The New Year of 2002 starts off with a literal bang, when Mark Vincent is called to WBIS headquarters and learns the Washington Bureau of Intelligence and Security has been disbanded. He's not happy with the situation, but he's ready to make his own way in the intelligence waters of DC. However, when Trevor Wallace, known as The Boss, requests he accept the CIA's offer of a job, Mark reluctantly agrees. He isn't surprised to find working for the CIA is exactly what he expected, with the Company not allowing him to do his job. Mark lets his resentment be known as he's partnered with one officer after another, with no success. As a result, he's determined to leave the CIA, in spite of his promise to the man whose opinion he valued so highly.<br><br>Quinton Mann is viewed as royalty in the intelligence community. He had a run-in with Mark Vincent a few years before, while Vincent was still senior special agent for the WBIS, and Quinn had developed a healthy respect for him. Now, however, it's his turn to partner with the man considered by the alphabet agencies to be a sociopath.<br><br>Quinn can see what the problem is, and he's aware Vincent might not remain CIA for long. Now, the year is drawing to a close. Will a drink on Christmas Eve change things for both men?

No One Should Be Alone

“Don’t be. I’ve had a good run.” He studied me carefully. “You, though. I had plans for you one day taking the seat behind this desk.”


“Sir—” I couldn’t catch my breath.


“You’ve got a long way to go, Mark. The CIA has put out feelers for you.”


“Already? How long have they known?”


The Boss scrubbed his face. “Their e-mail showed up just after the one from Huntingdon.”


“Bastards.” I laughed mirthlessly. “As if I’d work for those fuckers.”


“I’m requesting you do just that, Mark, if only to show them what the WBIS’s best can do.”


It would be like bending over and begging to get fucked, and if anyone other than Trevor Wallace had asked this of me, I’d have told him to eat shit and die. But I respected The Boss more than anyone on God’s green earth, and so I’d do it for him. Well, I’d try.


Chapter 6