The Virtuosic Spy 01 - Deceptive Cadence Read Online Free PDF Page B

quietly. “You’re saying this man is Thomas?”
    “Yes.”
    “Ridiculous. He’s not capable of it. He’s not that bright, Frank. Apparently he’s a con artist—no argument there, although even that was hard to believe—but I can tell you for certain he’s no technical or financial wizard.”
    “We’re not talking about anything so awfully complicated,” Frank said. “The system is already in place for him. All he needs is a bank account, a laptop, and a satellite connection for electronic transfers. Beyond that, we have established proof of his connection to two known representatives of an IRA splinter group originating in Armagh.”
    Hunched forward with his elbows on the table, Conor tried to explain the disparity of Frank’s description with the man he knew. “It doesn’t sound like Thomas at all. I can’t believe this is something he would—”
    “He’s there,” Frank said with finality. “We have a contractor in India who confirmed your brother’s presence in Mumbai, and MI6 sent an agent over to investigate.”
    Frank leaned forward across the table, his eyes locked on Conor’s. “Now, listen to me,” he said, his tone low and vehement. “Believe or don’t believe whatever you like about me. It means fuck-all to me what you think. But if you are going to be any use to me, or your brother, you will believe this: Thomas has allied himself with a group of IRA cast-offs. He is a primary figure in an international money laundering operation. He is in regular contact with a group of terrorists based in Kashmir, and he is in shite up to his eyeballs. I understand it is painful to hear. I realize it is difficult to absorb. I also know it is quite possible you represent the only chance he has to come out of this alive, so it is imperative that you begin hearing and absorbing it as quickly as possible.”
    He noticed Frank’s elegant upper-class accent had changed. Just for a moment, it had taken on a hint of the lilt and cadence of Northern Ireland. Conor felt his resistance collapsing and closed his eyes. “Yes, all right. I believe you,” he whispered. His throat tightened. “What are you going to do?”
    “I am going to send you to India to get him and bring him back to us.”
    He opened his eyes and stared at Frank in confusion. “You just said you already sent a man over there to do that. What happened to him?”
    “That agent was not the ideal resource for the assignment.” Frank scowled. “We need to have your brother’s cooperation, and with the right approach, he might be persuaded to offer it.”
    “Why do you need his cooperation? Why can’t you just arrest him and be done with it?”
    Frank offered a thin smile of patient pity. “We believe this to be a global money laundering operation. There might be any number of field operatives running projects within it to prop up terrorist networks. We just happened to get lucky in identifying one of them. We don’t want the field operatives; we want the person running them. We want the wizard. Your job will be to reach Thomas and talk him into helping us with that. If he does, we’ll be able to help him.”
    A shiver passed through Conor even as a trickle of perspiration rolled down the side of his face. His hands were ice cold, and his head was pounding. Maybe he had drunk too much. Pinching his fingers against the bridge of his nose, he could think of only one last question to ask. “Why me? For God’s sake, Thomas hasn’t cared enough to contact me even once in more than five years—not even a postcard to say he’s alive. Why would I have any more influence than your last agent?”
    “Why you? Indeed. I wonder that it took so long for you to ask,” Frank said. “After the initial failure with our own agent, I enlisted a local asset through contacts within the Indian Army. It was a blind assignment to seek out a ‘person of interest’ through a casual encounter, engage in a recorded conversation, and then send the tape