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I swore I saw Jude actually suns," Jude continued "I'm flattered"

Ion his desk and then went toto his desk, he began typing at his computer As tempted as I was to finish all of this, I knew I couldn’t make the next ht hours like he had the day before, I had no probleave Jude the upper hand even once, he'd never let it go again

"Falkov," he murmured after about ten minutes as he stared at his computer screen "Russian," he added with a nod I kneas supposed to respond to the randoue

He continued to type away and use his mouse occasionally as his eyes flicked over the screen I used the opportunity to study him in , sohe'd completely tuned me out I understood what it meant to be focused, but when I did it, I kne to put the world aside for a s I needed to know and place the rest on the back burner But so about the way Jude workeda little bitout the world, but he was doing it co else existed for him except whatever was on the screen in front of hi his lips as he was reading I doubted he was even aware of it I, on the other hand, was very much aware of it It was already next to impossible to not look at the e habit was like putting a spotlight on them

I ended up losing track of tione by before Jude leaned back in his chair and shifted his eyes from the computer screen to me

"Nikolai Di with your parents to the US when you were thirteen," he began before glancing at his coain "Did a stint in the ue and said, "Only one tour of duty, though" His eyes shifted back toyour country?" He paused only long enough to take his glasses off "Or should I say this country?"

It was a decent one-two punch, I had to adet so much information about me in such a small amount of time And second, that he'd found a weak spot with his first hit I couldn't tell him that, of course, but I definitely had to take a deep breath to keep my voice even when I said, "Jude Alexander Archer, twenty-six On the fast track to becoest VP ever for TDS Corporation Swanky apartment on the Upper East Side Graduated top of your class at Harvard but did your undergrad work at a no-nae in Kansas Hard to say if that's where you grew up since your Social Security nuhteen What happened? Were you worried Clifton Hayes wouldn't give you the tiree?"

I hadn't planned to use any of the information I'd discovered in the few hours I'd had to research Jude, but his own accusations had stung more than I'd anticipated

The only hint that I'd left led to keep them on me His posture was htness in his jaw and the way his Ada beats before the tension faded away again I kneas co for the death blow

"Looks like your parents’ bakery does a decent business," he said before he et too far behind in the rent payments, Nikki Hard to catch up on those," he added

I wasn't sure why I was so disappointed that he’d gone there I didn't even really have tiure out that level of information in such a short amount of tie anything except to remind me that I was there to do a job and save Mike’s business