She frowned. “Bad news. I’ve been recalled to my field HQ, Jerry.”
“What? What the hell does that mean?”
“It means I’m being reassigned.”
“To where?” He looked at her face and said, “I know, you can’t tell me.”
She held up the section of the newspaper she’d brought with her. “This might give you a hint.”
He took the paper and glanced at the article she was pointing to. It detailed the breaking story of a government corruption scandal involving a foreign contractor in Russia.
Bagger looked up at her, stunned. “You go from casinos to dirty contractors in Moscow?”
She took the paper back. “Not just any foreign contractor.”
“You know them?”
“All I can say is it’s in the best interests of the United States that this case never gets to court. That’s where I come in.”
“How long will you be gone?”
“Hard to say. And after Russia it’ll be someplace else.” She rubbed at her temple. “You got some Advil?”
He opened a drawer of his desk and handed her a bottle. She swallowed three with a glass of water he poured for her.
He sat down. “You don’t look very good.”
She perched on the edge of his desk and said wearily, “Jerry, I’ve been to so many places in the last year I’ve lost count. If I used a real passport, I’d have gone through about twenty of them. It just gets to you sometimes. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”
“Why don’t you get out, then?” he urged.
She laughed bitterly. “Get out? And what, screw my pension? I’ve put in too many years. Even civil servants have to eat.”
“Come and work for me, then. I’ll pay you more in one year than you’d make in twenty with those clowns.”
“Yeah, right.”
“I’m serious. I like you. You’re good.”
“You like the fact that I just made you over a million and a half bucks.”
“Okay, I won’t deny that. But I’ve got to know you. And I like what I see, Pam.”
“My name’s not even Pam. That’s how well you really know me.”
“That just adds to the fun. Think about it, willya?”
She hesitated and then said, “I have been thinking about my future lately. I’m not married; my life is my work and vice versa. And I’m not exactly a spring chicken anymore.”
He stood and put an arm around her shoulders. “Are you kidding me? You’re gorgeous. Any man would be lucky as hell to have you.”
She patted his arm. “You haven’t seen me in the morning before I’ve had my coffee and put on my face.”
“Oh, baby, just say the word and we’ll find out.” His hand fell to her lower back and stayed, gently rubbing. He reached over and hit a button on his desk console, and the automatic window blinds lowered.
“What’s that for?” she asked, her eyebrows hiked.
“I like my privacy.” His hand moved lower.
Her phone buzzed, right on cue. She looked down at the number. “Oh, hell.” She rose and moved away from him, staring at the screen.
“Who is it?” Bagger asked.
“My section chief. His number comes up all zeros.” She composed herself and answered the phone. “Yes, sir?”
She said nothing else for several minutes and then clicked off. “Son of a bitch, that asshole!” she yelled.
“What is it, baby?”
She paced in a tight circle and then stopped, obviously still seething. “My esteemed section chief has seen fit to change my field orders. Instead of a trip to Russia, I’m being reassigned to — get this — Portland, Oregon.”
“Oregon. They need spies in Oregon?”
“It’s the graveyard, Jerry. It’s where you get sent in my agency if people upstairs don’t like you.”
“How do you go from Russia to Oregon on the same morning?”
“The Russian gig came from my field supervisor. Oregon from my section chief, that’s the next level up. His assignment takes priority.”
“What’s your section chief got against you?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I’m doing my job too well.” She started to say something else and then stopped.
Bagger quickly picked up on this. “Spill it. Come on, maybe I can help.”
She sighed. “Well, believe it or not, the man wants to sleep with me. Only he’s married, and I told him to back off.”
Bagger nodded his head. “The bastard! It’s always the same crap. The ladies don’t put out, they get pushed out.”
Annabelle was staring down at her hands. “This screws my career, Jerry. Portland! Damn it!” She hurled her phone against the wall, where it broke in half. Then she slumped in a chair. “Maybe I just should’ve slept with the guy.”
Bagger started rubbing her shoulders. “No way. Guys like that, you do it once they keep expecting it. Then they get tired of you, or get a new honey. Then zip, it’s Portland for your sweet ass anyway.”
“I just want to nail that little son of a bitch so bad.”
Bagger looked thoughtful. “Well, maybe that can be arranged.”
She looked up at him warily. “Jerry, you can’t put a hit on the guy, okay?”
“I’m not thinking about that, baby. You said he might be pissed because you’re doing your job too well. How’s that?”
“I bring in too much money, then all of a sudden people start looking at me to move up. I start moving up, then all of a sudden I’m a threat to his job. Believe it or not, Jerry, there aren’t a lot of women doing what I do. There are some who would love to see another female in a section chief slot. If I keep bringing in people like you and flood our overseas operations with ‘finessed’ cash, it hurts him and helps me.”
“Hell, only in the government sector do you get dinged for overproducing.” He thought for a moment. “Okay, I see how we can turn the tables on this bozo.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Our next run at El Banco.”
“Jerry, I’m being reassigned. My associate and I are on a plane tonight.”
“Okay, okay. But here’s the deal. Until you leave you can do one last run, right?”
Annabelle seemed to consider this. “Well, yeah, I mean, I have the authorizations. But even a million bucks in interest isn’t going to get me this guy’s corner office.”
“I’m not talking a measly million.” He looked at her. “What’s the largest single amount you’ve ‘finessed’?”
She thought for a moment. “Most of the wires are one to five million. But I did fifteen million in Vegas. And twenty mil from New York, but that was two years ago.”
“Chickenshit.”
“Chickenshit? Right!”
“Tell me, what would really hurt this guy?”
“Jerry, I don’t know. Thirty million.”
“Let’s make it forty million. And let’s make it four days instead of two.” He figured quickly in his head. “So that’s twenty percent interest instead of ten. And that comes to eight million to yours truly. A nice piece of finessing.”
“You’ve got forty million in cash?”
“Hey, who do you think you’re talking to? And we had two championship fights here in the last week. I’m flush with green.”
“But why are you doing this?”
“Eight mil in four days is nothing to sneeze at, even for a guy like me.” He gave her neck a rub. “Plus, like I said, you’re growing on me, lady.”
“But I’m still going to Oregon. I can’t disobey orders.”