13. I’ll Sleep With Your Wife, Too
Chapter 13
I’ll Sleep With Your Wife, Too
Griff
She left. I heard Daisy, her Ducati, fire up. The sound of the engine receded into the distance.
Was I worried that something might happen to her while she was out? Yes. But I knew where she was going. I knew her like I knew myself - better, even.
She was heading to the one sanctuary she had. To Mack McClanahan’s farm.
Top and his wife only lived three miles down a small highway, with acres and acres of land.
I followed the tracker on her bracelet, and watched the little dot move as she sped down the highway, far over the speed limit. She was a Psycho on a Ducati.
She was fast, banking turns, and moving down side streets in an unpredictable pattern, like she had a tail following her around. She might be a civilian now, but she was still a trained operator. She’d be tricky to follow if she ever got pissed and took off that bracelet.
Maybe the subdermal tracker Sierra talked about wouldn’t be such a bad thing. I mean if I was already going to track her, then I might as well go balls to the wall. That was the Lucky 13 motto, after all: “If it’s worth killing, it’s worth overkilling.”
I’d get to her later. First, I had to dial in, before I started a national incident by not making contact with the government agencies that would oversee our little hiatus.
I walked out into the woods with the satellite phone to my ear. A full-blown conversation was underway the moment I pinged into the conference call.
“I don’t understand,” Sierra’s distinctive Ukrainian accent pierced through the static. “Your wife was in bed with another man?”
“Yes!” That was the voice of Agent Golf. I could hear his distinct Texan drawl.
“So?” Sierra asked, still confused at the significance of his statement.
“She was cheating on me!”
Silence. Total dead air on the line as everyone took this information in.
“Hello? Did I get disconnected?” Golf’s voice again.
I didn’t say anything, trying to withhold my laughter.
“You literally had a threesome with two prostitutes in Amsterdam. I was there when you paid them,” Sierra sputtered.
“So?” Golf seemed genuinely, though stupidly, confused.
“So?” she mocked, “You were sleeping around and you’re annoyed that she did the same thing?”
“I’m fighting for America, damnit!” When we all burst out laughing, he tried a different tact. “Look, I might have slept around, but I didn’t have an affair. Those women didn’t mean anything. She had an affair ! They practically live together. In my house!”
Sierra laughed, heartily and loudly. Just when I thought she was done, she’d laugh again, louder this time, sputtering about “men” and “idiots” in multiple languages.
“So you…” she gasped for air between laughter. “You thought she’d stay faithful, when you are so clearly not?” She kept on laughing. “She’s a fucking business owner. She makes more money than you and you thought that you were so red-white-and-awesome that she’d stay home knitting…” More laughter that sounded like a donkey braying. “She’s so much hotter than you, too!”
We all waited for her to quit laughing, before I finally interjected, “So what did you do?”
“Well, I beat the shit out of the guy,” Golf said.
I understood that. I had wanted to beat the fuck out of Greg “VD” Veder when I found out what he had done. And the man had come to me in earnest, confessing his sins. I couldn’t imagine walking in on them when they did it.
“Now, she’s suing me and he’s filing charges!”
“You should have called first,” I said, remembering the adage: “Drop a dime, stop a crime.”
“Is everyone here?” A voice finally came on. I vaguely recognized it as the woman from the CIA, the one who had sat beside my father in the Situation Room, threatening a prisoner’s kids. “Do a roll call.”
All agents chimed in, in alphabetical order. “Alpha here.”
“Bravo here.”
So on and so forth.
Alpha through Zulu, using the NATO Phonetic alphabet.
Satisfied that we had all called in as needed, the woman’s voice went on. “I’m Sonia Norkus. I work for the company.” The Company was just code for the Central Intelligence Agency. “I’m heading the task force that’s been put together to plug the leak on Cerberus and intercept the imminent attack on US soil that was uncovered with the cancellation of former Navy SEAL, Royce Matthews.”
Nice and succinct.
Sonia Norkus… I recognized that name. I just wasn’t sure from where.
“Question!” Oscar interrupted her as she began the ritual of briefing us all. “Why are we being outsourced to the CIA? Cerberus has never been a company asset.”
There were murmurs of agreement on the line.
We were, technically, a part of the Secret Service, even though we blurred the lines, working directly with the Commander in Chief. The CIA and us weren’t always on the best of terms, despite efforts to bridge the gap. It was an ego thing. Too many swinging dicks, trying to see who could poke each other’s eyes out.
“Hold all questions to the end, or better yet, don’t ask them at all.” Sonia was clearly not in the mood to deal with us today. Probably felt too important, working out there in Langley. “If you need to know, I will tell you. If you do not know, it’s because you don’t need to. Am I understood?”
With tremendous restraint, our ragtag operation of killers managed to keep their mouths shut.
We could be professional.
Yup. We could get through an entire phone call without making a smart ass remark. After all, we were the silent and deadly professionals that were a mystery to the rest of the black ops community.
