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“MAY I COME IN?” I ASKED politely.
“Can I stop you?” she snapped, walking to the bed and sitting down heavily.
She was dressed for action, that much I could see. A serious spy would have a hard time being any more appropriately attired for work in the field. She could go from scaling a wall to walking through a crowd without arousing the slightest suspicion. I wasn’t surprised that she wanted to tackle it on her own. Her capitulation in the suite downstairs had seemed all too easy.
I took her sarcastic comment as an invitation and walked into her room. “Here’s the briefing I received,” I told her, laying a tablet on the desk in the corner.
“I’ve already read my briefing,” she objected. “I don’t really need you.”
“Tell me again why I should trust you?” I shot back.
“You shouldn’t,” she replied. “Neither of us should trust the other. That’s why it’s a stupid idea for us to work together.”
I shook my head, walking the length of her room with my arms crossed over my chest. Of all the field partners I’d ever had, she was the worst. Usually there was some common ground, at least a respect for the mission. I sensed none of that from the woman known as Clark.
“What is Clark short for?” I asked.
“It’s not short for anything,” she answered, seeming to think my question was coming from left field.
“It’s not a common female name,” I said.
She rose to her feet and sashayed toward me, the exaggerated movements of her hips drawing my eyes like magnets. “It’s not sexy enough for you?”
“Don’t,” I growled.
“Don’t what?” She continued to advance on me, stopping only when her chest brushed mine and her baby doll face was inches away.
“Don’t try to seduce me,” I elaborated. “It won’t work.”
“Why?” she demanded, turning away and giving me a clear view of her perfect ass. “Because you’re not a man?”
“This is ridiculous,” I scoffed. “We’re at each other’s throats, and we have a job to do.”
“You seemed perfectly happy to be at my throat downstairs,” she teased.
“You were the one trying to strangle me,” I reminded her.
“And you hit me with a lamp,” she growled.
I chuckled, turning back to my own room because this conversation was going nowhere. “So we both remember the events of a few moments ago. Bravo.”
“What do you know about Dark Sparrow?” she asked, surprising me with a work-related question.
“I’ve encountered them before,” I replied, debating how much information to share. “They always work in the shadows. I’ve never been able to learn very much.”
“When did you encounter them before?” she asked, sitting back down on her bed.
“In London,” I said.
“London?” She seemed surprised.
“In a football stadium,” I added just enough details to keep her guessing but not enough to tip my hand.
It was true. I had been at a football game and had run into someone coming out of the bathroom. I was there on an official capacity because there were rumors that a bomb maker was in town. We’d tracked him through football tickets, and I was the lucky son of a bitch who drew the assignment.
Of course, I hadn’t been able to watch the game. I was too focused on finding my mark and following him back to his home. I successfully located the culprit and apprehended him, but under interrogation, he revealed next to nothing. Before we could stop him, he took his own life, ending our fact-finding activities.
That single act told me everything I needed to know about Dark Sparrow. If their people were so afraid of leaking confidential information that they would choose suicide as a viable option, that said a lot about their motivational strategies. Only governments or mafias engendered that kind of loyalty. And Dark Sparrow was no government.
“And?” Clark asked, clearly sensing that there was more.
“And we didn’t catch them,” I lied.
“Liar,” she scoffed. “You caught them and interrogated them. What did you learn?”
“Only that it’s past your bedtime,” I replied, walking through the adjoining door and shutting her out.
I hadn’t made any comment about her attire because I didn’t have to. We both knew what she was up to. I also hadn’t asked her what she knew about Dark Sparrow because there would be no point. She wasn’t going to tell me anything. Why give her a chance to lie or misdirect me? I was safer building a case by myself rather than relying on her for information.
She knew I was being deceitful, and I expected the same behavior on her part. MI6 and the CIA had gotten it wrong this time. There was no way the two of us were going to work together. I wondered if she would go back to bed, now that her little nighttime walk had been revealed. I stayed near the door to see if I could hear anything, but there was only silence from her side.
