
“What I’m trying to do,” she said and she stumbled with her words in front of the men. “What I’m trying to do is give you time.”
She waited, watching the confusion shadow their faces one-by-one, like a shopping mall shutting down for the night. The beeper in her briefcase buzzed, a compromise for her husband, but she ignored it.
“We’ve only translated part of the message. We can’t know…”
“Read what you’ve got.” The glossy-haired man at the head of the table pointed at her.
He knew what it said and she knew she’d lost.
“You have been selected…”