ‘Though I guess it’s all part of the plan. It’s Pete, after all.’

‘What makes you think they might be
lovers?’ Did he really say that out loud? Jon felt a wave of heat rise to his face, making him grateful for the room’s poor lighting. Sometimes it was a good thing Bernard bought into the whole save energy idea, he thought.

‘Well, we
know she was in a steady relationship for five years with her high school sweetheart.’ The question didn’t surprise Bernard, and his eyes went to the picture. ‘They broke up two years ago. The guy cheated on her with her best friend and ran off with her money. She never pressed charges, though I imagine fourteen grand meant a lot to an English major graduate. She hasn’t dated anyone since. She and Pete are pretty close, spending a lot of time together. I am pretty sure that if it were up to him, they would be even closer. So yeah, I think it’s only a matter of time before she gives in.’

‘So what are we going to do about little
Miss Forgiveness?’ It was Matt again, his broad face lit up by a lazy smile. ‘Do you think she knows what it’s all about? Is she helping Pete?’

‘Now that’s a million dollar question.’
Bernard sighed, dropping into one of the chairs. Jon thought about his friend’s recent knee surgery, making a mental note to ask Barbara how he was really doing. Bernard would never admit anything was wrong, no matter what. Weakness was on the very top of Bernard’s list of “no go” things.

‘We can’t say anything for sure for now. But it does complicate things if she is helping him. We’ll need to keep ta
bs on her the moment she sets foot on Italian soil. If they work together, she might be our best bet to stop the whole thing from happening. Whatever relationship they might have, she can’t be as experienced and well-informed as Brunner. Which makes her the weak link, I hope.’

‘Maybe
that is exactly what he wants everyone to think.’ Finally, the totally unexplainable spell he’d been under lifted, and Jon could think clearly again. ‘Maybe bringing her in is supposed to serve as a distraction? It wouldn’t be the first time the Peace Brigade used women or even children to bring across their message.’

‘I thought of that, of course.’
Bernard nodded, visibly pleased with his interruption. ‘Nothing in her past suggests her path ever crossed with the Brigade, but then again, who can tell for sure? And that’s where you step in, Jon.’

‘What do you mean?’ It was a stupid question, and he knew it. He’d done it before, of course. Psychological analysis of potential suspects had been his field of expertise for years. He’d managed to sneak into the brains of enough people to earn him respect
from everyone in the agency and beyond. It came so easily to him, he was still surprised others found it impressive and extraordinary.

‘You’ll spend some time with her to feel her out,’ came the predicable answer
. Bernard’s eyes narrowed as the other men groaned in protest. ‘No, I don’t think you should envy Jon, guys.’ He shook his head, his smile anything but cheerful. ‘Melanie Bennett might be pretty, but if she is involved with Pete, she’s damn dangerous as well.’

‘You’ll be
Spitieri’s friend for the time being,’ Bernard continued, his attention on Jon. ‘We’ve arranged for you to stay at his home for the coming week. You’ll pretend to be a fellow scholar who just happened to pay him a visit while on a yearlong hiatus from the States.’

‘He’s over twenty years my senior. How did we meet and when?’
His mind was working at full speed now. The puzzle was there, pieces strewn around and ready to be put together. After all, gathering information and fitting it into a larger picture was what he did best. His guesses and assumptions were right one hundred percent of the time.

‘He taught
on the east coast fifteen years ago.’ Bernard handed him two neatly printed pages of info. ‘Journalism and Politics at New York University. He was only there for a semester, but it’s enough to make the connection between the two of you. You were his student, of course. Right now, you took a sabbatical from your work for a year to work on a book. Instead, you have jumped at an offer to work on an archive-related project here, in Europe. Italy isn’t such an unexpected place to go when one wants to relax, is it?’ He waited for anyone to object, but there was silence. ‘You found out he lives in Rome and suggested you meet. He invited you to stay at his house for a while, and you’ve graciously accepted.’

‘H
ey, what makes Jon the best candidate for the job?’ Of course, Matt was protesting. Obviously, Melanie’s pretty face managed to trigger the usual response from men. ‘I mean, I went to NYU as well. Couldn’t I get the opportunity to stay in the old man’s villa and charm the chick instead?’

A
round of laughter followed. Even Bernard’s tight lips stretched into a half smile, which was a lot, all things considered.

‘If anyone is capable of carrying
on a conversation about literature, psychology, and politics without blowing his cover, it’s Jon,’ he explained, ignoring Matt’s indignant huff. ‘Don’t forget, Pete’s whole plan depends on the assumption he can fool Spitieri into buying his cover as a fellow professor. Knowing Pete, he has made sure he’s ready to tackle any topic, so we need someone equally knowledgeable and sharp. Pete is smart. One slip and he’ll smell the trap. We can’t risk that, can we?’

He was right
, of course. Presenting things as close to the truth as possible guaranteed success.

‘You’ll get the chance to meet
Melanie and spend some time with her while Pete’s away with Spitieri. Two or three days should be enough to figure out if she is involved. We can proceed from there, once you decide how much she knows.’

‘
Isn’t that a bit too long?’ Jon ran a hand through his thick dark hair, his eyes focused on the paper. ‘What is the time frame for Pete’s operation? What if he wants to execute it in a day or two?’

‘He won’t.’
Short and to the point, Bernard shook his head. ‘We’ve made sure of that one. Spitieri just announced he is planning on a very public reading, at our prompting. Pete can’t refuse that bait, as you all can imagine. It would certainly add a new level of publicity to what he plans.

‘Anyway, I’ll keep you all posted.’ The finality in
Bernard’s voice signaled the end of the meeting. ‘For now, everyone keep doing what you’re doing. We’ve got another day and a half to iron out the wrinkles. Once Brunner and his assistant arrive in Italy, things will start moving at a much faster pace.’ He rose to his feet, switching off the monitor and gathering his notes. He hated working with computers. His old-fashioned preference for paper was a longstanding inside joke for the whole team.

‘Jon, wait a sec
.’ Bernard eyed the younger man as he collected the last page, his face suspiciously innocent. ‘I wanted to go over something with you, if you can spare a moment.’

It was a courtesy question, of course.
He couldn’t really refuse to wait if his boss asked, Jon thought, amused, and watched the older man search for the right words. It must be something personal, Jon guessed. Bernard’s brilliance at work failed to translate into smooth interpersonal skills.

‘I thought that maybe you’d like to drop by for dinner tonight?
Mariah’s been bugging me to have you over for a while now. She invited a few of her friends, and it would be nice if you could make it as well. Nothing big, just dinner and drinks. We’ll celebrate you heading off to Italy tomorrow. Your ticket is ready, by the way. Just ask Alana to forward it to you on your way out.’

‘Is anyone I know coming to dinner?’ Mariah seemed to think he needed a matchmaker. She’d done it in the past, but her attempts to set him up with women she considered suitable were unsuccessful. Not that she was giving up, Jon thought wryly, recalling some of the past disasters.

‘
Ehm… maybe, I am not sure.’ That was new. Bernard looked extremely uncomfortable, his fingers fiddling with a pencil until it dropped and rolled away under the table. Who could it be? It couldn’t get much worse than when she tried to pair him up with the tattoo artist goddess, who claimed to be an expert in politics and social sciences as well.