“We’re adults. We can handle sleeping in the same bed for one night.”
“Right,” she answered, turning her back to him.
Dutch walked over and put his hand on her shoulder. “Hey, look at me.”
Malin shook her head.
“Please?”
She turned around slowly.
“I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. What I meant was, I’ll respect your space, Malin, even though I’m sleeping next to you.”
“Gee, thanks.” She turned away again.
Dutch pulled his hand back and ran it through his hair. “I’m trying to do the right thing. Hell, I’m trying to say the right thing, and somehow, I’m failing miserably.”
Malin sat on the edge of the bed. “What’s really going on, Dutch? Tell me the truth. Why are we here? Who assigned me to you?”
He wanted to ask one of those questions of her. If he knew what was “really going on,” what she was mixed up in, he could help protect her a lot better than he could acting on blind instinct alone.
“I already told you that I was doing this on my own.”
“Why?”
Dutch paced the short expanse of their room. “I know you’re in over your head.”
Her shoulders went up, but before she could respond, he sat on the bed, next to her.
“Just like I was in over my head when you found me in Germany. Just like Mantis was in over his head when he decided to make a deal with Ghafor to exchange his life for mine. Just like Alegria was, trying to do the same thing. And Gunner with Zary, and even Doc with Merrigan. Every op, every mission, there are times we’re in over our heads and we need our teammates to help us out.”
She didn’t say anything, but he saw the tension leave her shoulders.
“Who’s your teammate on this, Malin? Who has your back? I’m guessing it’s not Sumner Copeland.”
She shook her head.
“Who, then?” He waited, but she didn’t respond. “You wanna know why I’m here. There’s your answer. I’m the one who’s got your back. You may not be ready to tell me what you’re involved in, but I’m here anyway.”
She took a deep breath and turned her head away. Dutch knew two things. First, she had tears in her eyes, and second, she wouldn’t want anyone to see them, especially him.
“You’re in danger, and I’m taking you somewhere safe, somewhere where you can hit the reset button, debrief, fill the tank, whatever you wanna call it.”
“Why?” she asked again.
“I just told you why.”
“Who’s funding this?”
Dutch stood and started pacing. “What difference does it make?”
“Because whoever is funding it, wants something.”
She was right. There were a lot of things “somebody” wanted. He wanted to keep her safe. He also wanted to know what her mission had really been, who was involved, and how she’d gotten in so deep that Sergei Orlov showed up in Islamabad.
Why was K19 funding it? Because he’d asked them to. If they had turned him down, he would’ve done it all on his own. He may still offer, depending on how long this went on and how deep in trouble she was.
The bottom line was K19 had agreed to pony up the money because they wanted to know what her mission had been too, and they probably wanted in on whatever it was. Not for the money, though. It was more about their collective commitment to ridding the world of as many of the bad guys and as much of the evil as they could.