know how to please a lady.”
“No, I don’t. I’ve never had much time for relationships, not in my line of work. Here today and possibly gone forever tomorrow, if you follow me. What about you?”
“If you’ve immersed yourself in my career, you’ll know that the past ten years have been one bloody war after another. There was a chap I got close to in Bosnia who was killed by a Serb sniper. Then there was a major in Iraq who went the same way, courtesy of the Taliban.”
“What about Afghanistan?”
“With my Pashtu and Iranian, I traveled the country a lot.” She smiled bleakly. “Death seemed to follow me around.”
“Well, he must have thought he’d got you in his clutches at last on the road to Abusan.” He smiled. “If somebody did decide to make a movie, they couldn’t do better than let you play yourself.”
“You should be my agent, Daniel.”
“That’s the second time you’ve called me by my first name. That’s got to mean something.” He looked beyond her and saw Ferguson, Miller, and Dillon entering the bar, Colonel Josef Lermov with them. “Look who’s here.”
The Russian, instead of his uniform, was wearing an old tweed country suit, blue shirt, and brown woolen tie. He advanced on Holley and hugged him.
“I must say you’re looking wonderful, Daniel.” He looked down at Sara. “And this can only be the remarkable Captain Sara Gideon.” He reached for her hand and kissed it. “A great honor and privilege, one soldier to another.”
“Coming from the author of
Total War
, Colonel Lermov, I must say the privilege is all mine,” she replied in perfect Russian.
He smiled. “So your reputation as an exceptional linguist speaks for itself. I’m impressed.”
Miller called for coffee and they all sat down, Ferguson beside Sara. “Been in the wars, my dear, so Security tells me? You were on camera.”
“I’ve just seen it, Daniel,” Dillon told Holley. “You were your normal totally brutal self, and served those bastards right.”
“I agree,” Lermov said. “Frankly, I’d like to sentence them to a year in Station Gorky in Siberia and see what they made of that. Unfortunately, this is not my parish.”
“So what’s going to happen?” Sara asked.
“We’ve discussed it with management, and the gentlemen involved, having been suitably threatened and banned from ever visiting the hotel again, have departed with their tails between their legs.”
“They can count themselves lucky,” Holley said. “NYPD could have caused them real trouble over that derringer.”
“Anyway, there it is,” Ferguson said. “Welcome to the club, Sara, glad to have you on board. Congratulations to you, Dillon and Holley, for your handling of the
Amity
business. Though Murphy wasn’t shot to death in Brooklyn, as we thought. He must have been wearing some sort of body armor. He’s turned up close to his apartment, stabbed in the heart. Whoever he was dealing with obviously wanted his mouth shut.”
“It must have been a hell of a good vest he was wearing when I shot him into the East River,” Dillon said.
“Yes, but the important thing was the Irish connection you turned up and our old friend Jack Kelly.” Coffee was being passed around and he carried on, “You may be surprised that we’re talking about our highly illegal conduct in Brooklyn in front of Colonel Lermov here.” He turned to Lermov. “Perhaps you’d like to make a point, Josef?”
“Of course, Charles.” He removed his spectacles and polished them with a handkerchief. “In the old Cold War days, we were sworn enemies, but in a world of international terrorism, we’d be fools not to help each other out. Putin agrees with me.” He turned to Holley. “The Al Qaeda plot to assassinate Putin in Chechnya last year was foiled by information supplied by you, Daniel. He will never forget that.”
“I wish he
“No, I don’t. I’ve never had much time for relationships, not in my line of work. Here today and possibly gone forever tomorrow, if you follow me. What about you?”
“If you’ve immersed yourself in my career, you’ll know that the past ten years have been one bloody war after another. There was a chap I got close to in Bosnia who was killed by a Serb sniper. Then there was a major in Iraq who went the same way, courtesy of the Taliban.”
“What about Afghanistan?”
“With my Pashtu and Iranian, I traveled the country a lot.” She smiled bleakly. “Death seemed to follow me around.”
“Well, he must have thought he’d got you in his clutches at last on the road to Abusan.” He smiled. “If somebody did decide to make a movie, they couldn’t do better than let you play yourself.”
“You should be my agent, Daniel.”
“That’s the second time you’ve called me by my first name. That’s got to mean something.” He looked beyond her and saw Ferguson, Miller, and Dillon entering the bar, Colonel Josef Lermov with them. “Look who’s here.”
The Russian, instead of his uniform, was wearing an old tweed country suit, blue shirt, and brown woolen tie. He advanced on Holley and hugged him.
“I must say you’re looking wonderful, Daniel.” He looked down at Sara. “And this can only be the remarkable Captain Sara Gideon.” He reached for her hand and kissed it. “A great honor and privilege, one soldier to another.”
“Coming from the author of
Total War
, Colonel Lermov, I must say the privilege is all mine,” she replied in perfect Russian.
He smiled. “So your reputation as an exceptional linguist speaks for itself. I’m impressed.”
Miller called for coffee and they all sat down, Ferguson beside Sara. “Been in the wars, my dear, so Security tells me? You were on camera.”
“I’ve just seen it, Daniel,” Dillon told Holley. “You were your normal totally brutal self, and served those bastards right.”
“I agree,” Lermov said. “Frankly, I’d like to sentence them to a year in Station Gorky in Siberia and see what they made of that. Unfortunately, this is not my parish.”
“So what’s going to happen?” Sara asked.
“We’ve discussed it with management, and the gentlemen involved, having been suitably threatened and banned from ever visiting the hotel again, have departed with their tails between their legs.”
“They can count themselves lucky,” Holley said. “NYPD could have caused them real trouble over that derringer.”
“Anyway, there it is,” Ferguson said. “Welcome to the club, Sara, glad to have you on board. Congratulations to you, Dillon and Holley, for your handling of the
Amity
business. Though Murphy wasn’t shot to death in Brooklyn, as we thought. He must have been wearing some sort of body armor. He’s turned up close to his apartment, stabbed in the heart. Whoever he was dealing with obviously wanted his mouth shut.”
“It must have been a hell of a good vest he was wearing when I shot him into the East River,” Dillon said.
“Yes, but the important thing was the Irish connection you turned up and our old friend Jack Kelly.” Coffee was being passed around and he carried on, “You may be surprised that we’re talking about our highly illegal conduct in Brooklyn in front of Colonel Lermov here.” He turned to Lermov. “Perhaps you’d like to make a point, Josef?”
“Of course, Charles.” He removed his spectacles and polished them with a handkerchief. “In the old Cold War days, we were sworn enemies, but in a world of international terrorism, we’d be fools not to help each other out. Putin agrees with me.” He turned to Holley. “The Al Qaeda plot to assassinate Putin in Chechnya last year was foiled by information supplied by you, Daniel. He will never forget that.”
“I wish he
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