The Avenue of the Dead (29 page)

‘What will happen to her now?'

‘She will stay in the clinic till they have remade the face again. Then she has been promised an acting career. In films – we have a German producer in our debt. But she will have to stop drinking.'

Natalia reached across and took his hand. He had never told her what happened to the real Elizabeth Carlton and she had never asked. She didn't want to hear anything that would diminish her love. ‘You look tired,' she whispered.

‘I am,' he admitted. ‘But the worrying is over and the fun begins. I shall sit here in Moscow and watch the Americans and the British at each other's throats while the American media tear the country to pieces. And I shall start making other plans.'

‘Can you tell me about them?'

He squeezed her hand and glanced down at her fondly. ‘Not yet, my Natalia. But I will. I shall tell you everything in time. And now,' he released himself from her clasp and stretched his arms and yawned. ‘Now I must go home. I don't want to leave you, do you understand that? But I have to go home to my family now.'

‘I understand, Igor Igorovitch. I will see you tomorrow.' She smiled in her sweet way. ‘After all, it isn't very long to wait, is it?'

He kissed her long and tenderly before he left.

They arrived in Mexico City just after eight o'clock. Lomax was very silent during the flight. Davina had briefed him in the studio apartment while she packed. Neither of them had recovered from the row that followed.

He had refused outright to let her go to Tula and book into the clinic. It was the worst approach he could have made. Davina said quietly, ‘We're lovers, Colin, but that doesn't give you any rights over me. Never say anything like that to me again. This is my work and I'm going to Mexico, with or without you,' and she had walked away into the bedroom and finished packing. She heard him pick up the telephone and ask to speak to John Kidson. She came to the doorway and spoke to his back. ‘He's at Langley. You're wasting your time, he wouldn't listen to you, anyway. Don't do this, Colin, don't react like this. We're finished if you do.'

‘I'd rather I never saw you again,' Lomax said, ‘if that's the way to stop you risking your life in a damned crazy thing like this. Kidson's your brother-in-law! You mean to tell me he sanctioned you going to this clinic?'

‘John is in the Service, so am I. And so are you. You can't let personalities or relationships influence you in this kind of work. If you do, you shouldn't be in it! You know that, Colin, you know you've had to risk people's lives however much you liked them, whatever the ties you had!'

‘They were men,' he said. ‘They were soldiers. I wouldn't send any woman into a place like that clinic, and if that makes me unsuitable for your bloody Service, then I'll resign as of now!'

‘All right,' Davina said. ‘I'll go alone.'

He came to her and tried to put his arms round her. ‘I love you,' he said. ‘I don't give a damn about anything else.'

‘I know,' she answered. ‘But I give more than a damn. I'm surprised I have to spell it out for you. Borisov had my husband murdered. He's not going to get away with this if I can stop him. That, my dear Colin, is why I came back to the Service in the first place. Now, please – I'm going to be late.'

He turned away from her; she couldn't see his face. ‘Give me five minutes to pack my stuff,' was all he said.

They hired a car at Mexico City airport. Tula was some fifty miles to the north. It was a beautiful, cool evening and they reached the town itself just after nine-thirty. They booked into a modest hotel for the night, left their luggage and went out. The clinic, the proprietor told them, was about eight miles further north. They drove in the moonlight along the highway, and turned off at the signpost that said Clinica Quetzalcoatl. The approach was a good driveway behind a pair of elaborate wrought-iron gates. The symbol of the Plumed Serpent was carved into the archway. The gates were open, and there was no sign of security.

It was a big modern complex of single-story buildings in the style of the Spanish hacienda, centred round a courtyard. It shone white as a sepulchre in the moonlight. There were lights in the windows and the sound of guitar music drifted to them on the light breeze from someone's radio.

‘It doesn't look difficult to get in or out,' Lomax remarked. ‘Let's drive right round – all I can see is open fencing.'

‘It's a very well-known health and beauty centre,' Davina reminded him. ‘For the one KGB client, there'll be a hundred genuine customers. Women come here from all over Mexico. Apparently the plastic surgeon is one of the best in South America.'

