“Her name is Katja,” Sandecker obliged. “She’s from a small town, in a mountainous part of Sweden. Near the ski slopes, I think. Her accent is so thick, my interpreter could barely understand what she was telling us.”
Kurt found himself imagining a chalet in the frozen hills, with cords of wood stacked up beside an outdoor hot tub, which the two of them could share while the snow drifted down and the drinks flowed. He didn’t see the need for much in the way of conversation.
“Why would the Swedes send someone to Washington who can’t speak English?”
“I’m not sure,” Sandecker admitted. “We send you all over the world and you don’t speak anything but.”
“Good point,” Kurt said. “I’m going to remedy that and start learning the world’s great languages immediately.”
“Swedish first?”
“Have to start somewhere,” Kurt replied.
The two men laughed, and the conversation turned to other matters, nothing political, just old friends catching up. It came to an abrupt halt when several members of the President’s staff rushed into the room in a way that attracted significant attention.
They moved quickly through the crowd, checking with each other and whispering into small radios that were all but concealed in their hands.
Sandecker saw them pick out the Secretary of Defense and then the Secretary of State, quite a pair. “I’d better go see what this is all about.”
The Vice President left, and to Kurt’s surprise, the Swedish woman came over to take his place. She moved into the alcove beside Kurt and took another sip from the champagne glass without ever taking her eyes off him. All of which had Kurt wondering how fast one could actually learn a foreign language.
“Hello,” he said. Then, pointing to himself, “I’m Kurt.”
She smiled coyly and nodded.
“To international relations,” he added, raising his glass.Everyone, he thought,knew a toast when they saw it.
She raised her glass and clinked it softly against his. Another sip. Another smile. Before Kurt could come up with anything else to do or say, she spoke.
“I’ve been wondering,” she began in accented but perfectly understandable English, “why do you stand over here in the corner? Are you a spy? Or perhaps a detective, watching someone and waiting for them to steal the silverware?”
Kurt laughed softly and shook his head. First Pitt and Gunn had gotten him, and now Sandecker. These scores would have to be settled, Kurt thought. And soon. But first to say something to thebeautiful blond woman, who’d been brave enough to make the first move.
Before he could think of anything witty, the buzz kicked up in the room again. The President was leaving without explanation. Several members of the cabinet were following. Sandecker came striding back over to Kurt with a scowl on his face.
“Bad news?” Kurt asked.
“Did anyone ever leave a party because they got good news?” Sandecker said. He exhaled sharply. “You’d better come with me,” he added. “I have a feeling we might need you on this.”
Kurt turned to the woman, intending to tell her duty calls or something similar and then offering to meet her later, but Sandecker preempted him once again, this time addressing the woman.
“Don’t waste your time on this one,” he told her. “He’s been married to Thalassa for years, and she’ll never let him go.”
The woman’s eyes widened almost as far as Kurt’s did. She offered a withering look, glancing at his unadorned ring finger.
Kurt looked at Sandecker as if to say,What are you doing?He started to protest, but words failed him. At this point, what was the use? He turned back to the woman and shrugged as she scowled and walked away. Another Washington cad crossed off her list.
“Thalassa?” Kurt asked, focusing on Sandecker. “Really? What kind of name is that?”
“Goddess of the sea,” Sandecker replied. “I thought you might appreciate my poetry.”
Kurt could do nothing but shake his head. “You’re literally the worst wingman of all time.”
“Maybe, but we’re trying to close a deal with her boss,” Sandecker told him. “Who also happens to be her father. I don’t need you mucking it up by causing an international and highly emotional incident. Regardless, we have more important matters to attend to.”
He turned for the exit, Kurt followed.
“What’s going on?” Kurt asked, his attention fully on the here and now.
