Standing in the deep shadows, the do-gooder from the coffee shop was leaning against the hood of his car, obviously lying in wait.
Anger propelling him, Drex didn’t break stride but walked straight up to him and demanded, “What the fuck, Gif?”
Chapter 14
Drex sat slumped in the driver’s seat of his car. For as long as he could, he withstood the weight of Gif’s stare from the passenger side, then turned to him. “What?”
Gif the unflappable said, “You have to ask?”
“Why were you tailing me?”
“Why were you tailing her?”
“Surveillance.”
“Surveillance?”
“Surely you’re familiar with the word. Derived from the French—”
“Drex—”
“—verb—”
“Drex,” Gif repeated, putting some oomph behind it.
He lapsed into angry silence and stewed, then snidely asked, “Did you and Mike toss a coin to see who would be the monitor, and you won? Or did you lose?”
“He and I discussed who should come and decided that—”
“You’re a sneakier spy.”
“Indubitably.”
Drex scoffed. “Hate to break it to you, buddy, but you’re slipping. The first rule of working undercover is to stay the hell undercover. Don’t let the tailee know that he’s being tailed. In the coffee shop, what the hell were you thinking?”
“That I should intervene.”
“Why?”
“Because of the lady’s apparent distress.”
“I didn’t cause her distress.”
Gif conveyed his doubt by raising his eyebrows.
“I didn’t,” Drex said.
“Okay, but your manhandling wasn’t helping.”
“I didn’t manhandle her.”
Again the eyebrows went up.
Drex ignored them. “From now on, stay invisible, or you may forget how to.”
Gif gave him a rare, and somewhat smug, smile. “I had the veal Milanese and a glass of Brunello.”
Drex stared at him as though struck dumb, then shook his head with incredulity. “I never saw you.”