32
Visitor Parking Lot, NSA Headquarters, Ft. Meade, Maryland.
Talia glanced at Stone as they drove and said, “You two were together, weren’t you?”
They passed the guard gates and onto Canine Road, Stone got in the right lane to fork onto Maryland Route 32, an east-west artery known as the Patuxent Freeway.
He ignored the question. “I don’t know how I get into these situations.”
“You don’t want to tell me about you and Jana? You’re the one who’s being evasive.”
“It’s not that you don’t like being told what to do, it’s that you don’t like being told what to do by a man.”
Talia’s mouth opened as if to react, but she stopped and composed her thoughts. “I’ve spent my whole career being stepped over for promotions so a man could get the job, and putting up with the other male-dominated c
