"You behave like a civilian!" I snap at her.

"Yeah," she agrees. "That's what I am at the moment."

Gabriel is outright annoying. Just as if we weren't speaking the same language.

"And that's what I plan to remain, too," she goes on. "So will you please stop behaving like a total amateur, and advise your tactical unit friends against taking notes about me? I'm just an innocent kindergarten teacher, accidentally involved in your heroic showdown with an unknown armed asset, who wanted to destroy these beautiful marble statues for no reason, and that's it."

"Consider it done," I assure her. "But you should come with me."

"I won't."

"But you must," I insist. "And, by the way, I have the means to make you."

"Then how are you better than Mint, again?" she asks.

She's infuriating. Now I hate her sense of logic. The same one I loved so much in the past.

"I just want to take you to safety," I tell her, looking her deep in the eyes.

"No, you want to have my brain for your purposes. But your purposes aren't my purposes anymore."

She's totally inflexible. It seems I have to give her details to convince her. It's something I wanted to avoid because the last thing I need is a panicking woman by my side.

"Listen, Gabriel," I whisper to her. "I don't want to scare you, but the world is in danger. There is a virus."

"Yeah, I've heard the news," she answers.

"Okay. That's precisely what I want you to warn about. The news is lying."

"Of course it is," she says, looking at me as if I was excited about the sky being blue. "I mean, I've heard the news, and I was completely able to decide what was true and what was not, and guess the rest. I also happen to know that there's a 88% chance of a worldwide pandemic unless someone comes up with a vaccine very soon. I also could give the world's so-called leaders a piece of advice about the urgent points of intervention, using a simple map. But they won't ask me, obviously."

I stare at her, speechless.

"Is there anything else you wanted to tell me, Duke?" she asks kindly.

"There is a vaccine," I blurt out. Something I absolutely shouldn't reveal to any civilian, by any means. "And Mint wants to steal it."

There goes another piece of classified information. But it's vital that I convince her.

"Good," she answers.

I stare at her again. She must be joking.

"Mint went rogue," I try to explain to her.

"Yeah, we've already talked about that, remember?" she says, looking bored.

"He has a mercenary army. He turned into a proper warlord or something."

"Nice job." She nods appreciatively. "He's always been a bit of an overachiever, right?"

She can't be serious. I feel the urge to explain to her as if she were a child, while I know very well that she has the double of my IQ. Or the triple, rather. And she still doesn't seem to understand. It's maddening.

"He's bad," I inform her.

This must work. Bad is a good word. Very simple. And it describes Mint perfectly.

"Is he?" she snorts. "It wasn't him who targeted me just a few minutes ago, was he?"

"Okay. That was a bad-ish move, I admit. But he doesn't have a few questionable choices, he chose to be an enemy of humanity. The universal evil."

"Universal evil doesn't exist, Duke," she says, smiling. "Don't be silly."

I groan in frustration. Talking to her feels like kicking a brick wall barefoot. You know you don't have a chance.

"Mint's services are for hire, you know," I tell her. To avoid feeling guilty, I simply decide to stop counting the classified intel I'm disclosing to her. "And his current client has an agenda. He wants to end our civilization. So yes, basically, it's a good versus bad story. We, at the Agency, trying to prevent this Pavlov from—"

"You've been watching too many Bond movies, Duke," she cuts in. "I really have to go. The children have to pee. And they are not very good at holding it."

"No, I wasn't," I protest. It's the most unfair thing that I've ever been accused of.

She doesn't apologize. She turns away and starts to collect her children.

"Hey, you can't go back to your life as if nothing happened!" I yell at her back. "You're risking your new identity!"

"No, I'm not. As long as Mint and you don't risk it, I'm safe. No one else knows my face."

"What?! What about our superiors? What about Mr. Toe?"

"No one, I say. Tactical controllers are covert persons with a five-step identification process. So I count on your discretion. I know you could easily find me, but please don't. And if you meet Mint, please, tell him the same. Oh, and don't kill each other."

"I can't promise that," I answer. "I have to stop him."

She shakes her head with a gentle smile on her face. It infuriates me to no end.

"I would have killed him if you wouldn't have intervened, you know," I snap. "But you saved his life. He's always been your favorite."

I wish I didn't sound pitifully bitter. And I wish I could stop telling her things I've never planned to tell.

"You're protecting a dangerous criminal, ignoring the safety of the whole fucking world! You're defending him against me! You're playing favorites again!"

"I'm defending you too, Duke," she sighs. "It's my duty. To not let any of you get lost."

"You can't protect us both," I snap. "You must choose! It's him or me now!"

She just smiles in a very annoying way. Like someone who knows better.