Mr.Churchill's Secretary(88)
Disposal team. Crematorium. All right, then. Maggie was silent.
Frain said, “But that’s not all that happened.”
John looked at Maggie with concern.
“Yesterday, there was an attempt to assassinate the Prime Minister.” Snodgrass, David, and John looked on impassively. But Edmund started and Maggie gasped.
Frain held up one hand. “The assassination was thwarted, thanks to the quick action on the part of Richard Snodgrass and John Sterling. The perpetrator was one Claire Kelly, also known as Paige Kelly—”
Paige?
“—a colleague of Malcolm Pierce and also the IRA.”
“Maggie,” John said. “I’m so sorry.”
Paige?
“Miss Hope, it pains me to have to tell you this, but you need to know that in order to carry off the assassination, Miss Kelly disguised herself as you to gain entrance to the War Rooms. You also must know that to secure her cover, she and her companion, an IRA agent by the name of Michael Murphy, killed a young woman named Sarah Sanderson, who’d discovered Claire in her disguise as she was leaving.”
The room was stunned and silent—apparently, not even Snodgrass and John had known this detail.
Paige?
And Sarah?
“Sarah,” Maggie managed finally. “Sarah?”
Edmund patted Maggie’s hand awkwardly. Still, it was a comfort.
John looked pale as well.
“I wish that were all,” Frain said.
“You mean there’s more?” Maggie said bitterly. Surely there was a limit to how much one could take. Nelson jumped down from the chair, then wound himself around her ankle. She absently reached down to pet him.
“I’m afraid so.” He looked at the group. “The attempted assassination of Mr. Churchill and the attempted kidnapping of Professor Hope were part of their plot. We’ve thwarted both those plans. However, there’s still one more we need to defuse.”
“Operation Paul,” Maggie said.
“Yes,” Frain replied.
Maggie processed his new information as a way to distract herself from the other revelations—Paige was alive and Sarah was not. Paige was a traitor named Claire. Sarah was dead. Paige—or Claire—was alive. It was somehow easier to think about Paul.
Whoever he was.
Frain entered Claire Kelly’s interrogation room once again. It looked the same, only Claire was more distraught and disheveled. Her lipstick had worn off, leaving a red stain, and she had dark, bruiselike shadows underneath her eyes.
“Can I please get something to eat?” Claire said in a weak voice.
Frain didn’t answer; instead, he pushed a photograph in front of her.
“Do you recognize this man?”
Claire looked at the photograph of a man with a receding hairline, beaky nose, and intense black eyes. “No.”
“He’s connected to Michael Murphy.”
“I don’t know him.”
“His name is Joseph McCormack. He’s a physics teacher at the London Oratory School.”
Claire looked up at Frain. “You know more about him than I do, then.”
“He’s also our only way to reach Eammon Devlin. And we can’t do that without your help.”
“Why should I help you? I’ve already gotten all I’m going to get for cooperating.”
Frain’s demeanor gentled. “That’s not necessarily true,” he said, sitting down at the desk and leaning in closer to Claire. “I know you love Michael. You’ve already shown me that today. But unless you help us get to Devlin, you’ll never see him again.”
Another knock at the door. “Come in,” Frain called.
A tall man in a black MI-5 uniform entered. “Our teams are in place, sir.”
“Thank you,” Frain said. “Have them stand by.”
The man nodded and left. Frain rose, clasping his hands behind his back. He looked down at the girl.
“I’m offering you your life, Claire. You and Mr. Murphy will be extradited to Ireland, where even non–IRA sympathizers will be much more lenient with you than we. This is what you told me you wanted. I’m offering you a life with Murphy, instead of hanging for treason. Right now the only question is—which do you want?”
Claire was silent.
Frain turned to leave.
Without looking at him, Claire said, “What do you need me to do?”
Frain turned around to face her. “Go to Joseph McCormack and tell him that you need to speak to Devlin.”
Claire snorted. “He won’t let me through his front door, let alone get near Devlin.”
“He will when you tell him that you’ve got a hostage who can help him.”
Claire’s eyes widened. “A hostage? Who?”
Frain permitted himself a small smile. “We’ll let you know when it’s time.”