The Leveling

Mark wiggled his bare toes in the sand. “OK. Just promise me you’ll contact the Agency as soon as you cross.” Without waiting for her to answer, he said he’d give her the number of Ted Kaufman, his former boss and the chief of the Agency’s Central Eurasia Division, along with a letter code that would allow her to bypass the usual security barriers so that she’d be able to speak to him directly. “Give him a summary of what we found out and then send him the final voice recording ASAP. The photo files might take longer to transfer, but—what’s wrong?”


Daria had let her head dip. She really didn’t want to deceive Mark. Not after all they’d been through. But she worried that he was dead set on just giving the intel to his old buddies at Langley. For free. He talked a big game about being sick of the CIA and all, and making money off of people like Holtz, but she knew him better than that.

“Nothing. I’ll call Kaufman.”

“But?”

Daria chewed her lower lip, then looked at him and said, “But I told you back in Almaty I was trying to get intel on the Chinese. For the purpose of selling it.”

“Oh, come on.”

“I told you, Mark. I told you that’s what I was doing.”

That was reason one why she needed to leave now—so that she could sell the intel before Mark gave it away.

“I thought we were helping Decker.”

“We were. But now…”

“Hey, if you’re pissed at the Agency, then pass the intel to someone at State. I don’t have great contacts with State, though.”

“There’s been a serious fracture in the Iranian leadership. Ayatollah Bayat, the head of the Guardian Council, was plotting behind Supreme Leader Khorasani’s back and taking money from the Chinese. And now we think the Chinese might have killed Ayatollah Bayat. And the Bayat brothers were talking about moving stuff from known nuclear sites. How many billions does the US spend each year on intelligence? The intel we collected is worth a lot of money.”

Mark just shook his head.

Daria didn’t want things to end badly. She turned toward him, almost touching his cheek with her hand before pulling back. “Listen, I’ve got a project going on. Something I care a lot about. But I need to fund it. That’s why I was spying on the Chinese in the first place.”

“What project?”

“I…” Daria didn’t want to tell him; she was afraid he might try to talk her out of what she was doing, and she didn’t want to be talked out of it.

“I, what?”

“I’d rather not say.”

Mark sighed. “Well, how much funding are we talking about?”

“A lot. As much as I can get.” She thought about offering him a cut, but didn’t think he’d respond well.

“Well, fuck it. I guess I don’t care if you sell the intel. But I can tell you that under a million Kaufman can authorize immediately. More than that and you’re talking about an approval process that could take days. And as soon as I get out I’ll give it to him for free because something tells me there’s a lot more going on than either of us know. So you’re not going to have long to bargain.”

Daria shrugged, but she was smiling inside.

Mark said, “Also, Washington is going to demand exclusivity.”

“I’ll offer exclusivity. But I won’t honor it.”

“Oh, that’s a great plan.”

He sounded more resigned than angry, she thought.

“I didn’t think you’d like it. But it’s the Great Game, remember? People have been killing each other over here for centuries. It doesn’t really matter what either of us does. Since we can’t shut it down, we might as well make some money off it.”

“That doesn’t sound like you talking.”

Daria said, “It’s not. Those are your words from eight months ago.”

“I don’t remember saying that.”

“Well, I added the part about money. The rest was you.”

“Huh. Who knew?”

They sat looking at the sea for a while. She enjoyed talking to Mark, and just being next to him. It reminded her of when they’d been together in Baku.

Stop it.

She had a sudden urge to ask him what he planned on doing with his life now that he’d been thrown out of Azerbaijan and had lost his job and his book. And whether she could help him, the way he had once helped her. To be there for him, in his hour of need.

Don’t do this to yourself. He doesn’t need, or want, your help. Because he doesn’t—

Don’t think it.

Because he doesn’t love you.

That’s what it came down to. The best thing she could do for Mark was to let him be. She’d realized that when they last parted. And she’d accepted it. But being together again…

She had to get out of here, she thought. Now. Before she made a fool out of herself.

“I should be going.” She stood up.

“What…now?

“Yeah.”

“Why don’t we get something to eat first, talk about—”

“I’m not hungry.”

Mark looked a little puzzled. “Hey, hold on. After you get to the border—”

“I’ll call Kaufman.”

Daria started walking away.

“Yeah, but how will I know you made it?”

She refused to turn back to look at him because she knew what her face would reveal. “When you talk to Kaufman on the other side,” she called over her shoulder.

“How will you know that I made it?”

“Oh, you’ll make it,” said Daria. Of that she had no doubt.





68


Washington, DC