“You know this woman, right?”

“Know is a strong word.”

“What word would you use?”

Lance shrugged. “She was a widow, an operative sent in to seduce targets. Get dirt on them.”

“I know what a widow is.”

Lance smiled. “Of course you do.”

Roth remained stern. “Keep going,” he said.

“We ran into each other in Syria.”

“Was she targeting you?”

“No. She thought I was Delta Force.”

“You’re sure of that?”

“She wasn’t targeting me, Levi.”

“You wouldn’t know it if she was.”

Lance shook his head. “It wasn’t like that.”

“Then what was it like, Lance?”

“It was something … off the books.”

“Off the books?”

“She wasn’t part of my operation. I wasn’t part of hers. Everyone was in this tiny part of the city. Us, the Russians, NATO people, news reporters. All in the same neighborhood. The same handful of hotels.”

“So you just happened to be in the same place at the same time?”

“You’ve been to Damascus. You know how it is.”

“A coincidence?” Roth said skeptically.

Lance shrugged.

“Well ain’t that a regular love story.”

“Very funny.”

“No really. They could shoot a movie.”

“Roth,” Lance said. “This isn’t what got Laurel killed.”

Roth sighed. He got up and poured himself more coffee.

“You knew she was a widow and you didn’t think that was worth reporting up the chain?”

“It wasn’t my job to make sure the generals kept their dicks in their pants.”

“You could have come to me with it.”

“Oh, come on, Levi. You had bigger problems than a Russian honeytrap. You’d have told me to quit wasting your time.”

“Maybe.”

“Her mission had nothing to do with ours. We were like two different species in the same jungle. She had her prey. I had mine.”

“All right,” Roth said.

“We’re on the same page then?”

Roth shrugged.

Lance was conflicted. He’d had contact with this Russian agent, and Laurel might have just paid the price for it. “I get the feeling there’s more you want to say on the matter,” he said.

Roth shook his head.

“If there’s something you need to say, say it,” Lance said.

“All right. I’ll say it. You’re an arrogant prick, Lance.”

Lance nodded. He deserved that.

“This Russian’s basically a prostitute, she gets on her back whenever some slob in Moscow tells her to, with whoever they tell her to. She asks no questions. Does what she’s told. And you’re sitting here telling me that in the middle of all that, she’s just so attracted to you that she falls right into your arms?”

Lance said nothing.

“And it doesn’t cross your mind for one second that maybe you’re being played? Maybe she’s with you for more than the sheer pleasure of your company?”

“I wasn’t her target, Levi.”

“I don’t buy it.”