“Right. So tell me why you think Robertson isn’t Teddy Fay.”
“Instinct.”
“Uh-oh, instinct. You should never follow your instincts, darling. Let me guess, Robertson looks like Teddy.”
“He looks like the description of Teddy that Lance gave Holly Barker.”
“Isn’t that the same thing?”
“Maybe, maybe not.”
“Come on, Billy, use your noodle a little; just consider it. What about Robertson conflicts with what’s known about Teddy Fay?”
Pepper was silent. “Teddy wouldn’t be stupid enough to use an identity that couldn’t be confirmed.”
“Nothing else, huh?”
“Not much.”
“Name some little thing about R
obertson that conflicts with his being Teddy.”
“His identity doesn’t check out, okay? All right, nothing else, but nothing conflicts with his being Barney Cox, either.”
“Tell me, in your wildest dreams, who would you rather be responsible for bringing in: Barney Cox or Teddy Fay?”
“Well, Barney Cox, of course. If I brought in Teddy Fay, nobody would ever know; Langley would sit on it.”
“Lance would know, and if he gets the DDO job, that would be nice.”
“Yeah, but only Lance would know, and suppose he doesn’t get the job?”
“The director would know, and that means the president would know.”
“Why do you think that? You think Lance would tell her if I busted Teddy? He’d see that he and his acolyte, Barker, got the credit; then he’d get credit for sending her down here. And the director wouldn’t tell the president until he’s out of office. He wouldn’t want to know a thing like that.”
“You have a point.” She thought for a moment. “Maybe we’d get a nice transfer out of it?”
“What’s wrong with St. Marks? I’m working practically alone-ah, with the woman I love-in my very own country; I have nobody local breathing down my neck, except the guy at the embassy. And you’re having the time of your life; your tennis game has never been better.”
“If we were a couple of years from retirement, St. Marks would be heaven,” she said. “But we have careers ahead of us. In another year, Langley will forget we’re here, and we’ll be left to rot on the vine. But if you could make Robertson as Barney Cox, the Brits would love you for it; maybe you could join MI6.”
“Sarcasm doesn’t suit you. Think of some way we can make hay out of Barney Cox.”
“If we were the police, we’d be world-famous in an instant, have our pictures in every newspaper in the world, but that’s not who we are, is it? If we’re responsible for busting Cox, only the Agency is going to know; Langley is not even going to tell the Brits.”
“They’d be very pleased if we busted Cox for the Brits. They could lord it over MI6 for years.”
“Well, there is that. All right, you want me to see what I can find out at the tennis club?”
“Does Robertson play tennis?”
“He’s a new member; I checked.”
“You’ve been holding out on me, haven’t you?”
“I only checked today. I win the blow job!” She shucked off her nightgown.