She glimpsed theopaque glass door; wooden chairs and a bench faced the room. Adele glimpsedwhite painted walls and a thin carpet before spotting Paige rushing to thedoor, and then the sound of rapid knocking as she tapped her knuckles hurriedlyagainst the frame.
Adele set herjaw and strode down the hall. She heard a voice call from inside the opaqueoffice, and Paige tapped even more insistently.
The voice calleda second time, and Paige opened the door, pushing it in. She paused in thedoorway, glancing toward Adele, and her eyes narrowed. She shut the doorfirmly.
Adeleimmediately heard shouting from Foucault’s office. She raced forward, catchingwords like, “…inept…” “…useless…” and “…fire her, Thierry!”
Instead ofknocking, Adele grabbed the handle, flung open the glass door, and stepped in.Executive Thierry Foucault sat behind his large desk. He had a headphone in oneear, and a glass of wine in his hand. A cigarette was smoking in an ashtray.
The smell ofnicotine smoke lingered on the air, mingling with the odor of expensivecologne. Adele had been in the office before, and at the time, the windows hadbeen propped open, and the air hadn’t been so pungent.
The room wassoon polluted with sound as well, drowned in shouting as Adele and Paige bothtried to be heard. For a moment, Foucault just stared at them, his eyes dancingbetween the two like someone watching a tennis match.
The executive ofthe DGSI shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He had a hawk-like nose and darkeyebrows. His hair was slicked back, and if Adele hadn’t known better, shewould’ve guessed he was some sort of banker.
Now, though, shewas shouting at the top of her lungs, trying to be heard over Agent Paige. “Unreliable!”she was saying. “Completely unacceptable! Undermining the case from the very—”
Paige, not to beoutdone, increased her volume. “Inept! Sending us on wild goose chases! Acomplete fool!”
“—hateful andspiteful from the start,” Adele insisted, grinding her teeth and glaring atPaige now. “Uncooperative to a degree I’ve never seen before!”
“—stupid,” AgentPaige snapped, “harebrained theories—”
At last,Executive Foucault lowered his glass of wine, pulled the earbud from his rightear, and, with a growling tone, shouted, “Enough!”
Both agents fellsilent, staring at their boss. He breathed heavily and gave a small cough. Hereached out, grabbed his cigarette, put it to his lips, and pulled a long drag.He held it for a second, his eyes closed, and then he exhaled, breathing a jetof smoke toward the closed windows.
Adele shifteduncomfortably. Foucault noticed this motion and scowled. Agent Paige smirked.
The executiveregarded the two of them and said, “I had hoped… by pairing you two, you wouldbe able to work out anything between you. I can see now I was mistaken.”
“Work out?”Agent Paige snapped. “This loathsome weasel is impossible to work with!”
For her part,Adele ratcheted her eyebrows up. “Get your finger out of my face.”
“Quiet!”Foucault thundered
A tentativesilence fell again. Both of them were heated, but still, for the moment, Adelereminded herself where she was and who sat behind the desk. Foucault was apowerful man with powerful connections. If she wanted to continue working withInterpol, and through DGSI and BKA, pissing off the director of the Frenchagency wouldn’t be a good start. She swallowed back the next series of retortsand stared directly at Foucault, refusing to look at Agent Paige.
The executivetook a long drag from the cigarette again and then smooshed the butt into theashtray, causing the last bit of white and yellow paper to rend acrossspreading ash.
He breathed acouple of times, then said, “Clearly, pairing you two was a mistake. Paige, I’llfind you something else come morning. Agent Sharp,” he said, “I’ll assign you anew partner.” Then, with a frown he added, “I might also suggest the DGSI wasoperating just fine before you got here. I don’t like what this signifies forfuture operations. If you can’t manage a team of one person, a single partner,I’m not sure what sort of role you’ll have in cases to come.”
“Sir,” Adelesaid, scandalized, “Agent Paige is the one—”
“Enough!”Foucault snapped, cutting her off. “I wasn’t asking for excuses. I was tellingyou how it is. You can’t even manage one partner; I don’t know how Interpolexpects you to navigate the treacherous waters of multiple agencies across theworld. I’m going to have to take a long hard think about this program if thingscontinue like this, understand?”
Adele could feelher cheeks heating up, and she didn’t have to look to sense Paige’s delight.But she fixed her gaze on the executive and with as much strength as she couldmuster, she nodded her head once. “I understand.”
Everything inher wanted to add more, to repeat how this was Paige’s fault, to point out whatthe older woman had done since they started. She’d been a nuisance at everyturn. But judging by Foucault’s expression, she doubted he would hear it. And,the more she thought about it, she realized there had to be some sort ofpersonal relationship between Foucault and Agent Paige. After the incident withMatthew and the missing evidence, Paige had only been demoted. Foucault hadbeen in charge then, too. Any other executive would have fired Paige, if notpressed charges. Clearly, there was a history between these two. Though, asAdele glanced at Foucault, she didn’t think it was intimate. Still, now wasn’tthe time to figure it out. She filed the question away for furtherconsideration.
Agent Paigecleared her throat. “Thierry, maybe it would be better if I took thelead on this case, and you assign Sharp something else.”
“Agent Sharp,”Foucault said, “is working with Interpol. I’m not interested in startinganything on that front. Sorry, Sophie, but you’re going to have to wait. Andyou,” he said, glancing at Adele again, “are going to need to wait for me tofind you a new partner. Can I rely on both of you to play it professionallyfrom this point forward?”
Again, Adelewanted to protest, to defend herself. But at the same time, there was a levelof truth to his words. She had a responsibility to the BKA, to the DGSI, and tothe FBI. She had a responsibility to Interpol not
