AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You can always blame it on Christmas,” he said.
“What does that mean?”I asked.
“You know—the spirit of the season, and all that.Admit you got carried away by the joy of the holiday.”
One look at him, and I knew that was exactly what he’d done.
“Of course, America is a bit farther than the Cotswolds.”
When my mum’s parents were still alive, we spent every holiday there too.
“A bit, but it isn’t as though Archer has to travel by steamer.It’s a few hours’ plane ride.”She turned to me and rested her hand on mine.“You know that’s when your father proposed?”
“Mum!”I gasped.“I hardly know the woman.Please don’t suggest such a thing!”
“It would certainly make for a lovely Christmas memory.”
I leftEngland for Texas on the twenty-third of December without any intention of proposing.Yet it was precisely what I did.
4
GEORGE
The electronic evidence boards, typically dark at this time of night, lit up as agents from both MI6 and MI5—all of SIS, really—walked into one of the situation rooms at Vauxhall Cross.It was the largest by far, usually used for cases of great magnitude.Things like terrorist bombings, threats on the lives of the prime minister or members of the royal family, and now, the disappearance of the former chief of MI6.
The majority of those in the room not only outranked me, but their years of experience far exceeded my own.
“Most everyone I sent the all-call to has arrived, with the exception of Nemesis and Ares,” said Pinch, addressing all those assembled.“I’ve briefed Benjamin Coffey, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Development Secretary, as well as Prime Minister Pelham.If either receives a ransom request, I will be notified immediately.”He looked over at Wren.As Z’s daughter, a ransom request might come to her as well.
“I called Quint on my way here.He said he’d be on the lookout.He also said he’d brief Decker.”
Quint Alexander was Wren’s older brother, and Z had adopted his best friend, Decker Ashford, when they were both teenagers.While Quint hadn’t followed in his father’s footsteps in pursuing a career in intelligence, Decker, like Wren, had.
“They’re on their way, as is Darrow,” she added.
Darrow was Quint’s wife and also Wren’s husband, Wilder’s, younger sister.
“How are you holding up?”Wilder asked.
“Managing,” I said, barely above a whisper.
The kindness Wilder and Wren had shown me was remarkable.They were the ones who should be tended to.From what everyone else knew, Z and I had no more than a professional relationship.Outwardly, we’d behaved as friends, but privately, I longed for something more.Something I’d hoped would change tonight.Z had been clear about it being his intention as well.
I squared my shoulders, refusing to allow myself to sink into self-pity.I was here, at SIS headquarters, safe.Z wassomewhereelse and undoubtedly in danger.
I checked the time.A little past twenty thirty hours.Ninety minutes after I waited near my front window for Z to arrive.Each tick of the clock mattered in cases of disappearance.Every second made a difference.
I approached Pinch when I heard him call my name.He motioned for me to take a seat beside him.When I did, he pointed to the electronic board immediately in front of us.
On it were pins indicating Z’s residence, mine, the restaurant where he’d made dinner reservations, and the last known location of his mobile.When Pinch zoomed in, I could see the pin I’d thought was just the phone was actually multiple objects.
“Whoever has him knew what to look for,” he muttered.“They know the inner workings of SIS.”
Double agents were rare in this day and age.Intelligence technology had advanced to the point their existence wasnearlyimpossible.However, there was a glaring absence in the room tonight, and Pinch knew it as well as I did.
He turned to me.“Puck.”
I nodded.He’d been missing almost a full year, and even though the entirety of SIS had looked for him the same way they were now looking for Z, he’d seemingly vanished.
