Sometimes I just close my eyes and thank the universe what I'm currently doing isn't something I'll have to do for the rest of my life.
Cybersecurity is one of those tedious jobs I couldn't be more grateful I wasn't stuck doing. This would be one of the longest three months of my life. Some days I wonder how my life would have turned out if I had gone to college. My math skills were above average but I was no valedictorian. Debate and politics was always my forte; government classes, mock trial, model UN, European history. I was a debate nerd at its finest even if my science grades were barely on par. Maybe I'd be a lawyer right now.
I wanted to puke at the thought.
Lawyers were nothing but useless pawns in a game much bigger where justice was never truly served. It was a sickening cycle but it was reality. The saddest part is I probably would have gotten over all of my anger from my teenage years. I would have accepted it and been a cog in the machine. Maybe that's what would have saved me from becoming the immoral and dangerous person I am. Perhaps that would have been a good thing in most people's eyes. Me? I couldn't be more glad I took the path I did. So what if I'm a shity and demented person? At least I don't live in delusion.
That's the conversation I was having with myself as I walked from my new office. I could feel all of the cameras in the halls on me like a sticky syrup on my skin. It wasn't as bad as the metal detectors at the door. No weapons or computers in, no weapons or computers out. Everything got scanned both ways and there was no avoiding it. Getting what I needed would be a challenge and a half but that was a problem for a later date.When I finally made it outside, the cold winter air hugged my body tighter than the black wool trench coat covering my body. My heels clicked on the pavement, the sound getting lost in the bustling city of Moscow.
It wasn't a long walk to the cafe a few buildings down the block but it was enough to make me resent the cold. It was like deja vu. New York was in my veins but not in a good way. It made my skin crawl thinking of that godforsaken place.I welcomed the comforting warm air of the cafe.
Ashton's eyes automatically locked on my figure, seeing me from a mile away. He smiled kindly at me as a loving husband would. I offered a small half grin back, crossing the tile floors to the right so I could sit in the chair at the two-person table by the window. We could have eaten in the cafeteria and we probably would most days, but it was safer on the first day to integrate ourselves slowly. This way people saw us once, we stuck in the back of their minds and slowly we become a routine. It wasn't like a slap in the face, seeing both of us all day all of the sudden.
Our covers and documents had to be flawless to fool the pounds of paperwork and background checks on the two of us. The Russian government wouldn't mess around with two people so close to their biggest secrets; a cybersecurity programmer and a testing mechanism facilitator. The KGB would have gutted us before we even left Monaco if our covers weren't rock solid. All of the hacking and planting evidence Tyler and I had done to get this gig wouldn't go to waste. This was life or death and I wouldn't blow it because someone didn't like seeing my face too much. People notice new things and attention happened to be one thing I wanted to avoid.
"Hey, Gaël," I greeted him in Russian while taking my jacket off and setting it over the back of my chair. I hated not having a gun but it was necessary so I didn't risk it. I wouldn't make it two feet into our office with it.
"Hi, Baby," Ashton responded happily, placing a deli sandwich in front of me and nudging a cup of coffee at me. In front of him was his untouched hot sandwich, most likely waiting for me to arrive. "How was your morning?"Ashton reached across the table and threaded his left hand through my right one.
I could feel the heat of his pulse against my still cool hand. I bit the corner of my lip inside of my mouth running my thumb back and forth on the back of his larger and darker hand. "Entertaining; occupying," I answered with an innocent shrug. "What about you? Enjoying your time back home?"
Convincing Russia's government Ashton was born in Moscow was hard enough. On paper, he had spent a semester abroad in college and met me where he lived in France for four years before moving to Moscow without me. A year later, here we are. Two not twenty-six-year-olds pretending to be specialized engineers.
"It's great to be back where I belong. My mother would be thrilled." Ashton dropped his voice low enough that only I could hear him while he taunted me with his captivating eyes. "Allah knows she'd keel over knowing I was sleeping with a white soldier who didn't attend college. The shame."
The smirk on his lips was so faint you could barely see it just like his almost motionless lips. The twenty-seven-year-old assassin knew how to cover his bases and right now he was definitely covering the lip reading base. You could never be too safe but Ashton couldn't resist a good teasing."How scandalous," I mused. "Shame there's no actual sex happening. It would be drastically more entertaining. Tell your mom I don't do assholes."
"Oh I know all about the assholes you fuck," Ashton drawled sarcastically. "I'm sure soon enough I'll just be another devil to add to the list."
"For your sake, I'd hope not. The men and women I'm with have a knack for ending up dead," I smirked back ruefully. Ashton smirked, probably thinking something similar about his long list of bodies. Being an attractive operative had its bonuses.
"Well then let's hope neither one of us ends up dead because your husband wants to leave this country alive."
"I couldn't agree more," my eyes pierced Ashton's as I lied through my teeth.
Only three more months and he'd have a bullet in his pretty little head. I couldn't fucking wait.
