MAZE OF SPIES by Vin Strong

Author:Vin Strong [Strong, Vin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-04-24T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Brianna woke at six-thirty local time after enjoying her first full night’s sleep since the start of this assignment. She checked her messages and found nothing. She texted Max and he replied back ten minutes later that he was fine and had just woken up.

She showered and dressed quickly, then made and drank a cup of coffee with equal efficiency. By seven a.m., she was eating breakfast, a granola bar, an apple and a muffin from the hotel’s welcome basket. It wasn’t a hearty meal, exactly, but it was enough for now. She preferred to eat light on assignment, anyway. Parkour on a full stomach was not fun.

Not that she had any immediate plans to free run. Oracle would be looking for her, and if she was the only person hopping from rooftop to rooftop, she would make herself an easy target.

Why didn’t Sam tell her about Oracle? He only gave her minimal information. She could have gotten killed.

Her mind was running away with her. He might not know any more than she did. He was a celebrated agent, but he had never made director like Jane, and he had been retired for years. It was perfectly conceivable that he had never been brought fully into the loop.

She dialed his number, and, as always, he answered on the third ring. “Bri. How are you?”

“I’ve been better,” she said.

She shared what Jane had told her about Oracle. It was a risk, but she needed his advice. And she wanted to see if his reaction might tell her whether he hid the information from her or just didn’t know.

His reaction told her neither of those things. “MI6, huh? I suspected that.”

“So why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I wasn’t sure, and you have a tendency to conflate speculation with reality.”

She frowned. “Sam, I was shot at yesterday.”

“Really? I’m sorry. I didn’t know that. By Oracle?”

“Yes.” She told him about the chase and the loss of their best lead to a sniper’s bullet. She told him about her conversation with Jane, and then the ominous phone call she received just before bed.

When she finished, Sam muttered, “Jesus. If he’s learned anything from MI6, then it’s no wonder he’s been so hard to catch. The only people more dangerous than MI6 are Mossad.”

“Fascinating as it is to rank intelligence agencies,” Brianna said impatiently, “I need to know how to stop Oracle. The ball’s in my court now, and apparently I’m playing the ’96 Chicago Bulls.”

“I’ll pretend I understand the baseball reference,” Sam said.

“Oh, Lord,” Brianna said.

“Football. Whatever.”

“Basketball. Seriously? You know that little about sports?”

“I was more of a hunting enthusiast,” Sam said, “but here’s my guess. And I’m sorry, but it is just a guess. It’s an educated one, though. I don’t think Oracle is your shooter.”

“No?”

“No. MI6 prefers to run things from a distance and work through assets. They don’t like having their own boots pressing buttons unless it’s absolutely unavoidable. I realize that Oracle was one of those boots when he worked

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