hitters working in the interests of Moscow but not under their direct employ. This shooting tonight is going to make everything harder, I suppose, but it doesn’t change our critical need for intel.”
Hanley looked at his watch, then pulled himself up to his feet. “Well, I’ve got to get to the White House. I will be there the rest of the night.” He paused. “Listen. I need everything I can get from both of the Poison Apple assets. By tomorrow morning I expect we are going to be dealing with a ticking clock.”
“You still can’t tell me what’s about to happen tonight?”
He shook his head, then shrugged a little. “I can tell you that what we are about to do is as righteous as anything we’ve ever done, but it sure as hell is not about making this shitty world a safer place.”
Hanley grabbed his briefcase and headed for the door.
When she was alone, Suzanne Brewer took a few calming breaths, and she thought about everything that was going on in Berlin. The Iranians were her enemy, of course, but as far as she was concerned, so were Anthem and Violator. Working with them in the Poison Apple program had unquestionably stunted her career, and she wanted nothing more in this world than to be away from Matt Hanley, away from Zoya Zakharova and Zack Hightower, and far, far away from Court Gentry. It was the only way forward for her, but for now, she knew she had to be the good soldier and do her job.
* * *
• • •
Court lay on the sofa in Dr. Azra Kaya’s small but comfortable flat, with an IV stuck in his left arm and a bag of antibiotics and saline hanging from a floor lamp next to him, dripping slowly but steadily through the line and into his bloodstream. He wore an ice pack on his forehead, and his pistol was hidden from the civilian in the small of his back under him.
The infusion of antibiotics did nothing to make Court feel better; that would happen only after weeks of regular doses. But the other things she had given him—anti-inflammatories, narcotic painkillers, B vitamins, and bottled water with electrolytes for hydration—were taking the edge off his aches, pains, and general malaise.
Azra Kaya had taken it upon herself to feed the injured operator, as well. While the IV emptied slowly into his arm, Azra made a simple dinner of pork cutlet and mashed potatoes with sauerkraut, and Court wolfed down his portion while she sat nearby at the table and ate.
He washed down a swallow of food with fortified water, but before taking his next bite, he said, “Something bad happened tonight, not far from here. It will be on the news. I want you to know, I had absolutely nothing to do with it.” He motioned to his forehead. “This is not from that.”
In truth, he had had something to do with the killing of the BfV man tonight. He hadn’t shot the man he had been pitted against, but the man killed might have had a partner there to back him up if Court hadn’t taken the other man’s attention.
He didn’t know, but he also didn’t feel terrific about knocking the shit out of a German intelligence officer who had just been doing his job.
“What happened?” Kaya asked.
“A man was killed. A German government employee.”
She put her fork down and turned to him. “If you didn’t have anything to do with it, then why are you telling me?”
Court swigged more water, then shrugged. “I don’t really have an answer. I guess I want you to know I’m not the kind of person who would do that.”
But was he? he questioned.
Azra said, “My oath is to treat my patients to the best of my ability. I am doing that with you. I don’t know who you are, or what you have or have not done. I can’t even let myself care.”
Court sensed that she did care. But he said, “Okay, that’s fair. But I’m here for good, not bad.”
The doctor stood up from her empty plate, lifted the frosty bag off Court’s forehead, and looked at the bruise there. He could see his reflection in a mirror behind the sofa. Though the ice was doing its job keeping the swelling to a minimum, it was still purple and slightly raised.
Dr. Kaya said, “I get the strong impression that someone didn’t feel the same way.”
Court smiled. “Clearly he did not.” He looked up