his blue eyes lasering into her. “She gives her car to a complete stranger. Why would she do that?”
She swallowed. “She was a decent person. Woman to woman. She could see I was in trouble.” She could see I was desperate, she thought.
“Or maybe she was one of theirs and told them where to find you. Either that, or they persuaded her,” he said, making a gesture like pulling out a fingernail.
Is he crazy? she wondered. Where does he come up with this crap?
“She had no idea where I was going. I told her I’d leave the car at the Crowne Plaza and I did. She knew nothing about the Achilles location.”
“No, but like everyone in Beirut, she knew the Crowne was on Rue Hamra, so where you were going couldn’t be far. All they had to do was blanket the area. Fifty watchers in the Friday-night crowd and you didn’t even spot one.” He shook his head disgustedly. “The only amateur in this whole ridiculous fiasco is sitting right across from me.”
“I don’t believe this. I manage to escape a deadly Hezbollah trap and it’s my fault?” she said, standing again. She felt sick to her stomach. What was happening? Was he firing her? “What are you saying? Would you rather I’d died or been captured?”
“I’m saying you’re done here. You’re certainly compromised and we’ll have to get a new safe house, thanks to you.”
“What about my agents? They count on me,” she said, her heartbeat pounding in her head like a drum. She’d never been fired before. It was the most sickening feeling she’d ever experienced.
“For the time being, I’ll handle Dima and your other Joes. You’re done. Talk to Carol about arrangements and your flight back,” he said. “And I’ll call Berenson. He’s the one who foisted you on me in the first place.”
“So that’s it. All my work and I’m gone for something that isn’t my fault?”
“Go pack, Carrie. I’m sending you back to Langley. Maybe they can find something useful for you. Not everybody’s cut out for the field.”
“You’re wrong, Davis,” she said, her jaw clenched, knowing she was wasting her breath. “I wasn’t followed. There’s a security breach. You need to check it out.”
“We’ll look into it,” he said, waving her off and picking up the phone.
On the way to the airport, Virgil Maravich made the turn off El Asad Road at the Boulevard El Sader roundabout. He kept glancing sideways at Carrie, who was dressed in a full head-to-foot black abaya.
“I shouldn’t be doing this,” he said. “Not to mention, Dahiyeh isn’t exactly the safest place in the world for outsiders.”
He was right, of course, Carrie thought. Dahiyeh, in southern Beirut, was poor, Shiite, and controlled by Hezbollah militia armed to the teeth, who might stop you at any intersection. Driving through, there were still plenty of bombed-out buildings and empty lots filled with weeds and rubble from past Israeli attacks and the long civil war.
“I appreciate it,” she said, shaking her head. “What is his problem?”
“Fielding?” Virgil grinned. “He’s one of the old-boy network, don’t you get it? He knows the rules. Somebody’s head had to roll over Nightingale and the breach at Achilles. He puts it on you, it’s not on him.”
“That’s disgusting,” she said, looking over at Virgil. Tall, thin, bald on top; she had met him on her first surveillance in Beirut. Then as now, they’d been talking about Fielding.
“Did he give you his ‘Beirut Rules’ speech? One mistake and they kill you and then they go and party. Asshole,” he’d said with a grin that first time. It had been Virgil who’d given her the idea of wearing a wedding band when going out at night or on RDVs. “Your sex life is none of my business,” he’d told her. “But unless you want it to be everybody’s business or you enjoy being groped, in this part of the world it’s a good idea to let men think you belong to another man, which is how they think of it. Breaking that is a bigger taboo than rape. At least the ring gives you the choice.”
She’d never been attracted to Virgil. She didn’t know how he felt about her and she never let it go there. He was married but didn’t talk about it. It had nothing to do with her. They were colleagues, foxhole buddies. She respected him. She thought he felt the same about her. Even if she’d wanted to, they both knew that sex would only screw things up and the truth was, they’d come to rely on each other.
“Welcome to the real CIA,” Virgil said with a grimace. He had the typical attitude of contempt that most field operatives had for the suits back at Langley. “We don’t need enemy spies. We’ve got our own little organizational cesspool. I’m sorry you got caught up in it.”
They drove to the Ghobeiry district, where they turned off into side streets filled with kids playing, kicking cans and using sticks for guns, and men playing tawla, a form of backgammon, and sipping tea outside storefronts. On the sides of buildings were the giant painted faces of martyrs, most of them bearded men so young their beards looked fake, and everywhere, yellow and green Hezbollah flags hanging like laundry.
Before she’d ever gone to Lebanon, Saul had told her, “Beirut is like Istanbul; it’s on two continents. North Beirut is Paris with palm trees; Dahiyeh is the Middle East.”
“Where are you meeting her?” Virgil asked.
“Supermarket,” she said. “It’s hard for her to sneak away.”
“How do you want to play this?”
“You stay in the car, engine going, in case we need to get away. If anyone asks, you’re my male guardian.”
“Well, don’t let anyone get too close. With that Irish-American mug of yours, even with an abaya and veil, you’re not fooling anyone.” He grinned.
“Thanks, Virgil. I appreciate this. You’re always there for me.” She looked at him. “Why?”
He glanced over at her. The abaya, the hijab she was wearing; it was weird.
“You really want to know?”
“Yeah, I really do.”
He nodded. “Don’t let it get around, but you’re the smartest damn person here. Oh, and you’re not bad to look at either. No wonder Fielding hates your guts. Just do me one favor.”
“Name it.”
He drove the narrow street up the hill. Four young men with AK-47s, smoking water pipes outside a shisha café, watched them drive slowly by, Carrie pulling her niqab, her veil, across her face as they passed.
“This is nuts,” he muttered, looking around.
“I have to do this. She only trusts me. I can’t just leave her hanging.”
“All I want is, don’t push it. As soon as you’re done, Fielding’s orders, I’ve got to take you to the airport.”
“I’ll make it fast.”
“Better
