Chapter 2New Year’s Day, 2002
This had turned out to be a decent end to a year that was only so/so. I’d gotten my customary bonuses and commendations from the WBIS—the Washington Bureau of Intelligence and Security—and an additional six weeks of vacation time in the bank. That made almost seventy-five weeks now, and one of these days I might actually get around to using them.
In an unusual turn of events, I was in the States this holiday season and decided to take advantage of it. I climbed into the Oscar de la Renta monkey suit The Boss—and yeah, that was in all caps. He was that kind of boss—insisted I buy, fiddled with the bow tie until it was perfect, and shot the cuffs, making sure I looked good enough to eat. Most of the time I didn’t think dumb thoughts like that, but that particu
