“What are you talking about?” I replied, my chest still tight as a drum, my eyes blinking. I didn’t know who he was, or who had sent him, whether he was from the Feds or the bad guys, but Emma’s life hung in the balance of whatever I said or whomever I talked to, and I wasn’t about to give that away.
All I knew was, I’d seen him going into the Bauers’ apartment. This guy was a Nazi.
“I’m talking about your daughter,” he said again. He reached into his jacket one more time and came out with a photograph. He handed it to me. It was of Emma and me, coming down the stairs of her brownstone. Hand in hand. On one of our walks. I wasn’t sure how long ago it had been taken. We weren’t wearing coats. So a while. I looked back at him, still not certain just what I should divulge. Her life hung on what I said. “She’s missing, right?” the man said. “I have a daughter myself. I can only imagine … I know what it must be like for you. Not to know if she’ll live or die. You do want her back, don’t you?”
“Who the hell are you?” I stared at him closely, screwing up my eyes. “And just what the hell are you doing here?”
“I’m not one of them, if that’s what you’re thinking. Let me put you at ease. You’re not the only one with questions about Willi and Trudi Bauer, or some of their associates. By that I mean certain members of the government who may have, how shall we say, confused their allegiances. Even,” he said, taking out a lighter and lighting up his smoke, “in our own State Department.”
He meant Latimer, of course. But still, I didn’t give him an answer. They’d set me up once before, these bastards. They might be testing me again. And Emma’s life was on the line. “How are you here then?” I pressed. “How did you find me?”
“You filed a report with the New York Police Department, didn’t you?”
“A report…?” I almost choked. Monahan. I couldn’t believe what I’d just heard. The report that I was sure was on the bottom of a forgotten pile somewhere. But how else would anyone know about that? Unless the police had been infiltrated too, I thought. Which was possible. The State Department had. I wasn’t sure whether to be elated by what he had told me or more concerned. But how could it get any worse for me? “You’re with the police?”
“Not the police. But you’re warm. My name’s Fiske. You want me to show you a card? Just a bunch of initials. You wouldn’t recognize them anyway. Latimer likely showed you one, and what did that accomplish? We’ve been looking into certain persons of interest for some time. What’s perfectly legal one day becomes outright treason and sedition the next. And I don’t blame you for being a little skeptical about things. Still, you won’t have too many chances to help yourself, Mr. Mossman, or your beautiful little girl. Events are moving fast. And this is one of those times. I know they have you squeezed. So I suggest you grab it. This chance I’m offering you.”
“Do you know where she is?” I finally gave in, hope rising in me. I went with my gut.
“No, I don’t, I’m afraid.” He took a drag on his cigarette. “But what I do know is we’re the only chance you have to help her. Or yourself, for that matter…”
I just looked back at him. I hadn’t even thought of what might happen to me in this. Only Emma. I guess that showed on my face.
“You don’t really think they’re going to let you just walk away from this, do you?”
“Walk away? Walk away from what?”
“Don’t try to play too many angles, Mr. Mossman. It’s not your game. You know what they have planned. I don’t, to put my cards on the table. Other than it’s called Prospero. But I do know it’s something the United States of America can’t let happen. And I also know they’ve squeezed you like a ripe lemon to be complicit in their plans. And that you have to make a decision now. Just who can you trust? And even more so, what’s the best chance to get that lovely daughter of yours back safely? I’d take that drink now, if I were you. You’ll need it.”
I held the glass, a little unsure, and looked back at him. I was starting to feel he was right. Maybe a shot of rye wasn’t the worst thing in the world for me right now. I chugged it back and felt the splash of liquor burn its way down my throat and into my chest.
“Of course I want her back,” I said. “I want her back more than anything in the world. How do I know I can believe you? Who you say you are. One thing you’ve got right, they did set me up. There’s this woman. She’s French.” I exhaled. “I thought she and I were—”
“Miss Leperrier.” He cut me off with a knowing smile. “There’s always a woman in these things, I’m sad to say. That’s how they hook people. But trust me, she’s just the tail of a very large fish on this. She was sent here by the Abwehr to hook people like you. Her parents are being held in a Nazi prison in Drancy back in France. Whether they ever walk out of there is up to her. So you see, she’s as much of a pawn in this as you are, Mr. Mossman, if that’s any consolation.”
So it was true, what Noelle had told me. At least about that. The circumstances of my trip were not straightforward.… They had her trapped just like they had me. And we both had to work our way out of it. But I wasn’t looking for consolation now.
I said, “She introduced me to this high-level government man from D.C.” I put my glass down. “From the State Department. The Office of Immigrant Affairs…”
“Warren Latimer,” Fiske said with a nod.
