“I know that,” Laurel said.

“And you know about your predecessor.”

“Only what you’ve told me.”

“Then you know how badly it can go.”

She shrugged. She was under no illusions. The game they played was dangerous.

“So we want to bring him back into play?” she said.

“Maybe.”

“Why?”

“Because he was the best asset we ever had.”

“If he was so good, why did you pull the plug?”

“I had no choice.”

“Something he did?”

Roth shrugged. “More like something he was about to do.”

“He’d become unreliable?”

“Unreliable’s not the word.”

“Damaged goods?”

“Something like that,” Roth said. “Yes. Damaged goods.”

“And now we want him back because of that envelope?”

Roth said nothing. There was more to it but she knew she wouldn’t get it out of him.

Laurel looked at the screen. An envelope. It wasn’t much.

“We’re going to pay him a visit, you and I,” Roth said.

“Where?”

“He’s been laying low under an assumed identity out in the sticks.”

“He’s in the US?”

Roth nodded.

“He’s been right here this entire time?”

10

Their flight was supposed to be direct to Missoula but the first major snow of the season had them redirected. That meant the Lincoln Navigator they’d reserved from Hertz wasn’t waiting at the airport and they had to make do with a Hyundai Accent.

“This isn’t going to cut it,” Laurel said to the Hertz employee who showed them the vehicle.

“It’s the only car they have,” Roth said.

“This can’t be all there is,” she said.

“Whatever they assigned you at the desk,” the kid said. He couldn’t have been out of school more than a year and didn’t look like he’d dealt with too many people like Laurel in his customer service career.

“Are those even winter tires?” she said.

“All our vehicles are safe for winter driving.”

“Really?”

“Yes ma’am, it’s company policy.”

She rolled her eyes at Roth. “Company policy,” she muttered.

The kid looked at them.

“Wait here,” Roth said.

Laurel waited with the kid in his heated Hertz cubicle and when Roth came back he had the keys to a Chevy Impala.

“Better?” he said when they were inside the car.

“Barely,” she said.

The drive should have been four hours but because of the weather it would be more like six.

Roth sat in the driver’s seat and adjusted the position. It looked like he was going to try and make the most of it. He tuned the radio to the local NPR station.

“What about some snacks for the road?” he said.