Page 110 of One Minute Out

“We trained you, didn’t we? We installed that wacky do-gooder moral compass of yours, didn’t we?”

“Yes to the first. No to the second.”

“Well, whatever. The Balkan desk will deal with Serbian intelligence. Wasn’t exactly like we had a great relationship with Belgrade in the first place.”

“Roger that. Back to the Consortium. Nothing? Really?”

“Sex trafficking is the third most profitable criminal enterprise in the world, behind drugs and counterfeiting. It’s ahead of the sale of illegal weapons. So, yeah, I’m sure what you’re talking about is real, I’m sure the people involved in it are nasty, and I’m sure a lot of poor helpless victims are abused and enslaved by it. But the specifics of what you are telling us... the Americans, the South African, the pipeline, this doesn’t line up with anything we have.”

“Can I get some help from you guys on this? Could you get Brewer to do a little digging?”

Hanley breathes one of his trademark long sighs, and I can picture his huge frame inside his too-large suit puffing up and then shrinking as every ounce of air leaves his lungs. I can also picture what he’s about to say before he says it.

I’m about to hear a big fat no.

“No,” Hanley says. “You are a hard asset, a denied hard asset at that, unaligned with any existing structure in the Agency. You are not a case officer, not an analyst, not chief of any station. You don’t have read-ins on anything not directly linked to the work we assign you. You have absolutely no standing to ask for resources.”

“I’m not asking because I think I am owed resources, I’m asking as a friend. I need some help. This is serious shit.”

“You know what else is serious shit?”

Yeah, I do, and again, I know what he’s about to say.

“Your fucking job with us! That’s serious shit. I’ve got a backlog of work I need you to take care of.”

“Get one of the other Poison Apple assets to—”

“They’re already out there, Court, in the field, doing what they’re told, while you’re trying to save the world by yourself. Every day you’re not here pulling your weight is another day Romantic and Anthem are under more stress, more risk. Anthem isn’t even one hundred percent after what happened to her back in Scotland. You remember that little incident, don’t you?”

My voice feels weak in my mouth as I answer back with “Yes, sir.”

And then, just to hammer home a point that needed no further hammering, he says, “You’re risking your girlfriend’s life with all these crusades of yours, don’t forget that.”

Hanley is referring to Anthem, one of the three Poison Apple assets. She is Zoya Zakharova, former Russian intelligence, and also formerly someone I was in something of a relationship with. The relationship is strained for a couple of reasons right now, not the least of which is that I shot her.

I don’t claim to know all the rules of dating, but I’m pretty sure if you shoot someone then you can’t really refer to them as your girlfriend, but Hanley is turning the screws on me, because he knows I still care about her.

But Zoya is tough, as tough as or tougher than I am, and as tough as or tougher than the women and girls I’m desperately trying to help.

She can handle herself in the field.

“Sorry, Matt. That shit doesn’t work on me. I’ll be back with you as soon as I can. First I’ve got to try to do something.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to Venice, and there I’ll talk to somebody who can actually help me.” I hang up the phone, knowing that this will piss Hanley off, but I don’t really care. He could have lifted a finger to get me some assets directed to this, and he should have done so.

Fuck him. He doesn’t know it yet, but he is about to do me a favor, and the thought of how annoyed he’ll be when he realizes he did, in fact, help me out makes me smile.

I walk back over to Talyssa, who pulls a hot croissant stuffed with ham and cheese out of a bag and hands it to me, along with a cup of coffee.

“That didn’t look like it went well at all.”

“Not great, no. But I have someone else I can call.”

She cocks her head. “Who?”

I answer with, “If I can’t work with the good guys, I’m going to work for the bad guys.”

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