“He’s working with one of our Swans.”
“I see.Well, good luck to you, mate.Not a job for the faint of heart.”He laughed, glanced at Shep.“Although enviable, perhaps.”He slid off the bench.“The cold plunge is calling.”
It was calling Steinbeck too.He followed the prince out and waited in the clammy cave as the man dropped into the cold bath, came out with a growl.
Stein did the same, and the chill flushed away the fatigue in his bones.
“Ready for a pig’s knuckle?”Shep said, rising from the dunk.
“Promises, promises,” Stein said.
Another shower and an hour later and he sat in a restaurant in the hotel, a red votive candle flickering on the table, the scent of roasting pork and frothy beer embedding the stone walls and wooden floor.He could imagine knights of the realm eating under the wrought-iron chandeliers that hung from ceiling timbers.
He groaned as he set down the thick roasted pork knuckle.
“Told you,” Shep said.He pushed the glistening thick-cut fries in a basket toward Stein.“And these are the real deal.”
“I have them brought to the palace sometimes,” Prince Luka said, sitting across from them in an oxford and a pair of dress pants.He’d rolled up his sleeves.
Stein had changed into a pullover and pants that he’d picked up at the airport in Porto.
“So, what’s next for you, Stein?”Luka swam his fry through the ketchup—homemade, Stein guessed, because it was thick and dark and spicy.
“He’s working the Petrov op,” said Shep.“Helped bring in the Axiom program.They’re working on a virus.”
Stein glanced at Shep, then at Luka.
“In trade for the Swans parking their HQ here, I’m briefed regularly by London’s mother, Ambassador Brooks, and especially her father, Mitch.”He took a drink of his craft beer.“What’s our next move?”
“Nothing,” Stein said.“It’s over.We found Axiom.They’re creating the virus.”He lifted a shoulder.“I guess I’m going home.”
Silence.He hadn’t meant for that to sound so pitiful.
Luka raised an eyebrow, glanced at Shep, back at Stein.“What about your Swan?”
Stein frowned.“What about...my Swan?”
“Swans work alone.Until they don’t.”Luka glanced again at Shep.“He doesn’t know?”
“Know what?”
“Swans mate for life,” Shep said quietly.
A beat.“What?”
“Yeah.Clearly you know more than you should, so...”
“So it’s either stay or I’m shot at high noon?”
“We like to schedule our executions early.Say, dawn,” Prince Luka said.
Another beat.“You’re kidding.”
Shep nodded and Luka made a face.“We had him.You can’t fold that easily, mate.”
Stein shook his head.Except, for a second, a terrible, burning second?—
“But we’re also serious.”
