“Can we just pretend for a little while?”
“What’s that?”
“That this, right here, is our whole world. No terrorists, no missions, no guns, no killing, no fucked-up evil-as-shit world leaders. Just the beach, the sand, the water, the island.”
“I’m down.”
“Thanks, Dutch.”
He turned to his side and propped his head on his bent arm. “What’s up, Miss Malin?”
“Nothing new. I’m just…tired of it all.”
“I was just thinking that myself.”
“Yeah?” she asked, turning on her side too.
“I was thinking about what it would take to make me call it quits. Meaning retire for good.”
“And?”
“A message from Doc that he needed me to go back to the Middle East—pretty much anywhere. What about you?”
“I had already decided the mission I was working on would be my last.”
“For the agency, or in general?”
“Are you asking if I would do what you did and go private?”
Dutch winked. “Don’t make it sound so dirty, pretty girl.”
She laughed. “Whatever. My answer is no. When I’m done, I’m done.” She looked out at the water. “Although I may already be, whether it’s my decision or not.”
“Why are you so certain the agency wants to burn you?”
She lay back flat on the sand. “I don’t know.”
“You must have some idea, or you wouldn’t think it was that far gone.”
She sat up and looked at him. “What do you think, Dutch? I mean you blew up an op I’d been working on for over a year, killed my asset, and kidnapped me from Pakistan, essentially blowing any chance I had of completing the mission the CIA has invested thousands of dollars in.”
“Orlov was your asset?”
“Fuck,” he heard her say under her breath before she flopped back down on the sand. “We were working together, okay? Wouldn’t have been the first time he worked with the agency or even the high and mighty K19, would it?”
“High and mighty?”
“Fuck,” she mumbled the expletive a second time. “I say ten things, and what do you pick up on?”
“The Orlov thing is kind of a big deal. What were you working on with him?”
Malin laughed. “Wham, bam, thank you, ma’am, and just like that, Dutch Miller returns to the folds of K19 as the conquering hero.”
He shook his head. “Wow. I knew you had a low opinion of me, but I had no idea how deep it was.”
“Whatever,” she said for the third or fourth time, standing and brushing the sand off her legs. ?
??I guess I’ll see you later, Dutch. Whether I want to or not.”