A guy she didn’t know clapped. She smiled awkwardly.
Valentina begrudgingly nodded her head. “Good work, Agent Greene.”
Markus appeared from out of nowhere with a bottle of champagne. “You ready for a toast?”
Alice said, “Markus, we’re on duty. Put that away,” to which he held up the tiniest glasses imaginable.
“There’s more alcohol in that kombucha than one of these cups.”
Under her breath, Valentina said, “I think we can wait until we make the arrests for that,” but Markus ignored her.
As he poured the glasses, Alice said, “It was a great day. Everything went like clockwork. No one was hurt except for a couple of cars. Everyone here did their job. Good work, especially to Agent Greene. Your first mission is a success.”
Gabby felt herself blush furiously as everyone raised a glass to her. The Elite Operatives Department singing her praises, incidentally in the former throw pillow section of International Rug. Someone needed to get her a cervical collar, because she was getting whiplash.
“Thank you,” she managed to say through her absolute swell of feelings. She, Gabby Greene, mediocre housewife with a failed marriage, had managed an EOD mission.
But it wasn’t completely untarnished. Among the faces smiling back at her, one of them was working for Smirnov, a person who would have ratted her out if she talked. A person who cared more about money than her or her family. Did that person know Smirnov had threatened her kids?
Whoever it was, she’d really made their day. They were probably going home with a fat wad of cash, and they hadn’t even had to strong-arm her.
After all of those congratulations, Gabby reached into her pocket for the flash drive and accidentally handed Alice the wrong drive. The plastic bunny with its bucktoothed smile looked up.
“What’s this?”
“Oops. I lost the one that Markus gave me, so I grabbed one of my own. Don’t worry, it’s goofy, but was really highly rated on Amazon.”
Valentina poured herself another miniature glass of champagne.
Alice frowned. “As long as you have the information on here.”
“I do.”
Alice plugged the flash drive in and nodded as the files appeared. “The bunny did its job.”
She might have only worked for the EOD for a short time, but it was intense—life-changing even. This would be the last time she was here. Saturday at the party, they would arrest Orlov and Kramer, and she would go home, back to her regular life. As she looked around at the people who had trusted her to run a mission, tears burned the back of her eyes.
Markus put a hand on her shoulder and made eye contact so direct, she almost wilted. He said, “Hey, Gabs, you did good.” The way he was looking at her she couldn’t help but recall how he wanted to “revisit” their kiss.
“Only because you were with me every step of the way.”
With a laugh, he said, “Well, most of the way.”
She’d talked more to Markus than she had to Phil in the last few years. Sure, she talked to her kids, but she was their mom. Besides Justin, no one knew her better.
The Starbucks gift card she bought for him was burning a hole in her pocket. It was her go-to, end-of-the-year teacher gift. He was technically her teacher. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, but now she was so uncertain, especially after last night. They’d embraced, and his lips had brushed hers. That wasn’t the kind of moment you followed up with a Starbucks gift card. Was it too much, not enough, or, most likely, completely off-key?
Abruptly, she reached into her purse and pulled it out, thrusting it into his hands too forcefully. “This is for you.”
“Really?” he raised his eyebrows, clearly expecting something meaningful. “You didn’t have to?”
A smile quirked his lips, and she said, “I mean, if it’s weird, you can just give it back.”
He held it out of reach. “No, I want it.”
Valentina, smelling blood in the water, stepped closer as Markus opened the card. “What, I didn’t get one?”
“Ohmygod. I’m so sorry. It’s just that Markus was in my ear all day. I should have gotten one for everyone.” This was the same problem she had at the end of the year. There was a classroom teacher, a teacher’s aide, music teachers. It was almost easier not to buy anything so she didn’t offend everyone.
