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my handler back. And until I have those things, I
will do nothing. No decryptions. No surveillance in enemy networks.
Nothing. Sweet fuck-all.”
    “You know that’s not
true,” Stemp replied calmly. “Your behaviour has been observed and
documented since March. Your psyche profile indicates that your
sense of honour and duty will compel you to continue working for
us. So skip the theatrics, pick out a car, and go and meet your new
team.”
    New team. Oh, God. Oh,
shit.
    I drew in a long, slow
breath.
    After a moment, Stemp
raised an eyebrow. “Ms. Kelly, it’s time for you to go. This
interview is over.”
    “Actually, no, it’s
not,” I countered. “Let’s talk for a minute.”
    He shot me a look,
clearly mistrusting my pleasant tone. Smart man.
    “This is not a
conversation,” he said flatly.
    I finally succeeded in
loosening my grip on the chair, and I let the ache in my knuckles
anchor me in the churning sea of rage and rising panic.
    “You’re right, it’s
not,” I agreed, holding my voice determinedly steady.
    He sighed. “You’re not
going to issue another ultimatum, are you? You know very well it
won’t work.”
    I forced myself to
lean back in the chair. “Oh, yes, I’m definitely going to issue
another ultimatum. But first we’re going to talk about Kane. You
have no right to screw him over. You’re the one who ordered him to
fake an attraction to me. Now you’re punishing him for
obeying.”
    “The operative word
here is ‘fake’,” Stemp said. “He admitted he let his personal
feelings for you get in the way when he allowed you to escape last
week. Today he exhibited a serious error in judgement in allowing
you to leave. When a top agent starts to make mistakes like that,
it’s a clear sign he’s been compromised.”
    I snorted. “No, it’s a
sign he knows his asset well enough to be very convincing. If he’d
tried to stop me today, he’d have had a fight on his hands. Not the
kind of thing you want to do if you’re supposedly in love.”
    I stopped to swallow a
queasy sensation. God, please let him be faking that. I continued
with more confidence than I felt.
    “You’ll notice he admitted …” I made air quotes around the word, “…his
so-called personal feelings in yesterday’s debriefing. Hell of a
funny place for a declaration of love, don’t you think? If you were
fooled, it’s a testament to his abilities, not an indication he’s
been compromised.”
    Stemp levelled a
reptilian gaze across the desk. “He knew last week his cover was
blown. If he was faking his feelings for you, he would have
abandoned the charade then.”
    “Did you rescind the
order?” I demanded.
    “No.”
    “Duh.”
    He twitched a
shoulder. “I can tell he’s not faking.”
    “Yeah, because you’re
such a good judge of character,” I snapped. “You’ve misjudged Kane,
and you’ve misjudged me. I’m not doing any more work for you until
I get what I want.”
    “We have reason to
believe an agent has been captured and is being tortured,” Stemp
said. “We need you to decrypt some files so we can retrieve him as
quickly as possible.”
    My guts twisted while
the gruesome memories writhed and bled.
    I forced my face into
a neutral expression and propped my feet on the edge of Stemp’s
desk, tipping my chair onto its back legs. “You’re full of
shit.”
    “No. That agent is
suffering horribly. You’re the only one who can save him.”
    I gulped down the
guilt. He was lying. He had to be.
    “Oh well.” I did my
best indifferent tone. “I’m very sorry to hear that. I hope you
write a nice letter to his mother when you finally retrieve what’s
left of the body.”
    We locked eyes.
    “So you’re refusing to
cooperate,” he said after a long moment.
    “Damn skippy.”
    Stemp sighed. “Then
your usefulness is at an end.”
    Suddenly I was looking
into the barrel of his gun.
    I rode out the burning
rush of adrenaline with a long sigh of my own. “Put it away, Stemp.
You