‘You've done your homework, haven't you?' he said. ‘How long have you known you were going to come here?'

She looked straight ahead. ‘Since I knew she was a double. I had an instinct there'd be an answer here, and I'd be the one to find it.'

‘You could have told me.'

‘I didn't want to be stopped.'

‘Did you really expect anything else? Did you think any man who loved you wouldn't try to stop you?'

‘I told you, Colin, there's no place for personal feelings in the Service.' They didn't speak for the rest of the drive. She thought suddenly that she had never seen him look so unhappy.

Later that evening, at a little restaurant that served the most delicious venison, she reached out to him across the table.

‘Colin, I'm sorry. Won't you please cheer up? It's going to be all right. I know it is. But it won't help if we quarrel about it. We've got to work as a team, we've got to forget about our private lives. Please try.'

He gripped her hand in his.

‘I find it very difficult,' he admitted. ‘For the first time in my life I can't see the wood for the trees. Ever been called a tree before?'

She shook her head, ‘No, I haven't. Trust you to be original.'

‘Copper beech,' Lomax said. ‘Christ, I love you so much I don't know what to do. I don't know how to cope with you, either. You won't let me protect you, and you make me feel a fool if I try. You want me to go marching into battle with you, shoulder to shoulder – isn't that it? Highland Bull to Copper Beech, are you reading me? Over! I can't do it. I feel like busting into that bloody clinic tonight and pulling her out myself!'

‘Just promise me you won't try,' Davina said. ‘Highland Bull suits you though – we'd better adopt it as a code. I'll tell you one thing; I can't stand seeing you look miserable. It makes me feel miserable. That must prove something, surely?'

‘It proves you've a kind heart,' he said gently.

Davina looked at him and said, ‘It proves a lot more than that. But we won't talk about it now. Let's go to bed, shall we?'

‘I can't think of a better idea.' He paid the bill and they walked back to their hotel. The bedroom was small, and the bed narrow and hard.

‘One thing,' she whispered as she nestled into his arms. ‘You've got to admit I learned one thing from my husband. How to say I'm sorry when I'm in the wrong.'

‘If he taught you that,' Lomax murmured, ‘he was one hell of a strong man.'

They woke early, and she was glad to see he was cheerful and brisk as if the conflict had been resolved between them in the night. Resolved or shelved – she didn't dwell on which. The sun was bright and the air delightfully crisp and cool. She was booking into the clinic just after ten. Lomax would stay in the hotel and they would wait till she contacted him.

As they drove through the gates to the clinic, a group of joggers passed them in track suits. Davina was surprised to see that there were men as well as women. They parked in the forecourt and Davina went up the three steps and through an open archway to the reception centre. Lomax was behind her. A beautiful Mexican girl in a white uniform came forward smiling to greet them.

‘Mrs Maxwell,' Davina introduced herself. ‘I booked for a week.'

‘Of course, Senora Maxwell. Will you please sign in here? I'll show you to your room, and Doctor Felipe will see you in half an hour. You have been to a health course before? No – well, it is very simple. You have a thorough medical check to make sure you are in good physical shape, and then Doctor Felipe works out a treatment programme for you. You have thermal bath treatments, special diets, a programme of exercises and a lecture at ten forty-five every morning. You can play tennis, we have an indoor court for squash and of course a very nice swimming pool. There is TV in your room if you like to rest in the evening, and we have common-rooms where you can meet other guests. The restaurant serves only health foods. Doctor Felipe won't allow anything artificial in the diets. He discourages smoking, so if you want to smoke I'm afraid it's restricted to your own room. And of course, there is no alcohol.'

‘That's the only thing I'm going to quarrel with,' Lomax said cheerfully. Before Davina could say anything he joined her at the desk and said, ‘I've decided to book in with my wife. I want to keep her company. I hope you can fit me in?'

She gave him her most brilliant smile. ‘I'm sure we can, but I can't guarantee adjoining rooms, and all our double suites are full.'

