Page 5 of Agent Zero
She put her smile on, hipchecked the closest undercounter fridge door to make sure it was closed and headed for the espresso machine.Antony had picked it up somewhere and kept putting off the servicing.Can’t afford it.I got a sinking ship here, folks, he’d say, rubbing at his salt-and-pepper stubble.
Didn’t they all.
* * *
She put it off as long as she could, but the tables filled up fast and she had to make a coffee round eventually.She saved him for last, glancing out the window at traffic heaving slowly by on Merton Avenue.Crowded pavements, too, even in the rain.The Crossroads had a great location, adjacent to both downtown and the naval base butting up against the river, and that was probably its only saving grace.
Well, that and the fact that staff turnover was low.Antony was irritating sometimes, but he did right by his workers.All in all, she was lucky to have ended up here.Sometimes, though, it didn’t feel like it.Mostly when she got tired, and the thought of something malignant crouching inside her body, quietly growing in the darkness and listening to her heartbeat, filled her throat with a rock and her eyes with hot water.
Don’t brood on it.Just keep working.The doctor’s office had stopped calling, finally.Holly had changed her number, too, just to be sure.Twenty bucks she couldn’t afford, but it was worth it to have the damn landline stop ringing.
Holly halted at the table near the window, summoning a smile that felt like a mask.Ginny called him “your weirdo,” and Barb kept bugging Holly to use those customer-service skills to find out more about him.Dark hair, dark eyes, aquiline nose, wide shoulders; dark blue T-shirt, jeans, the same canvas jacket with a high collar as always.His capable-looking hands were covered with vivid scrapes and there was a shadow of a bruise on his cheek.
“Morning.”She couldn’t help herself, even though she knew showing any interest was probably a bad move.The quiet, borderline-handsome ones werenevera good idea—they wormed their way in and before you knew it, you were eating your own heart out with regret.“Looks like you went through the wringer.”
He waited until she got close enough to pour to cover his coffee cup with one banged-up hand.The bandages were fresh, and his hair was damp.Of course, there was the rain.“Hi, Holly.”
One of these days she’d get a job without a name tag, or she’d finally keel over and the whole thing would be academic.Still, she couldn’t help smiling more naturally now.He looked pretty pleased to see her, even if he was a little...weird.“Ah.Hey, you were in a couple weeks ago.I think you left the wrong tip.”Because a twenty for a cup of burned coffee isn’t strange at all, no sir.“I put the change in an envelope up at the register.I’ll go get it.”
“No.”He leaned forward a little, as if preparing to reach out and stop her, and Holly noticed his watch again.Nice, heavy, expensive but restrained.What was someone who could afford a Bvlgari doing sitting in the Crossroads as regularly as he did?“Don’t do that.I left it for you.”
“That’s really nice.”She tried for diplomacy, the coffee slopping inside its glass carafe as she stepped back.“I think you meant to leave a single, though.”
“I didn’t.”He wasn’t quite staring at her, but it was close.His gaze flicked away, came back, and there was the ghost of a smile around his mouth.“It was for you.”
Oh, man, this is not going to end well.Still, she could use the money.“Well, thank you.You look a little tired.”
“Jet lag.Got in a couple hours ago.”He was freshly shaven, though, and something about the way he sat bothered her.Too tense.His back was straight, too.Good posture, but something about it warned her that he was ready to move at a moment’s notice.
“You should get some rest.”She had four other tables needing attention, one with kids.If he wanted to drop twenties just for sitting there, it wasn’t any of her business.This was the big bad city, and she carried Mace in her purse.
“I will, but not for a while.”The smile was real now, and for such a nondescript guy he had a pretty good one.She couldn’t figure out what about him made her so nervous.Was nervous the word?“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.It’s pretty busy, so flag me if you need a refill, okay?”Making awkward conversation with you is not high on my priority list.
“I will.”
Did he watch her walk away?She had no way of knowing, though she could have sworn she felt him looking.
Probably harmless, she decided.Maybe lonely.Although why he’d pick a washed-out divorcée in a sinking diner to fixate on, she had no idea.The world was full of strangeness—she’d seen more than enough of it working retail and food service.
She racked the coffee carafe just as Bart hammered the order-up bell and yelled her name.Holly winced internally, put on her best smile, and got back down to business.
FOUR
He hadn’t slepton the plane.That made about ninety-two hours since his last kip, and he felt a bit draggy even with the little invaders working overtime to keep him tip-top.He should have stayed in the apartment and caught some lights-out, given the little guys a break.Even if you could function without sleep, it wasn’t a good idea to keep doing it.The apartment was as close to a haven as he had now, and it could be blown at any time.Because of course they would know where he laid his head; it would be stupid of him to try to hidethat.
Still, Reese stayed through the end of the rush, watching.Right here wasn’t the safest spot to sit—no self-respecting agent would put himself willingly so close to that window—but it caught the air currents just fine, and each time she passed across any of three different lines he could get a whiff.
It wasn’t her soap.Or her shampoo.She didn’t wear perfume, and the fabric softener on her was harsh and cheap.But under it, like heatshimmer off pavement on a fry-an-egg day, was something...
He couldn’t quite figure it out.He kept taking lungfuls trying to, and getting distracted.
Badlydistracted.
The trouble had really started after Tangiers.They kept agents supplied, of course—you used protection, stayed away from the fertile or diseased ones, paid the girls and forgot them as soon as possible.Just like brushing your teeth or washing your hands, another routine to keep the head clear.After Tangiers, the blood and the smoke and the screaming and those huge, accusing eyes, well...
They asked during psych evals and physicals, of course, so he gave them dates and places.He didn’t mention that he just sat motionless until enough time had passed for a good old fashioned hygienic clearing of the vas deferens, paid whatever girl perched uncomfortably on the bed to keep him company, and left.
