Free Orphan X: A Novel by Gregg Hurwitz

condo.
    A few minutes later, Mia emerged from Peter’s room, stretching her lower back. “ Man. I gotta stop that kid from growing any more.”
    She detoured through the kitchen and came to the couch with two glasses of wine, one of which she placed in Evan’s hand.
    She plunked down on the cushion next to him. “He’s a good kid. Thank God.” She took a sip, pursed her lips.
    Evan sensed she had more to say, so he remained silent.
    “My husband and I couldn’t have kids, so we adopted a year after we got married.” She shifted forward to set down her glass, and her skirt slid a few inches up from her knees. “Had just bought a house when…” She took up her curls in the back, slipping a hair tie from around her wrist to make a ponytail. “Pancreatic cancer. That’s just not how that story’s supposed to end, you know?” She slapped her knees gently with her palms. “But that’s how it ended.”
    A night-light plugged low in the opposite wall backlit her and suffused her thick chestnut hair, tinting the edges. He noticed the delicate curve at the base of her neck, the birthmark on her temple, the way her full lips met. He had noticed a lot about her before. But never these things.
    “Do you regret it?”
    “The marriage? Not for a minute.” She pouted her lips thoughtfully. “I will tell you what I do regret. Not the fights, because everyone needs to fight. But the stupid fights. I mean, did he take a condescending tone to me at dinner? Did I tell him to put that thing on the calendar? The dumb-ass escalations. A day of thawing out. So much wasted time.” She shook her head, and the glow played tricks in her hair. “Don’t get me wrong. It was a real marriage with real problems, sure, but we loved each other. Oh, did I love him. A guy can love a million women. But a man, a man loves one woman a million ways.” She reached again for her wine. “God, listen to me. It would’ve been so much easier if he’d just left me. Ran off with some secretary.”
    “Do people do that anymore?”
    “I don’t suppose.” Another sip. “But dying ?” She shook her head. “It’s torture, because he never dies really, now. He’s martyred. A damn saint. He’s perfect in my mind.”
    “He’s lucky,” Evan said.
    She looked him full in the face for the first time since she’d sat down. The air conditioner blew cool on their necks, and a light hummed in the kitchen, and far away he could hear the elevator stir into motion.
    “God,” she said. “I’m just talking and talking. I guess that’s what people do around you. Fill the space.”
    His gaze had dipped slightly to her lips, and he sensed that she was looking at his.
    A buzzing emanated from his pocket, so out of place that he didn’t at first register what it was.
    The black phone.
    Ringing. Now.
    Five days from completing his last mission. Morena had said she wanted to move fast, but this was too fast. It could only mean one thing.
    Something was wrong.
    The phone had never rung when he was in someone else’s presence. He was infrequently around others, and the calls were rare.
    It struck him that he had tensed on the couch beside Mia. He fished the RoamZone from his pocket and rose.
    “I’m sorry,” he said. “I have to go.”
    He’d already turned for the door when he registered, after the fact, the flicker of hurt in her eyes.
    Stepping into the hall, he answered the phone. “Do you need my help?”
    “God, yes, please.” A feminine voice, one he didn’t recognize. “They’re going to kill me.”

 
    10
    Cloak and Dagger
    Evan felt a surge of distrust. He realized he was pressing the phone tightly to his cheek and forced his hand to relax. “Where did you get this number?”
    “A girl. A Hispanic girl.” The woman on the other end of the phone was breathing hard, sending bursts of static across the connection. “Are you the Nowhere Man? Really?”
    To hold the signal, he took the northeast stairwell up, jogging but landing