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34
NINE
When I was fifteen, I’d made it a goal in life to learn something new every day.Mostly, I managed it, even if lately that knowledge had come in the form of a more complicated crochet stitch or the difference between pony beads and perlers.
Today, I’d learned three things.
Firstly, I’d learned that golf sucked.
Secondly, I’d learned that when Alex touched me, I went into atrial fibrillation.
Thirdly, and perhaps most interestingly, I’d learned that Blok Novak wasn’t just an asshole, he was likely to be a double agent too.
At some point between the eighth and eighteenth holes, Emmy had gone through “channels,” and due to the exceptional circumstances and President Harrison’s improving relationship with President Markovich, the Russians were apparently offering unprecedented levels of cooperation in this matter.Word had come back quickly: do not touch Blok Novak.The Russians hadn’t gone into detail, but a bunch of analysts sitting in a bunker somewhere had come to the conclusion that Novak was working for Markovich, spying on the opposition and feeding information back.
Of course, there was still the possibility that he was a triple agent, but my ex-colleagues could deal with that.Let them clean their own house if it was dirty.I felt no loyalty to my country now, not after the way I’d been treated by those in power.The only person I trusted was myself, and the only people I cared to help were the handful of friends I’d made in my new life.And perhaps Ana.And Alexei.And I guess I didn’t particularly want to see hundreds of civilians roasted by an experimental weapon either.
Seemed I’d grown a conscience in my old age.
And maybe a heart too.
Damn.
But in this game of snakes and ladders, our roll of the dice had landed us back at the bottom of the board, and worse, the slithery little suckers were poisonous.
“Anyhow…” Emmy continued.“At least we’ve worked out what Ottie’s code is for.The weapon has an electronic operating system, and she was the software’s main architect.Current thinking is that she got wind of the plot to steal it, wiped the memory clean, and then ran.Took care of all the current backups too.”
“So she has the only copy?”Ana asked.
“Given what Loslov’s crew did to her, that seems likely.”
“Could somebody rewrite it?”
“That’s possible, and they might even have an old copy of the code, but it would take time and ability to get it up to scratch.So either they don’t have anyone with that skill set, or they’re planning to use the thing in a hurry.”
Fantasticheskiy.Nothing like a little added pressure, was there?
“So, what’s next?”
“Next, we have to—”
The front door slammed and I reached for my gun on instinct, but nobody else moved, which made me think that either they were asleep on the job or they knew something I didn’t.And Emmy was probably an insomniac.
She glanced across at me and saw where my hand was.“Bradley’s back in three, two, one…”
Half a second later, he skidded into the doorway.“Did you miss me?”
“No.”
“I have gifts.”
“We don’t need gifts, and you’ve only been gone for a day.”
“Yes, but it seems like so much longer.”No, it didn’t, and his neon-orange sweater was hurting my eyes.“Here, I brought cookies from Mary’s Coffee House for everyone.”
“Cookies?Okay, then perhaps I missed you a tiny bit.”Emmy abandoned the slice of cold pizza she’d been eating and held out her hand for the bag.“Gimme.”
“Did you solve the case yet?I hear Ottie’s still unconscious, but that poor pooch should make a full recovery.We made him a gift basket with doggy treats and toys, and Paulo promised to send me updates.”