Claire was sitting in the director’s office. It was Wednesday morning, and they were having their weekly meeting. She was in the process of bringing him up to date on operations of significant importance. She had covered most everything the director would be interested in hearing about, saving the update on NEEDFUL QUEST for last. That’s when they were interrupted by Mary, his secretary. It was a call coming in from the president. She sat prepared to listen to a one-sided conversation but was surprised when the director requested a few minutes of private time. She got up and walked out, pissed. She stood for a few moments, looking at the scenery through the outer office windows before finally taking a seat near Mary’s desk.
“He shooed you out, didn’t he?” Mary asked.
“Yes, he did. Am I the only one he does that to?”
“Oh, no, Claire. Everybody gets that treatment if it’s the president calling.”
“Thanks. That makes me feel a little better. Being the deputy director of operations, you’d think I’d be cleared for anything they’re going to be discussing.”
“He’s a funny man.”
“Who’s a funny man?” the director asked, standing in his office doorway.
“You are,” Claire stated.
“Well, come back in and tell me about it.”
You’re damn right I will, she thought, getting up from the chair.
Claire followed the director back into his office and didn’t waste any time confronting her boss.
“I thought we had an agreement,” she said.
“What are you talking about?” he asked with a perplexed look on his face.
“The agreement we had that you wouldn’t keep me in the blind about operational discussions between you and the president.”
“And you think I’ve broken the agreement?”
“Why else would you ask me to leave?”
“Because I wanted a private word with the president. I’m entitled to that. As I recall, the agreement we had, and still have, pertains to me not making a unilateral ops decision based on specific or implied direction from the president without talking to you first. I don’t believe our agreement means that I’ve got to keep you within arm’s length when I need to talk to him about a private matter or agency business.”
Claire thought about that for a moment and then answered. “Things have been a little stressful lately, and I obviously jumped to an unfounded conclusion. Please accept my apology.”
“Accepted. Now, tell me, why are you so uptight? Is it the Mauldin op?”
“That and the fact that I’m having to deal with assholes like Taylor over at navy. He thinks that I’m just another dumb blond who’s screwed her way to the top of the organization.”
“Well, we both know that’s not true, don’t we? Want me to talk to him?”
“Thanks, but that won’t be necessary. I can take care of it myself.”
“OK, then, let’s pick up where we were before being interrupted by the president.”
“There’s not much more to tell you. The team lost a day of time at Checkpoint Charlie. That’s the bad news. The good news is that they’ve reached the safe house at Telezi without any further difficulties.”
“Are we sure about that?”
“Yes. If you recall, we saw imagery of them at Charlie, and yesterday I saw the overhead of them at Delta.”
“What was the problem at Checkpoint Charlie? Anything serious?”
“I don’t think so, J. D. The imagery I looked at showed two military vehicles parked at the cabin. We suspect they were there when the team arrived. Shocklee radioed in and requested that we delay the asset’s arrival for twenty-four hours. We did, and the military eventually left. The asset arrived on Tuesday, and they left without any further delay. If things go as planned, which I believe they will, they’ll grab Mauldin on Friday and then start to make their way back toward Estonia.”
“So if something goes wrong or if they get caught, when can we expect to hear about it?”
“They’re eight hours ahead of us timewise. That means it will be very early here on Friday morning when they go in after Mauldin. As you know, they’re traveling incognito without any personal identification. If, by chance, they get caught, it will take time—hours or perhaps even days—before one of them is broken. And that will depend on who’s doing the interrogation: the police, the border guards or the FSB.”
“Is Bill Brandson aware of the delay, and does he have any concerns?”
“Yes, he is, and no, he doesn’t have any concerns, or at least he didn’t when I spoke to him after Shocklee called requesting a delay in the pickup time at CPC.”
“Should I alert the president?”
“No, I don’t think so, not now. You told me before that you had briefed him on the op, so I wouldn’t give him any cause to worry without having something more concrete to go on.”
“OK, good point. How is it going to work?”
“Sorry. How’s what going to work?”
“The act of nabbing Mauldin and them getting out of Russia?”
These are questions he should have asked before the operation was launched, she thought. Is he going to start second-guessing the decision to go after Mauldin now that we have him in our sights?