“You know him too?”
“We have a good part of the network under watch. You’ve no doubt heard or seen many expressions of sympathy with the Nazi cause in the lead-up to this war. Some, simply to keep America out of it. Which makes sense to some and wasn’t even a crime until a few days ago. Others…” He flicked off an ash and balanced his cigarette on the ashtray. “Let’s just say others have blurred the line where political ideology and good citizenship meet. And that’s not exactly good policy now. We can’t have it. Not in our own government. I’m sure you of all people can understand, given all you’ve been through.”
Latimer. The head of the fish. Or maybe it even went higher up than him.
“They said if I went to the police, they’d know,” I said. “Or to the FBI. I don’t know who you’re with. They said they have contacts there. Maybe people in your own organization. You said you had a daughter, so you know. You know the choice you’d have to make. I don’t care about myself anymore. Whatever happens. But I can’t put Emma in any more danger than she’s already in. By talking to you. You understand that, right? You’ve already said you have no idea where she is. So how can you help me?”
“That is a choice to make,” Fiske said, “I admit. And you’re going to have to make it. Tonight even. But before you do, if I were you I might just think, just where have you seen me before, Mr. Mossman? Other than at The Purple Tulip. On the landing of the Bauers’ apartment, if I recall. So they don’t know about me. If they did, you can be sure I wouldn’t be here talking with you. So that should comfort you at least a little.” He kept his narrow eyes trained on me. Beady, nonconfiding. “You’re smack in the middle of this, Mr. Mossman. You can help do something good for your country. And I’ll do everything I can to get that girl of yours back safe and sound. I give you my word. Besides, to me, you’re already ahead of the game as it is.…”
“How’s that?” I asked.
Fiske took a last drag on his cigarette and stamped it out. “A minute ago you thought I was here to kill you.” His thin lips edged into a smile. “And here you are having a drink with me. That’s the best proof I can offer.”
I gave him the thinnest smile in return. “So who do they think you are, since you’ve obviously gained their trust?”
“They recruited me. To them, I’m an electrical engineer with the aircraft research lab in New Brunswick, New Jersey. We’re working on airplane engines. Jets, they call them. One day, they’ll make a big difference in this war. I pass them schematics every once in a while, but rest assured, whatever we send ’em will make a whole lot of noise but never get off the ground. There’s about to be a big bust. Their whole network is going down. And I don’t want you to get caught up in it the wrong way. Or your daughter.”
I stared at him a long time. The long, gaunt face. The suit that looked a size too large on him. On my own I was nowhere. With him I was just another pawn. But what choice did I have? “So what happens to me in this if I do help you?”
“You mean if you survive…?” Fiske gave me a knowledgeable wink. “Look, you’re a family man, Mr. Mossman. In spite of a few unfortunate items on your résumé, which we assume you’re well past today, the United States of America would be grateful for your support, and would show that gratitude by pretending you never were even a participant in any of this. And hopefully, you get your pretty little daughter back, which I’m worried for you may not happen any other way. Not to mention you will have done something good for your country at the same time. Have another…?” He lifted the bottle my way.
I put up my hand. “No. That’s as much as I’ve had in two years. And if I’ve got a decision to make I’d like to keep it that way. So you know about the sub, I presume?” I asked, starting to give in, but still keeping my cards close to my chest. I saw no better option than to trust him.
“The sub?” His eyes grew wide. Clearly, he didn’t.
“One came ashore a week ago. On eastern Long Island.”
“A German sub, I assume you’re saying?”
“That’s right. A launch from it came ashore. They unloaded some cargo. I watched it all take place.”
“Who unloaded cargo? The Bauers? Latimer?”
“Four German sailors. And two of the Bauers’ henchmen, one who works in their apartment building.”
“You say you saw this? Yourself?”
“It’s a long story.” I nodded. “But yes.” Now I had something on him.
“I’ve got nowhere to go,” he said, tipping his glass to me to go into it.
I told him how I had snuck onto the delivery truck at the brewery and had taken the ride all the way out to Long Island, where I saw them unloading what looked like kegs of beer from the launch that came ashore.
“What was it? Weapons?” Fiske looked at me, deadly serious now. “Explosives, maybe?”
I had no choice but to trust him. For Emma. I needed someone who could help get her back. “They’ve got some kind of lethal poison,” I said. “They called it sarin.”
“Sarin…?” He shrugged. “I’ve heard they have something.” I could already see his mind in gear.
“Bauer said just a pinprick can kill a man. They’ve got four kegs. Sit back, Mr. Fiske. Now it’s you who may want to take another drink.” He did. And I continued.
“They’re going to try to introduce it into the New York City water supply.”