you going to do over Christmas? Going home?”
“I don’t know,” I evaded. “I was going to, but with this stalker thing going on, maybe I’ll stay and have my mom come here. My place is small, but we can share a bed. It’s not a huge deal and having someone with me might help.”
Sandra made a face. “Really? You’d stay here? Dude, I’ll be on the first plane to the U.S. the minute finals are over next week. I can’t wait to get out of here.”
“Why do you live here if you hate it so much?” I asked her, frowning. “I love Germany, and Cologne is filled with so much history and wonderful food and people and—”
“It’s just another old, ugly European city,” she said, a bitterness in her voice I’d never heard before. “When my contract is over at the end of this year, I’m out of here.”
“Oh.” I didn’t know what to say to that. “I’m sorry you’re unhappy here. Maybe one night next week we can get dinner or go to the Christmas markets or something.”
“Sure.” She flashed a smile, her previous surliness gone. “Sounds fun. See you later.” She left the room and I watched her go curiously. It was a bummer she would be leaving after her contract was up because she was my best friend here at work. I was used to it, though; it seemed like everyone I cared about left me.
Ace was waiting for me in front of the hotel when I arrived after work, and after I’d put down my things, he suggested we go out for the evening instead of sitting at the hotel worrying about what we might see on the new surveillance video feed. He said his buddy Chains was on top of it, and I couldn’t think of a reason to say no, so we took a taxi to the area by the Cologne Cathedral, which was adjacent to one of the Christmas markets, and joined the crowds.
“Have you been to the cathedral?” I asked Ace as we walked up the street.
“Not inside, no.” He shook his head. “Usually when I’m in Europe, I’m on a mission, so unless whomever I’m following is pretending to be a tourist, I don’t have time for a lot of that stuff.”
“That’s sad,” I told him. “There are so many fabulous things to see all over the world.”
“There’s a lot on my list of things to do once I retire,” he said with a smile.
“How old are you?” I asked. I knew he was older than I was, but I wasn’t sure by how much.
“Thirty-seven,” he replied. “Thirty-eight next summer.”
“I’ll be thirty-two in May.”
“I know.”
Our eyes met and we laughed.
“So do spies work until they’re sixty-five?” I asked him.
He shook his head. “Not usually, though some do. To be honest, I think my days are numbered. I don’t love the job the way I used to.”
“How come?”
He stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked away, staring at the bright lights ahead of us at the entrance to the Christmas market. “I thought I was fighting for the good guys, and mostly I have been. But no matter how noble the intentions, there’s always politics involved. People vying for someone else’s job and using what we do to gain power. It’s hard to know who to trust, including your bosses. And sometimes the red tape makes it almost impossible for me to do what I have to do. I’ve given my country nineteen years. Maybe it’s time for me to do something else.”
“You’d retire? Really? Won’t you be bored?”
“Chains, my buddy that’s been helping me with your situation, owns a security and bodyguard company, so I can always get a job with him, but I’m not worried about being bored. I’d like to take some time off, travel, do some things I’ve always wanted to do.”
“Like what?” I felt like a giddy schoolgirl on a date with the high school football team quarterback. I wanted to know everything about him, immediately, as if we might not have a lot of time and he would disappear from my life once again.
“Like tour the inside of cathedrals all over Europe,” he said with a faint smile. “Swimming with sharks in the South Pacific. Snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. The list is pretty long.”
“Have you ever wanted to settle down?” I asked quietly, my heart beating a little harder as I waited for his answer.
“You mean, with a woman, or in