Page 50 of Assassin Anonymous

“You think Khan is just someone you call on the phone? We message through an encrypted app. I never even met him.”

“How does he pay you?”

“Same way you pay for everything on the Via Maris. Crypto. Which also can’t be traced. You think this is some schoolyard bake sale we’re running here?”

This is proving to be unfruitful. There’s got to be more he’s not telling me. I’m wondering what angle to take next, when he gives a little laugh.

“What?” I ask.

“I mean, I don’t participate, but I know who you are. Always figured you’d be more of a Jason Statham type…”

Astrid giggles behind me.

“You have to remember something,” I tell him, scooting forward a little on the chair, and the springs in the sofa squeak as he leans away from me. “I’ve had a bad day, on top of a bad week. This conversation we’re having right here”—I gesture back and forth between us—“so far it’s been polite, correct?”

He nods.

“Don’t make it not polite,” the Pale Horse says.

His breath gets stuck in his chest. Then he leans down and opens his laptop. “Okay, look, okay. So, I’m not supposed to say this, but, it’s starting to sink in, the gravity of this, right? What I tell you now can’t leave this room…” He taps at the computer and makes a face. “Actually, first, something weird here. I monitor broadcast signals around the building. Personal security measure. You know, make sure I’m not being surveilled. And I’m catching a weird GPS signal in here right now. Like, right here, in this room. One of you is carrying something that’s broadcasting.”

I look at Astrid and she shrugs. “We got new phones.”

“Not phones,” Gaius says.

“What if that’s not how the Russian was tracking us?” I ask.

“We’d notice if he tagged us with something,” she says.

“GPS devices are getting smaller,” Gaius says. “Seen some as big as a five pence, and that’s for the civilian market. We get into military application, could be even smaller.”

I get up and check the bathroom. No electronics, it’s within view of the living room, and the window is too small to wriggle out of. I come back and tell Gaius, “Go in there, close the door. Wait for us. Leave your phone.”

Gaius puts his hands up and stands, happy to leave the room. As soon as I hear the door close and lock I run my fingers through my hair, then pull my shirt off.

“What are you doing?” Astrid asks.

“Making sure he didn’t stick something on me,” I say. “Seems far-fetched but at this point we can’t be too careful. Can’t be in my clothes. I dumped everything I was wearing that night.”

She nods and pulls her shirt off, too.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

“Making sure he didn’t get me,” she says. “This guy is good, right? He was able to find me. Maybe he passed me and I didn’t notice.”

The two of us face away from each other and continue to strip. I check my skin the best I can, but eventually realize there are spots I can’t be sure of.

“Think we need to be a little more thorough here,” I say. “Like you said, we’re both adults, right?”

“This is turning into a tick check, isn’t it?”

I turn and she’s already naked. I try not to notice the subtle and gentle curves of her body, the way her hip is cocked out a little. She glances down at my crotch and then looks up fast, pretending she didn’t.

“Well,” she says, “let’s get down to some very awkward work.”

The two of us comb over the intimate areas of each other’s bodies, looking for anything that might be attached to our skin. As she’s checking my groin region I practice my breathing, careful not to get too excited. I do, a little, and she pauses, but she doesn’t say anything. This is the first time I’ve been naked in front of a woman since Sara, and just by acknowledging that, my heart develops a dry crack across the surface.

When we’re done we both pick our clothes from the floor.

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