‘You’re a little inexperienced to be running this kind of show.’
‘I’m good at my job.’
‘I don’t doubt you are, but that’s not the only reason you’re speaking to me, now is it? And if you’re as good at your job as you say you are then you’ve already worked out that reason for yourself.’
She didn’t want to say it. For a moment it looked as though she would change the subject, but she said, ‘You’re saying Procter chose me to deal with you because he believes you’ll find it harder to say no to a woman.’
‘I’m not the only one who thinks that, am I?’
Muir’s eyes narrowed a fraction. Behind her glasses, he almost didn’t see it. She adjusted them. They didn’t need adjusting. ‘The thought has crossed my mind. It’s the twenty-first century but that doesn’t mean some guys aren’t still cavemen at heart. Procter thought you’re less likely to say no to a woman. He also thinks you’d be less likely to kill one if you reacted badly to being contacted like this.’
‘Why would a man be more deserving of death than a woman in a given scenario?’
‘Chivalry. I don’t know. It’s how we’re wired as a society. Women receive lighter sentences for the same crimes as men. I’m not saying it’s right, it’s just how it is. If it’s not true in this case then why would Procter think it?’
‘Because a good man – or woman – hopes to see the same good in others.’
Muir stared at him, attempting to identify any subtext, but found none.
‘Do you believe I’m more likely to accept this job because you’re a woman?’ Victor asked.
She shrugged. ‘It doesn’t matter what I think.’
‘It matters to me.’
Frustration was obvious in her expression. ‘Yes, okay? I believe it does. I think it has to make a difference otherwise Procter wouldn’t have sent me. He hasn’t got a concussion, and like you said yourself, he’s good. He’s smart. He considers everything. If it didn’t matter he wouldn’t have sent me. There are guys who would have been more suitable.’
‘“More suitable”?’
‘Better,’ Muir said. ‘Men who have double my experience.’
‘Most people don’t care how or why they get a break. They just want one.’
‘I didn’t enter the intelligence business so I could be a pair of legs.’
‘You want an op assigned to you based exclusively on your proficiency, not your gender?’
‘Of course. It’s an insult that my gender is even considered relevant, let alone if it actually is relevant. It makes me angry, so what? It pisses me off. Wouldn’t it you in my place?’
‘I don’t get angry,’ Victor said. ‘And please correct me if I’m wrong, but an essential contributing factor to my suitability for this job of yours is the fact that I, like Kooi, am male.’
She stared at him, trying not to show her annoyance. But she couldn’t stop the capillaries widening beneath the skin of her cheeks any more than she could stop her pupils dilating.
‘If you’re trying to jerk my chain then let’s not waste any more of each other’s time, okay?’
‘I’m simply trying to understand you.’
Muir examined his face, trying to determine what he was thinking. She hadn’t yet worked out the futility of such an attempt, but the annoyance became confusion that became hope. ‘Does that mean that you’ll do it?’
After a moment, he said, ‘Yes.’
‘Because I’m a woman?’
‘Do I seem like a knight in shining armour to you?’
‘Then I can only assume you trust me.’
‘I trust that you understand the consequences of showing yourself to be untrustworthy.’
She nodded. ‘I’m here to play fair with you. I don’t know how to do anything else.’
‘Good,’ Victor said, ‘because if I’m played in any way the one thing I won’t do is play fair in return. Procter can tell you about that too.’
‘Understood. You don’t need to be concerned about being compromised. You’ll deal with me and me alone. We’re going to be a two-person show. Procter said that’s the only way you would do it.’
‘He was right. I take it you have all the information on you that I will need.’
She reached into a pocket. ‘Everything I have is right here.’ She withdrew a tiny flash drive. ‘Don’t lose it.’
Muir passed it to him and he pocketed it, thinking briefly about what had happened the last time he’d had a memory stick on his person that contained valuable information. He turned his mind away from the past because he would only survive the future by concentrating