“As we discussed before, J. D., the attendant routinely brings Mauldin out for a walk in the garden that encompasses the back side of the institute during the middle of the afternoon. He sits him on a bench that is out of sight from the main building and handcuffs him to it. He goes out a nearby gate, gets in a car that he has parked close by, and leaves to take care of his drug business. He’s normally gone about twenty minutes. That’s why time on target is so important. Before the operation commences, one of our assets will drive the street that runs parallel to the fence to make sure nothing of concern is taking place and to confirm that the attendant’s vehicle is parked nearby. That asset will call the team to let them know that it’s OK to start the operation. After the team gets the “all clear” call, they will depart from the warehouse that is seven kilometers away. Any questions so far?”
“No, we’re good. Please continue.”
“One of the SEALs will be the driver of the van that they will use to get to the institute. He’s an expert driver. Our asset, the one we talked about before, will be with the team the entire time. Upon arrival, they will park on the side of the street a good distance from the gate and watch for the attendant to come out and leave. Once he’s gone, they will drive up and stop in front of the gate. Shocklee will be the first out to check the status of the gate. We are confident that he’ll be able to open the gate if it automatically locks when closed.”
“And if not?” questioned the director.
“Then they will be equipped to go over the fence. Also, while this is taking place, one SEAL will remain in the van with the engine running. One SEAL will be on security alert outside the van and watching for the attendant in case he returns earlier than planned. He will take appropriate action to neutralize the attendant if he comes back before the team has extracted Mauldin.”
The director interrupted. “What does that mean, take appropriate action to neutralize him?”
“Render him harmless; killing him will be a means of last resort.”
“That’s what I was hoping you were going to say. Go on.”
“Once inside the grounds, Shocklee will inject Mauldin with the serum provided by Dr. Peters to sedate him as the other two SEALs work to free him from the bench; they’ll place a hood over his head and carry him out to the van. Everyone will load up and drive away, getting out of the city as quickly as possible.”
“Sounds good, but what happens when the attendant returns and finds that Mauldin is gone?”
“Now that’s a good question. There is a restroom building not far from where the attendant will have handcuffed Mauldin to the bench. The gate will be left opened by our guys when they leave. We think that the attendant will tell institute authorities that Mauldin must have gone out the gate while he was using the restroom, but your guess on that issue is as good as ours.”
“This all sounds simple, but you once told me there’s always a chance that something could go wrong at the most inopportune time. Let’s say they must make a run for it, for whatever reason, I don’t know, maybe they are being pursued. What happens?”
“We’ll have an asset on the street to run interference if they are being pursued. Once in the clear, the team will have the option of hiding in the warehouse or continuing toward the border. Another option is to head to the farmhouse to hide out there for a spell. What about the ambassador? Have you made a decision on whether he’s to be brought in on the operation?”
“Just now,” he said. “It seems that the odds might be stacked against us, and, yes, I know that I approved the operation, but that’s not what concerns me. I’m hedging against advising the ambassador given his satirical and sometimes hypocritical attitude about CIA activities. If he’s briefed, he might not keep it to himself and breach security by blabbing it back to the secretary over at Foggy Bottom. Rest assured, I don’t have a problem with the secretary knowing about the operation; she’s already been briefed. It’s the means the ambassador might use to communicate with her, asking for guidance. By not advising him, and if something goes awry, he won’t be lying when he says he didn’t know anything about a rogue CIA operation.”
The director’s phone rang.
“Excuse me a moment,” J. D. said.
He answered. It was Mary, again, reminding him of the time.
He ended the call and placed the handset back in its cradle.
“My next appointment is here. Thanks for the update. Hopefully, you’ll be in here on Friday morning telling me that the unexpected didn’t happen and our guys are safely at Checkpoint Charlie with Mauldin.”
“I hope so,” she replied. “What about the ambassador?”
“Thank you,” he said, as she got up to leave. “Let’s keep him in the dark.”
***
Earlier in Saint Petersburg, the traffic was horrible as Nina drove the freeway heading back to the warehouse. She looked at Alex several times, worried that he might become conscious. Several thoughts crossed her mind as she drove past one car and then around another.
What are we going to do with him, and when did he begin his surveillance?