Be professional.
Be…
Professional…
“I bet you’re fun at parties,” I said, then immediately regretted it when the snickering on the line started.
I gave it my best shot.
“Anyway,” Norkus said when the snickering died down. “We have ascertained that the leak was not from a Cerberus agent, but from someone else. We have already ruled out anyone from the Company…”
“Sure,” I said, with a roll of my eyes. “I wonder what CIA desk jockey headed up that investigation.”
“That would be me, Agent Kilo. I am the CIA Desk Jockey that headed up the investigation,” Norkus said, without a hint of sarcasm or shame. “It was rigorous, and thorough, I assure you.”
I snorted, but she continued. The woman had thick skin, I had to give her that.
“The issue is not that some of the identities of Cerberus agents was leaked, but that there is an imminent terrorist attack on US soil. Their intent is to sow doubt into the American system, and we’ve narrowed down to several events within the time frame…”
“You’re saying us agents are in trouble, but you don’t care?” Bravo said.
“I’m pretty sure that leaking us to these guys is a pretty big issue, don’t you think?” That was Agent Hotel.
“How did you even figure out a timeframe for the so-called imminent attack?” That was Agent Juliet. Despite the name, he was a man. The one he replaced after her untimely demise was a woman. We didn’t get to pick our letters, but instead moved into the death-created vacancies.
“You don’t need to know.” Norkus shot him down, and my skepticism grew.
“Wow, the CIA being selfish dicks again, guys. Anyone surprised?” Oh, Sierra. God love her because no one else would.
“I would also like to voice my opinion that the leaking of our identities is kind of a big deal,” Oscar chirped up.
“For god’s sake! I’m muting you all!” Sonia said.
A click and the sudden quieting of the line let us know she had done just that.
“For fuck’s sake, if you just lay low and keep your wits about you, then you’ll be fine. Don’t let anyone sneak up on you, and don’t get shit faced and make yourself an easy target. Basic tradecraft. Can you manage that?”
I started to voice my protest, and I’m sure my colleagues did as well, but her steady lack of reaction let me know we were all still silenced. There was no way none of us had anything to add to that.
“I hear no protests, so I’ll take your silence as consent.”
Was she making a joke? I couldn’t fucking tell. Either way, I was halfway to wanting to kill her with my bare hands. The Company made insufferable spies.
I didn’t like the CIA, they were too murky at the best of times. They took the term “morally gray” and turned it black. Worse yet, they had an ego that made my monstrous cock look miniscule, and that was saying something.
“Don’t get arrested, don’t talk to anyone, and don’t get yourself killed. Those are three very simple tasks. I’m sure you can manage that.” She let out a loud, aggrieved sigh. “Like fucking children, the lot of you.”
She was kinda funny.
I didn’t know if I should be fond of her, or if I should add her to my hit list… I’d figure that out later.
“I’m going to unmute you now, and I’ll need you all to speak one at a time, in a nice, professional and orderly manner.”
There was a beat of silence. I assumed that she had unmuted us, and we all stayed quiet.
“Where’s Director Griffith?” Oscar finally said.
“He’s otherwise engaged.” There was something odd in Sonia’s tone. Something… different.
I couldn’t get a read on it without seeing her.
“I will now drop off the line and leave you all to discuss your marching orders. Have a good RnR, ladies and gentlemen.”
She was drier than the Sahara with that humor of hers.
“Alright, everyone,” Oscar took over, being the most senior of all the pod commanders. “We have our orders. Any alibis?”
Alibis in the military sense was short for alibi fires - a term used for when someone didn’t get all their rounds off on the range and needed extra time to shoot them off. That’s what our afterthoughts were - just alibi fires.
“None heard,” Oscar said. “We can say that we’re adjourned—”
“Wait! Kilo!” Sierra called out before my thumb could end the call. “Tell me when you’re shopping for engagement rings! I want to come!”
“Wait… really?” Not so much that I was supposed to getting engaged, but that she wanted to be there.
“Of course! I’m a woman. I like shopping for shiny, useless expensive things that only men are obligated to pay for. It brings out my sense of feminism that this scam still works.” Of course she’d have a smart ass response. “Also, I want to be a groomswoman. I’ll be your best maid!”
“You’re being awfully presumptive.”
“Pfsht!” She scoffed. “We both know I’m your favorite.”
Was she? I wasn’t sure. The life of a spy wasn’t exactly conducive to making friends. It took a few seconds to run through my list of people, but yeah, there was a huge chance that Sierra would be the person I’d have beside me as I watched Taz walk down the aisle.
“Don’t get a big head about it.” I wasn’t going to admit she was right. When your little sister stumbles on the truth for a minute, you don’t admit it. It’ll just give her an ego. “My last best friend slept with my wife, so the bar’s not high.”
“Hey, a win is a win!” Sierra laughed. “I’ll totally sleep with your wife, too. Don’t count me out yet.”
I hung up on her.