Skipper couldn’tcontain her laughter. “He had no idea, did he?”
“He did not, but thisis why I am here. I stole shotgun from his Suburban, shot out two ofhis tires, hit driver of car in face with stock of shotgun, and stolecar. You now know everything. Oh, except one thing. I have nowbeautiful dress made by Alexander McQueen.”
Skipper shook off therandomness of the dress comment. “But if you killed Leo andcaptured Alvarez, why are you still working with the Feds?”
Leo and Alvarez wereonly one job. There are many more. I am now working in New York Cityto catch jewelry thief . . . sort of.”
“You’re trying tosort of catch a jewelry thief?”
“No, I said thiswrong. I am sorry. There is man named Viktor Volkov. He is not reallyjewel thief, but he does steal diamonds.”
“That’s pretty muchthe textbook definition of a jewel thief, isn’t it?”
“It is difficult toexplain, but it doesn’t matter now. I am working to catch him, buthe has niece with same name as me, and she is dancer in secondBolshoi company in Moscow.”
Skipper held up onefinger. “Hang on. It’s starting to come together for me. ThisAgent White guy. He called me and wanted my help finding Volkov’sbrother’s murderer in Russia.”
“Yes, he did thisbecause I told him you were only person who could find missingpieces. And with these pieces, we can bring to America Anya thedancer and her mother.”
“So, you’re sayingthis Volkov guy in New York is connected, right?”
“Yes, he is Russianmafia, and he has partner named Sascha, but I do not know his lastname.”
Skipper silentlyprocessed everything Anya had told her before asking, “What do youwant from me?”
Anya didn’t hesitate.“I want you to tell Chase—and of course Marvin—I am okay, and Iam sorry for making worries for them.”
“They’ll berelieved, but you could’ve done that by telephone. You didn’thave to shoot up a Fed’s SUV, steal a car, and have me perform atactical exfiltration.”
“Yes, I did have todo all of those things. I have to make Agent White know I am gettingjob done, just like he ordered. This is only way I will be free tocome back and also bring Anya and her mother to America.”
Skipper pressed hereyelids closed several times, trying to ward off theconfusion-induced migraine. “That’s not all you want, though, isit?”
Anya offered a genuinesmile. “I want also your help to find murderer of Volkov’sbrother in Moscow.”
“You know I can’tdo that.”
Anya scowled. “Yes,you can. You are maybe only person who can.”
Skipper laid her handon Anya’s. “Let me finish. I was going to say you know I can’tdo that without talking with Chase first. He’s the boss . . . or soI sometimes let him believe.”
“Yes, I understandthis. So, you will help, yes?”
“I will help if Chaseapproves it.”
The Russian’s smokyblue eyes lit up, and she leaned across the console to embraceSkipper.
They shared a long hugbefore Skipper said, “I’m really glad you’re okay. You had allof us worried, and Mongo—I mean, Marvin—is still out looking foryou.”
“My heart does notlike to hurt him. He is good man.”
“Yes, he is,”Skipper said. “And he misses you more with every breath he takes.”
“I will talk to him,”Anya whispered. “It is only thing that is fair.”
“What else?”Skipper asked.
“There is one morething I need. I have to be at work tomorrow morning in New York. Ihave to catch train.”
“Screw the train,”Skipper said. “I’ll take you. It’s been a long time since I’vebeen to the Big Apple, and I could use a beer and a good slice ofauthentic pizza pie.”
Remembering thesouthbound train trip, Anya said, “I like this idea. It will be mytreat.”
“It’s a deal,”Skipper said. “Oh, I almost forgot. I brought you a gift. It’s inthe glove box.”
Anya pressed thebutton, and the box opened, revealing a pair of Glock pistols, twopassports, and a cell phone. She pulled one of the passports from thebox and opened the cover. “This is no good for me. It has pictureof you.”
Skipper glanced over.“Yeah, that’s not for you. Put that back. The phone is for yousince I had you turn yours into a puddle of molten plastic on theengine of a stolen car.”
Anya lifted the phoneand programmed two dozen numbers from memory. “Thank you. Is niceworking with team who is not government. They will give to me newphone, but it will take five days and will have inside trackingdevice.”
As they accelerated onInterstate 95 north of Baltimore, Skipper turned to Anya. “It’sreally good to have you back.”
Anya couldn’t returnthe gaze. “I am sorry.”
“Why are you sorry?You explained why you couldn’t reach out. It wasn’t your fault.It’s just nice knowing you’re okay.”
“This is not why I amsorry. I am sorry because I am not back. I cannot be back with youand the others. I made promise to Gwynn.”
Skipper frowned. “Whatkind of promise?”
“I promised to her Iwould work with government until we are finished fighting Russianmafia.”
The analyst reached forthe Russian’s hand. “There’s no reason you can’t do both.”
“There are manyreasons I cannot do both. When I am inside . . . what is word again?”
“Infiltrate.”
“Yes, infiltrate.When I infiltrate mafia with Gwynn, we are new people. You would sayundercover. This means we must have large space between who we arepretending to be and people we love. It is too dangerous without thisspace.”
“I understand,”Skipper said, “but during the times you aren’t undercover—youknow, like between missions or whatever—we can hang out, right?”
“I do not know, but Iwant this hanging out with you and others.”
“Speaking of theothers, why haven’t you called Mongo yet? I gave you a phone, andyou’ve been playing with it for an hour.”
“I do not know whatto say to him.”
“Just tell him you’reokay. He’s worried sick.”
She dialed the numberand let her finger hover over the key that would connect her with theman who worshipped the ground on which she walked.
Skipper eyed the phoneand hovering finger, then quickly reached across the console andpushed the button. Anya watched the symbols on the screen indicatingthere was a phone ringing somewhere on Earth in the pocket of agentle giant. She lifted the phone to her ear and heard the deep,kind voice of Marvin
