"Now they shouldn't flag the bottles through security, but if they do I'll send you more and-"

"You act like we've never flown internationally before." Elsie chided as Anna continued to adjust Henry's windbreaker. "We're not inexperienced."

"I know, I just…" Anna forced herself to stand, her hands flapping slightly before she rubbed them on her jeans. "I just worry about all of you."

"Why?" Henry tugged on Anna's hand and she went back to her knees to put a hand through his hair.

"Because you'll be having so much fun without me." Anna pulled him into a hug, embracing him tightly before finally releasing him to leave a final kiss on his forehead. "And I'll miss you terribly."

"We'll call every night." Elsie put a hand over Anna's and her other on Henry's shoulder. "And we'll make sure he stays out of trouble."

"I don't doubt that." Anna hugged Elsie and then Carson before bestowing the same treatment on Amina and George. "Travel safe and have a wonderful time."

"Just know that we'll be thinking of you all the time." Amina squeezed Anna before letting her go. "Even if Henry won't always because he'll be too busy having fun most of the time. But we'll send him back to you safe and sound."

"I know." Anna went to give Henry one last hug but he dodged out of the way, content to ogle the other passengers on their flight. "I just worry."

"It's the obligation of the mother." Amina rubbed Anna's arm before taking Elsie's. "We'll miss you while we're having fun."

"I know." Anna turned her head toward the speakers as it announced the boarding flight. "You'd best get on or they might give away your seats."

"We won't let them." Elsie hugged Anna one last time and Henry succumbed to her final hug before taking George's hand toward the departure gate.

Anna waited until the plane was in flight before leaving the airport, driving slowly to the office. Even the simple act of parking her car proved a struggle. Part of her wanted to rush back to the airport, damn the consequences, and follow her family to Lagos. To leave the threat in England, where it would be far away, and hand in her resignation from a distant destination.

But as Anna sat in her car, debating abandoning the only other significant part of her life, her phone rang. She fumbled in her purse for it and slid the indicator to the side before the call went to message. "Hello?"

"Are you going to mope in your car all day or are you going to get your ass moving?" Anna turned to see Mary, holding her phone to her ear, waving from the next car over. "We've got training."

"I've so many words I want to use on you right now."

"Save them for when I'm wiping the mats with your face." Mary hung up and left her car, tapping her fingers on the hood of her car as Anna grabbed her bag to get out of hers. "I wish you wouldn't mope."

"Is that what I said to you when you had to send George to camp for a few days?" Anna waited as Mary pursed her lips, "I didn't think so."

"Look," Mary put her hand on Anna's arm. "It's not as bad as you think."

"No?"

"You're doing a good thing and that, in the end, will replace whatever guilty feelings you have." Mary opened the door, allowing Anna through first, "And however much you miss him, you'll feel better knowing he's safe."

"Please don't try to tell me it gets easier."

"I'd never lie to you, Anna." Mary rifled around in her bag, pulling out her ID as Anna slid hers through the box to open the double doors to a gym. "It's going to hurt every single day."

"Your bedside manner could use work."

"If you want a bedside manner, get Baxter to console you in your grief."

"Speaking of Baxter," Anna followed Mary into the changing rooms, taking the stall next to her. "What's the latest?"

"Apparently her handler, that man from Bates's division, is a miracle worker. Efficient, intelligent, and the perfect play at a fop." Mary sighed, "Part of me wishes we'd recruited him because he's a fantastic decoy."

"Well," Anna came out of the stall, pulling her hair up and off her neck. "If this joint operation goes well maybe our bosses'll think about a permanent merger."

"They're already considering that." Mary came out of her stall, wrapping her hands with boxing tape. "But you're not asking because you're worried about Baxter, are you?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Anna mimicked Mary's motions, squeezing her knuckles to tighten the wrap and test punched against her own hands. "I was the one who spotted her and, in the end, I do understand the idea of having your balls in a vice so we're a little alike."

"I don't remember you having balls." Mary winked at Anna, grabbing her bag and shoving it in a locker before leaving Anna for the gym. "But now that I know, I'll make sure to land a shot there."

