directly to anything. The witnesses who could have implicated him were all dead.
Bascomb-Coombs's miracle computer was also dead. Some kind of timed destruct code that didn't get turned off when he wasn't there to disarm it. The Brits had the machine, but they didn't know what it was they had. Maybe someday they could puzzle it out.
So, no international incident. Bad guys mostly dead. It could have been worse.
But there was Toni, standing near the big potted plant in the lobby. She hadn't talked to him about Cooper, had refused to listen to him say anything about it.
She looked at him, and her face was so sad he thought she might cry. So sad it wanted to make him cry. He had to fix this somehow.
'Toni, I'm sorry, I—'
'No,' she said, cutting him off. 'Not today. Your flight leaves in a couple of hours.'
'Yes. I'm staying here for a while.'
'But—'
'No. I have a lot to think about, Alex, and so do you.' She looked at him, and he saw the tears forming, starting to spill.
'Toni, you don't understand—'
'No. Not now. Don't say another word about it.'
Tears streamed freely down her face now.
She didn't know he hadn't actually slept with Cooper. She must believe that he had. And when it got right down to it, did it really make that much difference? He had wanted Cooper. He had damned near had her. Lying naked on a table with a woman who was naked, did it really matter that they hadn't consummated things? He had to tell her, but the look she gave him froze the words in this throat. Would it make things better? Or worse?
Would she even believe him?
'Okay, sure, take some time, whatever you need. We can… deal with this when you get back to work.'
'No, we can't. I'm not coming back to work. It's too much for us to have professional and private lives mixed together. I quit, Alex. As of today, right now, this minute, I'm no longer working for Net Force.'
'What? You can't!'
'You aren't going to tell me I can't do anything right now, maybe not ever. Good-bye, Alex. I–I'll miss you.'
With that, she walked away.
Michaels watched her leave, unable to speak, to move, even to breathe.
Oh, God, Toni! What had he done?
He stood that way for a long time, as if in a trance, and when he came out of it, she was gone.
Gone.
