“Can’t you fund it?” Gabby asked.
G shook his head. “No, we just look rich. The outside investors aren’t coming through.”
Phil’s comment about the All You Can Eat shrimp buffet crossed her mind.
After one more drink than they agreed to, Markus said, “I’m going to walk Gia back to the cottage. If you want, I’ll meet you for another drink after.”
G waved him off. “I’ll see you in the morning.” He gave Markus a hug. “Thanks for being here for me, man.”
“Same,” Markus answered.
Back at the honeymoon cottage, they made quick work of duplicating the hard drive.
Just as they were finishing, the phone rang. It was Valentina. Gabby grimaced because this wasn’t going to be good.
“At least we have the hard drive,” Markus said, sounding unconvinced.
“Agents?” Valentina said. “Are you both there?”
“Yes.”
“Good, because I want both of you to hear how fucking disappointed I am. What the hell happened today? I was expecting a psychic to get off a plane no later than twenty-three hundred hours EST, and we have no psychic and no communication from you.”
Markus rubbed the back of his neck like he was trying to get a knot out.
“She refused to leave, Agent Monroe,” Gabby said. “She believes she’s being targeted by President Simon.”
Valentina was silent for a beat. “Where the hell is this coming from?”
Gabby started to explain, and Valentina cut her off. “That’s absurd. You need to get her off that resort and on a plane to Washington.”
“We did duplicate Jasmine Love’s computer tonight.”
“That’s fine, but you disobeyed a direct order to evacuate. This is about chain of command. When your senior officer says go, you GO. When the president of the United States says to move, you fucking hustle. What did you do?”
Gabby was silent.
“You went to a party and copied a hard drive. You continued with the mission against direct orders. Sheridan Lane is supposed to be in Washington, DC, and she is still on the fucking resort in the Azores.”
Uh… that was all true.
“This is the simplest, most luxurious mission that anyone at the EOD has ever been assigned, and you two are screwing it up. I could have asked an intern to do this job.” With finality, she said, “You’re done.”
“But—”
“No ‘buts.’ You’re off the case. I’m placing you on administrative leave, effective immediately, and expediting your paperwork. Do not leave that cottage and wait for evacuation.”
“Val—”
“Sit tight and don’t do a damn thing until we get there.”
“We found—”
“I don’t want to hear it. You are civilians now, and if you do anything, you will be arrested. So stay put or say hello to the Portuguese government for me.”
The call went dead.
0000, late at night, honeymoon cottage
