Tell Me When It Hurts by Christine Whitehead Read Free Book Online Page A

for a hell of a lot more than self-defense around the old neighborhood. Assault weapons, silencers, stalking tactics. What is that training center you sent me to? I’m a nobody, a little intern here for a year, and you’re sending me to training for six months? For my own self-defense ? Come on!”
    Bennett hesitated, uncharacteristically reticent for a moment, then said quietly, “Well, Archer, I have to admit, we do hope you’ll stay on a few years. We feel there is a place for you here. We have many needs and programs to fill, and there is one highly specialized program that we think would be an especially good fit for you.”
    “ What are you talking about, Peter?” she interrupted. “I’m going to law school next year. I’m a one-year gofer—you know, see how the halls of Justice work, then move on?”
    Bennett sighed patiently. He was fiddling with a paper clip while leaning back in his chair. He closed his eyes for a moment, then said, “You see, Archer, you are an interesting combination, all in all. Quite interesting. You’re small and rather wholesome-looking, which makes you less likely to arouse suspicion at airports, or wandering around a foreign city, or . . . what have you. The Israelis always have these Amazon women you can spot a mile away. So obvious . . .” He sniffed with disdain. “You’re also smart. Your grade point average at Smith made you a summa and a junior Phi Beta Kappa, and your IQ puts you into Mensa territory.”
    Bennett was now studying the ceiling, speaking without pause, an adman rattling off the virtues of a new product.
    “ Further, you’re good with languages and are already fluent in Hungarian—a rare language and, just coincidentally, the very one used in some of our confidential communiqués. Not quite as rare as Navajo Wind talker language, it’s true, but it takes a while to figure out. Not Slavic, not Indo-European. Only Estonian and Finnish are even close, and barely at that. You’d be surprised how many linguists are stumped by it—at least for a half hour, maybe an hour, which is usually all we need. With limited resources, most intelligence training is going into Chinese, Arabic, Middle Eastern languages—nothing European. Strangely, Hungarian has worked very well for us of late.”
    Bennett paused as his secretary knocked and then entered with his coffee.
    “ Thank you, Cassie,” he said as she placed a mug on a coaster on his big mahogany desk.
    “ Anytime,” she said with a smile. “Anything else, Peter?”
    “ Not at the moment, thank you.”
    Cassie turned and left, closing the door quietly behind her. Archer sat stunned, her heart speeding up with each comment Bennett made. Her fingers were clenched in a tight knot in her lap. She wondered what else Peter Bennett knew about her. As it turned out, she didn’t have long to wait.
    “ Where was I? Oh, yes. You ride horses like an Apache, which, could prove useful in certain circumstances. And you have steady nerves, judging from the video I saw of you jumping a six-foot wall. Quite impressive, by the way. I liked watching you. Very elegant, you and that horse you had there.
    “ But I digress. You’re heterosexual—not that we care, but it keeps things simple. Our testing shows that you are resourceful and rather creative when backed into a corner, and tend not to be bound by traditional rules, although in many ways you are quite traditional—conservative, even.” Peter looked up for a moment and, seeing the confusion on Archer’s face, added, “Oh, right, when you took your law school entrance exam—you know, the LSATs—we added a little segment to the test that . . . er, no one else got. Just you. We’ve found it quite helpful in homing in on the characteristics we require. John Vilardi thought you might be a potential fit for us, and we are opportunistic in that way,” he continued matter-of-factly, without apology.
    “ We’d really like to have you for at least two years, Archer.