She probably knew I was listening in and was creeping around, trying not to make a sound. I had technology in my bag that could help me establish her whereabouts more precisely, but I hesitated to use it.
Something about her must have been legitimate. I trusted Reg, and he had never steered me wrong. And Washington, for all its bravado, was a close ally. That meant that we should at least give the partnership a shot.
I stood there trying to convince myself not to spy on her, but in the end, I gave up. I was too curious about what she was up to, and just because our governments were in alliance, that didn’t mean we were. I didn’t buy for a second that The Sleeper was a simple agent of a foreign government. She had her own agenda that included killing innocent men. I would be damned if I would play along and allow her to come and go as she pleased.
Crossing to my bag, I took out my listening device. I wasn’t heavily burdened with toys, as that was something for a different department. But I did have a few smaller options to play with. This one was a lightweight camera and recorder that could slip under a door and look around a corner. Those were the two things I needed to accomplish my task.
I turned the thing on and took it to the barrier between our rooms. Holding on to the screen, I inched the microphone and digital camera beneath the door, scanning slowly to avoid detection.
My eyes grew wide when I spotted her. She was fully clothed, down to the walking shoes. Her hair was up, as if she was still planning to go out into the city. But instead of packing her things or moving toward the door, she sat on the bed, looking straight at me.
I slipped the device back onto my side of the threshold and frowned. This wasn’t going to be easy. She wasn’t going to give an inch. But if she thought that I was watching her, maybe that would keep her inside the hotel until we could formally begin our investigation the next day. At least that was something.
I dropped the spy camera back into my bag and went to my own bed. I had been to enough rodeos to know that it wasn’t the time or the place to get undressed. I lay on top of the covers, making myself comfortable only by removing my suit jacket. I still wore my shoes just in case I needed to leave in a hurry.
Clasping my fingers together over my abdomen, I lowered my eyelids just enough to rest, but not enough to fall fully asleep. Sleep was a dangerous thing. Too much of it, and you ran the risk of being killed, too little and you lost your edge. The balance had to be just right and the conditions favorable. There was no way I was going to relax my guard with The Sleeper right next door. If I gave her an opportunity to sink her needle into my neck, that could be the last thing I ever saw.
I kept my ears open for sounds of movement in her room but heard nothing. I had a chilling vision of her sitting immobile on the bed, staring at the door, waiting for me to make a move. If that’s really what she was up to, I would let her do it. By drifting gently above the threshold of sleep, I would at least get a modest amount of rest. I would be in a better position the next day when things really counted.
But despite my smug assertion that I was doing the right thing, I couldn’t stop thinking about her. An hour passed and then two. I caught myself dozing and jolted awake, fully expecting to see her in my room. I was alone, thank goodness, and a quick swipe of my neck proved that the skin was still intact.
“Dammit,” I swore, standing up and going to the adjoining door.
I wanted to see for myself if she was still in there. My momentary lapse of consciousness might have been just what she needed to slip out the door. If she was on the streets, she would have a head start. And I couldn’t trust her to share any information. No, I needed to be there every step of the way, and I had to reassure myself that she hadn’t disappeared.
I pulled the door open and found her room empty. Charging in, I forgot to check both angles. As I was cursing her for getting the jump on me, she attacked from my left side, clocking me in the Adam’s apple with her forearm.
This time, I didn’t flinch. Though her assault made it difficult to breathe, I worked through it, grabbing her by the hair and slamming her into the wall. She cried out, dropping her arm from my throat. I released her scalp and stepped back, blinking stars from my eyes.
“Couldn’t sleep either?” I wheezed.
“You won’t catch me with my guard down,” she swore.
“Just as soon as this is over, I’m going to make sure you never work again,” I said.
“I could have killed you back in Casablanca, but I didn’t,” she growled.
“Your mistake,” I answered.
“You’re just going to be another notch on my bedpost,” she sneered. “I don’t have time to babysit you; you’re worth more to me dead.”
“Not even if you were the last woman on Earth,” I spat.
“You wish you were so lucky,” she countered.
I stepped back into my room just as she shut the door in my face.
