Rare Vigilance (Whitethorn Agency)

He tapped his sunglasses, which he still hadn’t removed, and confirmed, “Yep.”

“And you haven’t been to bed yet, have you?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Trying to figure out how to deal with a situation that came up.”

She grabbed a tissue from the box in her desk drawer, kicked off her heels, drew her feet up under her in her chair, and leaned back to watch him as she ate. “Do tell.”

He did. She didn’t react as he told her what had transpired at Rapture, not even at his confused explanation of why he’d reacted so harshly, though he guessed she probably could read through the lines of his narrative to see the embarrassing confession underneath. Bea had always been good at keeping her thoughts to herself while Atlas talked through things. It had drawn them closer when they were younger and he’d vent about the kids who liked to pick on him for his secondhand clothes or the brown bag lunches the cafeteria workers served him when he couldn’t pay his hot lunch balance. When he was recovering stateside, her silence had given him the safety he needed to explain his physical symptoms or night terrors. Now, her unwavering support gave him the courage to finish speaking and await her judgment.

Bea finished the last bite of her pastry and licked a lingering spot of dark chocolate away. “Well, I’d say last night went badly.”

He winced.

She wiped her fingers clean, tossed the tissue in the trash, and leaned more comfortably against the arm of her chair. “Relax. You didn’t do enough to get fired. You can defend all your actions and show you were working in the best interest of the contract. Mr. Vladislavic may not take action against you, but I doubt you’ll be able to salvage your relationship with Mr. Slava so easily.”

“He already hates me.”

Bea shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. His feelings toward you have no bearing on this. What does is whether he’ll work with you or actively against you. Based on what I heard from other agents who walked away from the contract, he can be a prickly son of a bitch when he doesn’t get his way.”

“Don’t I know it,” Atlas muttered.

“And you said he doesn’t always obey his father,” she continued.

“No. That would make things much easier.”

“So why would the threat of taking your concerns to Mr. Vladislavic mean anything to him?” Bea asked.

“Wait... What?” Atlas asked.

“Look, I know that Mr. Vladislavic is paying us. Normally, that means we’d follow his orders to the T. But he’s giving Mr. Slava free rein and isn’t getting involved in conflicts between his son and you, or any of our other agents. So this issue isn’t something he’ll be able to solve.”

“But that means—”

“You and Mr. Slava need to figure it all out.” She rose from her chair, slipped her feet back into her heels, and grabbed a piece of paper from her desk. “Call him now. I want to know how you both intend to move forward by the time I get back.”

“Shit,” Atlas whispered when the door closed behind her. He closed his eyes and fished his phone out of his pocket. He didn’t have Cristian’s private number; the closest he had was Helias’s, and he was loath to bother the man. But he knew Bea wouldn’t accept any excuses, so he dialed anyway.

Helias picked up on the second ring. “Mr. Kinkaid, how can I assist you?”

“I’m sorry for calling so late after my shift,” he said, fumbling a little over the apology, “but I needed to speak to Mr. Slava and didn’t have a way to reach him.”

“Ah, I see. One moment, please.”

Atlas tapped his fingers on Bea’s desk while he waited. The nervous energy didn’t dissipate. If anything, it got worse when Helias returned to the line and said, “I’m putting Mr. Slava on now.”

“What do you want?” Cristian’s brusque question reset something in Atlas’s brain. He was used to dealing with this Cristian, and he found his footing much faster than he had last night when he’d been confronted by the man’s humiliation instead.

“I needed to apologize,” Atlas said.

Silence from the other end of the line.

“I reacted poorly out of my surprise by the situation,” he went on. “I would like to avoid such reactions in the future.”

“I’m not going to stop finding...partners,” Cristian warned.