Meaning?
Her injuries automatically made her ineligible. Thats the reason I gave her the name Q. Once I read her profile Well, the gift shed been given was far too remarkable
to ignore.
Gift?
Stefn has an incredible tolerance for pain. Both emotional and physical. As you know, one of the obstacles agencies face in finding suitable operatives is their ability to survive whatever comes their way. A tolerance for pain goes hand-in-hand with survival. Nadja is not only our candy queen, but shes also the queen of pain. Her pain threshold is simply the best Ive seen in all my thirty years in the business. That kind of discipline makes her a sought-after commodity in the intelligence world.
Bjorn picked Qs file off the desk and opened it. It says here that she was born in Switzerland. That she was an Olympic gold medal hopeful. You mentioned injuries. What sort of injuries?
A skiing accident. Its all there in her file, every surgery. The gory details. Her grandfather was a gold medalist. Q was supposed to follow in his footsteps. At age eighteen she was expected to win gold. Instead she crashed on a slope in Zurich doing sixty miles an hour. She broke damn near every bone in her body.
Polax walked up to the monitorhis pet chair on his heels. He angled his head as if searching for something, then ran his hand over the screen, touching Qs right knee. Slowly he moved his hand upward over the screen, stroking her leg like a man who knew her intimately. Or a man who had lain awake nights contemplating the idea.
She has a tattoo that is quite spectacular. Polax turned and looked at Merrick, then Bjorn, before he sat on his pet chair. As it took off and rounded his desk, he said, Its located in an area I call the dead zone.
Bjorn ignored the comment and asked, These old injuriesdo they limit her in any way?
Not in her percentages. But only because Ive tailored her missions. Thats what its all about, you know. Finding your agents gift and exploiting it. Right, Merrick? Isnt that how you became so successful with your rat fighters?
The commander of Onyxx only nodded. Adolf Merrick wasnt known for inane conversation, or explaining his stratagem.
If a femme wants to work at Quest, Polax went on, shes got to have something special we can market.
And what is that something special that Agent Lenova has? It was the first Merrick had spoken since they had cloistered themselves in Polaxs office to examine his agent lineup.
Pashas durability is extraordinarymy rain-or-shine agent. Desert heat, or arctic cold, Lenova will match you every step of the way. Qs something special is getting on top quick in the bedroom. Since this mission will be a chilly affair, youre going to want an endurance player.
It says here Stefn trained for the biathlon. Bjorn scanned the file for more data.
Thats true, but Lenova is the true biathlon queen. She shoots ninety-eight percent, Polax quoted from memory. Youre going to need that, going up against Holic Reznik.
It had been a month since Bjorn had apprehended Holic in Santorini, Greece. Hed managed to capture the countrys most wanted assassin during a hotel fire that had sent him and Holic off a crumbling balcony into a burning ballroom full of screaming people trying to escape the chaos.
Three days ago hed learned that Holic had successfully slipped through the National Security Agencys fingers and escaped his well-guarded prison cell. When hed heard the news hed been so angry he walked out of Merricks office.
Normally he was a good-tempered guy. Reasonable, even during upsetting times. And smart enough to know that Merrick wouldnt listen to him if he was shouting and throwing furniture.
Hed spent an hour walking off his rage, then hed returned to Merricks office to discuss what action the Agency intended to take now that Reznik was once again a free man.
Seated in front of his commanders desk, hed asked, Has the Agency issued a new objective?
They have, and your name was mentioned for the assignment. Its yours, if you want it. But there are conditions, and additions.
Im not a field agent any longer.
Reinstatement would be a simple formality. Youve studied Holic Rezniks habits, know him better than anyone. That makes you the most qualified for this mission. I want you on the job, Bjorn. That is, if youll take it.
It was true, he and Holic had a history. Bjorn had profiled the man nicknamed the butcher as well as faced him in the field.
He listened while Merrick detailed the situation. Holic had been seriously injured falling thirty feet off that hotel balcony at Cupata. Because of Holics many injuries, the Agency believed he would return to his homeland of Austria to heal and grow strong again.
They hadnt been able to pinpoint where he would go exactly,
but they felt confident it would be someplace familiar to him. Someplace remote and isolated. Someplace hard to reach.
We know that before the Chameleon died, he contracted Reznik and hired him to eliminate a list of his enemies. He was promised millions and