"You wish." Anna put her things away as well, following Mary out onto the mats while strapping on a pair of gloves. "You've never managed to beat me before. So why start now?"

"I don't know." Mary shrugged, ducking under the ropes to test a few jabs. "Maybe because you're emotionally compromised and you've just confessed to me that you've got balls."

"The only way to shut you up is to do it myself." Anna sighed, following Mary into the ring before slapping her gloves together to get the attention of the few people gathered around the ring. "Alright, first thing to note is the mental state of your opponent. If you end up in a situation where you've got to fight someone, you've got to put yourself at the back of your mind and focus on the mindset of your opponent or you've already lost."

Anna went to turn and caught Mary's foot along her jaw. The force knocked her almost to the mats but she regained her footing in time to catch Mary's next leg against her forearms before jabbing with her left hand. Grunting, Mary staggered slightly under the force of the punch but hit the mat when Anna jumped up to bring her right fist around to knock against Mary's cheek.

"Second lesson," Mary spit from her position on the mat, getting up and rolling her shoulders to square off with Anna again. "Don't get distracted."

"Or cocky." Anna warned, keeping her fists up to protect her face.

They feinted, testing punches with one another, but the advantage held on Mary's side when her longer legs shot out and a heel kick collided with Anna's knee. Her leg slid back on impact, seeking to prevent a break, and Anna stumbled forward. Right into Mary's elbow. The same elbow Mary wielded to put Anna face-down on the mat for a moment.

"Acknowledge the advantages of your opponent. Height, weight, experience, reach… All of these will contribute to your success or failure."

Anna pushed herself onto her knees and to her toes for half a second before launching at Mary's unprotected back to tackle her to the mat. Her arms wrapped around Mary's chest from behind and Anna bore down to put Mary face-first onto the mat. A few swifts shifts put an arm around Mary's neck while the other held around her head to lock Anna's hold in place. With her legs threading around Mary's arm and chest, she pulled back to put more stress on Mary's throat.

After a second Mary's hand swatted at Anna's arms and she released, rolling to the side as Mary regained her breath. "Never underestimate your advantage. Ise your strengths, whatever they are, to your benefit."

"And," Mary coughed, standing to address the gathered group. "Know when you're beat. If it gives you a moment to live, take the chance. If you're not sure then give in. Better to go out in a fight then lose yourself in interrogation."

"Alright," Anna clapped her hands together, "Any questions?"

After a few minutes of questions and throw-hold demonstrations, the trainees moved on and Anna turned to Mary. They squared off, knocked gloves, and circled one another. A few practice kicks and jabs provided the measure before they set to trying to beat at one another.

They went a few rounds, Mary almost knocking Anna into unconsciousness with a well-placed kick to her chin and Anna returning the favor with an arm-bar hold that almost choked out Mary, before Blake slapped the mat near them. Separating, and waiting a moment to ensure they were both committed to the pause, they walked to where Blake waited. "I heard you had a training session with our newer recruits today."

"Not an overly impressive bunch, if you ask me." Mary shuddered, "One of them has definitely watched too much porn and wanted to know which hold is the most erotic."

"We'll weed him out." Blake made a note. "But I'm curious if either of you heard the latest from Baxter."

"News from the inter-agency relationship says she's doing well with her handler." Anna dabbed at her neck with a towel. "They've had a few tails but no one suspects her handler as a smuggler of the information she's peddling back."

"And our end's been pretty tight keeping her cover." Mary shrugged, "I've got confidence in the team you gave me for counter-intelligence."

"And what about our new agency friends?" Blake gave Anna a pointed look but she ignored him to take a pull from her water bottle.

"They're doing fine. Playing by the rules and being helpful."

"Any reason to explain why your contact moved his family from Buckinghamshire?" Blake waited and Anna ignored Mary's look.

"I didn't know he'd already done that."

"You were aware he was going to?"

"He had an encounter, almost two weeks ago, with Richard Carlisle."

Blake paused, "Did he report it?"

"Not on the day of the incident. He told me at my son's birthday party."

"Why wouldn't he immediately inform his agency?"

