Page 6 of Wrong Way

He opened another container and spooned rice onto his plate. He shrugged and said, "It's been a long two weeks."

Sarah pulled her legs up onto the couch and settled back against the armrest, her plate balanced on her knee. She looked at him for a moment before she said anything else. "Have you been sleeping?"

"Off and on."

"What does off and on mean for you specifically?"

"It means I fall asleep fine and then wake up at three and don't really get back there." He took a drink of his beer. "You sound like Dr. Mitchell.”

“Good.”

He smiled at her and said, “I've been having some bad dreams."

"About what?"

He considered how much to say. Sarah was not a person he had to manage carefully, which was one of the things he valued about spending time with her, and so the habit of deflection felt more conscious with her than it did with most people.

"Kane's escape," he said. "It’s just these stupid, different versions of the same thing. I'm there when it happens, watching it, and I can't do anything. I can't move, can't call anyone, can't get in front of it. I just stand there while it happens and he grins at me as he leaves."

Sarah was quiet for a moment. The music shifted to the next track, something slower than what had been playing before. He recognized it as “Glycerin” by Bush.

"That's a pretty specific nightmare," she said.

"Yeah."

"Are you talking to Mitchell about it?"

"I saw her this week."

"That's not what I asked."

Miles looked at her. She was watching him with the direct, patient attention she brought to everything. Easier because she didn't push dramatically. Harder because she noticed when he was doing it.

"We talked about some things," he said. "It was a productive session."

"Okay," Sarah said, in a tone that indicated she didn't entirely believe him but wasn't going to press it further.

He was glad she let it go. But he was also distantly aware that Mitchell would find the entire exchange interesting.

"Can I ask you something work-related?" he said.

"Sure. I mean, if you must."

"Honestly, what's your read on where the task force is right now? And I mean your actual read. Not the version you'd give Hayes."

Sarah considered the question for a moment, tilting her beer against her knee. "I think we're stretched too thin and nobody wants to say it out loud. The Kane manhunt is pulling attention away from the disciple work, and the disciple work was already slow before that. We've been at this for months and we've got eleven identified and either captured or deceased, and the rest is speculation and dead ends."

"Twelve, counting the Manhattan case."

"Twelve. Right." She paused. "I don't think the structure is wrong. I think the problem is that we're reactive. We identify a disciple after they've already killed someone, and then we chase them. The proactive piece, finding them before they activate, that's where we're not getting traction."

"That's what the task force was supposed to fix. And there are some very good agents on board. I keep seeing the name Hahn floated around—Agent Tim Hahn, with a background in undercover work. He’s supposed to have a good nose for this sort of thing."

“Yeah, I’ve seen that name, too,” Miles said.

“Anyway…none of this is surprising. After all, we have the entire country to look for these very specific, very quiet people."

"I know. I just wanted to hear someone else say it."