‘Never mind,' he said. ‘We'll manage. Won't we, darling? Don't you think it's a good idea if I come too? After all, it looks such a nice place to spend a week doing yourself good.' He leaned towards the Mexican girl. ‘The hotels in Tula aren't exactly three-star.' He turned and took Davina's arm. He felt her go rigid and he grinned and tapped her playfully on the bottom. ‘Do I see Doctor Felipe too?'

‘No, Senor Maxwell. Doctor Mendoza looks after our gentleman guests. He will call on you at about ten forty-five and he will give you …'

‘A thorough physical check,' Lomax repeated for her. ‘Don't worry, senorita, you don't need to go through it again. Actually I'm pretty fit. All I want is a nice room and access to my wife!'

This time the smile was cheeky. ‘Thank you, senor,' she said. ‘I get sick of hearing it myself. I find a nice room for you, not too far from your wife's. Please follow me; I'll have your bags sent up.' It was then that Davina noticed he had brought his own case as well as hers. They followed the girl down a long white-painted corridor, lined with exotic house plants.

‘Colin,' she hissed at him under her breath, ‘I'll never trust you …'

‘Ssh,' he said. ‘It's about time I was one jump ahead of you, sweetheart. Look at that lovely little bottom in front of us, and doesn't she know how to swing from the hips? You didn't really think I'd sit in the hotel like a good boy and wait for you to whistle? You've got a lot to learn about Scotsmen, if you fell for that.'

Their rooms were at opposite ends of a corridor, one wall of which was plate glass looking out over the gardens, which were beautifully laid out round a central fountain copied from the traditional Moorish fountains in the courts of the Alhambra. People were lying on sunbeds, and one group was playing cards. It was a scene of idyllic calm and luxury. White-coated attendants wandered about, adjusting chairs or sunshades, bringing trays of fruit juice. Most of the clients were in middle age, and some were very overweight.

Davina's bedroom was a large airy room, with the same expanse of plate glass down one wall. There was a clever blend of modern and Spanish traditional in the brilliant Indian rugs and the handsomely carved bed. Hothouse plants towered in a tier of elaborate ironwork. There was a green and white tiled bathroom leading off the room.

‘This is lovely,' she said. ‘Thank you.'

‘The doctor will be along soon,' the Mexican girl said. ‘You'll have time to unpack. This way, please, Senor Maxwell.' She gave Lomax a bold flirtatious glance and swayed out of the door ahead of him. He countered Davina's angry look with an infuriating wink.

She put her few clothes away, looked at her watch and decided that she didn't have time to explore before the arrival of Doctor Felipe. As she waited, all her annoyance with Colin drained away, and she was unaccountably glad that he had snapped his fingers at her instructions. In the charming sunny room she sat on the bed under the baroque Spanish cupids and felt suddenly very much afraid.

‘You're worried, aren't you, John?' Charlie reached up and stroked his cheek with one finger. ‘What haven't you told me?'

‘Nothing.' Kidson looked down at her on the pillow and smiled. I'm not going to tell her about Davina because it'll worry her sick, he thought. She's seen and heard too much of this business already. ‘We had a less than friendly meeting with the people at Langley. I wish the chief had come out himself. He's so good at dealing with awkward situations; Humphrey just looked greener and stiffer and started being thoroughly sarcastic. Anyway, I'm not going to bore you with it, darling. I was just dying to get into that chopper and get back. What did you do with yourself? I never even asked you.'

‘Davy, Colin and I had lunch,' she said. ‘Then I went round the shops and bought you a present. He's madly in love with her, isn't he?'

‘What?'

She burst out laughing at his expression of amazement.

‘Darling! Don't tell me you haven't noticed! You've been here for ages and I only saw them together for five minutes and it was obvious … Really, aren't men funny? They never see anything, even when it's right under their noses! Tell me about him – he's rather an odd type.'

‘Just because they're sharing the flat, that doesn't mean anything – it's a cover so he can be on hand to look after her, that's all.'

‘My darling John,' she said, ‘you may be able to catch spies, but I know a man head over heels in love when I see one. Your big tough major was gazing at my sister just the way you used to look at me.'