"His daughter's life was endangered and he needed to follow the proper protocols for that." Anna folded her arms over her chest. "He moved his family for their safety until he sees an end to this operation."

"And you trust that?"

"I trust that he did for his family what I did for mine."

"I was getting to that." Blake checked his notes, "Your family'll land in Lagos in a few hours. We'll have a team working their surveillance once their settled and on the ground."

"Nothing static, I hope"

"Mostly transitory. But we've other interests in the region and, with the expertise of your parents and in-laws, there are concerns that they'll be recruited for other endeavors."

"Not ours, I hope."

"You know the policy Anna. Strictly hands-off family and friends." Blake nodded at Mary, "Existing members aside of course."

"Of course." Mary gave Blake a look before taking a chug of Anna's water bottle. "Because once we're part of this little club we're hardly worth mentioning otherwise right?"

"I'd never say that out loud." Blake gave her a smile back before turning to Anna. "And I'm here about the information Baxter's just brought in."

"What's she got?"

Blake grinned, "She's got three names. The internal structure rotting us and Mrs. Crawley's organizations from the inside."

"You could stand to be less excited about our inevitable demise." Mary sighed, turning to Anna. "Do we attack this now or later?"

Anna checked her watch, "I've got an entirely free set of evenings so it's all numbers to me."

"Then we'll finish up here before setting out to meet with Baxter and Moseley." Mary nodded at Blake, "Leave the information we need in our lockers and we'll get on it when we finish here."

"Not immediately?"

"Any immediate action spooks them and blows our covers for Baxter." Anna put her gloves back on, "We'll get to it. Promise."

"I'll let the Dowager know you're both following up on the lead." Blake saluted them both and left the gym without a wrinkle to his suit.

"He always looks so put-together." Anna shook her head, knocking her glove against Mary's as they started again. "I don't think I've looked that good since I had to be in dress uniform."

"It's something to do with marriage and kids." Mary shook her head, testing out a few hits. "We just let ourselves go."

Anna did not have time to answer before Mary began her barrage. They moved fast and, by the time another group of trainees made their way to the mats, both women staggered slightly. Waving the others to take their spots, moving much more slowly to exit than they did to enter, Anna and Mary limped toward the locker room and their inevitable showers.

"I think you bruised my tailbone." Mary rubbed at the spot, her gloves under her other arm as she winced. "That jab with your elbow where you missed my lower back… I think you've ruined my chance at sitting for a few days."

"Better than that kick you lodged between my legs." Anna gingerly sat on a bench, removing her own gloves. "And I refuse to believe I've let myself go."

"What?" Mary turned over her shoulder, her other hand wrestling her bag from the locker.

"Your comment, earlier, about how marriage and kids make us let ourselves go." Anna held her gloves, stretching out different muscles before forcing herself to stand. "I couldn't fight you like this when I was in the Marines."

"True." Mary checked over her body, "I'm still going to bruise."

"Then maybe you should've let me take out your kidneys instead of using your gazelle legs in a rear kick." Anna massaged her inner thigh. "If I can't have sex anymore because of you…"

"You're the one who told me you've got balls and I went for them." Mary shut her locker. "And I was horribly disappointed because I failed to find any for my trouble. So thanks for that."

"You'll be fine." Anna stood, groaning as she finally raised her arms to retrieve her things. "At least you've not got to worry about disappointing anyone in that particular department, should you've made it impossible for me to ever have children again."

"Well…" Mary bit at her lip and Anna almost shut her hand in the locker she shut it so fast to stare at the other woman. "I may've, quite unintentionally, started something with someone from Mrs. Crawley's organization."

"Started something as in a project or a relationship?" Anna pointed at herself, "Because I'm the only one allowed to make her personal and professional life difficult with something like that."

"That's unfair."

"Life's unfair." Anna put her gloves away and unwrapped her hands. "Who is it and what kind of relationship do you have?"

"The one where you'll not get any details about what goes on after business hours." Mary shrugged, "It's private and… Going well enough, I think."

"Do I know this handsome stranger?" Anna paused, "Sorry, that's assuming it's a man and how un-progressive of me in our modern age."

