The Spy Coast

Maggie and Danny are shown to their room at Hardwicke’s country house. It is small and far above the guest rooms, in the servant wing. As they unpack, Danny reminds Maggie to keep her distance from the guests, and not to listen. Danny leaves to check in with Hardwicke, and Maggie wanders out onto the grounds. Bella finds her there and tells Maggie that she knows Maggie is being paid to be her companion. Maggie tells her that she isn’t being paid and didn’t agree to be her “minder,” but is there to be with Danny.

Bella is dressed in pink again, and Maggie tells her to try a different color. Bella asks Maggie to come to her bedroom to help her go through her wardrobe—no one has ever offered her advice about her clothes before. Bella tells Maggie that Hardwicke is forcing her to be there that weekend—she has to meet everyone so that she can take over his business someday. Maggie feels guilty about the fact that she can’t do anything to help Bella but can only observe.

That night, Bella and Maggie stand on the periphery of the party, and Bella tells Maggie about the attendees. Maggie sees a man who looks out of place and wonders if he is the other operative. Bella tells her he is “one of Daddy’s money people” (194). The man leaves the party, walking out into the grounds, and Maggie notices that Hardwicke and his bodyguard, Victor, follow him toward the stables. Before she can follow them, Danny joins her. Later, in the middle of the night, Maggie makes her way towards the stables. She searches the stables and finds the man dead in an empty horse stall.

Maggie hears voices and hides in the adjacent stall. The horse occupying the stall is upset and begins stamping and snorting. Maggie crouches in the corner to avoid being hurt and hears Hardwicke and his bodyguards. Hardwicke tells them to get rid of the body. The horse in her stall is still kicking, and Victor puts his arm over the stall to pet the horse. Maggie realizes that if he looks down, he will see her.

She hears them leave and starts to rise, but then realizes that Hardwicke is still there. She waits until he leaves and makes her way back to the house, shaking over her close call.

Later, Maggie and Diana meet, and Diana tells her the dead man was their other operative. Maggie worries that the man told them about her, but Diana points out that he didn’t know who she was. They theorize about who revealed the man but don’t come to any conclusions.

Maggie tells Diana she doesn’t want to be a part of Operation Cyrano anymore. Diana failed to protect the man, and Maggie wonders if Diana can protect her. She is also exhausted by lying to Danny. She points out that she’s given them everything they asked for, but Diana wants her to stay. When Maggie threatens to resign, Diana tells her that they need her for one last trip. They have information that Cyrano is in Malta, and Danny is traveling there with Hardwicke soon. Reluctantly, Maggie agrees but tells Diana that after Malta, she is resigning.

That night, Maggie tells Danny that after his trip to Malta with Hardwicke, they should quit their jobs and live the life he’s been talking about for years. He agrees, and they both begin thinking about their resignation letters.

As a police officer in Purity, Jo has seen dumb hunting accidents, and she knows that the incident at Maggie’s farm isn’t one of them. Because this incident is considered minor, the state police have left it alone, and she is happy that it is now her case.

She goes to the feedstore down the road, thinking that the shooter might have driven past. She asks for the security footage, and the owner tells her that Ingrid Slocum asked for it earlier, claiming to need it because the library board is thinking about getting a similar camera. Jo wonders again why Maggie’s friends are investigating.

Just then, she gets a call from one of her officers, who tells her that the crime lab identified the tire tracks. When he gives her the information, she realizes that Ingrid correctly identified the tracks by sight and again wonders who she is. She knows it isn’t a coincidence that the tire tracks are the same as Bianca’s killer’s, and that Maggie is the person at the center of the mystery.

After the sniper attack, Maggie stays at Declan’s house. Although they are close friends, she’s never been upstairs—they all keep their private lives private. After unpacking, she goes downstairs, and Ben, Ingrid, and Lloyd join them for dinner. Maggie is surprised, but Declan points out that they are all involved in her life. Also, they are excited to use their skills again. Over dinner, Ingrid shows them the footage she got from the feed store. She traced the license plate and found out the car was rented by a man with a fake name. The identity was stolen from a baby that died over 40 years ago, which means that the man, and the people he’s working for, are “more formidable” than she thought.

Maggie still hasn’t told her friends the entire story and is reluctant to do so. She tells them has had no contact with Diana for the past 16 years but assumes that what is happening is “blowback” for Operation Cyrano. They are all a little shocked—they’ve all heard of Cyrano although they didn’t know that Maggie was involved in the operation. The doorbell rings, and it is Jo, looking for Maggie. She comes inside and notices signs of their investigation on the table.

