Phil parked the Viper on a hilltop overlooking the beach. He and Leslie were at least a mile from any known habitation. "All right," he said, turning to Leslie. "You've got quite a bit of explaining to do."

Leslie looked away. "You won't like it."

"What I don't like," Phil replied, "is being kept in the dark."

"Now you know how I feel," Leslie said quietly.

Phil pounded the steering wheel. "Is that what this is about?" He glared at Leslie. "You think I'm keeping something from you, so you're gonna keep playing this game until you get what you want out of me?" Leslie didn't answer. "Information? Is that all you need me for?" He sighed. "Fine. I'm Phil Smith. I'm the same Phil Smith that was in New York. I killed a bunch of guys, and the FBI is after me." He leaned back in his seat. "Is that good enough for you?"

"I already knew that," Leslie said.

"And that's all there is to know," Phil said. "So what's keeping you from talking?"

Leslie held up her hands. "You're not going to like it at all."

"I think I can handle whatever it is that you have to tell me," Phil insisted.

"Fine." Leslie tried to gather her thoughts. "I'm a bounty hunter, Phil. I hire myself out to people who are looking for people. And when everything was going on in New York, I was hired to go and find you."

Phil looked at her. "So who hired you?"

Leslie looked down. "Russian military intelligence."

Phil's eyebrows went up. "The GRU? What would they want with me?"

Leslie shook her head. "They didn't say. And that's the honest truth. All they said was to find you and bring you to them."

"So that's what you've been doing since you got here?" Phil asked. "Trying to figure out how to take me to the Russians?"

Leslie rolled her eyes. "How can you know so much and be so damn dense sometimes?" She looked out the window. "If that were all I was up to, then I could have taken you to the Russians a long time ago. I've got resources, Phil. You might be a bit tougher to handle than other cases, but if all I were interested in was taking you to the GRU, then you would already be there."

"And obviously I'm still here," Phil replied. "Which tells me that there's something else going on here. I hope you don't mind telling me what it is."

Leslie growled her frustration. "Dammit, Phil! Are you blind? Has it even once entered into your imagination that I might actually have feelings for you?"

Phil looked at her skeptically. "It's a bit difficult to buy that considering what you've told me." He looked out the window. "How do I know that you're not just trying to manipulate me into giving you what you want?"

"You don't," Leslie answered. "But I do." She sighed. "Take me back to the fish factory. I'm not accomplishing anything here."

Phil shrugged. "Sure. I've got nothing more to say anyway."