The prodigal spy

“Why are you acting like this?” she said, pulling away.

“I’m watching my back. He didn’t have to tell me, we learned that in the war. You get like that when people shoot at you. You start seeing things. You, for instance. Standing right here, having a little talk. Not shopping. Definitely not alone. I was over there.” He indicated the tree. “But maybe I was seeing things. Was I? Tell me.”

She took her arm away, subdued. “What did he tell you?”

“Him? Nothing. Not a word. A real gentleman, if you like the type. Which I guess you do. So why don’t you tell me?”

She looked down. “He’s a friend. Was.”

“A bed friend?”

“What difference does it make?”

“A bed friend?”

“All right, yes. We had a thing. So what? In Paris. He used to work there.”

“But not anymore.”

“No.”

“So you came here. A Czech filmmaker-Christ, was that his idea or yours?”

“Mine.”

“What else did you make up? Why?”

“I didn’t think you’d come if you knew.”

“And it was important to get me here. That was the idea.”

“It was important for him. He wanted it, not me.”

“But you made it happen. You arranged everything. A little family reunion, with the CIA sitting right there beside me.”

“He’s not with the CIA.”

“So he said. What about you? Who do you work for?”

“Nobody. I did it for him.”

“Why, if it was over?”

“I thought it would get him back.”

“Did it?”

“Things-changed.” She looked up at him. “You know that.”

“I don’t know anything, Molly, remember? I’m not supposed to. Is that why we went to bed? Was that part of the plan too? So I wouldn’t suspect anything?”

“No.”

“No, you just couldn’t help yourself. Christ, and I was worrying about the Czechs bugging us, not our side.”

“Stop it. It wasn’t like that.”

“You tell him about it? Was that part of the report?”

She shook her head. “That wasn’t supposed to happen. It just did.”

“What was supposed to happen?”

“You don’t want to hear this.”

“Yes, I do. I’m dying to hear it. How stupid I was, fucking an agent.”

She flinched and turned away from him, facing the water. “I’m not an agent. I told you, he’s not CIA. He hates the CIA, as a matter of fact. It’s like a sports thing. They’re these big rivals.”

“Who?”

She bit her lip. “The Bureau. There, so you know, okay? You got it out of me. Happy? He works for the FBI.”

Nick stared at her. His father’s voice. I know where.

“In Paris,” he said sarcastically.

“At the embassy. They’re not supposed to operate overseas. It’s against the law. Like they care. Anyway, they get around it by putting people in the embassies. Legats-that’s what they call them. Legal attaches. The CIA knows, but there’s nothing they can do about it, so they make each other crazy.” She stopped. “He’s not an agent.”

“And that’s supposed to make it all right.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Some difference. So you get together in Paris. I’m amazed. An old rock groupie like yourself. I didn’t think he’d be your type. How was it?”

“Don’t do this,” she said quietly.

“How was it?”

She glared at him. “Fine, if you want to know. It was fine. Look, I’m not proud of this. What do you want me to say? What about you? Are you proud of everyone you’ve been to bed with?” She turned to face the river. “We had a thing, okay? I was attracted to him-I don’t know why. Kind of like sleeping with the enemy. It’s so wrong it’s-interesting. You know, what’s that like? I mean, God, the Bureau. The last thing I would have imagined. I thought they were like Nazis. But he wasn’t. He was nice-at least, he was then.

“So I was wrong. I thought it would just be that one time, but it wasn’t. It went on. And then, when he left I didn’t know what to do. Maybe I wanted him to miss me. But I didn’t want it to be over.”

“So you followed him here.”

She nodded. “But things were different. I thought it was the place-everything’s different here. But what was really happening was that it wasn’t important to him anymore. Just his stupid job. Who wants to admit that? So I didn’t. Then I met your father and he got interested again. I had him back for a while.”

“Why was he interested?”

“He knew the Bureau would be. Your father was the one who got away. They never closed the file. Because of Hoover. It’s never over for him. Jeff says he lives in the past. I guess when he isn’t spying on the Panthers and whatever else they do. But that period, your father’s time-that was it for him. So he’d be interested if anything turned up. Jeff just wanted to do himself some good, get out of Prague and back home. Prague’s a dead end. But if he could get the director’s attention-” She paused. “I don’t know, maybe he thought he could get something out of him. That your father might tell you things he could use. He’s like that. Ambitious. So he used me and I used you. Is that what you wanted to hear?”

“Every detail.”