“They won’t miss a second time,” said Baker. “Don’t give them a reason.”
Mac didn’t take Baker’s words as a threat. Like he’d said:rules. Cross the line and this is what will happen. Mac was a big boy. Fair was fair. “Thanks for the heads-up.”
“So, we’re good?” said Baker.
“Solid,” said Mac.
“Well, hip hip hooray then,” boomed Baker before slapping Mac on the back. “You can smile now, you rich SOB.”
Mac smiled.
Baker finished his drink. “So, what the hell have you been up to for the last nine years besides humping cows?”
As usual it was Baker who had the last word. They’d talked the last nine years. The changes at the Agency. Who’d left, who’d died, who’d been promoted. All the gossip.
Mac gave Baker the inside scoop on what had gone down a year earlier. Everything he knew about Hercules, the Russian plot against the Kyiv water supply system. He wanted Baker to know the details. How close they’d come to disaster. How Mac’s actions had prevented it. One day he might need a friend on the seventh floor.
“Sorry to miss Ava,” said Baker, as they stood in the doorway of the Chalet Ponderosa. Night had fallen. The air was cold, sharp, tangy with woodsmoke.
“She’s in St. Moritz,” said Mac. “Physical therapy.”
“How’s that coming?”
“Pretty good,” said Mac. “Shoulder surgery is tough. Amazing doctor. Gerhard Lutz. He’s a wizard.”
“Lutz? In St. Moritz?”
“Know him?”
Baker shook his head. “For a second, I thought it rang a bell. But no. Never heard the name.”
Mac dismissed the comment, wondering why Baker was so defensive. “I’ll give Ava your best.”
Baker laid a meaty palm on Mac’s shoulder. “A word?”
“Sure,” said Mac.
“Be careful,” said Baker.
“What do you mean?”
Baker pulled a face. An uncomfortable truth that needed airing. “You know ...the Israeli thing.”
“What about it?” asked Mac.
“I don’t have to tell you,” said Baker. “Israelis only fight for one side. Their own.”
Chapter 3
Paris
Present day
Mac had decided to ask over dessert. The question remained: before or after? Maybe after dessert and before coffee was served.
“What do you want to do?” asked Ava. “It’s been a month since Don visited. Surely, you’ve been thinking.”
“I’ve been trying to decide if I’m happy,” said Mac. “I spent nine years training myself to forget the world, to forget my old life, to be content doing what I had to do to keep my family and myself safe. It worked. I like it up there. I like being on the alp in the summer, working at the resort in winter. I like being away from the world.”
