“They’re not.”
“But how can you be sure?” She didn’t give him time to reply, adding quickly, “Find out. I just need to know. I don’t like them following you, either, but it’s a bigger risk for me. I need to know, for defending of myself.”
Her English was excellent, but when she was stressed or upset her phrasing went off a little, as it had just now. He put his hand on her leg to reassure her.
“I’ll find out, but I’m certain they’re following me. Don’t worry about it.”
“I am worried, Finn. That woman coming the way she did—”
“Sofi, you know . . . you’ve always known that I can’t talk about this. You just have to take my word that it’s nothing to worry about.”
He felt like he was lying to her, and yet surely he was telling the truth. He was worried for Katerina, worried for how he would pull off all these disparate tasks in time—but he wasn’t in any danger. He allowed his eyes to stray to the wing mirror, though, a reminder that there was never any real certainty in this business.
It was dark by the time they reached the city, and in the busier traffic he didn’t notice when the BMW peeled away and left them. They dropped the car at her colleague’s place and walked back through the dry, cold streets. They’d almost reached their building when a car door opened across the street and Louisa stepped out. She didn’t approach, just stood, the message clear.
Sofi immediately looked at him with reinforced concern, but he smiled and said, “Listen, the main part of what I had to do was yesterday, and Louisa just wants my report on how it went, nothing more.” She seemed desperate to believe him, but also afraid to believe. “Go inside and I’ll be back soon.”
She nodded, and he watched as she walked into the building, angry with himself for putting her through this. He walked across the street then and Louisa said, “Won’t keep you long.”
They got into the car—the same driver as last time—and set off, not heading anywhere in particular, just around the city.
“Excellent job yesterday.”
“That’s not why you’re here.”
“No. He has people tailing you.”
“I noticed today—I’m glad it’s him. I thought it might have been you.”
“Is it that you don’t trust us, or you think we don’t trust you?”
“Both.” She made a show of mock offense and he said, “Louisa, you once told me the key to this game is never trusting anyone. Make friends, make alliances, but take nothing on trust.”
“One of my wiser moments.” She paused. “He thinks you’ll lead him to the girl, so you need to be careful.”
He looked at her, wondering for a moment if she knew that it was Finn who’d saved the girl, that she was hidden away at Harry’s place. The only way she could know was either real surveillance footage or from Harry, but despite what he’d said about trust, he knew Harry wouldn’t have talked, not even to Louisa.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean his people may pay particular attention to anywhere you visit, so be careful where you visit—you don’t want any of your friends to get unwanted attention from Karasek’s men.”
She was right about that, which meant he’d have to be careful about visiting Harry. Even though he called to see him often enough, he had to make any visits in the coming week look entirely natural. Then he thought of where he’d been this afternoon.
“Should I warn Sofi’s parents?”
“I shouldn’t think so. We could ask the local police to keep an eye on their place, but that might just convince Karasek all the more that it’s where you’re hiding her.” Finn nodded, not responding. He looked out at the street, realizing the driver had carried out a large circuit and they were now heading back. “The mother’s Russian, isn’t she?”
“Yes—or she was. She translates for Estonian publishers. She’s a nice old girl.”
Louisa produced a single contemptuous laugh and said, “How very sweet of you to consider a woman of fifty-six as a nice old girl. You won’t be thirty forever, you know, Finn.”
“No, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. I—”
“Yes, I’m not quite fifty-six myself, so don’t apologize too hard or I’ll really take offense.” Finn noticed the driver laughing to himself. “Now, tomorrow you’ll be office-bound—some drudge work to occupy you. Everyone else will know about Sparrowhawk tomorrow, and will know that you’re not part of the operation because of your imminent departure. Ed Perry won’t be in the office until Friday, so no need to worry about him. We think we’ll have more accurate information by tomorrow afternoon, so Tuesday you’ll go back to Karasek.”
“How much more do you need on Perry?”