Rogue Operator (20 page)

Chris
blushed and nodded with a smile he seemed almost ashamed to let slip.

Kane
punched him on the shoulder. “You dog, you!” He fished a card out of his wallet
and handed it to Chris.

“Chiropractor?”
said Chris, reading the card.

“Yes,
and a very good one. But his fax number is my satellite phone. You can send me
secure data bursts if there’s anything you feel I need to know. Encrypt them
using my high school jersey number, and my SAT scores. Do you remember them?”

Chris
smiled. “Like yesterday.”

Kane
grinned, knowing how good Chris was with numbers, and how responsible he’d been
for getting those good SAT numbers. “Perfect, now keep your head down, get your
job done, and let the guys protecting you do their jobs. Spend as much time at
Langley as you can, then straight home with the escort. Don’t answer doors,
report suspicious phone calls like hang ups or wrong numbers, and listen to
Sherrie.” Chris blushed again. “And if you want a little revenge on her?”
Chris’ eyebrows popped. “You two are supposed to be playing a couple. Take it
as far as you can. Have some fun!”

Chris
shook his head, flashing half a grin. “I’m not you.”

Kane
laughed and took his friend’s hand in his. “Hey,
I’m
not even me.” He
looked in his friend’s eyes. “Just take care of yourself.”

“I
will,” replied Chris. “You just make sure you follow your own advice.”

Kane
nodded, gave his friend’s hand one last squeeze, then left through the kitchen
doorway leading to the rear patio. He stunned the guard there with two
well-placed beer cap snaps, cleared the fence and was home free with two caps
to spare.

He
wondered what the report would read the next day, and if he would ever see his
friend again.

Chris Leroux Residence, Fairfax Towers, Falls Church, Virginia

Chris opened the door to the apartment and was about to enter when
Sherrie held him back, stepping inside first. She flicked on a light switch,
and he wondered how she knew where it was, when he realized she probably had
memorized everything about him and his life.

Light
switch locations were probably on his file.

He
followed her in, carrying a small overnight bag they had picked up at her place
on the way here, and closed the door behind them, locking it. Sherrie made a
quick search of the apartment, then checked the windows, closing the drapes and
blinds. Another more thorough search followed that included closets and under
beds, while Chris stood in the doorway, unsure of what to do.

After a
few minutes, she returned from his bedroom and held out her hand. He handed her
the bag and she opened it, removing a small handheld device and began scanning
everything. This took several more minutes, and when she was done, she returned
the device to her bag.

“Bug
detector,” she explained. “We’ll sweep every time we return, no exceptions. And
nothing gets said between us except normal couple type stuff until I’ve done
the sweep. If anyone is listening in, they have to think we’re two agency
employees having an illicit affair against Agency policy.”

Chris
nodded.

“And
what do we do if we find a bug?”

“Then we
know we’ve hit a nerve. And I’ll suggest we go for ice cream, you’ll agree, and
off we go to Langley. And speaking of your car, it will be checked when we
arrive at Langley each morning, and when we leave at night.”

“What
about the windows? I thought they could bounce lasers off the glass and pick up
conversations. Stuff like that.”

Sherrie
smiled. “They can, and that’s been taken care of.”

“How?”

“While
we were at the Director’s, the apartment was prepped. Devices were installed on
each window that generates random vibrations, making any vibrations we produce gibberish.”
Sherrie approached him and took his hands. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.”

“Uh
huh.”

She
frowned. “Are you still mad about earlier?”

He
looked away, unable to look her in the eye, the embarrassment causing him to
flush. He felt her hand on his cheek, pulling his face gently to look at her.

“Hey,”
she said, her voice low. “I’m sorry about that. When I went into the bedroom to
change, I even called the Director and asked him to let me stop.”

Chris’
eyes widened slightly. “Why?”

