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“What do you mean?”
“I received a call from Nemesis, saying she was removing her from the Swiss task force and wanted to add her to mine.”
“Did she say why?”
“She didn’t. That’s why I rang you.”
“We had a couple of, err, misunderstandings.”
“Go on.”
“She tried to kiss me.”
“Schön?”
Zeppelin turned to me and rolled his eyes. “Isn’t that who we’re talking about, Mag? Anyway, it wasn’t just that. It hasn’t been an hour since she told Verity and me she’d asked to be reassigned. A few minutes ago, we spotted her tailing one of our suspects.”
“That’s not good. Regardless of whether she’s moving to another task force, you know Nem would never condone any agent acting outside the chain of command.”
“My thoughts precisely. I tried to call Nem, but it went to voicemail.”
“She’s in a meeting, but once it ends, I’ll see what I can find out.”
“Thanks, Mag.”
Zeppelin stared at his mobile after ending the call.
“What do you think she’s up to?” I asked.
“No idea. Honestly? I’m beginning to think the world has gone mad and you and I are the only two sane people left, and, yeah, the irony doesn’t escape me.”
10
ZEPPELIN
“We need to get Schön out of St. Moritz before she destroys more than just this op,” Verity said, looking out the window as I drove back to the resort.
I scrubbed my face. “You’re right. She needs to go as soon as we can make it happen.”
Both our mobiles vibrated. Verity swiped hers. “Nemesis just sent a brief on Z’s abduction and rescue.”
“Do you want to read it aloud?” I asked.
Verity shook her head. “I cannot.”
“You can read, can’t you, Verity?” I said, winking when I repeated her words from yesterday back to her.
“I’m prone to motion sickness.”
I feigned shock. “A Unit 23-er gets carsick?”
“We refer to ourselves as 23-ers. Not that I feel much like one presently.”
Admittedly, I found it curious that Typhon would tap her for the unit, then immediately say she was on permanent loan to the coalition, so I asked why she thought he had.
“According to Oleander, it was so no one else attempted to hire me out from under him. Or move me up the ranks at MI6.”
“Assistant chief?”