There was dead silence for a moment as everyone tried to figure out whether she was serious or not. Veronica apparently decided she was and pulled out her knife while slowly moving towards Marguerite. "What did you say?"
"You heard me, I came here to kill Malone."
Challenger and Roxton were moving to shield Malone behind them. Marguerite wondered if they were even conscious of their protective stance. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted, she sighed and said, "Oh, put the knife away Veronica!"
"No."
"Do you really think that if I wanted him dead he would be sitting at the table now gaping at me like a fish?"
Roxton, though in shock, understood her point (and her analogy of Ned looking like a fish) and told Veronica to put the weapon away. She looked at him like he had just declared the sky was purple and said, "You must be crazy! You know what she's capable of and that was when she was trying to make us think we were her friends!"
"Yes I do know what's she capable of and I also know that she had plenty of opportunities to kill Malone of the years and yet he's still here. Let's get the rest of the story . . ." Putting his hand on her arm, he slowly eased her away from Marguerite.
Marguerite didn't know whether to laugh or cry. All this time she had tried to keep her distance, always feeling it was her against them. She never knew how wrong she was until this moment. Now, as she faced her former friends across the breakfast table, she felt more alone than she had in years. She supposed she should be thankful that they didn't seem to want to kill her. At least they were trying to be reasonable.
Roxton looked at her through carefully shuttered eyes. She looked so alone and tiny sitting across the table, yet there was still an unbelievable strength radiating from her that drew him in, even as he was fighting to keep himself neutral. She lied to me! To all of us . . . But she hadn't really. She never did give the reason for her presence on the expedition, they all just assumed she was after money. I wish I had been right. I could have given her money.
Malone was the next to speak. "'Why do you want to kill me?"
"Did not do . . . and I didn't want to, you were a job."
"A job? What line of work are you in exactly?" Challenger asked incredulously.
Marguerite took a deep breath and wondered how much she should tell them. She wished Summerlee was here, He is always so patient with me. Her heart constricted painfully as she thought of what her employers might do to him if she didn't do as they asked.
"It all started after the war broke out. I met and fell in love with a wonderful man, a wonderful rich man," she said in true Marguerite style causing Veronica rolled her eyes. "I didn't even think to ask how he could afford all those expensive things when he had no title and never seemed to go to work."
Seeing she had all their attention, she decided to skip the painful details of the last months of her marriage and keep to the barest facts. "I came home one night and found him murdered in our bed beside an equally dead woman." Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she continued, "I called the police . . . I was so scared. When they placed me under arrest for murder, it felt like I was dreaming. All through the trial I kept thinking I would wake up . . . they claimed I had killed him in a jealous rage. When the judge read out the guilty verdict, I finally woke up and realized that this nightmare was my life."
Roxton narrowed his eyes against the memory starting to form in his mind's eye. He vaguely remembered hearing reports of a well-to-do gentleman being killed by his wife. He had laughed at the time and swore nothing good ever came of marriage.
"Before the sentencing, a man came to visit me in my cell. It was Douglas . . . he told me he knew I was innocent. I was so happy someone finally believed me that it wasn't until I saw the cold look in his eyes that I thought to ask why he was so certain I didn't do it. Then he smiled at me and said 'Because I killed him silly girl'. I flew at him and tried to claw his eyes out. My reaction seemed to please him and he offered me a chance to live. If I agreed to spy for him, he would save my life. He said he needed someone to take my husband's place since he had in fact been spying for the Germans the whole time and it had been necessary to kill him."
"At first I hated the idea. But in time, I realized that I hated the idea of dying more. Besides, I had no family, no husband, and no money. Douglas offered me a chance to help "the greater cause" while helping myself in the process. I worked for him throughout the length of the war. I seduced Generals, cracked codes, and killed enemy agents, all with the blessings of Mother England."
