Chapter
6
HOW LONG WILL YOU BE gone?” Julie Getty asked.
Robie looked down at his plate and didn’t answer right away. They were at a hole-in-the-wall diner in D.C., not far from where fifteen-year-old Julie attended school. Robie had about eight hours to go before he and Reel would be headed to the Burner Box. Julie had been excited to hear from him; her excitement had diminished when she learned it was to say goodbye, at least for a while.
“I’m not sure,” said Robie as he pushed his food around on his plate. “It wasn’t specified,” he clarified.
“And you can’t tell me where you’re going, of course,” she said resignedly.
“It’s…it’s a training site.”
“Why do you need to train? You’re already, like, I mean, great at what you do, Will.”
“It’s like going back to school, you know, continuing education. Lots of professions do it.” He hesitated. “Even mine.”
She studied him critically and he just as resolutely avoided her gaze.
“Are you going alone on this?” she asked.
He shook his head. “No.”
“Is that woman going with you? Jessica?”
Robie hesitated before answering. “Yes.”
“So you’re both in trouble?”
Robie glanced sharply at her. She stared back at him with an expression that said his look of surprise was unnecessary.
“I’ve spent a lot of time with you, Will. When people were trying to kill us. When you were moody. When you didn’t have many options, but you still figured out how to get out of a jam.”
“And your point?” he asked with genuine curiosity.
“You look to me like a guy who doesn’t see a way out of this. And that’s just not you. So it must be really bad.”
Robie said nothing while Julie fiddled with the straw in her drink. She said, “I read in the papers a while back that Ferat Ahmadi, the crazy Syrian trying to gain power over there, was gunned down. They never found who killed him.”
Robie remained silent.
“I’m not going to ask you if you and Jessica had something to do with that because I know all I’ll get is a blank stare. But if you did, then it seems that your mission was successful. So it has to be something else. Is it connected to Jessica?”
“Why do you ask that?” Robie said abruptly.
“Because things were going good for you at your agency. Until she showed up.”
“I can’t get into that with you, Julie.”
“Because, you see, I liked her. I think she’s a good person.”
“I think so too,” said Robie before he could catch himself.
Julie smiled. “Cool.”
“What?”
“You’re letting your guard down around me. And you must really care for her,” she added in a more serious tone.
“I can relate to her and what she’s going through,” Robie said diplomatically.
“So she’s your friend?”
“Yes.”
“You need to take care of your friends, Will.”
“I’m trying, Julie, I really am.”
“Are you ever going to be free of all this crap?”
“I wish I had the answer to that.”