Joseph Kanon - The Prodigal Spy

“Brown?”

“One of yours. Over in Justice-”

Larry held up his hand. “Don’t. I’m not supposed to know. It’s safer.”

“Then who did?”

“Hoover. He called. He had a report from one of his legats saying that Walter was planning to come back. Did I know anything about it? I suppose he thought I might, because of your mother. He never said anything about you. Why would I even think it? It was a damn fool thing for Walter to do, involving you. What was in his head? You don’t do that.”

“He trusted me.”

“He didn’t even know you. I was there, not him. No matter what you think of me now, that part’s still true. He wasn’t there. I was. I gave you everything.”

Nick looked at him, amazed. “No,” he said. “You took everything.”

A pause. Then Larry looked down at his watch. “Well, this isn’t getting us anywhere. And I have a meeting.” He looked up. “You’re being sentimental. Walter was a damn fool. But you’re all right, that’s the main thing.”

“You have a meeting?” Nick said. Was he just going to walk away?

“Yes, at the White House. Walk over with me.” He stood up.

“Do you really think I’m going to let you do that?”

Larry raised his eyebrows, genuinely puzzled.

Nick got up, facing him. “I know everything you’ve done. Your code name. What happened at the hotel. How you report. All of it.”

“You’ll make an awful mess trying to prove it.”

“I can do it. I have documents. He gave them to me.”

“Ah,” Larry said, looking away. “Then I guess I’m in your hands. You might say we’re in each other’s hands. Sort of a protection racket.”

“I’m not in your hands.”

“Well, a minute ago you said I was going to kill you. Which I’m not, of course. But you’re not going to do anything either. What did you have in mind? Turning me in? Your own father? I don’t think so. You know, Nick, you’re more like me than you think. We’re both pragmatists. We take the world as it comes. You just got thrown a curve, that’s all. But don’t do anything foolish. What’s in it for you? Patriotism? Not very pragmatic.”

“You bastard. Listen to me-”

“No, you listen to me. Calmly. We’re going to walk out of the square, and in a few minutes I’m going to sit down at a table and listen to fools and crooks tell me how they want to run the world. I’ve been listening to them for thirty years, different crooks, same fools. But I’m at the end. This is my last job. After that I won’t be a threat to anybody, least of all the country. That you think you care so much about. It’s over. Walter told you things he had no right to tell. You’re lucky, no one knows except me. So you come back playing detective, all fired up to change the world. Just like Walter used to be. But you’re not going to change it. Nobody does. What you might do is cause a scandal that would embarrass the Government-not a bad thing in itself, given who they are. But it’ll be a lot worse for us. It would kill your mother.”

“No, it wouldn’t.”

“And what about you? You know what it would mean. Do you want to go through all that again? I’m not doing anything more than what Walter did. You want to make him a saint, that’s your business, but don’t drag the rest of us down trying. Do you think anybody wants to know? That time is over. You think Nixon wants his old Red-baiting days brought up again? Mr Statesman? Hell, the only one who still cares at all is Hoover, and he’s been nuts for years. No one wants to know. Who would you be doing it for?”

“For me.”

“For you. Why? Settling someone else’s scores. And you’d still have to prove it. I don’t know what you think you have — is it really enough? I’d have to fight you, and I’m good, I’ve been doing it for a long time. I don’t want to fight you, Nick. You’re my son. You are, you know. We’d be killing each other. Like scorpions. We’d both go down.”

“You killed someone, Larry. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

“Listen, Nick, I’m going to a meeting now with men who are killing thousands, and people think they’re heroes. I didn’t make the world. At least I did it to protect myself — that’s the oldest instinct in the book. What’s their excuse? Come on, walk with me. I’ll be late.”

Numbly Nick fell in step at his side. “I don’t care about them, Larry. You killed him.”

“He killed himself, Nick. He killed himself the moment he decided to turn. Those are the rules. They’d do the same thing to me-or you. Be smart. Let’s all just retire in peace. Think of your mother. You don’t want to do this to her.”

“Look what you’ve done to her.”

“I hope I’ve made her happy.” He turned. “She can’t know about this.”

“What’s the difference? A wife can’t testify against her husband.” Nick stopped. “Is that why you married her?”

“Of course not. I love your mother. I always have.”

“You’re a liar, Larry. You don’t even know her.”

“I’m not going to argue with you, Nick. I did my best, that’s all I can say.”

“You even lie to yourself.”

“Well, we all do that.” They stopped near the entrance to the White House, across the lawn behind the tall railings. Barriers along the street to keep protestors away. Larry waved to one of the guards and turned. “But I’m not lying to you. There’s no advantage here. Be smart.”

“Like you. Maybe I’m one of the fools. Are any of them smart, or are you the only one?” Nick cocked his head toward the gate, where a black limousine was pulling onto the driveway.

“Well, they’re not very bright,” Larry said. “Anyway, it won’t be much longer. I’ll be out this fall. Would you like me to resign sooner? Would that ease your conscience?”

Making a deal, the way he always did. Sure of himself. Nick looked at him, the familiar face suddenly inexplicable. “Tell me. Why did you do it?”

“I thought I explained-”

“No. It. Are you a Communist? I mean, do you believe in it?”

“I used to. I thought it would fix things.”

“But not anymore.”

“I’m too old to believe you can fix things.”

“Then why did you keep going?”

“Well, you have to.” An easy answer, but then he stopped, thinking. “I don’t know if you’d understand. It was the stakes. It was-you’d sit at a table, in there.” He jabbed his thumb toward the gate. “You’d sit there while they all talked, and none of them knew.”

“That you were betraying them.”

“That you had the secret. This big secret. None of them knew.” He shrugged. “But that’s all over now. My son’s going to insist I retire.” He smiled his old Van Johnson smile and turned to the gate. “Call me after lunch.”

“But-” Nick reached out to stop him, but Larry had already moved out of reach, so that Nick’s arm just hung in the air, as if he were holding a gun. Then slowly he dropped it, unable to pull the trigger.

Molly was still at the store, waiting.

“I didn’t know what else to do,” she said. “What happened?”

“Where’s the girl?”

“She split. But I got this.” She held up the envelope. “She was too freaked to argue. Just ran.”

“Did you look?”

Molly nodded. “What we’re going to say in Paris. Talk about a stacked deck. If this doesn’t put him away, nothing will. What happened? No more than what your father did-another lie. He was prolonging the war.

“Let’s get out of here.”

“I can’t,” she said, indicating the unmanned register. “There’s no one here.”

“Now,” Nick said sharply. Then, seeing her surprised face, “What if she comes back?”

Molly grabbed her purse from underneath the counter. They walked down 14th Street toward the Mall, hearing the sound of loudspeakers in the distance, a chant. Molly listened to him without interrupting, her face worried. They turned up Pennsylvania Avenue. Nick could see the Justice building, Hoover’s balcony overlooking the street, where he watched the parades. A short elevator ride, a deal-that’s all it would take.