"It's a man, you ass." Mary tried to whip Anna with a towel but Ana dodged it. "And his name is Henry."

"I don't know anyone by their first names."

"Talbot."

"Oh," Anna tucked her gloves away. "He's the one who dug up all the information on me for John."

"He's their head of counter-intelligence."

"Wow, dating your counterpart."

"I didn't say it was original, just that it was." Mary fished her shower things out of her bag. "And it's going well enough. My father seems to like him, George definitely does, and I… I think I do."

"It's not a good sign when you're not sure."

"It's not that I'm not sure about him. It's more that I'm not…" Mary sat on the bench, "After Matthew died I swore off dating in our gene pool again. I… I can't take the idea that an operation or bad intel'll get someone else I care about killed."

"That's the job."

"Yes, it is, and it already stole one husband from me." Mary sniffed and wiped at her eyes as Anna took a seat next to her. "If things continue to go well with Henry then… Then I'll have to face the fact I could get another phone call or visit from someone telling me I lost my husband to the business again."

Her body shuddered as she tried to choke back her sobs. "I can't be a widow again. I just… I can't take it. I can't face that."

Anna waited a few moments, her hand rubbing over Mary's back to try and soothe her. When Mary's breathing calmed a bit, her body straightening, Anna spoke. "But is it worth the chance to you? Would you want this to be something more? To risk that again?"

"I don't know."

"Then keep going until you do." Anna put a hand on Mary's shoulder, trying to comfort her as she used the leverage to stand. "We're not so different, you and I."

"You mean the fact we're shagging members of the opposition?"

"Excuse you, they're our allies now." Anna grabbed her bag. "And no, I didn't mean that part of it but now I know you're shagging him."

"What did you think I was doing with him?"

"I don't know, you wouldn't tell me."

"Piss off." Mary took her things, following Anna to the shower stalls. "And how'd you mean, since you're being dense on purpose."

"We're both afraid of losing the careful house of cards we built after we lost the person we loved most in the world." Anna drew the curtain over her stall, fighting her sweaty clothes to get them off. "We're both scared of putting ourselves out there again and getting our hearts wounded again. Or, worse, not having it live up to the memories we've caressed and loved for so long we've forgotten the rougher details of it all."

"You're saying I've put the good memories on a pedestal and conveniently tossing the worse memories in the rubbish?"

"Yes." Anna hissed as a shot of cold water hit her until she adjusted the temperature setting. Raising her voice, speaking over the water, Anna continued. "Good prevails over bad and, with time, the bad fades. We forget because the brain doesn't want to remember. So our fears about replacing those memories are just us remembering it all incorrectly."

"I'm going to guess you've taken to listening to those psychology audiobooks." Mary sighed, her water turning off. "But you're right."

"I know." Anna finished, shutting off her water and toweling dry. "I seem to remember you complaining your fair share about Matthew."

"And you had little quirks you despised in Jeff." Mary sighed from her stall and Anna paused in her fight with her bra over her slightly damp skin. "I don't think my worry is that I'm replacing Matthew."

"You don't want to suffer like you did with him again."

"Don't you feel that way about John?"

Anna delayed answering, pulling her jumper over her head and buttoning her jeans. "Not in the same way. Jeff died because nature took him. If something happens to John then it's probably because the work we do is dangerous."

"But you're afraid of that too."

"Of course I am." Anna packed away her things, checking over herself before she joined Mary at the counter to touch up her make-up and hair. "I'm afraid of the connection I've made with someone I didn't have to lie to. Someone who actually likes my son instead of seeing him as a hinderance to a relationship. Someone who understands what I do. That's not anything I've had in a long time."

"It's almost like it's too good to be true." Mary blinked her mascara in place. "Makes the whole thing all the more frightening because then, when something inevitably snatches it away from you, it's all the more painful."

"Punished for wanting it." Anna finished, "But speaking of work, we've got to follow up on those names."

"Who are you taking?" Mary pulled out her phone, tapping away quickly as Anna followed suit. "I could cover Jane Moorsum. She's one of my father's secretaries. I know her schedule pretty well."