She
patted his cheek and let go of his hand. “Because I like you, silly. It was a
job, but I knew you weren’t some super evil spy. You were being tested to see
if you would give up information if someone tempted you sexually, and you didn’t.
And I knew from just our day together that you wouldn’t. I didn’t need to take
it any further, but the Director insisted.” She dropped onto the couch and
patted the empty space beside her. Chris reluctantly took a seat, his confusion
worse than before. “Listen, we have to make the best of this situation for as
long as it lasts. And we have to make people think we’re a couple.” She put her
hand on his leg, her other arm around his shoulders, pulling herself closer.

He
flinched, and his entire body stiffened.

“And
reactions like that could get us killed.”

And he
realized she was right. He tried to relax, but it was hard.

“Here,
let me help.”

She
swung in behind him, and he began to have flashbacks of earlier.

“Don’t
get any ideas, big boy, this is just a massage so you can get used to me
touching you without jumping six inches.”

Chris
nodded and dropped his head as her soft hands kneaded his neck and shoulder
muscles. The sensation was different than before, and although he couldn’t help
but get aroused slightly, at least it wasn’t the firestorm of desire in his
pants he had had earlier.

When she
was done, she hugged him from behind, resting her head on his back.

“You
smell good,” she said, inhaling deeply.

“Uh,
thanks. Umm, so do you?”

She
squeezed him harder.

“In real
life, you’d be exactly my type, I think.”

Chris
chuckled.

“That, I
doubt.”

“No, I’m
serious. I like smart guys who aren’t all full of themselves. You know, the shy
types.”

She’s
got you pegged.

“And you
know, you may not realize it, but you are very cute.”

Chris
felt his chest tighten, stomach flop, and pants get tight. This was too
confusing, but then he thought of Kane’s words.
Have some fun.
But he
wasn’t Kane. To him sex and intimacy wasn’t something to be trifled with, it
was meant to be done with someone you cared for, loved, who might be ‘the one’.
And though twelve hours ago he was convinced Sherrie was ‘the one’, she
definitely wasn’t now.

But why
not? She was just doing her job. Should she be blamed for that? Probably not,
but that didn’t mean he should just forget what had happened and try to fire up
a long-term relationship.

“I don’t
know you,” was all he managed to say.

“I’m the
girl you met for coffee and had dinner with. Ignore the stuff at my apartment,
that was the job, I’m not normally like that.”

“You
can’t be seriously suggesting that we try to make this, whatever this is,
work?”

She
extricated herself from behind him, and sat in the corner.

“I guess
not.”

He
looked at her and felt a pang in his heart. She actually looked hurt. But was
it an act?
Argh! This is so frustrating!

“Look,
I’m sorry,” he said, his voice low, looking at her, then away as soon as her
hopeful face made eye contact. “I’m just not like that.”

“A one
night stand kind of guy?”

“Exactly.
That’s never been me, never will be.”

“Good.
I’m not like that either, unless the job requires it.”

He
looked at her. “But how can you, you know, sleep with a guy you don’t even
like?”

“Well, I
haven’t had to yet. I’m relatively new on the job, this is only my third
assignment, but they needed somebody young, willing to have sex with their
target—yes, that’s actually part of our profiles since not all of us agree to
that—and able to come in on such short notice.”

“So I—”

“Would
have been my first.” She grinned. “Kinda romantic, isn’t it?”

He
raised his eyebrows, dropping his head slightly. “I’m not sure it’s a Kodak
moment.”

Sherrie
laughed and Chris had to admit it warmed his heart. She was beautiful, there
was no denying that, but she also seemed like she was just a girl, who wanted
the same thing he did. To be loved. Right now, curled up in the corner of his
couch, looking vulnerable, she was the girl from the office that he had become
infatuated with in so few weeks, and only one coffee break. If he focused on
those memories, she was a girl he could fall for, but the sexual hijinks from
earlier kept flashing back. But at least now he wasn’t as embarrassed that they
had happened, instead he was embarrassed that they still turned him on.

“Just so
I don’t shock you later, we have to sleep in the same bed.”

Chris
flushed.

“Why?”

