“Me, too,” Tanya said, leaning into him. The two of them stood like that for a few sweet seconds, then she said, “They won, didn’t they. You were seeking something, I was seeking something, but in the end, the all-powerful, the all-reaching they … victory belonged to them. Not us.”
He found he enjoyed her being next to him. “Depends how you define victory, I guess. Right now, I don’t care.”
“Me either.”
He kissed her forehead again, she squeezed his rough hand, and they went back to their own vehicles.
Zach shifted his old truck back into drive and headed down into Turner, followed by a small white car that was offering something special. Once again, he passed that metal sign announcing he was on the Montgomery Morrow Memorial Highway.
He paid the sign no heed.
He was finally going home.
partial summary transcript
Daily Threat Assessment Task Force Teleconference Call
April 22nd
Homeland Security representative: “Before we go over today’s agenda, I just want to welcome our new FBI representative, Special Agent Wendell Blake. Wendell, glad to have you here.”
FBI representative: “Happy to be here.”
State Department representative: “Welcome aboard.”
FBI: “Thanks.”
Homeland Security: “If I can speak out of turn for a moment, Wendell, I truly hope you turn out be a real team player. Nothing personal against your predecessor, you understand, but in these sessions, we all need to pull together in the correct direction. We don’t need someone tossing sand in the gears. No offense, you understand.”
FBI: “None taken.”
State Department: “So what happened to Tom?”
FBI: “Transferred to Boise.”
CIA: “What, the Siberia station not available?”
[[[Laughter]]]
Homeland Security: “Very well, let’s move on. Wendell, do you have anything you want to add to today’s agenda?”
FBI: “Not really, Gordon. All’s quiet.”
Homeland Security: “Good.”
about the author
Brendan DuBois of New Hampshire is the award-winning author of 17 novels and more than 150 short stories.
His short fiction has appeared in Playboy, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, The Saturday Evening Post, and numerous anthologies including The Best American Mystery Stories of the Century, published in 2000, as well as the The Best American Noir of the Century, published in 2010.
His stories have twice won him the Shamus Award from the Private Eye Writers of America, and have also earned him three Edgar Allan Poe Award nominations from the Mystery Writers of America. DuBois has won two Barry Awards and an Al Blanchard Crime Fiction Award and is also a Jeopardy! gameshow champion.
Visit his website at www.BrendanDuBois.com.
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