Anna checked the list. "I can take the other two names. I've got a brush-pass scheduled with Baxter for later. Turn it into a sit-down and I could get details on them since I don't think they work with us."

"Take care with O'Brien."

"I vaguely remember her from before the split." Anna tucked her phone away and grabbed her things. "I'll not tread on her toes. Promise."

"We report back to Blake tomorrow." Mary warned, "Make sure you've got something and you're not mooning over your boy-toy."

"He's away, remember." Anna waved Mary off. "And I'll be all business. I've not got anything else to do and this'll be the perfect distraction for me."

"So you say."

"So I do." Anna left the building, getting back into her car and following the directions to the first address.

Sitting in her car, tailing the first name on her list, Anna remembered watching for Baxter. The silence sat differently without someone else to share the car space with but Anna filled the literal void with her earbuds. The sight kept her mostly invisible to anyone passing by, especially with her sunglasses on, so she could hold her position for a few hours. An added bonus was her progress through the book sitting idle for so long in her glove compartment.

But eventually her phone buzzed and Anna left her position for the same café where she and John originally ambushed Baxter. Sitting toward a corner, Baxter kept herself busy with a laptop while a man with an almost infectious twitch took a seemingly idle position near the opposite wall. Anna clocked him and he her at the same time and they exchanged a small nod before Anna joined Baxter.

"You've trained that one well."

"And yours is gone." Baxter gave Anna a small smile. "I heard a rumor."

"It's not entirely false." Anna shrugged, "But we're here to talk about your work and, for the moment, he's not involved in this part of it."

"You are a little easier to lose in a crowd than he is." Baxter turned her laptop so it faced the wall and then Anna. "Based on the information Mr. Blake gave me, you've got eyes on these two."

"I watched her for a few hours," Anna pointed at the younger of the two red-headed women. "She wasn't really piquing my interest so I've got a feeling if she's passing secrets it's because she's got someone to impress. Probably a boyfriend or something. And she's low level so it's more about restricting her clearance and making sure they doubt her rumors."

"Ethel's not the most careful, it's true, and she's not quite at the level to earn her superiors' trust so you're not wrong there." Baxter slid her phone over the table, displaying a photo of a man with a mustache. "But she's been… I don't know if 'dating' is the right word but her relationship with this man is serious enough that she's set up a doctor's appointment."

"VD?"

"Something a little more… symbiotic?" Baxter cringed, "I think she's pregnant and I think he's the father."

"Did you get that information to Blake?"

"He's looking into the man. Says his name's Charles Bryant and he's got one of those rich boy complexes. Overbearing father, timid mother, and very… He's got something to prove."

"So he's about like Ethel but a little less ethical?" Anna groaned, "I'll pass her off to someone else. She's a security risk and it'll get her fired but she'll be a bigger danger if she's single, living in welfare housing, and raising an illegitimate child."

"Bryant could marry her." Anna raised an eyebrow at Baxter. "He could."

"Based on your analysis of the man, what are the chances of that? Real chances only here."

Baxter slumped a little, "I'll make sure she's taken care of. Blake'll pick up Bryant and get his angle on it before they figure out how to press him to turn."

"He's useless as a double agent. We just need to get rid of him." Anna scrolled down to the next woman, almost twice the age of the first. "Her I haven't tracked down yet but I've got a feeling she's better at this, being that O'Brien is from before the schism that split the two companies."

"Much better. And I heard the stories before I knew she was playing two sides of the table." Baxter's voice caught, "She worked with Barrow. Was his go-between for those things he couldn't get from other sources. His inside-woman"

"She one of ours now?"

Baxter shook her head, "She's one of Mrs. Crawley's. The only one Joseph's managed to find on their end and, I think, Barrow's only source from before."

"Barrow never mentioned anyone else?"

"He never mentioned her at all." Baxter shook her head, "The only thing more tightly buttoned about that man than the information he gathered was exactly how much he liked men."

"If Mr. Bates is to be believed, he didn't keep that buttoned up enough to not get himself into the trouble that killed him."

"We all make mistakes."