If Allison had just left him alone and not interfered, this would be an entirely different situation. She could have confronted him later, after passing Allison, and perhaps determined in a much more benign manner just how much he had accidentally learned about her activities and the operation. It was a different situation now, and for his sake, and the sake of the operation, Nina needed to develop a cover story to alleviate everyone’s concerns and to satisfy Alex’s meddlesome curiosity.
Soon after watching Nina drive away, Allison headed to a side street where her car was parked. She got in and called Randy. She knew that she didn’t have a lot of time, given the short time the serum would be active, but she had to take enough time to explain to him what had happened. It was important that he be able to decipher what she had to say in order to effectively report it on up the chain. She dialed his number and when he answered, Allison told him what had happened, of the plan to take Brzezinski to the warehouse, and that they would keep him sedated until the chain decided on a course of action.
Allison paused and a few seconds later ended the call, hoping that Randy had captured everything she had conveyed. She started the engine and spun car wheels as she pulled away from the curb, heading to the warehouse.
Within minutes after Allison ended their call, Randy was on a secure call with Brandson.
“That’s right, Bill, she said that Nina was coming to a meeting with her and detected surveillance. They aborted the meeting and Allison took out the guy tailing her, thinking that it was an FSB operative. It turned out that it wasn’t; it was Nina’s boss. I don’t know the exact details, but Allison later determined, after taking the guy out with a ring slap, that it was Brzezinski. She managed to sit him on a nearby bench as the serum was taking effect. She signaled Nina to get her car. They put him in and Allison ordered Nina to take him to the warehouse. I’m pretty sure that Allison didn’t recognize that the man following Nina was her boss, given that it was almost dark; otherwise, she had no reason to interfere. Allison will call me when she gets to the warehouse and has had a chance to debrief Nina. The plan is to keep the exec sedated until we can figure out what to do with him.”
“Damn it to hell, how could this have happened, Randy? Are you sure you’ve got all the details correct?”
“Yes, it was a cryptic call, but I’m pretty sure I understood exactly what she was telling me. Hopefully, we’ll find out more when Allison calls me back after the debrief. Do you want me to put this in a cable and inform headquarters of what’s happened here?”
“Hell no, not yet,” Brandson replied. “I don’t want headquarters second-guessing us or telling us how to suck eggs. We need to determine whether the op has been compromised and what to do about her boss. You just make sure when Allison calls back that you validate her story. Call me back as soon as you hear from her. I’ll be waiting here in the office.”
***
Nina had started to formulate a cover story that she could use with Alex. She played it out mentally as she sat in front of the warehouse waiting for the door to finish opening. She blinked after hearing the door bang open and then drove in. She turned off the engine and closed the door. She sat behind the steering wheel further developing the cover story. Given their relationship, Alex was probably just concerned about her well-being. She was certain that he knew nothing about the operation or her relationship with the CIA. She had to convince him to agree that he would not tell anyone about her activities if she told him secret details of what she had been doing. If he agreed, she would say that she had been working for the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence organization, who suspected that a group of military men were selling equipment on the black market. She was the one who initially discovered the nefarious black-market trade and informed the GRU who later enlisted her help to solve the case. Nina could say that the warehouse was provided by the GRU, that it was their van, and that it was their agent who drugged him thinking that he was possibly one of the corrupt officers who had been following her. She’d have to discuss the cover story in more detail with Allison when she got there, but from her perspective, Nina thought it was a good story.
She got out of the car and nervously walked around to the passenger side. She opened the door to give Alex some air, as it had become stuffy inside her small Lada. She started to think of the team and of her safety.
What if he wakes up before Allison gets here, or what if he doesn’t buy the story?
Thinking that she had better be prepared for the unexpected, Nina turned and walked toward the wall where the concealment device was located. She was unaware that Alex had begun to stir. He had opened his eyes and saw her walking away from the car. In a matter of seconds, he had regained his senses. He got out of the car, slowly, and started walking toward her, wondering what had happened and where in the hell they were. Nina had her back to him. He saw that she was fidgeting with something. She didn’t hear him as she reached in to get the Makarov. She grasped the pistol with her finger on the trigger and put it in her coat pocket ready to be used. She felt the grasp of his hands before hearing his voice.
