The End Game by Raymond Khoury Read Free Book Online

bow.
    “Kon'nichiwa, watashi no kunshu.”
    This was another of his tradecraft obsessions: routing our phone calls through Japan-based Skype accounts that he’d hijacked and never referring to himself or to me by our real names on any calls or texts. Which made no sense at all, given that we weren’t even remotely Japanese. “Kurt, seriously. We’re actually here, together.”
    “No names, dude,” he said, flinching. “Come on. What if someone’s tailing you and listening in on us?”
    “I think I’ve got that covered,” I said, then added, pointedly, “Kurt.” With a juvenile half-grin.
    He just brought it out in me.
    He groaned, then gestured around him. “What do you think? Cool spot for a meet, no?”
    “Pure genius.” See what I mean? We all do it.
    On the other hand, I did resist saying “Kurt” one more time.
    Instead, I said, “You sure you haven’t spent time at Quantico?” No way could I kill the sarcasm entirely. Especially when Kurt had me on a continuing tour of the myriad attractions of Essex County.
    “Quantico, shwantico,” he scoffed. “I’d like to see how long you and your guys would survive in the siege of Orgrimmar.”
    I ducked asking what that was—the cultural reference gap between us was beyond unbridgeable—and studied his face, then I scanned him up and down more carefully. Something else had changed, something other than the dropped weight: a general overhaul on the grooming front. Then it hit me. The Amazing Shrinking Kurt was chasing a female. As impossible as that sounded, I was somehow sure he was definitely on the prowl, and his upbeat manner made it clear he thought he was getting somewhere.
    Not ideal, from a purely selfish point of view. Last thing I needed was for Kurt’s mind to be diverted from the hunt.
    I spread my hands quizzically. “Who is she?”
    Eyes wide, Kurt pulled back his head for a second. “What? No!”
    “Come on.”
    “How’d you—?” Then his grin returned and he wagged a puffy finger at me. “Oh, you’re good. You’re like so totally in the zone.”
    I tilted my head, my expression egging him for an answer. “Spill.”
    “You’re gonna love her. She’s great. And she’s solid, a real asset for the team. She’s going in deeper than I ever could.”
    I felt a stab of bile in the back of my throat. “‘Going in?’ What are you talking about? You told her? About us?”
    Kurt backed away a couple of steps. “Relax, dude. Hear me out. She doesn’t know who you are, doesn’t know why we’re looking for Corrigan. But she’s got skills, man. Real skills.”
    I took a deep breath and calmed myself down. Kurt was no fool. He also wasn’t having much success in penetrating the CIA’s servers beyond what we already knew. Maybe he did need help. I was well aware that hacking government agencies had become considerably more difficult since the exploits of Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden. But this was a dangerous game to invite someone to play.
    I gestured to an empty bench. We both sat, Kurt edging away till there was a couple of feet between us.
    “OK, so . . . who is she?”
    Nervously, he crossed and uncrossed his legs. “She’s called Gigi. Gigi Decker. Here . . .”
    He took out his smartphone, swiped his finger across its screen to unlock it, and handed it to me. Its screen showed a full-figured and surprisingly attractive redhead who was—presumably, knowing Kurt’s interests as I did—dressed in the garb of some kind of World of Warcraft character.
    Gigi was clearly screensaver-serious.
    He reclaimed the phone. “Lady Jaina Proudmoore. Archmage of Kirin Tor. That’s her real hair, by the way.” He added this last part with genuine pride.
    “I can see what you mean by solid. She seems totally . . . reliable.” I can’t really raise one eyebrow, but if I could, it would have been up.
    Kurt looked offended. “Hey, when she’s not in Pandaria, she’s one hell of a hacker. I mean, truly outstanding. She’s