The Sphinx of Battery Park

The iphone glowed at 3 AM, its blue light the only illumination in Marcus's parked car. He felt like a zombie, something that had died three weeks ago but kept moving through muscle memory and caffeine.

"You're the spy tonight," his handler had said, handing him the burner phone. "Watch the Bear."

The Bear was Viktor Roslov, hedge fund manager with questionable Russian ties. But tonight, Marcus wasn't watching Viktor. He was watching the woman who'd emerged from the brownstone across the street—Elena, the Sphinx.

She'd earned the nickname in the department. Beautiful, terrifying, and always speaking in riddles. Last month, when Marcus had asked why they were surveilling a diplomat's wife, she'd smiled and said, "Even in a casino, someone has to count the cards."

Now Elena stood beneath the streetlamp, iphone pressed to her ear. Marcus should have been photographing Viktor's penthouse windows. Instead, he watched Elena watched him watch her.

She turned, eyes finding his car in the darkness. The zombie feeling evaporated. Something primal stirred, something he'd buried under classified files and numbered bank accounts.

She approached his window, tapped on the glass.

"The Bear is already gone," she said through the open window. "Viktor flew to Zurich three hours ago. You're spying on ghosts."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I needed to see if you'd notice." She leaned closer. "You're tired, Marcus. You've been tired since Prague. That mission broke something in you."

"I'm fine."

"You're not. You're like those Egyptian statues in the museum— stone outside, emptiness inside. The sphinx asks riddles because it has nothing else to say. What do you have, Marcus?"

He wanted to kiss her. He wanted to drive away and never look back. The iphone chimed— an incoming message from headquarters.

"Target moved. Abort."

Elena's hand covered his screen. "Don't answer it. Not tonight."

"It's my job."

"Is it?" She stepped back into the shadows. "The Bear is gone. The question is whether you're going to keep haunting this parking lot or finally find something worth hunting."

Marcus watched her walk away, his iphone still lighting the darkness. For the first time in three weeks, the zombie wanted to feel alive.