“What happened to me, and where are we?” he said in a raised voice as he twisted her body around to face him.
The force of his action almost caused her to fall. She stumbled backward, her finger tightening against the trigger. The exploding bullet hit Alex in the chest, knocking him to the floor. It all happened so fast that there was nothing Nina could have done to prevent the accidental shooting. She pulled the pistol out and looked at it. She lowered her hand and looked down at the blood oozing from Alex’s chest. He laid there motionless.
Nina heard the warehouse door open, but paid no attention to who was coming in. She was shaken mentally by what had happened. She had shot her boss, her lover, and the man who held her future in his hands. She looked at the car pulling into the warehouse and recognized Allison’s face. Allison hadn’t heard the muffled gunshot because of the noise the warehouse door made as it rolled across the overhead suspension rail. When she drove in and saw a man lying on the floor and Nina standing over the body with the Makarov dangling at her side, she knew that it had to be Brzezinski. She pushed the remote button to close the warehouse door, quickly got out, and rushed over to Nina.
“What happened?” she asked, bending down to check for a pulse.
Nina was still terrified by what had happened, but she managed to regain her composure just enough to answer Allison’s question.
“After we got here, I opened the car door on Alex’s side to let in some fresh air. I decided to get the pistol for protection and to guard him in case he came to and, I don’t know, became delirious, crazy, or somehow unmanageable and tried to force us to leave.”
Allison stood. She looked at Nina. “So what happened next?”
“I was putting the pistol in my coat pocket when Alex came up behind me. He grabbed me by my shoulders and spun me around, causing me to nearly fall, and I must have squeezed the trigger. I had no intention of actually shooting him. It was an accident.”
“Well, if he hasn’t told anyone what you’ve been doing, we won’t have to worry about it anymore; he’s dead. Put the pistol away.”
Nina looked down at the pistol again. She turned and put it back in the concealment device. She was barely able to speak when she turned back to face Allison.
“I can’t figure it out. I’m sure he didn’t follow me this morning.” She looked back down at him. “What were you trying to prove, Alex? Why were you following me?”
Allison attempted to calm Nina down, to soothe her emotions so she could figure out when Alex began his surveillance of her. She reached out and touched Nina’s arm.
“Everything will be OK,” she said. “It hurts to lose a close friend and companion, I know that from personal experience, but we need to figure this out. Tell me everything you did, starting from the time you left me yesterday.”
Nina looked at Allison for a few seconds before responding, attempting to collect her wits.
“All right. Based on your direction, I invited Alex to come by my place last evening to do exactly what your note to me suggested to solidify my cover story for being gone for a few days. During the evening, I told him that I would be taking the train to Moscow today to visit my ailing grandmother and that I wouldn’t be back until Saturday. He understood when I told him that my mother had passed away a few years back and that my grandmother was all that I had left in terms of family.”
Allison interjected.
“Did you tell him what time you would be leaving?”
“No, I didn’t, and he didn’t question my story, nor did he express any concerns about me being gone. He was completely satisfied when he left.”
Allison knew what that meant, but she didn’t say anything.
“OK, go ahead. What next?”
“When I got ready to leave the apartment this morning, I saw that he had left his cell phone on the foyer table. He uses it constantly, and I didn’t have time to take it to him. I figured he could use his office phone while I was gone, or he could get another one from the techies at work. I went to the garage, got my car, and drove to the warehouse.”
“Did you look for surveillance?”
“Yes, but not constantly. I mean, it was early and not much traffic. If anyone had been following me, I’m sure I would have noticed it. I did everything you told me to do from that point forward. I left the warehouse and drove to the safe house to make sure everything was OK. I left, stopping at different points while en route to look for surveillance. I got to the cabin midmorning and met the team. As we were driving back to the safe house, I was stopped by a policeman between Seltso and Telezi, but it was just a routine traffic stop and nothing came of it. After that, we drove on to the farmhouse. When we got there, I gave Mike the flip-top phone and briefed him and the team on the ops plan. I’m to return at nine tomorrow so we can make a trial run and practice getting into and out of the city under different operational scenarios.”
Nina paused, waiting for a comment from Allison.
