The Book of Spies

55

THE AIR was warm, the stars bright overhead as Judd and Eva hurried up wide marble paving stones to the entrance of the Acropolis architectural park. Carrying their large duffel, he bought tickets, and they passed through an open gate to where a wide path climbed a gentle slope. Tall cypress and olive trees swayed in a light wind, spectral in the night. He could see an ancient amphitheater in an open area, a magnificent sight. Its rows of crumbled white stone benches rose up the hill in a semicircle, and for a moment he imagined what it must have been like two millennia ago, the vast crowds, the excitement in the air.
The theater's base--the stage--was brightly illuminated by klieg lights. A woman in classical Greek dress stood before the large audience, which sat on blankets and cushions on the remains of the terraced rows. As she spoke into a microphone, a cluster of men and women in white robes and tunics cinched with colored braids waited at the side of the stage. A small camera crew was filming.
"Along here beneath the Acropolis," she was telling her listeners, "are the ruins of the world's first complex of buildings dedicated to the performing arts. This noble old theater dates back to before Alexander the Great. On this very stage immortal masterpieces were premiered--and drama and comedy were born."
"Am I right that we're looking at the Theater of Dionysus?" Judd asked Eva as they neared.
"Yes. It's beautiful, isn't it? When it was new, the walls, stone seating, and thrones were covered in marble and carved with satyrs and lions' paws and gods and goddesses."
Without being asked, she clasped her satchel to her side and slipped into the shadow of a tall marble block across the path from the rear of the open stage, and Judd climbed steps on the west side. The speaker continued, alternating her lecture in Greek and English.
Twenty terraces up, a woman was sitting alone at the edge, a shopping bag at her feet. She looked stiff, stressed. A couple with four children and more people sat in the same row, but close to the center. The stage lights did not reach this far, leaving only the illumination of the moon and stars to show the woman's brown hair and dumpy figure. If he had not known she was Robin Miller, he would not have recognized her.
She slid over to make room for him. "Judd Ryder?" Her tone was strained.
He sat. "Hello, Robin. Ready to get out of Athens?"
She was staring down the hillside. "Who came with you?"
Now he knew one thing--Robin was smart. She had placed herself high and in the darkness deliberately to watch unseen anyone who arrived. He had purposefully not told her earlier about Eva, since they did not know how she would react to Charles's wife--or that he had been the one who had killed Charles.
"My partner," he said. "I'll introduce you. She's keeping watch."
She nodded. "That's okay. Let's go."
He led the way back down and then across the pathway to where Eva was waiting, her black hair and dark blue jacket and jeans hidden in the shadow beside the great marble block.
"Is The Book of Spies nearby?" he asked Robin.
"Yes. In a Metro station."
Eva walked out to greet them, a welcoming smile on her face.
But Robin frowned and took a step backward. "You're Eva Blake. Charles's wife. Preston told me you were involved in Charles's murder." She stared angrily at Judd. "You said she was your partner."
"She is," Judd told her. "I'll explain as we walk. Remember, we're going to help you escape. That's what matters."
Robin's face flushed as she glared at them. Then her eyes darted, and her muscles seemed to tense. Suddenly she turned, threw away her shopping bag, and rushed off toward the park's entrance.
"I'll handle this." Eva ran after her.
Judd caught up with them. Robin was marching quickly along, two furious red spots on her cheeks, her chin held high. And he saw she had not dyed her hair but was instead wearing a wig--it had slipped, exposing the back of her shaved skull. He kept pace on the other side of her.
"I'm sorry about Charles, too," Eva was saying soothingly. "No one wanted him to die. Were you in love with him?"
"What happened?" Robin snapped, not breaking her stride. "Did you kill him?"
"It was an accident," Eva explained. "There was a struggle, and his gun went off. I never knew Charles to carry a gun, so that must've started after he left me. But he'd told me something important, something you should hear--he wanted the library to be found if anything happened to him. There was a message tattooed on his head, and it's what sent us to Rome and then to Istanbul. I don't want Charles's legacy to be lost, and I'll bet you don't, either."
Tears rolled down Robin's cheeks. "You killed him." She increased her furious pace.
As they exited through the park gates, Judd said, "They're suspicious of you, aren't they, Robin? Did they make you shave your head to see whether you had a tattoo, too?"
"Magus shaved it," she blurted.
"Who's Magus?" Judd asked instantly.
She shook her head, then tugged the wig back into place.
"Where exactly is The Book of Spies?" Judd said. "With the money we pay you, you can disappear. Start a new life. Find happiness again. Tell us where the book is, and we'll get you out of here."
"You lied to me! I've had enough of people lying to me. I was stupid to have believed you have the money or you'd give it to me anyway. Leave me alone. I'm not going to help you. Charles never loved you, Eva. Never!"
Moving at an increasingly fast clip, the three continued on. Robin's body was rigid, her expression intransigent. Judd was beginning to think there was nothing they could say to persuade her to give them The Book of Spies.
"You may be right about Charles." Eva moved closer to her as they entered the wide pedestrian boulevard of Dionysiou Areopagitou.
"Of course I'm right. I'll bet you never loved him, either. And then you murdered him. I'm through working with liars and murderers!"
Just then the toe of Eva's tennis shoe caught on a cobblestone. She stumbled into Robin, her hands sliding over her as she tried to stabilize herself.
Robin pushed her away. "I hate you." She ran again.
They watched as she dodged pedestrians and disappeared into the crowd.
"What did you get?" Judd asked, knowing Eva had pulled her pickpocket routine.
"A billfold, a cell phone, and a key. She said The Book of Spies was in a Metro station, which means it's probably in a locker. This looks like a locker key." She held it up.
He took the key and read the number. "It does. But which station?"
"You said it was nearby," she explained, "and she didn't object. It's got to be the Acropolis station. It's only a couple of blocks away."