page20 (1/2)

It shamed him to remember “All of us—et ive her a lot of respect Not then It wasn’t until she followed us into the Marine Corps that we started seeing her aswellas someone who deserved our respect

“Then she went to work for the agency—the saency McKinnon works for And a few years back, she stepped in front of a man to take a bullet meant for him Saved his lifebut almost lost her own” His face contracted in pain, the pain he still felt over al his only sister

Angelina reached across the table and touched Alec’s hand in silent comfort “Why did you tell me this?” she asked softly

“Because I didn’t want you to have any illusions about how easy women have it in the American culture” His eyes held hers “And because I didn’t want you to have any illusions about me, either I’m not the man you think I am”

“That is not true,” she contradicted “Perhaps you do not see yourself as I do Just tellingit to me and to yourself—no Zakharian man I knoould do this That makes you unique, Alec Unique to me”

They walked afterward, both needing the exercise after the elina pointed out soh the central district in companionable silence

“Drago is a beautiful city,” Alec said finally “Unspoiled I like that It’s different from most European capitals”

“Where else have you been posted?” she asked, unable to keep a touch of wistfulness from her voice She loved her country, loved her city, but she had drea someday, dreams that hadn’t yet materialized Except for her trip to the United States searching for Caterina But that had hardly been a pleasure trip

“I was in The Hague a few years back The Netherlands The International Criminal Court is headquartered there That was an experience, let me tell you”

“How so?”

He expounded for a few ue, Liam was stationed in Rome, which is about the closest we’ve ever worked to each other except for the six ether”

“But you are still close to your brother That is what you said, yes?”

Alec laughed “Yeah Even though we’ve rarely seen each other since we left home, except for the occasional Christmas holiday”

“My cousin was—” She broke off

“You said the other day you had a cousin as like a little sister to you,” Alec reminded her “What happened to her?”

Angelina thought about it for aher words carefully “She disappeared o She was only sixteen”