Anna paused, eyeing the expression on Baxter's face for a moment, and took a breath before continuing. "We do. But, in this case, we can't afford to make this one of ours. We've got to be certain that if we tie off this loose end we'll not be making the grave mistake of getting ahead of ourselves."

"Dire consequences and grave oversteps all considered, she's efficient enough to be the one Barrow used on Mrs. Crawley's end. Her hands are delicately placed in every pie and you keep a circle of secrets tight by making sure only one person knows them."

"The spider at the center of the web." Anna nodded, "I'll get my eyes on her and we'll see where it leads."

"Take care. She's not slunk around this long without being detected because she was lucky." Baxter shuddered, "Woman like that's got eyes in the back of her head and never takes the same route home."

"Then we'd both best hope that I disappear in a crowd as well as you hope I do." Anna nodded at Baxter, leaving the table and giving the same nod to Moseley before she left the café.

The next few days proved just how right Baxter was. Anna could barely maintain a steady bead on O'Brien as the woman stuck to strict counter-surveillance runs that left Anna learning about all the little cervices of the city. She studied maps until late into the night to try and track O'Brien's movements for a steady pattern but none emerged. So Anna pressed her few advantages and practiced a broader net of canvassing to try and anticipate O'Brien's movements to be where she was going instead of following her there. A skill that yielded results that allowed Anna to track O'Brien all the way from her work to home for the first time in two weeks.

After that breakthrough the patterns emerged and, after three weeks of steady surveillance, Anna finally kept a constant eye on O'Brien until she could plot her timetable. A timetable that had Anna outside O'Brien's weekly bingo game on a Thursday, keeping her eyes on the large window while a parabolic microphone and well-placed listening devices fed into the earbud dangling from her ear, when a knock came at her window. Anna went to hold up the book in her hands, as if preparing an excuse about a grandmother inside and waiting outside, when she froze. The man at the window leaned over and tapped the window with the end of a Billy club until a tiny crack appeared in the corner.

Anna rolled down the window, forcing herself to swallow before speaking, and kept her hands below the window so he could not see them shaking. "I do hope you're planning on recouping the cost if I have to replace that window."

"I'm sure a responsible mother, like yourself, has insurance."

"What do you want Green?"

"To remind you that I thought I told you to stay the hell away from my operations." Green dug into his pocket and Anna's hand firmed on the book in her hand while the other sought the hidden catch in her door to spring the hidden compartment there. But when he only brought up his phone, texting on it a second while occasionally glancing at Anna, she relaxed slightly. "We did have that conversation, right? I'm not just imagining that I killed someone in front of you to make it explicitly clear how you needed to sod off about all this?"

"Obviously I didn't give two shits about what you had to say."

"Obviously," Green typed something on his phone again, leaning fully on Anna's window now. "But, I guess the work your division had to go to scrub those tapes and stall that investigation into a cold case wasn't enough of a deterrent to keep you and your lot away."

"We're persistent."

"Then let me tell you why you shouldn't be." Green put an earbud in his ear, plugging the jack into his phone before extending the other bud to Anna. "If you want to hear and you're tired of them calling Bingo numbers."

Anna eyed the bud a second before detaching herself from her earpiece. She pushed her door into Green, forcing him away as she stepped out of the car to put them on equal footing. The book still clutched firmly in her other hand, Anna put the earbud in her ear. "If you're about to show me porn…"

"This won't be that much fun."

Green typed something on his phone before turning it to show Anna a ringing video call. She frowned at him but the expression soon washed into blank shock as she recognized her parents, in-laws, and Henry in the near distance. A fence separated the video from her family but it was close enough for even a mediocre shot to get any one of them with a bullet. To get at Henry as he kicked a football for a goal that left him cheering.

"Now," Green's voice interrupted her and Anna noticed he held the bud with the microphone. "Would you be kind enough to show our viewers at home the newspaper for the day?"

Anna noted the date and time before she focused on her family again. It was a dinner with all the Nigerian relatives gathered around while screaming and playing children kicked footballs through the legs of their parents. Food and conversation moved easily without the knowledge that someone waited on the other side of the fence with the capacity to end them in a second. In just enough time for Anna to watch it all in real time with no way to respond.

