“I can’t believe I let him get so deep.”

“It’s happened before, sir. And it will happen again.”

“It’s my job to make sure it doesn’t happen.”

“They’ll keep hitting us, sir. The only thing we can do is make sure we always hit back.”

The president sipped his scotch. There was a small coffee table between them and he put his feet on it. “However hard they hit us,” he said, “we’ll hit them back harder. Every time.”

“Correct, sir.”

“Like two kangaroos in a ring.”

Roth nodded.

“It’s a senseless game we play,” the president said, “isn’t it, Roth?”

“Sir,” Roth said, “it was senseless long before we got here, and it will be senseless long after we’re gone.”

“Those are some pessimistic words, Roth.”

“Yes they are, sir.”

“But I suppose, no one put us in power to pick daisies with the Russians and wish things weren’t the way they are.”

“No they did not, sir.”

The president leaned back and let out a long sigh. There was a humidor on the table and he opened it.

“You want one?” he said.

Roth shook his head.

“You sure? They’re Nicaraguan. Very dark.”

“All right,” Roth said, taking one of the cigars.

They took a moment to light them and the president said, “I don’t suppose you brought the footage from the hotel room?”

“Sir, I don’t think that’s anything you want to see.”

“Do you have it, Roth?”

Roth took a tablet from his briefcase and opened the file. The president watched it all, shaking his head, and when it was finished, watched it again.

“That fucking traitor,” he said. “He deserves everything he got.”

Roth nodded.

“And the girl? Still no sign of her?”

“Not a peep,” Roth said. “She disappeared after the hit. I’ve got a team searching for her now, but my guess, unless she wants to be found, we’ll never set eyes on her again.”

“Is that something we can live with?”

“It’s not ideal, sir. We like to be the ones calling the shots.”

“But we’ve got bigger fish to fry?”

“Yes we do, sir. And I think it’s fair to say she’s as sympathetic to our cause as anyone from her background could be. She helped us when she really had a chance to hurt us.”

“She brought us the vial in the first place.”

“Yes she did, sir.”

“I hoped maybe we’d find a spot for her on our team,” the president said.

Roth nodded. “I did too, sir. Believe me.”

The president looked at Roth. “I bet you had an office picked out for her and everything.”

Roth smiled. “Maybe we’ll see her again.”

The president nodded. He puffed on the cigar, filling the room with a blue cloud of smoke.

“Anyway,” he said, “she managed to get us some very valuable information before she disappeared.”