Wallace nodded. “Andy and I were at the Farm together. I met him on orientation day, and we not only ran the course together, but got drunk at the same bar on graduation day. Damn shame what happened to him. It’s gotta be tough on Whitney and their daughter, too.”
“Well, Andrew Larkin’s accident left the slot open for live action Noah to be played by you.”
“And according to your tone, body language, and overall demeanor, you don’t need me here, you don’t want me here, and you never even wished I was here. Is that about right?”
It stung how accurate his words were, and for the first time, I felt a little bad for how I’d treated him.
I sighed. “Look, you seem okay. I don’t know why you were sent here with so little intel, and I’m sorry about that, but this is my show. You’re here to play a role and back me up. Can you get behind that or are we going to have a problem?”
“I’m not here to step on your toes,” Wallace said. “You clearly have your shit together here and I’m in no position to argue, but I was sent here to do a job. And even if it’s a job I don’t want, and don’t have all the information I need yet, I’m going to do that job to the best of my ability.”
“Then I suggest we figure out how to worktogether,” I said.
“As long as we’re clear that just because you don’t report to me, that doesn’t mean that I report to you. We’re equals.”
“Well…”
“What the hell does that mean?” he asked.
“I’ve seen your file. Parts of it, at least,” I replied. “You’re a Longbow hire who’s worked exclusively on the west border regions of the U.S. You’ve been twice decorated for bravery in the field and yet are stalled at GS-11.”
“Let me guess, you’re a GS-12,” he breathed out in irritation.
“I’m a GS-15,” I said. “And though that doesn’t technically make me your superior, it does mean that I have more field time, experience, and knowledge than you do, so unless you’d like us both to end up in an unmarked grave missing our hands and feet, I suggest you let me lead the dance for now. What do you think? Can we start again with that understanding?”
Wallace paused for a moment before extending his hand. “Noah Beck. And you are?”
I shook his hand. “Eleanor Finch. My friends call me El.”
“Pleased to make your acquaintance, El. Would you like to get married?”
I reached into my pocket, producing a gold engagement ring and handing it to him. “I thought you’d never ask,” I said, and he then slipped the ring onto my finger.
Cameron
TESS’S SECRET APARTMENT was a tiny studio located in the heart of Okulovka. A factory town located about three-hundred kilometers southwest of St. Petersburg. The apartment was simple and sparce, as one would expect from a safe house, but it felt lived in.
“The Company set you up in this place?” I asked.
Tess laughed. “No, I did. But believe me, I’ll be filing one hell of an expense report when I get back home.”
“What about the place in St. Petersburg I read about in the brief?”
“That one’s a Company flat, but to anyone nosing around, it looks like I’m renting by the month from an out-of-town landlord. Unlike this place, it’s fully furnished, and stylish enough to pass for the kind ofplace a successful art broker would live.”
“So, why are we here?” I asked.
“Mainly because I wanted time to assess you before you show your face around town, and I know we’re not being watched here. I can’t be sure about the place in St. Petersburg.”
“I thought you said Fedya had no suspicion of you being a spy.”
“He doesn’t, but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t bug my apartment. He could be surveilling my place in hopes of gathering intel on any pieces I might have been keeping from him. Sasha is extremely paranoid and competitive about acquiring the latest available items. He’ll do anything to keep the upper hand. In everything.”
“How do you know your St. Petersburg place is clean?”
“Because I sweep and monitor it. I also have a signal jammer installed inside the toaster oven. Keep that in mind before you try and use it. This apartment and my car are the only places where it’s safe for us to talk freely, and even then, every wall in Russia could have an ear pressed against it on the other side. When we’re outside of these walls, we need to be in character, which brings me to the other reason we’re here.”
“Which is?”
