am envelope to my hotel suite. No return address. Inside

s a consulting engagement. Ten o

or the part I could not find, whi

running. He answered on the first ring, and I hea

han we hoped," he

s too

tation, Serena.

st night. Not what I do, not who I work

iel's voice cooled by a degree. "Yo

ut the words stuck. If I mentioned it, the agency would pull me, and a pulled operative n

nutes, and I watched the harbor slide past the tinted glass while I rebuilt Serena Vale piece by

lobby. A hallway of pale wood, a receptionist who smiled without

out below him like something he had personally arranged. The morning light made his ha

said. "Thank

t difficult

hen, and there it was again, the a

, and shelves lined with books on logistics, architecture and, to my surprise, poetry. A framed drawing

" he said, noticing where I looked. "It is

is g

ng warm touched his voice

m me, close enough that our knees nearly met, and I understoo

ree of my hotels have had irregularities in their accounts. A shipping contract was compromised la

y m

who wanted something from me, and you did not ask me for anything

s it is

Your firm in Zurich. Which

xpected it, and I had memorized the names, and I recited them lightly, a

ficult," he said. "I met him once. He

do

f his mouth again. "Welcome t

ss badge, a schedule. I read the terms while he watch

e Chief Executive. Unr

cess to nearly ev

es

not kn

said. "But I

fingers brushed mine, very briefly, and neither of us acknowledged it. He

r. "People in this building will tell you I am a difficult man to work for. T

they

ne. "But I have never once

o the corridor, and the doors closed be

out a breath I had been holding for twenty minutes. I had passed his

caught my attenti

se I had invented the detail myself, three nights earlier, alon

r told it