Page 34 of Dark Angel
They sat around the table, savoring the culinary delights. “I’ve missed American food so much,” Halston said as she bit into the gourmet burger.
Caroline cut half her salmon, moved it to Halston’s plate. “Try this.”
“I read both your files,” Evangeline said. “Caroline, you were Halston’s handler, but not during her recent assignment in Russia.”
“No, I left Langley?—”
“No way,” Halston said. “I thought you’d be a lifer.”
“Same,” Caroline said. “I’m with a different covert group now. We have so much to catch up on.”
“Oh, baby, that’s a gigantic rock on your finger.” Halston admired her engagement ring. “I love it.”
“I can’t wait for you to meet my fiancé,” Caroline said.
“Evangeline, are you my new handler?”
“Yes,” Evangeline said between bites. “To make sure you’re safe, I’ll be your POC going forward. I work at Develin and Associates.”
“Her husband is The Fixer,” Caroline explained.
“What does he fix?” Halston asked.
“Situations mostly,” Evangeline replied. “He’s a DC power player and we both work for the same group as Caroline. You’ll be staying here?—”
“In this luxury suite?” Halston asked. “How will I explain this?”
Pausing, Evangeline sent a text. “I sent you an address. It’s an apartment building a block from the embassy, butnotthe overflow apartments that house embassy employees. Use it when you have to. It’s the opposite of this, but it won’t draw attention. I’m surprised Natasha didn’t send you to the embassy overflow building.”
“While I was with her, she found out her fiancé was killed by mafia, so she bolted.”
Caroline and Evangeline exchanged glances.
“Looks like there’s more to that…” Halston said.
Evangeline tucked her long, dark hair behind her ear. “We need you to stay focused on your assignment and leave the mayhem to us.”
Halston extracted a thumb drive from the false bottom of her handbag. “I was supposed to give this to my handler. Over the past nine months I’ve been downloading everything I couldfrom Yuri Bulgrov’s computer. He changes his password every ten days, so it’s been hard as hell getting in.”
Evangeline took the drive. “Nice work.”
“Bulgrov also tasked me with an assignment on my way here,” Halston continued. “I was sent to Milan to find a thumb drive in someone’s private residence.”
Evangeline stopped chewing. Caroline stilled, her glass of water in mid-air.
A deafening silence filled the room.
Then, Evangeline cleared her throat. “Was anyone home?”
“The housekeeper showed up, but the occupant wasn’t there.” Then, she remembered seeing Caroline’s picture in the family photo. “You both know who lives there, don’t you?”
Evangeline and Caroline looked at each other.
“We do, but we can’t get into that yet,” Evangeline replied.
If anyone understood the necessity for secrets, it was her. Rather than push, Halston continued briefing her new handler. “I never found the thumb drive. Not looking forward to that convo with Bulgrov. My first big assignment was an epic fail.”
After a pregnant pause, Evangeline turned to Caroline. “Can we trust her?”
