Free Smoke and Shadow by Gamal Hennessy Page A

happens to the mission when he goes too far?
What happens to her? We can ’ t just sit and watch while he just
does whatever he wants to her. ”
     
    Baker breathed an
exasperated sigh. “ OK. Let ’ s
look at the options. If you get in the middle of it to protect her,
the fish won ’ t
bite and the whole trip is a waste of time. ”
     
    “ What about an
anonymous threat? ”
     
    “ To tip him off
to the fact someone is watching him? Don ’ t you think he might mention your
threat to the fish once they make contact? ”
     
    “ We
don ’ t
know-- ”
     
    “ He
can ’ t know
you ’ re there,
Smoke. He can ’ t
get picked up by LE. You can ’ t remove her from the fish tank and
you can ’ t let her
know you ’ re there
either. If there is any deviation from his standard routine, if he
gets spooked about anything, the fish will swim away. A lot of
people are counting on this meal. You just need to hang
on. ”
     
    Chu pressed his
fingers to the bridge of his nose to release the painful pressure
in his head. “ You ’ re not
hearing me. I ’ m
not the one who needs to hang on. I ’ m not in the tank with him. We
don ’ t know the
timetable for contact. We don ’ t know if she can last long enough
for the fish to bite. So what happens when he goes too far and she
doesn ’ t get up?
The fish aren ’ t
going to be able to grab the bait if LE locks him
away. ”
     
    “ I hear you and
I agree with you. But I think you ’ re underestimating her. She lived in
the tank before we got here. She ’ s been married to him for years and
she lived with him before the marriage. This isn ’ t a new situation. She coped with it
before us. She can-- ”
     
    “ So
we ’ re going to
punish her for being tough enough to last as long as she has? What
kind of fucked up shop are we running? ” Chu heard his voice rising and felt
the strain in his lungs as his chest heaved. He needed something to
do, someone to hit to release this tension.
     
    Baker
didn ’ t answer
right away. Chu imagined him behind his desk absorbing the
frustration. “ We ’ re in a
business that doesn ’ t have the luxury of right or wrong choices, Smoke. In times
like this, we have to go with the best worst option. We
can ’ t sacrifice
thousands of lives to try and save one. That means she has to stay
put and so do you. You do anything else and the whole trip goes
sideways. ”
     
    Chu kicked back
at the wall with the heel of his shoe. “ I can ’ t accept that. ”
     
    “ I know you
don ’ t accept it. I
know you better than that. I ’ m just asking you to do it and not
take your frustrations out on my tech. ”
     
    “ His ‘ cultural
perspective ’ is
not my problem. ” Chu ’ s mind
flashed back to beatings in his past.
     
    “ You ’ re
right. Your problem is you ’ re trying to be
Batman. ”
     
    “ What? Listen, I
don ’ t want to hear
any of your stupid analogies right now-- ”
     
    “ OK, but this
isn ’ t really about
a backwards colleague, a brutal man or an abused woman. All this is
about you. ”
     
    “ Are you saying
I don ’ t give a
fuck about her at all? ” Chu heard the echoes of her crying floating in the park
breeze.
     
    “ No.
It ’ s just the
opposite. You need to save her because you ’ re trying to change the past. You
want to get back what was taken from you. But you
can ’ t fix what
happened, Smoke. You couldn ’ t stop the abuse before and you
can ’ t stop it
now. ”
     
    Chu forced a
laugh. “ You ’ re not
doing too well as an insightful comic geek. Batman lost his parents
to a random mugger. Both my parents are still
alive. ”
     
    Baker
didn ’ t echo Chu ’ s hollow humor. “ Maybe, but a stranger took away Bruce
Wayne ’ s family.
That might be easier than what you went through. ”
     
    Chu felt the
convulsive spasms of pain in her broken body. “ Look,
I ’ m gonna go.
I ’ ll smooth things
out with your tech, but I need to make some other
calls. ”
     
    Chu