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But it was a good thing that he never caused that pain to Moira. And she died thinking he was one hundred percent perfect. Probably the last person in the world to ever think so.
He stripped off his clothes, changed into his workout shorts and tee, and took the express elevator to the gym on the bottom floor of the high-end apartment complex. Like his unit upstairs, it still had a view of the Capitol Building.
His workout was intense, as usual, blending in with others using the same equipment.
He met up with several other Federal employees or agents, and afterwards, they sat around together, consuming fruit juice, wheat grass, and one dark coffee.
“Ali, how can you drink coffee after you just made your body a temple to Zeus!” he asked.
Ali shrugged his shoulders. “Caffeine calms me down. It really does. If I have it first thing in the morning, I wanna go back to sleep.”
“That’s because you’re in bed with a nice lady and want to bring it to her,” teased Adam.
Dimitri laughed. “I get you there. I’m with you. But no, my first cup of coffee is just more important than brushing my teeth or using the restroom. It’s the best thing in the world. Before it all goes to shit.”
Adam punched in. “Man, you’ve got it bad, Dimitri. What happened? You get stood up last night?”
Ali added his two cents, “Yeah, you haven’t been this grouchy in a long time.”
Dimitri chuckled at that. “I guess you could say I got stood up. You know that’s why we do these jobs, because it takes our mind off of our miserable little lives.”
“Goddamn, Dimitri. You need to go get some help,” said Adam.
“Oh, yeah? That’s what I’m doing now. I worked on my body, I’m drinking cold, pressed fruit juice and wheatgrass here, and I’m with you gents. I got all the help I need—and none of the advice I don’t.”
He picked up his keys, his gym bag, and the Styrofoam cup he was drinking his fresh juice from, dumped the cup in the garbage, slung the bag over his shoulder, and left unceremoniously.
It seemed right, because he had been rejected by the second woman in his life. In all honesty, she was really more like the third or fourth, because he’s been dumped more times than he’d done the dumping.
It was only fair that he dump his friends now, give them a taste of it. After all, they were tough too, and they could get over it.
Back at hisapartment, he downed a large bottle of ice-cold water and sat out on the balcony in the late afternoon air, not nearly as healthy as his old digs in Coronado on SEAL Team 3. But it was fresh air, for now.
His cell rang.
“Is this Dimitri Kyriakos?”
“Who is this?” He hadn’t recognized the scrambled number, but he was used to getting odd messages and calls from people he had to work with.
“My name is Jordan Taliaferro. I’m an investigative journalist, and I knew your lady, Moira Conti. We worked together off and on.”
“She’s passed, in case you didn’t know.”
“Yes, my sincere sympathies. I’m in D.C., and I was wondering if I could stop by and meet with you for a few minutes. I’m looking into that operation. I have some background information, and I’d like your take on things.”
“I don’t have much of a take. I was deployed myself at the time. You should talk to the guys on SEAL Team 8 who attempted the rescue.”
“Yes, I know. And I’ve tried. The lead on that raid is now a senator, and he’s hands-off. I want to talk to you about that.”
Dimitri saw the smug Lt. Commander’s face in his memory, square-jawed like a Marine, giving his condolences at the airport when he was leaving to go bury Moira in Italy. A by-the-book kind of guy, they said, with a firm handshake, but Dimitri saw something in his eyes he didn’t like. Now a U.S. Senator, he had quit his billet after the unsuccessful raid, blaming it on bad intel. That was possible, of course.
“I have some pictures I’d like to show you.”
“I don’t need to see the pictures. They finally got one of the body unbarbequed? You really think I need to see that one?”
His anger was flaring. He suddenly felt dangerous.
“No body. Sir, I don’t think there is one. I think you buried someone else. I believe she’s alive. Moira’s alive.”
