“Your message made sure of that, Ms. Azzi. I don’t like being connected to John Smith that way.”
“I understand,” she said. “Forgive me for imposing. It was the only way I knew to get your attention.”
“You have it,” Epstein said. He laid his hands on the desk. The fingertips penetrated the surface, ruining the illusion a bit. “You must be Cooper.”
“Agent Nicholas Cooper,” Kobb said. “Born March, 1981, second year of the gifted. Joined the army at seventeen with father’s consent. Detailed as a military liaison to what would become the Department of Analysis and Response, 2000. Joined full-time in 2002. Entered Equitable Services with its foundation in 2004. Made full agent in 2005, senior agent in 2008. Generally considered the best of the so-called ‘gas men,’ sporting an unmatched clearance rate, including thirteen terminations.”
“Thir-teen?” Shannon raised an eyebrow.
“Yes,” Cooper said, “that’s me. On paper.”
“Went rogue following the March 12th attack on the Leon Walras Exchange.” Kobb looked up from his datapad. “Now the lead suspect in that bombing.”
He shouldn’t have been surprised. Though part of the agreement with Director Peters was that they wouldn’t publicly reveal his identity—a fanatic might have gone after Natalie and the children—most of the DAR would know he’d been designated a target. And the world’s richest man would have access to pretty much any information he wanted. Still. It jarred him. He glared at the lawyer, but spoke to Epstein. “I had nothing to do with that.”
“Did you, Ms. Azzi?” Kobb asked.
“No,” she said. “Not the way it happened.”
“But it was John Smith’s organization that planted the bombs.”
“Yes. But we didn’t trigger them.”
“How do we know that?”
“Enough, Bob.” Epstein spoke with easy command. “They’re telling the truth.”
“But sir, we don’t—”
“Yes, we do. Millie?”
The girl looked up. “They’re both lying. They’re lying to each other, too. But they’re telling the truth about that.”
“Thank you, sweetheart.”
The lawyer opened his mouth, shut it. Cooper could see the man simmering, his frustration. A leader in his field, no doubt a powerful political player, overruled by a child.
Kobb’s not the only one. Cooper felt like a tennis ball, hammered back and forth across a net. Lying to each other? What did that mean? If nothing else, the girl had clearly made him for what he was, and the nakedness came with fear. She couldn’t read his mind, wouldn’t know about his mission, but picking up on the subcutaneous cues of his loyalty response to the agency, that would be simple for her. No telling how much deeper that could go.
To make it this far and be at the mercy of a ten-year-old girl…
Lock it down.
“So.” Erik Epstein smiled, holding out his hands. “With that out of the way. What are you doing here?”
“Shannon and I had a deal. There was an incident in Chicago, a few days ago, and she needed help. I got her home, and she got me a chance to meet you.”
“I see. Why?”
“As you know, my former agency is hunting me.” Stick to the facts as much as possible. “I’m not safe anywhere.”
“Mr. Epstein,” Kobb said, “you should know that we’re on tenuous legal ground. Now that Mr. Cooper’s identity is out in the open, we can’t claim plausible deniability. This is verging dangerously close to harboring a fugitive.”
“Thank you, Bob,” the billionaire said dryly. “We can take the risk for a few more moments. I don’t think Agent Cooper is here to entrap us.”
“No, sir. In fact, I need your help. I’d like to start over here. In New Canaan.” He forced himself not to look at the girl. She would know he was lying, or at least not telling the whole truth. The best he could hope was that she wouldn’t interject, that she offered an opinion only when asked.
Epstein steepled his fingers. “I see. And for that you need my help.”
“Yes.”
“Because you have a lot of enemies.”