The Code - Genesis - Book I (3 page)

Inside her mind, the rich blue sky surrounds Natan as she hangs suspended in the air.  She looks around her and above her, watching as the blue stretches out for what seems like forever.  She glances below her, noticing only a collage of clouds creating a hammock beneath her.  In the distance she sees a blinding white light. A door emerges from the light
.  It
stands,
hanging in the air unsupported in front of her with the blue sky as its backdrop.  The lone white door drifts closer.  Natan watches, stunned and intrigued.  As the door inches closer, Natan struggles to back away, but she cannot.  She watches in shock as it nears, slowly opening to an even brighter light within.  The voice of God resonates loudly as the light intensifies: “Chalal.”

Natan awakens, startled.  She looks around the room to get her bearings.

The same one again?  Chalal. What is chalal? 
Sitting up on the couch, she half squints at a clock on the wall across the room.
 
The clock reads
8:50 a.m.

             
Natan groans to herself. “Uhh!  Not again!”  She rushes from the couch, bumping her leg against the table as she gets up.  “Ahh!” she exclaims as she grabs her leg, rubbing it as she quickly rushes out of the room. 
There’s no way I’ll get there in
10
minutes.  I can hear Agent Knight already.

Natan stands in the doorway of her bedroom in her mismatched bra and underwear with one leg in her slacks and her shirt halfway on.  While trying to put her other leg in her pants, she nearly falls over. 
Maybe chalal means really, really late.
  Natan hastily buttons her shirt with one hand as she uses the other to brush her hair. 
If the N.S.A. could see me now.

Chapter Three

A completely dressed and collected Agent Natan enters a busy central office of the main headquarters of the N.S.A. in
Washington
,
D.C.
  Funding for the agency has come a long way since 9/11.  The new paint and furnishings help to diminish the
government feel of the building. 
Varieties of plants, f
eng s
h
ui colors
,
and sun-
inspired lighting shield reinforced concrete walls designed to withstand bomb blasts
and
shelter
hidden corridors leading to weapons
and intel rooms that harbor
U
.
S
.
secrets
.  Natan smiles to herself each time she enters the new offices. 
Makes you almost feel like you’re here for a yoga class.

Natan wears a dark pantsuit with a white shirt, standard government attire, with a government issued gun holstered at her side.  Natan’s gun is the only jewelry she needs.

“Is that fresh?” Natan asks a female office worker as she approaches the coffee

area.  The woman shakes her head no.  Natan pours herself a half cup anyway and approaches the desk of her partner, twenty-nine-year-old rookie Rob Knight.  His boyish good looks are accentuated by his charming smile and confident air.   

“This really shows desperation, doesn’t it?” she says to Knight as she takes a sip.  Natan cannot contain the usual grimace that accompanies the first sip of the black coal prepared for everyone by Knight himself.  “It’s better than nothing, I guess, and I need all the help I can get this morning,” she justifies to her traumatized taste buds.

Knight watches Natan’s expression, attempting to use it to judge this morning’s cup. 
It doesn’t look good so far.  At least my coffee sticks to your ribs. 
Knight shakes off his first failure of the morning.
“Agent Natan, don’t get too cozy with that spectacular cup of coffee.  Your presence was requested upstairs a half hour ago
. 
What’s going on with you anyway?  This is the third time this month you’ve been late.”  

A suave Natan answers, “Don’t stress, Knight.  I’ve got it covered.  Just need a new alarm clock…that’s all.”

“Yeah.  Well, as your partner, I hope you’ll be better at covering me than at keeping your appointments lately.”

Natan’s over the lecture. “Okay already.  What’ve we got?”

Knight gets down to business. “Some math professor was apprehended in
Mexico
at a government-protected Mayan ruins site.  He claims he was doing research.”

“Was he?” Natan asks.

“Looks like it.  This professor must know some important people for it to fall in the N.S.A.’s lap.”

“Know how it got here?”

Knight shrugs his shoulders, “I honestly don’t.  This entire thing is completely outside agency protocol.”

“Have they extradited him yet?”

“They’re refusing to…thus the problem.”

Natan heads out the door.  “This should be interesting.”  Then she realizes that Knight isn’t following.  “Are you coming or what?” she asks.

“Section Chief Marsh requested you alone.”

             
“That’s odd that he didn’t request both of us.”  Natan jokes, “Maybe the powers that be have realized that you’re still a little green around the edges and need more development in the paperwork department.”

“You never know, Agent Natan. With your consistent inability to get to work on time, I may not be the one stuck behind a desk.”

“The day I’m assigned to a desk will be the day you make a decent cup of coffee.”

Knight laughs.  “It could happen.”

“Right, so can world peace.”  

Agent Natan starts to leave.

“Agent Natan…” Knight calls after her.

Natan stops. “Yeah?”

“Work on your timing, will ya?  I need the best backup I can get.”

Natan winks at Knight. “You’ve already got it, and you know it.”  Agent Natan walks out into the hallway toward the elevator.  She starts to sip her stale coffee again but changes her mind.  She grimaces from the memory, and, still holding the cup, drops it down to her side. 
At least he’s a good shot.

She gets on the elevator and the doors close.  The elevator goes up several flights and stops.  The doors open and Natan steps into the hall, walking down the corridor.  She tosses the cup in a wastebasket she passes on the way. 
Whatever happened to my WNBA career?

