Black Ops (Presidential Agent 5)

She sat up.

"Duffy went off the deep--"

"Is that it?" She snatched the story out of his hand before he had a chance to reply.

After a moment, she said softly but matter-of-factly: "And so I am now the Widow Alekseeva."

Castillo didn't say anything.

She swung her legs out of bed.

"Pray with me, my darling," she said as she knelt next to the bed. She saw the look on his face. "Please, my Carlos."

She bent her head and put her hands together.

Shit!

Castillo, more than a little awkwardly, knelt beside her and put his palms together.

He glanced at Svetlana. Her lips were moving, but no sound was coming out of her mouth. Twice she crossed herself.

So what am I supposed to pray for?

"Thank you, God, for letting Duffy take out my lover's husband"?

Or, "God, I hope you didn't make him suffer too long between Duffy shooting .22-rounds in his balls and finishing him off with the shotgun"?

Damn, I am indeed a prick.

Oh, Jesus, why didn't I think of this before? "Dear God, please make this as easy as possible on Svetlana. She's really a good woman, a good Christian, and she's going to blame herself for this. If you want to punish anybody, punish me for not being able to get that cold-blooded Irish bastard to back off.

"Let her really be pissed at me, just so long as she doesn't blame herself. She's sure as hell going to get into the sin thing, because we've been sharing a bed while she was still married, and will decide that this is her punishment.

"Well, lay that on me, too. She didn't rape me. It just happened. I take full responsibility. Let her be really pissed at me. I probably deserve it, and after a while, maybe she'll come around. Just make this easy on her.

"I'll even take the blame for the other Russian Delchamps whacked in Vienna. I should have seen that coming and stopped it.

"Just be good to Svetlana, Lord. Amen."

Svetlana stopped praying and got to her feet. More than a little awkwardly, Castillo stood, too. She touched his face and kissed him.

He held her.

"Thank you," she said.

"Don't be silly."

"What did you pray for?"

"Evgeny's soul," he lied.

Where the fuck did that come from?

On top of everything else, I'm lying through my teeth.

Add that to my demerits list, God.

"Me, too," she said. "But mostly I prayed for us."