Chapter 13
Sunday morning, EOD headquarters
O n Sunday morning, Gabby walked into HQ a little less wide-eyed than the day before. Her attitude wasn’t all the way down to “just another day at the office,” but at least the EOD wasn’t giving her nervous diarrhea, verbal or actual. It was a #blessed, diarrhea-free day. Also a gun-free day. After shooting up the range, she was back to the training gym. She needed to focus on escaping sleeper holds because she couldn’t be trusted with a weapon. She was as bad as Lucas with a Nerf gun, except a hundred times worse because the bullets were real.
Gabby wanted a gun, though, so she was going to master self-defense and prove herself worthy.
The bone-jarring clatter of dropped free weights echoed through the gym. Markus was the source of the noise: grunting, lifting, dropping a bar of weights that was probably as heavy as a smart car.
“Morning, Markus. I brought smoothies.” She was starting today right, with some protein, fruit, and a powdered 3G boost that the teenager at the Jamba made sound like a healthy alternative to meth. She didn’t get any additive for Markus because he didn’t need any help.
“Thanks.” He wiped his palms on his pants and accepted a spinach pineapple concoction.
“I wasn’t sure if you were a spinach or strawberry smoothie kinda guy.” That was a personality test. Gabby fell squarely in the fruity flavor camp—drinks were red, salads green.
“I like anything I didn’t make.”
“So I was thinking,” she said, “could we just pretend yesterday never happened?”
Markus sucked down a big gulp of smoothie. “You’re in training. You try, you fail. That’s how it goes.”
Gabby pointed at his right eye, which wasn’t full-fledged purple but was definitely bruised.
“This?” He gestured to the eye. “Means you did a good job. You scored a point. Go harder on the real bad guys.” He held out his hand for a fist bump. “I’m just relieved you didn’t break my nose.”
“Although they might let you in the field if you weren’t so pretty, right?”
He snorted. “Probably. Alice would just say it gave my face character.”
It would. He would probably just end up looking more rugged.
Over on the mats, they went through stretches and a routine similar to a kickboxing class she’d taken once or twice. “Not bad,” Markus encouraged. “You’re getting it.”
“As long as the bad guy holds still for at least a minute while I line up my kick and maybe take a second stab if the first doesn’t land.”
He shook his head. “You have to start somewhere.”
Markus was right. She took a deep breath and tried to focus on her goals (get gun). “Embrace the adventure,” Gabby said in the same tone Sloane Ellis used. If nothing else, she was following Sloane’s advice.
“Divorce is a new beginning.” Markus said the next line in the mantra in the same tone Sloane used.
Gabby stopped short. “Sloane Ellis? Have you been reading her book too?”
With a sad smile, he said, “Anything to get through a breakup, right?”
Gabby couldn’t imagine Markus getting divorced. He looked so perfect, practically too hot for the apps. How would he choose among all the women who swiped right on him?
“Valentina and I broke up last year. I’m fine now, but it took a while.”
“As in Valentina ?”
“Yep. Work got in the way.” He released a heavy sigh. “Everyone in this place is divorced. High stress, long hours. It wears on relationships.”
Gabby was trying to wrap her mind around Markus and Valentina. That explained the weird tension in the room when she was with both of them. Agent Strong gave Gabby a job she hadn’t earned and Valentina’s ex-husband. Even if Valentina didn’t want him anymore, that had to sting.
“Do you have kids?” she asked, although she already knew the answer. Valentina had been adamant that kids were not compatible with the EOD.
“Just about a hundred nieces and nephews.”
“I have two kids.”
He smiled. “Gabby, I know what you ate for breakfast yesterday. I’ve been briefed.”
“Really?” It made sense, but it didn’t. She was barely interesting enough for neighborhood gossip normally, and here she was, a hot topic at the EOD.
“I wouldn’t have guessed you have kids. You look good.” The way he said “good” wasn’t the way a woman would say it. It sounded like she looked good , aka damn fine.
Champagne bubbles danced in her insides, and heat crept up her cheeks. A compliment hadn’t hit Gabby like that in a long time. “I mean, I’m not too pretty for spying, but thanks.”
He threw back his head and let out a laugh.
Gabby said, “I still don’t get that. Hot spies are more effective, right?”
“You’d think so, seducing everyone into spilling their secrets.” He held up his hands, looking confounded.
“That won’t be me. I’m going to make coffee and lay low.”
Markus dragged them back to the mission. “Speaking of that, did you memorize the names and faces on those sheets? If you’re fully prepared, you can get in and out of this mission quickly.”
“Yep.” Names and faces were easy for Gabby. She’d fallen asleep looking at Orlov’s face the last two nights. What she was really worried about was whether the EOD was prepared. She asked, “Have you figured out who blew Darcy’s cover yet?”
Markus shook his head no. “We’re still working on it.” Without warning, he put her in a sleeper hold, and this time not in slow motion. Gabby was ready. She stomped on his foot lightly, elbowed him, and tossed her head back.
“You got it!” he said.
“I didn’t hurt you, did I?” The last thing she wanted was to blacken both his eyes.
“Nope. I’m just fine.”
With a big exhale of relief, she said, “That only took me a day longer than it should have.”
Markus held up his hand. “Gabby, don’t. You are extremely brave. You’re walking into a dangerous situation with almost no training. Not many people would take this job. You are going to do great on this mission. I’m sure of it.” He was standing with a straight back, looking into her eyes and speaking in the most earnest tone she’d ever heard.
Could this be real? It certainly didn’t feel real, except for the parts of the day where she had to line up childcare.
“I don’t think anyone has ever believed in me before,” she said. It was true. Phil hadn’t. Her parents had always seemed skeptical that she could make anything happen. Really, she’d never believed in herself.
Markus looked at her with an intensity that made her slightly uncomfortable. “We’re partners on this mission. Until you believe in yourself, I’ll believe in you enough for both of us. By the time this is over, you’ll see in yourself what I see in you.”
Nothing could have stunned her into silence more effectively than that. To dissipate the awkwardness and break the silence, Gabby said, “Let’s practice one more time.” If there was anything harder than hand-to-hand combat, it was accepting compliments.
This time, she kicked him in the foot and twisted around in his grip without breaking free. It was subpar self-defense.
Markus shrugged. “If all else fails, kick them in the balls.”
Before she left for the day, Markus said, “When you wake up in the morning, there will be a car in your driveway. It’s the one Darcy drove to eStocks. We want to keep things consistent.”
Gabby brightened at the idea of a new car, and Markus said, “Don’t get too excited. It’s nothing sexy.”
“Have you seen my van?” Markus might need a reality check.
“You’re going to need this.” He handed her an iPhone. “This is Camille Walker’s phone. When you get into the office, you’re going to be friendly with everyone, but remember, there are no friends in espionage.”
In the parking lot, she checked the messages.
There were texts from people in the office: Fran, Carmen, Kramer. Happy hour times and lunch orders, nothing interesting.
In the Notes app, she found something a bit juicier.
Fran: Ex got her the job. Hung up on some loser, possibly the ex.
Carmen: Hates Kramer.
Kramer: Enough with the cars already.
Gabby frowned at Darcy’s observations. This wasn’t the kind of intel that would get a woman killed. Darcy, it seemed, hadn’t seen the danger coming until it was too late. The only advantage Gabby had was that she was already scared out of her mind. She might not know how to take down an assailant, but there was a good chance she’d see him coming.