The Destroyed

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Authors: Brett Battles
Tags: Fiction, Thrillers, Espionage
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walked in the confident yet natural way only a woman could achieve.
    “Beautiful night for a stroll,” she said as she neared, her voice distorted somewhat by the helmet.
    “Could be warmer,” Quinn replied, completing the on-the-fly recognition code Peter had come up with.
    She reached up and pulled her helmet off, releasing a torrent of thick, shoulder-length hair. Even in the darkness, Quinn could make out her face well enough. His first thought was that she was probably Eastern European. She had the slightly Asiatic eyes and high cheekbones that graced the faces of many Slavic models. If it weren’t for her height, she probably could have been one, too.
    “Mila,” Julien said, surprised. He smiled and threw his arms open wide.
    The woman grinned and let the big Frenchman envelop her in a bear hug. When he finally pulled back, he held her in front of him, a hand on each of her shoulders as he looked her over.
    “How have you been?”
    “Good,” she said.
    “Keeping busy?”
    “Yes. Thank you for passing my name around.” Not Eastern European. American. Unless she’d worked her ass off getting rid of any trace of an accent.
    Julien scoffed. “Please. It’s what we do, huh? Help each other out?”
    “Not everyone thinks like you. I mean it—thank you.”
    “Are you guys finished?” Quinn asked.
    Julien threw an arm around the woman’s shoulder, and turned her to face Quinn.
    “Have you met Mila Voss yet?” he asked.
    “Uh, no. But apparently you have.”
    Julien laughed more loudly than Quinn would have liked, given the supposed secrecy of their meeting.
    “Of course, I know her,” Julien said. “I got her into the business.” He leaned forward, his volume dropping only a few decibels. “We were together for a while. You know—young woman, Paris, a handsome man like me. It was only natural.”
    The woman looked embarrassed. Quinn couldn’t tell whether it was because she regretted her relationship with Julien, or because she didn’t want that to color Quinn’s professional opinion of her.
    “Julien, please,” she said. She patted him a few times on his ribs, and pulled out from under his arm. “We talked about this, remember?”
    “What?” he asked, then his smile faltered a bit. “Quinn’s different. He’s not going to care.”
    She sighed.
    “Okay, okay,” Julien said. “ Je suis désolé .” He looked at Quinn. “Some things are apparently better left unsaid.”
    “I’m going to have to agree with you on that,” Quinn said.
    “Let’s start again, d’accord ? Jonathan, this is Mila Voss. Courier extraordinaire. Mila, this is the legendary Jonathan Quinn.”
    She held out her hand. “Pleased to meet you.”
    “You, too,” Quinn said. “Now, if you guys don’t mind, maybe we can get this handoff taken care of and get the hell out of here.”
    “Of course,” Mila said.
    “I have a great idea,” Julien said. “Quinn and I are going to grab a late dinner after this. Maybe you can join us?”
    Quinn was about to tell Julien that was a bad idea when Mila said, “Thank you, but I’ve been instructed to deliver this without delay. Maybe some other time.”
    The Frenchman looked disappointed.
    “Sure,” Quinn said quickly. “Some other time.” From his pocket, he pulled out the envelope he had put the microfilm into, and gave it to her. “That’s it.”
    “Thank you,” she said. “I’ll, uh, just be on my way. It was good to meet you, Mr. Quinn.”
    “Just Quinn is fine. Good to meet you, too, Mila.”
    She gave Julien another hug. “Be safe, okay?” She hesitated before adding, “I still worry about you.”
    “No need to ever worry about me. I will live forever. I worry about you .”
    She hit him on the arm as she pulled away. “Find a good woman and settle down. That’s what you need to do.”
    “Is that an offer?”
    She shook her head and laughed to herself as she walked away.
    Once she disappeared around the corner, Quinn said, “You’re still

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