Page 22

While the commander in me knew I shouldn’t do it, the man in me couldn’t resist reaching out and covering her hand with mine. “I’m sorry I disregarded you and spoke with Ehren. I felt it was necessary, and honestly, I’m glad I now know there’s history involved.”
She withdrew her hand from under mine but leaned forward, close enough that only I could hear her. “He was a very bad guy. That Ehren turned a blind eye to the depth of his depravity would likely have gotten her killed.”
“Understood.”
“Now, let’s finish up your hair and makeup so we can get on with the objectives of the op.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I said, winking.
8
SCHÖN
Iwasn’t sure whether Magnet had picked on my saying I developed theappearanceof a thick skin. Which meant, right below the surface sat the pain of the bullying I’d endured for the last several years of my life.
While I’d welcomed the chance to attend the school in Leysin, the girls there were vicious.
Then, or now, there was little I could do about it. It wasn’t just commanders intervening that never worked; anyone who tried, failed. Or made it worse.
The only thing that had helped was Mrs. Strousberg’s counsel. Once in a while, I’d go against her advice and choose not to ignore my tormentors. The outcome of which was disastrous to the point I’d almost been expelled.
After that, I’d recognized my only course of action was to ignore the harassment, which, the older I got, the less effective it became. I was seen as weak, unable to “fight back,” which, in turn, fueled the flames of my attackers. Sadly, that had resulted in me taking it out on other women I deemed weaker than me. Most recently, on Verity, which I felt horrible about. As soon as we returned to Shere, I needed to man up, as they say, and apologize to her.
“Ready?” asked Magnet, walking over to the window where I waited. “Beautiful, isn’t it? Too bad there’s no time to enjoy it,” he said, gazing at the sea like I was. “That’s the life of an intelligence agent, I suppose. We may have the opportunity to travel the world but very rarely the chance to truly experience the places where we’re sent. I thought about that very thing yesterday. Gozo feels magical to me, despite the horror we witnessed on the raid of Mithras’ compound. I just wish I could go back and only see this place as the lovely destination it is.”
I nodded, wishing more than anything that I could experience it with him.
“Isn’t that what we’re supposed to be doing now?” Rogue asked. “Being seen out and about as tourists?”
“Right. Are the comms ready?” Magnet asked.
“Got everything right here.”
Rogue made sure our mics and earpieces worked between the four of us as well as Delfino’s and Atticus’. Francesca spoke some English, more since spending time on Rile’s compound in Mallorca, where it was the primary language used, but her words were sometimes difficult to understand and often dotted with Maltese.
Delfino’s job was to listen and translate for us since she spoke it fluently. I spoke fluent German, French, and Italian. The latter of which would serve me best on this op. Between Delfino’s translation and the words I could speak, my goal was to distract her and Charlene as much as I could with conversation. It was Rogue’s job to scope out anything that could be used for DNA testing.
Magnet and Ehren would spend the same time searching for more information about Francesca’s husband and Charlene’s ex.
Of those on our team, I was the only one who hadn’t been on the island previously or in Francesca’s or Charlene’s presence. Rogue’s role, when he was here for the raid, had been behind the scenes. The only people he’d had direct interaction with were the victims rescued from Mithras’ villa.
Still, he wore a ball cap and sunglasses everywhere we went. And, as mortifying as I often found it when men—and sometimes women—paid an inordinate amount of attention to me, in this case, it was a good thing all eyes were on the woman hanging on Rogue’s arm rather than him.
Since it was early for a midday meal, he and I were the only two people in the restaurant. We sat as close to the entrance to the kitchen as we could but, so far, hadn’t seen Charlene. However, Francesca had poked her head out from the double doors separating the two areas.
“Welcome!” she said in a very heavy accent several seconds later, when she brought menus to the table.
“Posso avere due bicchieri d’acqua, per favore?”I asked, pleased when she nodded then returned with two plastic cups and a large bottle of water, which meant she’d understood my request.
As we’d agreed, Rogue would ask me to order for him while he took a phone call. “Get whatever sounds good, babe,” he said, motioning to his phone and walking to the door.
“Marito?”she asked.
“Yes, that’s my husband.”
While some women may have looked at him unfavorably for leaving me on my own, Francesca’s expression was softer. “He’s very, err, handsome.”
“Yes,” I said, smiling. “But he talks too much.” I raised one hand to my ear like I was holding a phone and motioned with my fingers like a quacking duck.