Zoya nodded thoughtfully. Wiped her eyes with a tissue she pulled from her pocket. Then she and Court kissed again.
“Where are they taking you?” Court asked.
“Washington, D.C. After that, I’m just along for the ride.”
“Ever been there?”
“To Washington? I’d rather not answer that question.”
Court repeated himself. “Everyone is hiding something.”
Zoya shrugged a little. “Where are you going?”
“I’m a free man as of right now. I can walk out of this hotel and go anywhere I want.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“Only because I don’t know. I might just wander for a while.”
“A vacation?”
Court chuckled to himself. “I guess so. Someplace where the beer is good and the people don’t get up in your business.”
“You’ve earned a vacation.”
Court said, “You should come with me.”
Zoya smiled broadly. “No way Brewer would let that happen.”
“We could run down to the tarmac and hijack an airplane.”
Zoya’s laugh filled the conference room. “You are a troublemaker, aren’t you?”
“Sometimes, maybe.”
There was a quiet knock at the door, and then it opened. A pair of men Court recognized from the flight leaned in. He knew they were CIA National Clandestine Service officers, and he assumed they were here for Zoya.
One said, “Ma’am. It’s time to go.”
Zoya grabbed Court quickly and kissed him hard, held on tight, but harder with her left than her right, because of the injuries to her right shoulder. When she pulled away she said, “You be careful, whatever you do.”
Court smiled. “I will.”
“And I’ll take a rain check on that hijacking. Next time we’re together we are totally flying off into the sunset.”
“I like that.”
Zoya left the conference room, and Court stepped out a minute later. The hotel lobby was quiet, and he left without anyone in the building ever noticing him at all.
An hour later he stood in the Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof and scanned the massive board of destinations, a hundred or more cities there for his choosing. He could take a train north to Malmo or south to Athens. West to Dublin or east to Moscow.
Like a restaurant’s menu, he perused the options for ten minutes.
Finally, he decided it didn’t really matter. He made a choice, bought a second-class ticket for the next departure, climbed aboard, and went looking for a quiet compartment to get some sleep while the train took him far away from here.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mark Greaney has a degree in international relations and political science. In his research for the Gray Man novels, including Back Blast, Dead Eye, Ballistic, On Target, and The Gray Man, he traveled to more than fifteen countries and trained alongside military and law enforcement in the use of firearms, battlefield medicine, and close-range combative tactics. He is also the author of Tom Clancy Commander in Chief and Tom Clancy True Faith and Allegiance. With Tom Clancy, he coauthored Locked On, Threat Vector, and Command Authority. Visit him online at markgreaneybooks.com.