“Sure,” he said, knowing he had no other option. “Thank you, ma’am.”

She led him back to her office and offered him a seat in front of her desk. “Black?”

“That’d be fine.”

She handed him a steaming cup and then scooted a chair into a position that put them face-to-face. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I hope Tony didn’t make you blush. He’s a bit of a fanboy.”

“No, ma’am.”

She flashed that smile again and Rapp remembered what Nash had told him earlier about how she was trying to improve her interpersonal skills. It seemed to be working.

“It must be strange to be the guy every man wants to be. The secret agent who saves the world from the forces of evil. Gun in one hand, beautiful woman in the other.”

Rapp laughed. “I don’t remember the beautiful women. I do remember eating bugs, bullet wounds, and a couple bouts of malaria.”

“Once you put a romantic image in someone’s head, it’s hard to get it out.”

“I suppose.”

“I assume he asked you if you were on board to help us like you did Josh?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“And what was your answer?”

“That I’d do what I can.”

Her smile was a little more subdued this time. “So vague and mysterious. Maybe politics was your true calling?”

“I don’t think so.”

She warmed her hands with her coffee cup in a way that reminded him of Irene Kennedy. The clarity of her eyes and the wheels spinning behind them wasn’t too far off, either.

“You know how dangerous the world is, Mitch. And I’m guessing you’ve noticed that those dangers are becoming more complicated. Closer to home.”

“I’m not sure what you mean,” he said, though he was pretty sure he did.

“Take the Russian power grid, for instance. You used it against them to get President Utkin to give up the name of their agent here.”

In truth, it had been Kennedy, not him. The United States had good penetration into the Russian system, and she’d put Moscow in the dark before threatening to take down the rest of the country if Utkin didn’t give her what she wanted.

“Irene did.”

“And thank God it worked, right? But it won’t work again. They’ve already completely overhauled their cybersecurity and hardened their physical infrastructure. On the other hand, do you know what Tony’s managed to accomplish by way of securing our own grid? Basically nothing. He’s run headlong into a maze of bureaucracy, local politics, and congresspeople who won’t lift a finger unless we offer them political favors.”

“Doesn’t surprise me.”