"Thank you." The call ended and Green yanked the bud from Anna's ear, rolling the cord as he tucked his phone away. "I'm sure we'll get over the 'you're not serious' part of the discussion now."

"What do you want?"

"I love that." Green laughed, putting a hand through his hair. "I love when people like you get right to the point. When I know I've got you by the balls because if you wanted to end this right now you'd leave. You'd try to call my bluff, which you know isn't one, and you'd get your people to do something but instead you're here, trying to take control of a situation you lost the second you let your family out of your sight."

His voice hissed and it took all of Anna's self-control to stop herself flinching. "Now that you know I'm serious, and that I all I have to do is send a text and the next update you're getting about your brat is his death certificate, let's get to it."

"What do you want?" Anna kept her voice steady, bending the book cover in her hand to keep herself driving it into Green's throat hard enough to collapse his trachea. "What do you expect to get out of me when you're holding my family hostage through a video call?"

"I hope you're not accusing me of using vinegar here." Green put a hand to his chest. "This is the honey, Anna."

"Tastes bitter to me."

"Bitter would be if they'd shot your father over that call and let you listen to the screams of your boy as he watched it." Green snapped at her and Anna flinched with his words. "This is mercy, Anna, and your only shot at it."

"Poor choice of words."

"The poorer choice would be these." Green typed them into his phone and held it up for Anna to see. "All I'd have to do is press 'send' and the order's done. Carried out and we go our separate ways."

Anna swallowed, reading the order a hundred times in a second, and met Green's eyes. "What do you want?"

"Third time's the charm." Green deleted the message and tucked his phone away again. "I was hoping I'd get you to beg but I guess you being on your knees, next to a car, on a street corner puts you in prison and I need you out and about, not trying to fight a public solicitation charge."

Anna closed her eyes, shaking her head. "If you could please just get to the point before I just collapse with boredom, that'd probably put us both out of our misery faster."

"Still trying to gain control of the situation." Green snorted, "But I guess it's what I find attractive about you. That even when you're on your back… Or stomach, you never stop fighting. Makes it all the more gratifying."

"Get to your point." Anna tried to keep her voice level through gritted teeth, the book biting into her skin now.

"Fine." Green held up his hands. "We need you to kill John Bates."

Anna blinked, "What?"

"You know, John Bates, the cripple you're screwing."

"I…"

"I know." Green shuddered, "I still don't get it. I mean, how can you honestly tell me that a limp old one like that could satisfy you. Could even hope to make you happy. It's got to be a hundred years old."

"For your information, he makes me very happy." Anna bit at the end of her tongue. "And I don't know where he is."

"Then you'd better find him." Green typed out another text, flashing it to Anna before sending it. "Because I just told my boss… Now, technically, your boss, that you'd get it done by week's end. And, if not, then your dear, old fogies, your little bastard, and all those chattering negroes end up dead."

He finished on his phone, going to put it away, and let out a sigh. "Since we've got time, and you've got a car, we could go back to the idea of you on your knees."

It happened faster than Anna could comprehend it. A knee-jerk reaction that snapped her arm to its full extension in a second. By the time the actual thought hit her brain the book slammed with full force into Green's windpipe. It folded under the force and his eyes flew wide while his hands scrabbled for the blossoming purpled bruise as his knees hit the pavement.

In another second Anna flung the book back into the car and dug in Green's pocket for his phone. She snatched one of his hands away from his throat, noting the bluish tinge to his face as he struggled to breathe past his broken trachea, and pressed his thumb to the button. The screen flashed active and Anna hurried through the 'settings' to reset his password. Another press of his thumb had Anna gaining control of the password to keep the phone active.

She finished and watched as Green crumpled to the ground in time with the last wheezes of his breath. A moment of thought had her debating calling for an ambulance but, after examining the empty street for cameras, Anna popped her boot and hauled his body into the space. Closing the lid over him, Anna checked the messages and cursed herself before pulling out her phone.

"Mary, we've got a problem."