Page 104 of Whisper
“I’d have done the exact same thing. If I were him.”
The burn was back, the same burn he’d felt in Pakistan when Dan had confessed he’d wanted Kris, had wanted more between them before David and before Afghanistan. He thought Dan would have moved on now that Kris was the CIA’s worst and Dan was on the path to becoming Director Thatcher’s new star. “Dan—”
“I know.” Dan held up his hands. “I’m just saying. I’m glad he recognizes what he’s got. What’s the plan?”
“He said something about a contractor—”
“Call George,” Dan interrupted.
“George does not want to talk to me. He doesn’t want to see me. His last words to me in Pakistan? ‘Take your bleeding heart crusade somewhere else’!”
“If you’re not calling him, I’m calling him. He’s here in DC. Getting promoted to the head of the Middle East division.”
“Jesus Christ. What about Ryan?”
“Ryan is getting a bump up, too. Chief of station in Afghanistan. But George is going to be in charge of us all, soon. And he knows the head of the contractor that gets all the CIA business. Blackcreek. They’re everywhere we are. You want him with you, right?”
Kris waited on the stairs to his apartment, huddled in a pair of sweats and a hoodie David had left at his place last month. The temperature had dropped when the sun set. He rocked back and forth, chewing on his upper lip and flicking a marker against his thigh.
“Fucking Caldera,” George said, picking up on the fourth ring. “I thought they fired you.”
“You can’t fire the gays, don’t you know that?”
George didn’t laugh.
“George… I’m calling for a favor.”
“I figured as much. I just don’t know why you think I’d be willing to even take your call, much less give you anything.”
“You’re still on the line, aren’t you?”
Silence.
“It’s David. David Haddad—”
“I know who he is.”
“He’s left the Army. He was told to look at this contractor.”
George’s voice changed. Lost the hard edge and turned almost thoughtful. “Blackcreek. They’re hiring everyone they can right now. Especially former Special Forces, andespeciallyArabic speakers.”
“Can you get him a CIA contract? If he’s hired? Can you—” Kris exhaled, looking at the floor.Can you please keep him near me?He was close to begging, close to groveling. Asking the powerful for a token of grace for him and David. Shame bent his back. He couldn’t sit straight.
“Have Haddad call this number tomorrow.”
Kris wrote the number on his arm. “Thank you. Thank you, George.”
A heavy sigh. “Caldera… Try and stay out of your own way, okay?”
The line clicked.
Snowflakes drifted in front of Kris’s face. He burrowed into David’s hoodie. Any minute. Any minute, and David would be there. Would be home.
Finally, David’s truck lumbered into his apartment parking lot. Twin headlights bounced over the speedbumps, slowed in front of his building. The door opened.
He’d recognize that shape, the slope of those shoulders, anywhere.
David jogged to him and wrapped his arms all the way around Kris. He loved it, loved how David’s arms could completely encircle him. David buried his face in Kris’s neck and breathed him in.
