City Of Spies. Nina Berry
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Название: City Of Spies
Автор: Nina Berry
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Книги для детей: прочее
isbn: 9781474055574
isbn:
“Hooray,” Pagan said, still trying to deal with the two most important people in her life bonding without her. “I’m starving.”
She took the sofa while Mercedes lowered herself into the chair and said, “He was young, maybe early or midtwenties, over six feet, white, reasonably handsome with reddish brown hair under a light gray fedora. Gray suit, white shirt, narrow gray tie.”
“Thorough,” said Devin. “And what made you think he wasn’t a fellow tourist?”
Mercedes squinted, thinking. “He wasn’t looking around. He had no curiosity about the things or people around him. No guidebook. He kept staring at Pagan.”
Pagan straightened. Devin said, “He wasn’t some fan of her movies, maybe?”
Mercedes shook her head. “I thought of that. But he didn’t want an autograph, and not because he’s shy. He was intent, focused, and he didn’t want her, or me, to see him.”
Pagan was impressed, and convinced, and Devin was taking everything Mercedes said very seriously. “Will you let me know if you see him again?” he asked.
“Sure. Do you know who it is?”
It was like being at a tennis match, her eyes bouncing back and forth between them.
“No,” Devin said. “But we’ll find out.”
Mercedes nodded. “He’ll be back.”
“I knew Berlin was a garrison of spies,” Pagan said, turning to Mercedes. “But Devin says Buenos Aires is, too, even more so since the Israelis kidnapped that war criminal Eichmann back in ’60.”
“I did some research for my school report that said there’s a large Jewish population here,” Mercedes said. “But also a large German ex-patriot population.”
“Exactly,” said Devin. “And those are only two of the factions that come into conflict. Many of the old aristocracy resent elements within the German community and the former Perónist government, which harbored Nazis like Eichmann and Mengele. Then there are local gangs who follow various brands of fascism and Perónism, who agitate against the current government and target Jews. Not to mention that the Israelis and other foreign agencies are still active, all with their own agendas.”
“Why would any of them want to tail Pagan?” Mercedes asked. “For all they know she’s a harebrained movie star. Sorry.” She shot an apologetic look at Pagan.
Pagan grinned. “I drank a lot of martinis to give that impression. Glad they didn’t all go to waste.”
“Much as I’d like to discuss this with you in more detail, and much as I appreciate your sharp eye,” Devin said to Mercedes, “I can’t officially talk to Pagan about her job for us with you here.” He turned to Pagan. “Shall we adjourn to my room, perhaps? It’s down the hall.”
Pagan was on her feet. “You’re staying down the hall?” It was silly how that news made her pulse race.
“Don’t leave,” Mercedes said, getting up. “Pagan needs her steak, and it’s coming here. Send mine in when it comes.” And she sailed into her adjoining bedroom and shut the door.
Pagan was alone again with Devin Black.
Alvear Palace Hotel, Buenos Aires
January 10, 1962
CORTINA
Curtain. A brief musical interlude between dance sets.
“Alone at last,” said Pagan, echoing Devin’s words back to him as she sat back down with a thump. Devin took the chair beside the sofa with his usual careless grace, an arm’s length away.
Now that Mercedes was gone Pagan was free to notice how the long, powerful muscles in his shoulders pressed against the fine cotton lawn of his white shirt, and how narrow his waist was where the shirt was tucked neatly into his pants. She pulled her eyes away so he wouldn’t see her staring.
“Sorry it took me a little while to get in touch,” he said. “I had some background research to do before I talked to you and...”
He broke off, staring at her. His eyes, normally layered sapphire and indigo, caught sunlight coming through the hotel window and glowed nearly royal blue. His high cheekbones and long straight nose had tanned since she’d seen him at Sinatra’s house in December. He looked fit and coiled for action.
“Are you all right?” he asked. “You seem agitated.”
She relaxed slightly. “I’m fine, but this morning wasn’t fun. The wardrobe is derivative, dated and way too tight, which is exactly how this whole movie’s going to be. The script is terrible. I keep hearing the director’s a jerk, and my costar thought dance rehearsals back in California were the right time to proposition me.”
He didn’t move, but something behind his eyes tightened. “Which costar?”
The protective note in his voice was strong, immediate. She looked down so he wouldn’t see how happy it made her. “Tony Perry. He’s...” She wanted to tell him how Tony’s assumptions about how “easy” she was had made her feel awful, to hear Devin’s reassurance that he didn’t see her that way, but instead she trailed off and finished, lamely, “He’s just a jerk.”
“I’ll have a word with him,” Devin said. “For all he knows, I’m still a studio executive.”
“Oh, I think I fixed that particular situation,” Pagan said. “But thanks. He’s finally able to walk around now without help.”
His eyebrows quirked together. “Ouch?”
She nodded. “You look like you’ve been lounging at a resort since I saw you back in Los Angeles.”
“Not unless you call staking out the home of a possible war criminal resort living,” he said. “The summer sun down here is relentless.”
“Where does Von Albrecht live?”
The astonishment in his face was gratifying. “How did you know his name? I never told you he goes by that name. Did I?”
“No, but in a way, my mother did.” She got up and went to the fancy mirrored desk in the suite’s living room, where she’d laid one of her smaller suitcases and pulled out an accordion file. She tossed it to Devin, who caught it easily. “Rolf Von Albrecht wrote to my mother in coded letters in the summer of ’52, a few months before Dr. Someone came to visit us. I assume they’re one and the same person. I found the letters in my father’s safe last August. I broke the code in Berlin.”
He looked up at her from the file. “In Berlin? When?”
“The night before I went to Walter Ulbricht’s little garden party, the night I saw Nicky with his wife and СКАЧАТЬ