Chapter Nine

It wasn’t always dirty secrets and espionage that brought strangers together in foreign countries. Sometimes it was the finer things that made spies pick certain establishments for a rendezvous.

Traditional Turkish coffee was a different class of hot beverage. It was one novelty William would miss once he returned to the states. He sat inside the café and read the news on his smartphone. No one gave him a second look. There were a lot of American contractors in Ankara and a few tourists. The city was known for opera and ballet, as well as the country’s cosmopolitan capital. A mixture of people of different cultures and experiences, as well as ideologies, William liked the city. But he was ready to go home.

He checked the time on his phone. It was well after two in the afternoon and ten minutes after he’d had a meeting scheduled. But William knew better than worry. Rarely did anything started on time in Ankara. People assumed everyone else was late for meetings because traffic was always a problem. William still arrived an hour early for meetings and caught up on current events before the other parties entered. It also gave him the advantage to monitor the activity for anything suspicious, check the exits, and sample the food or, in this case, a superb cup of coffee.

She sat down across from him and sighed. She wore a modest white top, had a large travel bag over her shoulder, and a long black skirt that went to her ankles. Agent Owens wasn’t into disguising herself in a burka or changing the color or her hair or style. It wasn’t about disguise anymore. It was a matter of misdirection and juggling venues.

“I thought we agreed to meet at the other café,” she said. Owens knew more about William than anyone, outside Ronald. But even Ronald didn’t know everything about William.

“No,” he said calming. “It was this one.”

She rummaged through the shoulder bag on her lap and removed a small notepad. She scribbled something in it and slid it openly across the table. William barely glanced at the notebook before pocketing it. It wasn’t the message he wanted. There was a 128 GB memory card taped to the inside cover. Everything he needed to know was on the memory card.

“How are you?” she asked, accessing him. “You look tired.”

“I managed to get a shower this morning. But I didn’t get much sleep last night.”

She nodded knowingly.

“At least I can get some sleep on the plane home.” She made a face, a reticent wince that William picked up immediately. “What?”

“It’s in the notepad.” Owens sat back, and the waiter wandered over to take her order. She spoke fluent Turkish to him and smiled before he went back to the kitchen. “You have a few more things to cover before you’re going home.”

William pressed his lips together and shook his head. “This is the kind of thing that I was talking about before. I don’t want to be away so long. It’s not what we discussed.”

“I know. But you’re ahead of anyone else in the program. It’s not like we can ask anyone to do these things. You’re good at it.”

“I’m not ready for another contract. And certainly nothing like what you had me do last night.”

“That was a one-time thing.” She put up her hands in defense. “And it wasn’t my idea.”

“But you and I had this discussion before.” William stopped talking loudly. He realized his voice had gone up in volume. He took a breath, centered his mind, and took the last sip of tepid coffee. “I’m better without people in the way.”

She shook her head. The hair moved around her shoulders. She was mildly attractive, and anyone watching them would think William and Owens were related. Siblings instead of lovers or casual acquaintances, that’s how their passports paired them.

“See, I don’t get you.” She waited to finish because the waiter returned with her order of mani and raki. William watched her test a small spoonful of dumplings before the waiter departed. “You get to travel all over the world, see all these sights, and you don’t want to be around people when you do jobs.”

“I like people. I choose who I want to be around.”

“And you’re getting married,” she pointed out. “You know that’s death to your career.”

“Maybe,” William mumbled in agreement. “But it matters more to me than my career.”

“Aren’t you even a little hesitant about that?” she pressed. “I mean, I know Ronald, he’s a great guy. I think he likes me.” William had introduced his handler to Ronald as Renee, but even William doubted the woman’s real name was that or even Owens for the last name.

“He doesn’t know you,” William said defensively. “I still don’t like the whole idea of you advertised as my sister.”

“Well, it was the only way to get close to you and him. It’s just part of the program.”

“Still, I don’t like lying to him.”

“Really?” she asked. William saw a fly land on the side of her plate of mani but didn’t offer to shoo it away. It wasn’t that he didn’t like Renee. “What about when you leave for weeks on end? You don’t talk about it? He’s a reporter, and he doesn’t needle you about what you do for a living.”

It was a business relationship that he had to tolerate with Renee. She was civil and responsible. But there was something that wasn’t wholly on the level with her. She held back a lot more than he’d ever know in the business.

“He doesn’t ask,” William said defiantly. “We’ve got an understanding, and he doesn’t worry about my job, just worries about me.”

“That’s sweet.” But the tone suggested otherwise. “You do too good of a job to retire, William. Think about that.”

“I know, but my life with Ronald is more important than that.”

“I can’t believe you say that because you just completed a job today that saved a lot of people.”

“But I told you before; I didn’t sign up for that. Now I want to go home and plan a wedding.” The fly moved off before Renee spooned in another mouthful of the creamy dumpling.

“Just check the notepad and get back to me.”

William stood, fished out bills of Turkish lira and dropped them on the table. “Lunch is on me,” he said. He didn’t look back at Renee when he left the table.