The Last Assassin

layout is good,” she said, when Dox and I had exhausted our questions. “We can control it. The only thing I couldn’t confirm was the emergency exit door off the main room, on the ground floor. It’s there, but I didn’t get to try it. The one in the basement, though, opens outward with a horizontal push bar. But there was a camera in front of it, and something written across it. I think that an alarm would sound if it’s opened, so I didn’t try. Here.”
    She took out her phone and worked the keys for a moment, then handed the unit to me. “What do you think?”
    I had to squint a bit, but it was readable. “Yeah,” I said. “It’s what you thought. Nice going.”
    I considered for a moment, then said, “I think it’s safe to assume that the other door works the same way. Emergency doors in public buildings are installed to code. They always open out with a push bar. So we ought to be able to jam them from outside with nothing more than a steel rod. I’ll check on that tomorrow when I recon the exterior.”
    “It’s an impressive place,” she said. “Very high-end, smooth operation. And the women are stunning. All of them.”
    “It occurs to me,” Dox said. “Maybe I should reconnoiter this establishment myself. Couldn’t hurt to have a second set of eyes, you know.”
    I looked at him.
    He shrugged and said, “No need to get irritable about it. Nothing wrong with a man enjoying his work.”
    Delilah reached into her purse and took out Harry’s bug detector. “Here,” she said. “Don’t want to forget.”
    “You might want it tomorrow night…” I started to say.
    “No, it’s served its purpose. And nicely. Worked in the vestibule and for the camera watching the basement emergency exit, quiet the rest of the time. I can see why it’s sentimental.”
    I took it and shook my head. “That’s a story for another time.”
    She nodded and rubbed her eyes. “I should get some sleep.”
    “You’re right,” I said. “We can finish planning tomorrow. Why don’t you sleep in if you can, and call us whenever you get up.”
    “That sounds good,” she said, standing up.
    I stood, too. “I’ll walk you back to your hotel.”
    She shook her head. “Better to stay apart for now.”
    Once again, I didn’t know what was the real motivation there, personal or professional, but this wasn’t the time or place to discuss it. “Okay,” I said.
    Dox stood, too. He extended his hand, and Delilah shook it. “It’s great they invited you back for tomorrow, and no surprise, either,” he said. “You did really well tonight, on unfamiliar terrain and without a lot of preparation, and that’s a fact.”
    She gave him a nice smile. “Thank you, Dox.”
    “Our glorious leader thinks so, too,” he added. “Just, like I said before, he’s not very expressive about these things.”
    Delilah’s smile faded and she offered a tentative nod that said, Let’s not go there now, okay? I was more direct, shooting him a Stop that shit look. But he plunged ahead.
    “Yeah,” he said, “the first time I gave him a hug you should have seen him, he was so tense I thought he would pass out. The second time he tolerated it better. Shoot, by the fourth or fifth time, damned if he hadn’t started to like it. Now if a few days go by and I forget to throw an arm around him, he actually starts to mope.”
    Delilah covered her mouth and looked down. She stood like that for a moment, very still, and then she started laughing. I looked at Dox, half incredulous, half enraged at the shit he was constantly pulling, but he didn’t even notice because he was laughing, too.
    There was nothing I could do but stand there while their laughter fed on itself and grew. Dox was wiping his eyes and saying, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” while Delilah just stood shaking with her arms crossed and her head down.
    After an unpleasantly long time, it subsided. Delilah breathed in and out deeply a few times, then said to me, “I’ll call you tomorrow?”
    I nodded and said, “Yeah. Sure.”
    “Good night,” Dox said, and I could tell he was struggling to hold it in.
    She made it out without either of them losing it again, but I had a feeling she laughed all the way to the elevator.
    I looked at Dox.
    “I’m sorry, man, I’m sorry,” he said. “There’s just something about you that brings it out in me!”
    “I think that’s known as blaming the victim.”
    “Go ahead, make fun of me for hitting on Tiara the