“Well,
we can block audio, but thermal is another thing. There’s no way we could
insulate this place in time, so if anybody is observing, they’re going to see
us through the walls, and we need to be seen as a couple.”

“Umm…”

“No, we
don’t have to have sex. Couples don’t have sex every night, and my guess is
with your brains, you’ll have this figured out pretty quick and our
relationship will be over.”

Chris
didn’t like the sound of that. He was still trapped between how he felt about
this girl only hours before, and the truth of what had happened. All her
assurances that she liked him, that he was her type, only added to the
confusion. Hearing her so cavalierly announce the impending end of their so
called relationship actually hurt his feelings, leaving butterflies in his
stomach.

She
seemed to sense this and darted across the couch, wrapping her arms around his
neck, burying her head in his shoulder. “Let’s enjoy the time we have
together,” she whispered, squeezing him tight. His arms lay dead at his sides,
then slowly, tentatively, wrapped around her.

They
held each other tight for several minutes, Chris relaxing, his head buried in
her hair, enjoying her scent. It was easy to forget what was really going on,
and in fact, that was exactly what he was trying to do. Forget. Just enjoy the
moment, enjoy the couple of days they’d have together. No sex, just a young
couple trying to get to know each other. Besides, when he thought about it,
being seen with her at work would definitely give him some street cred amongst
the other women he had always thought out of his league.

But then
they were no Sherrie. The attractive ones seemed all stuck up, and the ones who
thought they weren’t attractive, the shy types, were too shy to come out of
their shells, just like he was. And there were lots of those at the CIA in
analytics.

When
this was done, he was going to try and get to know some of those women, and
perhaps go on a few dates. It would build his confidence, their confidence, and
who knew, there might actually be something there.

Because
Sherrie was a dream, unachievable, and not even real.

She let
him go and headed for the bedroom.

“Big day
ahead of us, better get some rest.”

Chris
followed her, half fearful, half hopeful, of what the night might hold.

Jason Peterson “Residence”, Somewhere in North Korea

Three Days after the Kidnappings

Jason stepped into his ‘new home’ and closed the door. He was
exhausted. They had spent the entire day pretty much ignoring each other as
much as possible, while making sure all of the equipment was still functional.
It wasn’t. But that wasn’t that big a deal, it would be within a matter of
days. They had left instructions with their handlers, and apparently an engineering
crew would be in that night to get as much done as possible.

He
entered the kitchen to find his wife and kids sitting at the table. They all
jumped from their chairs at the sight of him, and rushed him, smothering him with
hugs as they all cried. He found his own chest tightening, but realized he had
to be strong for them, at least for the kids. For his wife, he might indulge
the tears he was bottling up inside in the privacy of their bed, but not here,
in front of the kids.

“Everything
is going to be alright,” he said in as calm a voice as he could. “Let’s just
all sit down, and I’ll let you know what’s going on.”

They sat
around the table, Darius in his lap, refusing to remove his arms from around
Jason’s neck, and Ayla sitting on her mother’s knee. Maggie sat, eyes red,
biting her lip as she held out her hand. Jason took it and squeezed.

“Okay,
I’ll tell you everything I can. We’re in North Korea.”

A cry
erupted from Maggie and she quickly stifled it, but not before Darius began to
whimper. Jason patted his head.

“Hey,
big guy, what are you worried about? You’ve never even heard of North Korea.
There’s nothing to worry about, it’s just a place.” He turned back to Maggie.
“There’s a place here called the International Cooperation Center. They’ve got a
job for Carl and I…” He paused, then looked at Maggie. “And Phil.”

“I
thought he was dead!”

Jason
shook his head. “No, in fact, this entire thing is his doing.”

“What?”

Jason
could see some of the fear leave his wife’s face, anger pushing it aside.

“Apparently
he got wind the project was going to be canned, and we were all going to be
fired. He agreed to work for a Chinese company in exchange for a payout of ten
million dollars once the job was complete. He told them it would take about a
year, and he needed us to complete the work.”