The Persona Protocol - By Andy McDermott Page 0,83
smashing al-Qaeda. Excellent work, everybody.’
‘Boo-yah!’ Kyle pumped a triumphant fist, the sympathy shared more subtly by others in the room. Everyone started to head back to their posts. Kiddrick was about to leave when Morgan took him aside, his expression stern.
Tony joined Bianca. ‘Martin really doesn’t like it when people take credit for something they had no part in,’ he said. ‘Kiddrick will have a metaphorical boot-print on his butt for a week.’
‘Shame it’s not a real one,’ she said.
‘Yeah. So, how did you like being a field agent?’
‘To be honest?’ she said. ‘Not much.’ She took a moment to reconsider. ‘All right, parts of it were almost enjoyable. The parts where I could pretend I was a glamorous international super-spy.’
‘You weren’t pretending,’ he pointed out.
That caught her off guard. ‘Wow. I suppose I wasn’t, was I?’
‘No. And you know something else?’
‘What?’
He grinned. ‘You did okay.’
‘Well, except for the part where I completely cocked things up by injecting Zykov too soon.’
He pretended to wince. ‘Yeah, that had us worried! But everything worked out okay. We got the information we needed from Zykov, and he doesn’t even know we have it. He’ll lead us right to al-Rais.’
‘So what now?’
‘Like Martin said, we wait for Zykov to make a move – and the President to decide whether we stay involved. I think we probably will be – in fact, I hope we are. I want to see this through.’
‘Well,’ said Bianca, ‘can I stay in the van rather than needing Adam to rescue me?’ She glanced in Adam’s direction, expecting to see him retreating into the Cube, but instead found him still standing there, watching her thoughtfully. Wondering what was on his mind, she looked back at Tony. ‘It seems a lot less stressful.’
‘I’ll see what I can do.’ He checked his watch. ‘So, do you have any plans for this evening?’
‘Nothing beyond lying around in my hotel room . . .’ Tired from what she had been through in Macau and the long flight back to the States, it took her a moment to pick up on his subtext. ‘Why, do you have a suggestion?’ she asked, with a hint of mischief.
Tony, on the other hand, got her meaning immediately. ‘Well, it occurred to me that you haven’t had a proper chance to experience Washington yet. Maybe you’d like someone to show you around?’
‘That might be nice,’ she said, flattered by his attention. It was certainly preferable to Zykov’s. ‘Although I really am exhausted after the last couple of days, so—’
‘Bianca?’ Adam appeared beside her as though he had teleported there, taking her by surprise. ‘I wondered if you’d like to go for a drink with me this evening.’
She didn’t quite know how to react. Tony was equally startled by the proposition. ‘Er . . . what, after work?’ she finally managed.
‘Yes. I’d like to talk to you. Not about the mission,’ he clarified, seeing that both Morgan and Kiddrick had now taken an interest. ‘About . . . other things. Something that came up the other night, when you had that problem with your car.’
She was intrigued, but before she could answer, Kiddrick bustled over. ‘No, no, that’s absolutely out of the question,’ he said, interposing himself physically between Adam and Bianca. ‘I can’t allow that. This is a United States government intelligence operation, not speed dating.’
While Adam’s expression was normally inscrutable, it was now perfectly readable: disdain. ‘Is that an order?’
‘Yes, yes it is,’ Kiddrick replied huffily.
‘Well, Nate,’ said Adam, surprising everyone again with the unveiled sarcasm in his tone. ‘First: as the project’s scientific adviser, you don’t have the authority to give me orders, or anyone else for that matter. Second: what I do in my free time is my business, not yours.’
Kiddrick now resembled a beached fish, eyes wide and mouth uselessly gawping. ‘Martin!’ he finally protested. ‘You tell him!’
Morgan was clearly still annoyed with the scientist. ‘Tell him what? He’s not a soldier; he’s not confined to barracks when he’s off duty.’
‘But you know that—’ He clammed up.
Bianca couldn’t resist. ‘Know what, Nate?’
Her use of the diminutive annoyed him even more. ‘Martin!’
Morgan gave Kiddrick a stern look over the top of his glasses. ‘I know what you’re saying, but I don’t see how that applies here. Or are you suggesting Adam can’t be trusted to have one drink without bellowing national secrets down the length of K Street?’
‘No, but – alcohol could cause complications,’ he blustered. ‘We don’t know.’