Lasher thought you should know," Oliver says. "Lasher," I say, " is a deceitful, two-faced, manipulative bastard." Oliver frowns. "And this is someho… - Curtis C. Chen

I step into one of the most amazing views I’ve ever seen.
Don’t get me wrong. I’ve witnessed lots of incredible things. My uncomfortably long and monotonous outer space travels do get me into visual range of some of the most vivid astronomical wonders in the Solar System: Saturn’s rings, the Great Red Spot on Jupiter, any number of comets shedding their icy mass in huge glowing tails. But nothing compares to seeing Planet Earth from space.

How does this organization even function?" I say. "Lasher isn't talking to you, we lost pretty much all of Intel last year, and State's keeping secrets from everyone—"
"This is a spy agency," Morris says. "We're basically state-sponsored professional liars."
I frown. "It sounds pretty unsavory when you put it like that."
"It's the truth. We do secret things every day of the week and twice on Sundays, and we can't talk about most of those things. You either learn to live with it, or you find a new job.

I’ve already spotted a few more familiar faces. Apparently this crisis is the social event of the season.