“Was Mike happy with the plan?”
“Yes, he seemed to be. When we finished, I drove to the warehouse to store the van and to get my car. That’s when Alex called to see if I had made it safely to Moscow. We chatted briefly, and I told him that I would see him on Sunday. That was it. We ended the call, I put the Makarov back in the concealment device and then drove back to the apartment building. I took a shower after getting home and left about an hour later for our meeting. You know the rest from there.”
Allison stood quietly for a moment, thinking about everything Nina had told her. A few thoughts came to mind, and she wanted to hear a bit more, although she knew having to disclose more details about events leading up to Alex’s death would cause Nina additional pain.
“Did you know that it was Alex following you?”
“Yes, I did,” she said, while rubbing an eye. “I spotted him just as I crossed the street at Saint Isaac’s Cathedral. That’s when I decided to abort our meeting.”
Allison reached into her pocket and took out a small packet of Kleenex. She handed one to Nina. “I’m curious. Does or did Alex have a key to your apartment?”
“No. Why are you asking?”
“I’ll get to that in a minute, but first, one more question. Is it known by building management that he came to visit you on a frequent basis?”
“Yes. It’s no surprise to anyone in the building that Alex and I were good friends. We were seen together many times by the building apartment manager and other tenants. Why is this important?”
“If Alex needed his cell phone as much as you say he did, I think it’s possible that he was coming back to your place to get it. I’m thinking that he thought it was possible to get building management to let him into your apartment to get the damn phone. When he got there, he must have seen you coming out of the building. If that was the case, he would have been confused by what you told him regarding an ailing grandmother and the line you gave him about having arrived safely to Moscow. It’s my opinion that he started following you at that point—to see where you were going and to find out why you had been concealing your activities from him.”
“I suppose that could be it, I just don’t know, but why did you interfere and drug him? Why didn’t you just let him continue to follow me? I mean, I could have handled the situation with him back at my apartment.”
The sudden change of Nina’s emotions and an attempt to put the blame on Allison for Alex being dead caught the CIA operative by surprise, and it prompted an unprofessional response.
“And how would you have done that? By screwing any thoughts of your activities out of his mind?”
It was Nina’s turn to be upset. She responded to Allison’s dig with one of her own.
“No, not by screwing his brains out. I could have come up with a plausible story,” she said, once again rubbing her eyes. “I’m good at what I do, remember, or else I wouldn’t be a valuable “access agent” for the CIA.”
Allison had far more operational smarts than Nina and knew that she had done the right thing, but she also realized the mistake she had just made by challenging Nina’s behavior. She attempted to change the tone of their conversation.
“I’m sorry for the way things have worked out, Nina, but how was I to know it was Alex following you? It could have been the FSB, and my concern was for your safety. I didn’t know it was Alex until I sat him down on the bench. Yes, I wish circumstances were different, but that’s not the case. We’ve got other issues to deal with, so please, take a seat someplace while I call and give the chain an update.”
Nina walked over and opened the back of the van. She sat down, half in and half out, with one leg on the floor and the other dangling over the edge of the bumper. She wondered what the team was going to think about the incident, about her carelessness. Her thoughts then turned to Allison and the chain of command. She heard parts of the conversation as Allison informed her contact what had transpired.
“You heard me right. Our concern is no longer with us. He’s TFU.”
Randy knew right away that Alex was dead when Allison stated that he was TFU. We bury people tits up. Using the phonetic alphabet, tips up, tango uniform, would be abbreviated TU. By adding the sex expression, which military men tend to do, it would be TFU, tango foxtrot uniform.
Nina was thinking of Alex and her future at RT News. She looked over at him.
What were they were going to do with his body?
She heard the tone of Allison’s voice; she sounded distressed and upset as she ended the call.
“Sorry, but we’ve got to get moving,” Allison said as she walked over to Nina. “We need to load Alex in the van, so you can take him to Delta and have the team dispose of his body. Stay there with them and tell Mike what happened. Everything is on hold until the chain has had time to evaluate the situation and decide on a course of action.”
Allison watched Nina leave and then she left, heading home to prepare a COVCOM report for Randy. As she drove away, Randy was already on the phone to give Brandson the unexpected news.