A Murder of Crows by Terrence McCauley

Author:Terrence McCauley [McCauley, Terrence]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
Publisher: Polis Books
Published: 2016-08-23T04:00:00+00:00

AFTER HE’D gotten dressed and was ready to leave, he found Tali on the sofa in her living room typing away at her laptop. Her back was to him. Her laptop had a screen guard, so he couldn’t see what she was typing, but he didn’t need to. He knew it was most likely an email to her bosses back in Tel Aviv, reporting every detail he had told her about Bajjah’s death.

Her email might lead to an order from her bosses to lean harder on Hicks for more information. They also might order her to wait for Hicks’ report and see what it said. It was nearly impossible to predict how the Mossad might respond to bad news.

He wanted to resent her for sending the email, but he couldn’t. She was on loan to the University and she was getting paid by the University, but she was still technically and legally an agent of the Israeli government. Hicks had always been mindful of the loyalties of University Faculty Members from foreign governments. Now he was the Dean, he would have to be even more careful. Tali was the kind of woman where a smart man had to keep a lot of things in mind or risk losing himself in her charms. Seduction was one of the many reasons why she had been such an effective agent. Hicks knew he wasn’t immune.

Perhaps that was why keeping the details about Jabbar’s network from her had bothered him, though he couldn’t explain why. He knew it wasn’t love. Tali was a tough woman to forget and nearly impossible to love.

But while they had been together in bed, he had sensed something different between them, something real and deep even though it had only lasted for the briefest of moments. Something in her gasps or a flutter of her eyes, something unguarded and real they had never shared when they had made love in the past. Something more than lust, but shy of love.

And as he stood by the door and watched her fingers snap away at her laptop, knowing she was betraying him with each keystroke, he forced himself to remember Tali Saddon wasn’t a castoff like Rahul Patel or a lifer like him and Roger. Part of her loyalty would always lie elsewhere, just as Hicks’ loyalty would always lie with protecting his country.

He made a point of zipping up his jacket, hoping the sound might make her stop typing and look at him. He knew she had heard him. She kept typing anyway.

But he knew she must have trusted him on some level. After all, she was typing with her back to him.

It wasn’t much, but it was all he could take with him into the close hours of a chilly March night.

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