Part 13 (1/2)
”Yep.”
”I can't believe you lied to my face for so many years.”
”It was the only thing I could do to keep you safe.”
”What about maybe picking a different job?”
She broke in when the vessels in Kevin's head started to swell again. ”Um, could we put the reunion drama on hold for the moment? I think I've got it pieced together. Listen, please. And you'll tell me if I'm wrong, I'm sure.”
Two nearly identical faces regarded her with nearly opposite expressions.
”Okay,” she continued. ”So, Kevin, you faked your death-after the de la Fuentes job, right?” Kevin didn't respond in any way, so she went on. ”That was six months ago, you said. I can only conclude that the Agency was concerned about the lack of a body-”
”Oh, there was a body.”
”Then they were concerned about the inconsistencies with that body,” she snapped. ”And they thought of a plan to draw you out, just in case.”
He frowned. He knew his former bosses, just like she knew hers.
”Daniel's your weak spot-like you said, their leverage against you. They know this. They decide to take him, see what happens. But they know what you're capable of, and no one wants to be the one left holding the bag if you do turn up alive.”
”But-” Kevin started to say. He stopped himself, probably realizing whatever argument he'd been about to make wouldn't hold up.
”You're a problem for the CIA. I'm a problem for my department. At the top, the people involved in both our former workplaces are pretty tight. So they offer me a deal: 'Do a job for us, and we'll call off the hunt.' They must have had it worked out pretty solidly before they contacted me. Fixed the files, got ready to feed me the crisis story I can't turn my back on. None of them make a move on me because they've already sacrificed three a.s.sets trying and they don't want any more losses. They knew I'd come in prepared for anything like that. But, if you were really good, maybe I wouldn't be prepared enough for you.”
Kevin's face had changed while she was working it out. ”And either way,” he concluded, ”one problem gets solved.”
”It's elaborate. Sounds more like your agency than mine, if I had to guess.”
”Yeah, it does sound like them, actually,” he agreed grudgingly.
”So they put us together like two scorpions in a jar and shake it up,” she said. ”One way or another, they get a win on the books. Maybe, if they're really, really lucky, we take each other out. Or at least weaken the winner. No chance of any losses on their side.”
And they had weakened her-reduced her a.s.sets and damaged her physically. A partial success for them.
”And it doesn't bother them that my brother is also stuck in the jar,” he said furiously. ”Only he's an ant, not a scorpion. They just throw him into the mix, don't even care that he's completely defenseless.”
”Hey,” Daniel protested.
”No offense, Danny, but you're about as dangerous as hand-knitted socks.”
Daniel opened his mouth to respond, but a loud whine from the bunk room interrupted. The whine was quickly followed by angry snarls and a few sharp barks, then a strident clawing at the wooden door.
She was glad she'd gone the extra mile in securing the wolf.
”He's upset,” Kevin accused.
”The dog is fine. There's a toilet back there, it won't even get dehydrated.”
Kevin just raised his eyebrows, not as concerned about the animal as she would have expected. The clawing and snarling didn't let up.
”You really brought a dog?” Daniel asked.
”More of a partner.” He looked at her. ”Well, what now? Their plan failed.”
”Narrowly.”
He grinned. ”We could go another round.”
”As much as I would dearly love to inject a few things into your system, I'd rather not give them the satisfaction.”
”Fair enough.”
The dog was scratching and growling in an unbroken stream through all of this. It was getting on her nerves.
”I do have a plan.”
Kevin rolled his eyes. ”I bet you always have a plan, don't you, shorty?”
She regarded him with flat eyes. ”I can't rely on muscle, so I rely on brains. It appears you have the opposite problem.”
He laughed derisively.
”Um, Kev,” Daniel interjected. ”I'd like to point out that you are chained up on the floor.”
”Shut up, Danny.”
”Please, boys, if I could get one more second of your time?” She waited till they looked at her. ”Here's the plan: I write an e-mail to my ex-boss. I tell him I got the truth, the real truth, and both of you are out of the picture. I really don't appreciate the manipulation. If he tries to contact me in any way again, I'm making a personal visit to his kitchen pantry.”
”You claim the win?” Kevin asked in a disbelieving voice. ”Please!”
”Chained on the floor,” Daniel murmured under his breath.
”It's a gift,” she snapped back. ”You get to be dead again. No one is looking for either of you.”
Kevin's cynical expression dissolved. For a second, the twin thing was a lot more evident.
The sound of the dog was like a howling wood chipper in the next room. She hadn't really planned to stick around for her security deposit, but it clearly was not an option now.
”Why would you do that for us?” Kevin asked.
”I'm doing it for Daniel. I owe him. I should have been smarter. I shouldn't have taken the bait.”
It was all so completely obvious now: How easily she'd slipped through their surveillance-because there hadn't been any. How simple it had been to s.n.a.t.c.h Daniel-because no one was trying to stop her. The heavy-handed way they'd given her a deadline with plenty of time for her to act. It was embarra.s.sing.
”Then what happens to you?” Daniel asked quietly. She almost had to read his lips over the noise of the dog.