On Three

"Meet your new wife."

SATURDAY, STILL THE MARRIOTT ROYAL AURORA (MOSCOW, RUSSIA) : 1307

"You've got contact down in Belarus. Maybe a tip on the drive," Reiner's voice rang clear out of the burner phone stashed between me and Harris. "You guys are going to hate me but I'm sending you over there."

"What's the brief?" Harris inquired.

"Same as before. Seduce and swipe if it's there. Seduce and interrogate if it's not there. This one's clean though which means no blowing cover." I could picture him narrowing his eyes at us, daring us to disobey his orders.

"Am I ever going to stop being used as a sex object, Chief?" I asked, more than a little irritated.

"Actually, it's not you this time, White Mercury."

Harris and I exchanged a look. I was holding in a laugh while he looked horrified. "Excuse me?" He choked out.

"The target is a straight female," Chief Reiner clarified. "She's sort of known for sleeping with married men."

"But I'm not married."

"Yes, you are," he sounded way too smug. "Harris, look to your left and meet your new wife."

I turned my head to catch him staring at me. My first thought was no freaking way and my second thought was how the hell did that old bat know I was on Harris's left?

"I'm a spy," he replied.

Shit, I said that out loud?

"Yes, you did," he paused as my eyes grew in size, "By the way, this 'old bat' signs your paychecks."

I scoffed, "I haven't gotten a paycheck from you in two years, Chief."

"Regardless: you leave immediately. Files will be waiting for you on the plane. You have an hour and twenty-five minutes to learn all about your new identities, Mr. and Mrs. Kovalsky."

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SATURDAY, DRUZYA RESTAURANT AND BAR (MINSK, BELARUS) : 1456

"Suck it up and be a man," I lowered my voice, using his codename for the first time in a long time, "Black King." I wound my arm around his as we made our way into the bar. "And stop fidgeting," I whispered and tugged harshly on his hand that was profusely smoothing out the imaginary wrinkles in his shirt. Harris was a good agent. He could handle most anything. Fire a gun? Sure. Take out five attackers? Absolutely. Work tech? Without a complaint. But, ask the man to seduce a woman and he turns to mush. Wuss.

Staring at me for half a second, he turned to face front again, rearranging his lips into a confident smile. He gripped my hand and whispered into his comms unit for my ears only, "Target at two o'clock."

Standing next to the target, Tatsiana Bueso, was a man about 6'1" with dark, almost black hair and brown eyes. He had a strong build and then I zeroed in on his roots. He dyed his hair and I could tell by the small amount of blonde peeking out of his scalp. My gaze travelled down to his hands to see a wedding band wrapped around his left ring finger. Drifting over to Tatsiana's hand, I found its match. "She's married," I stated.

"That slightly complicates things, doesn't it?" He asked, rhetorically.

"So...I entertain him, you entertain her?"