The Present
Klempner rages. “I said flush them out, Bech. Not f*****g burn them alive. What good are they to me dead?”
Bech, his face carefully neutral, replies, “My apologies sir. The men I used for the task were…. over-enthusiastic. They are normally reliable. The situation ran out of control.”
“Out of control? Out of f*****g control? Is that what you call it? I wanted two women. What I have is a burned-out building, the incident being treated as a terrorist attack, the police weighing in from every direction and, just as an after-thought, I don’t even have the f*****g women and no f*****g idea where they are! What do you think, Bech? I always thought you were reliable. Should I be reconsidering?”
Bech licks his lips, then speaks quietly and carefully. “If you will excuse me sir, wha