Jo questions Maggie about the shooter—like Ingrid, she has traced the car and the man. Maggie is impressed that Jo has progressed so quickly and realizes that they have underestimated her. Ingrid shares what she has discovered about the man's fake identity, and Jo asks once again who they are. When they say they are retirees, she responds, “Retired from what?” (227). They all give her their covers—only Lloyd doesn’t have one, and he tells her that he was a government analyst. They tell her they are just amateur detectives and call themselves the Martini Club.

Jo, Ingrid, Lloyd, and Ben leave, but Declan and Maggie have a drink and talk more. He asks her what happened in Malta—he knows that is where they finally caught Cyrano. Maggie tells him that Diana Ward got the credit for taking down Cyrano while she “was just a cog in the machine” (231) and quit the day after Cyrano’s capture. Declan questions why someone would be coming after her 16 years after the fact, and she points out that they might have only recently found out her name.

Declan tells her she can stay as long as she needs to—he likes having her there. She reflects that she enjoys his company too, even though there has always been a distance between them, the result of their work. Upstairs, Maggie receives a text answering a message she sent earlier, saying that the sender can meet her in Bangkok. Maggie knows that she has to go in order to figure out who is trying to kill her.

Maggie eats breakfast with Bella and her mother, Camilla, at Camilla’s rented villa in Malta. Bella will be returning to London the next day with Hardwicke after he meets with someone in Malta. Bella and Maggie decide to go shopping while Camilla meets with Hardwicke. Bella goes upstairs to get her purse, and Camilla confronts Maggie, accusing her of taking payment to be Bella’s friend. Maggie tells her that she likes Bella and is in Malta to be with Danny, and Camilla accepts her explanation. She asks Maggie to look out for Bella—Hardwicke and the people he works with scare her.

As Maggie and Bella shop the street vendor carts, Maggie knows that Diana, Gavin, and other operatives are watching them. They decide to go to the hotel for lunch and discover that Hardwicke and Camilla are meeting there. Maggie and Bella can hear what they are saying, and Bella is embarrassed that her parents are talking about her. She tells Maggie that she wants to find someone “who looks at me the way [Danny] looks at you” (242). Maggie is again surprised at how perceptive Bella is.

Bella leaves with Camilla, and Hardwicke, still angry after the conversation, remains at his table, looking off the terrace towards the ocean. When his glass falls off the table and shatters, Maggie realizes that something is wrong. Hardwicke falls off his chair as a seizure overtakes him. His bodyguard calls Danny, who arrives and administers his medication. Danny asks Maggie to get something from his doctor’s bag, and as she goes through it, she finds the medication that Diana told her to look for. She realizes it means that Cyrano is on Malta.

Danny brings Hardwicke up to his suite, and Maggie goes with them. While Danny is busy in Hardwicke’s room, she explores the living room. She sees Hardwicke’s laptop with a thumb drive attached. She pulls the thumb drive out, puts it in her pocket, and goes to Diana’s room. Maggie tells her to copy the drive quickly so that she can get it back to Hardwicke’s suite. She also tells Diana that Cyrano is on Malta. Diana points out that if they follow Danny, he will lead them to Cyrano. She finishes copying the files and gives the drive back to Maggie.

Maggie goes back to Hardwicke’s room, but his bodyguard won’t let her in, telling her Danny has just left. She realizes that he might be going to Cyrano and quickly leaves the hotel. She sees Danny crossing the street, carrying his doctor’s bag, and follows him to the marina. Gavin steps up beside her—he’s been following her as she follows Danny. They watch as Danny and Victor board a skiff that motors out to a yacht moored offshore and realize that they’ve found Cyrano.

Maggie returns to the hotel and waits for Danny to return. She should be leaving—her part in the operation is done, and soon Hardwicke will know that she betrayed him. Danny returns after dark, and she can tell that something is wrong. He asks about the thumb drive. He saw her take it from the laptop, and Hardwicke is looking for it. She gives him the thumb drive, and he leaves. Maggie knows that she should run—Danny could be betraying her right now—but she can’t. When Danny returns, she is relieved. He tells her he put it in Hardwicke’s suit pocket, where he will assume he accidentally left it.

Maggie tells Danny the truth about everything, even Cyrano. He asks whether she married him just to get access to these men. She tells him she loves him and asks him to trust her, but he doesn’t know if he can.