Natan walks past a half-open door, slows down, and then stops, as she checks her watch.  Looking unsure, she walks back to the door and knocks lightly.  Forty-five-year-old Alice Burns, sitting at her desk, sees Natan and waves her in. 
Alice
’s gentle motherly appearance conceals her strong, no-nonsense nature.  Outside the N.S.A. Alice is often mistaken as a fun-loving soccer mom.  In actuality, only a few years ago
Alice
was a top field agent in her prime and the first woman ever to vie for the job of head of the N.S.A.

Natan lingers in the doorway as
Alice
stands to greet her.

“Kate.  Sneaking in for a quick chat, are you?  So nice to see you.  I hear you’re having a busy morning.  No use lingering.” 
Alice
waves Natan into the office, “Come in…come in.” 

“Yeah, actually I am.  And, don’t let anyone hear you call me that.”  Natan winces at the use of her first name in her presence at work.

Alice
recognizes the issue and attempts to smooth it over. “I do realize that I’m the only one who holds the first name privilege with you, Kate.  And, if you haven’t noticed, we are alone.”

“I know…I just don’t want Knight or any of the others thinking they can share that privilege.”

“Your
             
secret is safe, even though you work with people who uncover information as an essential component of their daily jobs.”

Natan looks away, her mind drifting to places she never wanted to see again.

Alice
tries to draw her back. “Hey, I missed you for lunch last week.”

Natan returns, “Yeah, sorry I couldn’t make it.  Things have been kinda hectic.  You did get my message, didn’t you?”

“Yes, and don’t worry about it.  We’ll make time soon.”

“How have
you
been?” Natan asks.

“I can’t complain.  Not sure anyone would listen if I did.  Now, we both know that you didn’t come here for small talk on such a busy morning?  So, let’s hear the request.”

“You really should be working investigations again.”

“I just know you well, that’s all.”

“Well…”  Natan shifts uncomfortably. “I was wondering if you still had that number you suggested to me?”

“To the therapist?”

Natan nods yes. 
I can’t believe I’m in a place to need…this.

“You still having those dreams?”

Natan shifts uncomfortably. 
Every damn night.

“How long has it been now, six months?  I guess you got tired of handling it alone, eh?  I’m glad you’re finally going to look into this, because you haven’t seemed like yourself lately.” 
Alice
moves back toward her desk.  “I have her card somewhere.  Let me get it for you.” 
Alice
sorts through some papers on her desk and retrieves a business card.  “I think this will do you a world of good, with all that sadness you’ve had to deal with in your life.  It’s a wonder your heart can still beat at all.”

“
Alice
, you know that I’m okay.  Besides, no one has a perfect life.”

“Of course you’re okay.  You just need a little dusting off, that’s all.  And, bite your tongue!  My life is close to perfect.  A vacation would be the cherry my life’s sundae has been missing.”

Natan
’s
demeanor shifts to serious again, “
Alice
, I need to know that this is just between us.  I don’t want the agency to find out that I’m seeing a therapist…especially Agent Knight.  I’d never hear the end of it.”

“This is me you’re talking to, remember?  Wasn’t I the one who persuaded you to join the N.S.A.?  I promised your father that I’d look out for you and I am.  Besides, if you ask me, everyone here could use a little therapy.  Agent Knight would be a great candidate himself with his obsessive neatness and all of that ironing he does.”

“I’m serious,
Alice
.”

“So am I.  How about if I swear on my retirement?”
Alice
holds out the business card. 

Natan surrenders and takes the card, sliding it into her pants pocket.  “Let’s hope it’s not for a long while.  It’s hard to imagine this place without you.”

“I’ve imagined it.  Believe me.”
             
             
             

The two women laugh.

Alice
leans in. “Speaking of Knight, it seems you’ve trained him well.  And, word is you’re really in demand now.  You know, I expected that, after you almost single-handedly prevented that terrorist attack in
Boston
.”

“
Alice
, you know that I had tons of help on that
Boston
thing.  Besides, nobody does anything single-handedly in the N.S.A.  Who knows, it could have even just been plain old luck.”

“Nonsense.  Give yourself credit, Kate.  So few others actually will.  You should get to that meeting now.  You know how much Chief Marsh hates waiting.” 

“You’re still intercepting internal email, I see.”

“Well, of course.  How else do you expect me to keep on top of things?”

“At least you haven’t resorted to bugging the phones.” 

             
Alice
winks at Natan. “You never know.”  She raises her eyebrows.  “Good luck.  Maybe they’ll be sending you to the
Caribbean
.” 

“If so, it’ll only be for a day or two.”

“Even a day or two away from D.C. would make me smile.”

“I think it’s
Mexico
.”

“Tomato…Tom
’
ato.”

Natan smiles as she steps into the hallway, leaving her friend behind.  She walks to the end of the corridor to a door with a name plate that reads “SECTION CHIEF MARSH
.
”
 
Natan knocks.

A deep, southern man’s voice answers from behind the door, “It’s about time.”  In Marsh’s world everyone is always late even if they aren’t.  Natan opens the door and walks in. The office radiates confidence.  Tidy dark wood furnishings adorn the space.  Marsh’s office reflects exactly who he is, a direct, hardworking, and no-nonsense fellow.  Forty-eight-year-old Agent Marsh, a stern, retired military officer, sits at his desk mulling through paperwork
. 
He is a man whose prese
nce warrants respect, surrounding
everyone around him with a quiet
knowing
.