Alex woke me. A warm sunbeam slanted through the half-open blinds onto my face. As she tried to slip away, I caught her by the hips and pulled her down onto my bench.“I brought you coffee and a croissant....

“So, you decided to take a break to let your colleagues forget about the incident?”“Yes and no. It’s not as if they’ll miss me, but they’re not hostile either. They don’t care what the boss suspects. You remember Shaheed?...

Thankfully, Alex had chosen to travel by night train. That mode had its complications, but it was far less risky than flying. I knew the exact date and departure time, yet I couldn’t book a ticket — safety precautions...

I now had the necklace. The next step was delivering it to my client in Tolosa.Delivery was by far the easiest part of the entire mission. But laziness had always been my biggest flaw. I was chronically negligent with...