Frank and Brian's expressions remained unchanged after Anna's story. While rescuing a young female agent was a relatively novel experience for them, that was all.
"Vasilev? I've heard of him. Few of his 'assassins' last more than five years; they're either dead or driven insane. How long have you been doing this?"
Brian's words made Anna shudder. "Five years, including training."
"You want her to work for you like I do?" Brian looked at Jack.
Jack looked surprised, but chose to continue playing dumb. "What can she do? I usually take revenge on the spot. I don't need an assassin to do my bidding."
"But isn't she a supermodel?" Brian smiled, a rare smile perhaps having finally relaxed after his daughter's rescue.
As a bystander, though he had only joined the conversation midway, he had already seen through the little game at play and thoughtfully found a way out for Jack.
"She's too skinny, and her breasts are too small. Her face is okay, but I don't know if she's any good at acting." Jack put on a look of disdain and pulled out a bottle of red wine, priced at five figures , ready to be opened.
"Do you know how many famous designers in Paris want to work with me? You don't appreciate it." Anna's chest heaved violently several times before she suppressed her anger and swallowed the curse words that were about to come out.
"I'm sorry, I got carried away." Seeing her retreat back to the sofa, Jack smiled with satisfaction. His PUA was a success, and with a firm movement, he uncorked the wine bottle.
Frank's eyelids twitched as he watched Jack pour half a glass for everyone present, then sipped the rest straight from the bottle. He instinctively placed a hand on his heart, but he quickly realized the point of Brian's words.
"You hired him?" The bald man nodded at Jack, then pointed at Brian.
Brian continued to act as the catalyst between the three of them. "He's an FBI agent, and also a... uh... entertainment company?"
"A tech company, go on," Jack corrected slightly.
"Okay, the boss behind a startup tech company. I used to be the bodyguard for one of his celebrities, and just a few days ago, he invited me to head up their security team.
In fact, your son might even work for him in the future, helping with scripts and stuff like that," Brian hammered home the point.
Frank's expression betrayed a certain skepticism. Although he and Jack had been introduced by the old Hunters, and he'd known Jack for a while, the young man the old Hunters had praised so highly, Frank felt that while Jack, a shady young man, might have some abilities, he was destined to be on a different path from himself. Furthermore, he was now a retired man, so he'd vanished.
Unlike the old Hunters, Frank had a lot of karmic debts in his life, and being too involved with Jack would only draw unwanted attention.
And while retirement was dull and tedious, he still enjoyed it. After all, a good ending wasn't easy in this line of work. If it weren't for his granddaughter's disappearance and Jack's involvement, he wouldn't have bothered to leave the note.
He was already surprised that Jack had used his military connections to arrive in Paris half a day early. He hadn't expected him to have built a tech company after just a year or two of not seeing him. This left Frank somewhat unsure of the young man before him.
He understood Brian's words, though. Coupled with the "comradeship" he'd experienced over the past two days, Frank realized that Jack, the ruthless FBI agent, was more than he seemed.
Now, there was no need to consider favors. From now on, it would be friendship, not favors. Friendship is a give-and-take affair, and once a favor is repaid, it's over.
After considering this, Frank turned to Anna. "How do you plan to leave the FSB? Do you have a plan? Dead or alive?"
This direct question left the girl bewildered. She didn't know if her happiness had come too suddenly or if she hadn't grasped the meaning of his words. Her expression became a little bewildered.
"If you die, you can fake your own death and escape, get plastic surgery, and live out the rest of your life in a place with a weak FSB presence, like a major Eastern country.
Living might be more complicated, but you can have the FSB completely delete your file. From then on, you can live freely in the open air under a new identity. Considering you're just an unofficial operative, it shouldn't be that difficult,"
Brian explained helpfully.
Is there another way? Jack looked at Frank, then back at Anna, tears welling in her eyes, nodding frantically. "It's all fine and dandy. I just want my freedom."
—
After the four of them finished their third bottle of wine, Anna finished her plan. It was nothing more than a clichéd seduction tactic, leveraging her limited assets to gain sufficient leverage.
Frank shook his head. "Are you sure you can seduce Vasiliev?"
Anna made a disgusted expression. "I'd rather die than sleep with that bastard."
Jack rolled his eyes. He was obsessed with looks.
"Besides, he's in his 60s, almost 70, so he can't get hard anymore." Perhaps completely letting herself go, the girl became incredibly blunt, a tone that seemed to be commonplace in the fashion world.
This time, even Frank and Brian rolled their eyes.
"Sorry," Anna said, realizing her mistake, and quickly apologized to the two men, also in their 50s and early 60s.
Jack briefly reviewed Anna's experience with the FSB and felt that Frank's earlier use of the term "discarded pawn" was a rather euphemistic term. More accurately, it was like a roll of toilet paper.
You tear off a piece and use it until it's all gone, then throw the hard core in the wastebasket. If it got dirty, you could just throw the remaining half away and get a new one.
Since being planted in Paris, Anna had been operating throughout Europe. Some of her missions involved assassinations in public, while others involved using her model identity to conduct private sexual transactions to get close to her targets and take direct action.
It was the French police being incompetent, coupled with the inherent advantage of women's makeup skills. Otherwise, her model's vest alone would have revealed her.
In fact, the CIA had already set their sights on her. During a mission a few days ago, a CIA field team ambushed her in the target's room and replaced the pistol hidden in the bathroom with blanks.
After apprehending Anna, a CIA supervisor offered her a condition: to become a double agent, secretly gathering FSB intelligence and providing it to the CIA.
This was why Anna had been distracted for so long, ultimately falling for her agent's trick and drinking the sleepy tea.
"What were their terms?" Jack asked curiously.
"Work for them for three years, disappear, and be protected by the CIA." Anna gave a scornful look.
Frank's face tinged with sarcasm. "Did you agree?"
"I offered a year, and asked them to arrange for me to live in Hawaii, and they agreed." Anna's eyes flickered with hope as she stated this, but it quickly turned to disappointment.
The teasing on Frank's face turned into a sneer. "You know what I got for 40 years of service to the CIA? A hundred thousand dollar annual pension and a shabby house in Texas. Oh, and a verbal promise not to get killed."
Well, please give me some monthly votes, for all the hard work I put into writing this story.
(End of this chapter)