"I thought once the war was over, I would be cut loose and could get on with my life. Douglas had other ideas. I had one last assignment. One more murder and then I could be free for the first time in my life. During the war, one man eluded Douglas and caused the deaths of dozens of agents and thousands of soldiers. He was cunning . . . we didn't know his name, had no idea what he looked like, where he was from, or where he was at any given moment. For some reason, Douglas decided that man was you, Malone."
Everyone looked at Malone and he shook his head in disbelief. How could anyone think I'm a spy?
Before anyone could speak, Marguerite continued her monologue, "I was supposed to kill you at the Zoological Society meeting that night the expedition was formed but I was held up by a henchman in an alley behind the building—"
"That wouldn't happen to be the body they found in the river the next morning would it?" Roxton asked quietly.
"Hey, a girl's got to protect herself," Marguerite said with a shrug. "When I got in too late to catch you by yourself, I took advantage of the opportunity to make my employers pay a little for using me all those years. I offered to fund the expedition but it's really their money that paid for everything."
Challenger looked around at all the equipment they had brought with them. This truly is a fantastic story, he thought as he focused again on Marguerite.
"After talking to you several times, I realized that you couldn't possibly be the spy that had eluded and killed Britain's best agents for years. But my job was just to kill you. I was going to do it even if I didn't agree with Douglas about to your identity."
"Gee, thanks Marguerite." Malone said. Veronica gave her a hard look and muttered, "Figures."
"However," Marguerite continued, "getting us alone was not as easy as I expected. I was continually paired with Roxton and any time I looked over my shoulder he was watching me." Marguerite smiled a little at the picture she had just painted of Roxton being her little puppy dog. It's my story, I can tell it the way I want to . . . I should have fun with it since it's probably the last time they'll ever talk to me.
She ignored Roxton's smirk and started again before he could argue with her, "By the time we were finally alone, I couldn't bring myself to kill you . . . at least not without investigating a little first. That's why I was constantly going through your journals and things, I was looking for any hint of the person you were before the plateau. I couldn't find anything. Not a single bit of evidence that you even spoke German."
She sighed and finished her story by saying, " I couldn't kill you. Once I realized we were stuck here, I began to relax. I knew I would never have to go back to work for Douglas and that meant I didn't have to kill Malone. But now he's here and he's demanding that I kill you. I have one day to come up with something or I'm sure they will kill Summerlee and then come back to finish us off."
"Let me get this straight . . . Douglas is the "Master Spy" and you worked for him during the war . . . he thinks I'm a devious German agent responsible for the deaths of thousands . . . that makes Hannah . . .?" Ned said with a slight frown.
"Hannah," Marguerite sighed, "well I guess you could say that Hannah was my mentor. She taught me everything I know. Douglas and her are lovers and they have worked as a team for as long as I've known them."
"Incredible," Challenger said. "But how did they get on the plateau?"
"George, I hate to bust your bubble but the British government has known about this damn plateau for decades. Who do you think sent Maplewhite out here in the first place?"
"So are you saying that you've known how to get on and off this plateau the whole time and you didn't feel it was necessary to share that information with anyone else???" Roxton asked in an angry tone.
"Don't be ridiculous. They told me about the cave entrance but that has been sealed since right after our arrival. I don't know how they got here."
"I bet you sealed it on purpose to give you more time to kill Ned," Veronica said accusingly.
Marguerite rolled her eyes, trying to hide how she was hurt by the other woman's comment, and got up from the table, "Believe what you want, you will no matter what I say. After Summerlee is safe, you won't have to suffer my unbearable presence any more."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" The anxiety in Roxton's voice was palpable.
Marguerite ignored his question and looked at Malone, "I won't kill you Malone. You can be sure of that. Unfortunately, I'm not the only one gunning for you now. I would suggest you stay somewhere else for the next couple of days and don't get out of Veronica's and Roxton's sight."
"Well what are you going to do Marguerite?" Malone asked.
With a smile somewhere between sad and teasing, she said, "If I told you, I'd have to kill you."