Besides, and this wasn’t anything she ever would have admitted to herself, there was a part of her that enjoyed the attention. She liked being the only woman in the room. She used it to her advantage. In a place where everyone was constantly learning new ways to take out their opponents, charm was her secret weapon.

“You want one of these?” she said, taking her coffee from the machine.

“Sure,” Roth said.

Roth took a seat at the conference table and flicked a switch, obscuring the windows. He opened his laptop and pulled up a slide.

Laurel sat next to him and passed him his coffee.

“What have we got?” she said.

On the screen was a photo of a manilla envelope. A label was printed on the front.

Lance Spector

US Army SFOD-D

Syria

Hand Deliver

“Lance,” Laurel gasped.

She’d never met the man but knew the name as well as her own.

“The one and only,” Roth said.

“He’s in Syria?”

“No he’s not.”

“But he’s back in play?”

Roth spread his hands. “That will be up to you.”

Laurel shook her head. She never knew where she stood. She’d been brought in two years earlier to handle Lance. He was Mustang. Her slot.

It was clear that was what Roth had intended.

Until it wasn’t.

She’d been briefed many times on Spector, his psyche profile, his training record, his service with Delta Force, but knew almost nothing of his time with the group. Not his missions, not his tactical resumé, and not one word on his former handler and what led to her demise. She’d seen pictures, she knew exactly what she looked like, but that was it.

“You know I always had him slated to be your guy,” Roth said.

Laurel looked at him incredulously. “Are you kidding me?” she said. “Look at me, Levi.”

“Of course,” he said, shaking his head.

“I mean…”.

“Of course,” he said again.

“We were ready to go,” Laurel said. “Locked and loaded. I was in that hotel in Berlin in a pair of blood-red Louboutins and a lace dress. Remember?”

“Of course I remember.”

“You pulled the plug at the very last minute.”

“Something wasn’t right.”

“Well, you sure took your time making up your mind.”

“I did what I had to do.”

“You couldn’t have thought of that before you…,” she couldn’t say it.

“I know it was disappointing,” Roth said.

Laurel laughed. “Disappointing?” she said. “Do you know what I went through?”

Roth nodded. He let out a long sigh as he looked at her.

“You’re so beautiful,” he said.

“Don’t,” she said.

He nodded. Retreated. Tried another approach. “At its heart, this is a game of instincts,” he said.

“Of course it’s a game of instincts.”

“One wrong move, one wrong … anything,” he said, grasping for the word.

“And people die,” Laurel said.

“Yes, they do. All too easily.”