The next morning, Danny packs his bags for his flight with Hardwicke. He tells her he wants to go back to London alone. He wants her safely away from Hardwicke, but he can’t cancel his own trip without raising suspicion. Maggie suggests that they just run away together, but Danny says he needs time to think. He kisses her on the forehead and promises to call her. After he leaves, she wants to follow him but knows that she has to give him the time and space that he asked for. After takeoff, “Hardwicke’s jet explodes over the sea” (257).

Jo visits the local real estate agent, Betty Jones, who handled the house sales for Maggie and her friends. Jo asks for copies of their sales contracts and after a moment, Betty agrees. That night, Jo goes over the contracts. She realizes that Maggie and her friends were all from the same area in Virginia. She thinks about their professions, especially Lloyd’s former profession as a government analyst, and realizes the truth.

Jo goes to Lloyd and Ingrid’s house and confronts them about working for the CIA. Lloyd doesn’t admit it but doesn’t deny it, either. She asks how this is connected to the attack on Maggie, but Lloyd won’t give her information, telling her that their investigation is still ongoing.

In Bangkok, Maggie strolls casually through the streets, pretending to be a tourist, while Ben and Declan follow her, looking for other tails. She finds herself on the street where she met Danny and tears up. They are all exhausted by the trip in a way they wouldn’t have been when they were younger. With a slight nod to the men, she indicates that they should go back to the hotel—they know now that no one is following her.

After midnight, Maggie leaves the hotel alone. She rents a boat and pays the driver enough not to ask questions. When they approach Gavin’s pier, she points it out, and he drops her off. Gavin’s housekeeper lets her in and leads her to his room. She is shocked by his appearance—he is terribly ill and in a hospital bed. Gavin apologizes for what happened with Operation Cyrano, saying that he has wanted to contact Maggie for a long time. He blames himself for how the operation turned out—by the time he realized that Diana was willing to sacrifice anyone and couldn’t be trusted, it was too late.

Gavin doesn’t have any answers for Maggie—he doesn’t know who is after them. He tells her that he will always feel guilty for the deaths of Danny and Bella. He gives her new information: Before the CIA captured Cyrano, he sent one last message to the Russians, claiming that Hardwicke betrayed him. The Russians bombed Hardwicke’s plane in retribution. Maggie asks when they intercepted Russia’s message, and he tells her that Diana found out soon after they took Cyrano into custody. Maggie realizes that Diana knew Russia would be coming after Hardwicke and had hours to make sure that Danny and Bella weren’t on the plane. In fact, Diana had even thought that Maggie would be on the plane but hadn’t done anything because she didn’t want to tip Hardwicke off.

Maggie is furious that Diana could’ve saved Danny and Bella. Gavin tells her that it was the reason he resigned, but he never told her because it wouldn’t change anything. It is also the reason that, when Diana called him last week asking for a place to hide, Gavin refused. He shows Maggie a recent picture of Diana from their video call, and she is shocked by Diana’s changed appearance. She realizes that Diana is scared, and Gavin admits he is scared too. He tells her that the CIA’s Cyrano file was recently hacked. Everyone assumed it was the Russians, but then they realized that Hardwicke’s overseas accounts, over the past five years, had been drained, indicating that Hardwicke might still be alive.

Maggie is surprised by this revelation—it leads her to the inevitable thought that if Hardwicke is alive, Danny might be, too. If there is any chance that Danny is still alive, she has to find out the truth, no matter how dangerous.

Suddenly, Gavin’s security alarm goes off. He tells Maggie it is just a delivery of black-market prescriptions but asks her to step into a hidden room so that the delivery man doesn’t get nervous. Maggie does so and hears the man come into the room. Gavin asks where the usual delivery man is just before the sound of a silenced gun firing. She hears the body of Gavin’s housekeeper hit the floor as several bullets punch through the wall beside her.

Maggie stays completely still as the intruder walks the room. After he leaves, she finally pushes the panel open. Gavin and his housekeeper are both dead. Maggie thinks about the boatman who dropped her off and hopes that her money was enough to buy his silence. She begins the long walk back to her hotel.

When Maggie gets back to the hotel, she discovers that Declan and Ben have been searching for her for hours. Declan stays in her room as she showers and changes. He is angry at her for going alone, and his reaction makes her realize that Declan may have romantic feelings for her, something she’d never realized before. She thinks over their history and knows that he does, but also knows that she might never be able to move on from losing Danny.