Kill on Sight
That stupid promise
“No weapons. No electronic devices. No calls. No asking questions about the facility. And you will remain with your escort at ALL times while on the grounds. Am I clear, Gentlemen?”
Simo and Chen replied that they were and accepted their ID cards from the CIA guard.
“Mr. and Mrs. Green are your escorts for the duration of the ceremony…” The guard pointed to a man and woman in black.
Simo watched as the gruff guard was interrupted by another guard who pointed behind them.
Simo turned and watched Mike Booker coming through security toward them as fast as Mike could manage. He had a tall, studious man in tow, and both men looked unhappy.
Simo nudged Chen and whispered, “Uh-oh.”
“That nose of yours…” Chen whispered back.
“Simo! We need to talk,” Booker said, out of breath, and flashed his ID at their guard. “Come with me.”
“But, Sir? Chen Longwei is formally from the People’s Republic of…”
“I know.” Booker pointed behind the guard to another guard holding a red phone. “The Director is on the line for you.”
“The Director?” The guard hastily grabbed the phone and pushed it up against his ear.
“Visitor Security here.” The guard nodded, finished his call with a ‘Yes, Sir,’ and hung up.
He went to his console and printed out two different security cards and handed one to Simo.
With hesitation, he handed Chen his and gave him a dirty look.
Chen ignored the man and turned his attention to Mike Booker.
“Good afternoon, Mike. A pleasure to see you again, perhaps?” Chen smiled.
“Ha! Come… we have to hurry.”
Simo hastily followed Booker through halls and up an elevator until he was shown into a conference room. Booker pointed to the chairs around the oblong mahogany table.
“We have a problem with Jessie.”
“Here it comes,” Chen said to Simo.
“We don’t know where she is. She was supposed to be here last night. She has not been at her apartment for at least a week. Her bank account and trust have been emptied.”
“Maybe she quit?” Simo asked.
“Simo, have you seen her? Has she contacted you in any way? Truth. Her life depends on it.”
“I knew it…”
“What?” Booker nearly yelled.
“I thought I saw Jessie at the club.” Simo turned to Chen, who spoke up.
“We ran all the evening’s security footage through our software. All that we came up with for the entire evening was a partial rear shot of a woman with red hair that resembled Jessie’s.”
“Shit,” Booker sighed.
“Why?” Simo barked back.
“So no contact? At all? Swear it?”
“Yes, I swear!” Simo barked again. “WHY?”
“It would have been best if she did contact you. Fuck.”
Simo stood up hard, sending his chair rolling backward. “What the fuck is going on?”
“I’m sorry… Jessie is up to something. If she spoke to you, it would mean she has plans for the future, but just coming to see you and saying nothing? She has an endgame plan. I’m sorry.”
“What? You think she is going rogue?” Simo said, leaning forward.
“I think so…”
“Who is he?” Simo pointed at the studious tall man sitting next to Booker.
“I am Jessie’s… handler. Please call me, Tom.”
“I thought she passed everything!” Simo angrily shot at the man.
“She did.”
“Fuck. I told you, she was activated! You should have pulled her!”
“There was no indication…”
“I fucking told you! That was your indication! Fuck!” Simo bellowed.
Chen stood next to him, patting Simo’s back, whispering, “Listen to what they are saying.” Simo nodded.
“Go on,” Simo ordered.
“We think there is a possibility she has targeted a foreign antagonist,” replied Smith.
“What? Speak English!” Simo demanded.
Booker spoke up. “Simo… we think she is going after an active IRA leader that is visiting here under assumed pretenses.”
“Why? What’s going on with the IRA? I thought they were not actively terrorizing Britain…”
Smith spoke up. “Don’t believe that all terrorist attacks come from Muslim leaders… some bad actors manipulate them to do their dirty work for them or put the blame upon them.”
“What does this have to do with Jessie? Dammit!”
Booker made a calming motion with his hands. “All I can say is Jessie was involved in an operation in Ireland that led to Yemen… to your last job with us.”
“What? That was Jessie’s operation? What the fuck? She’s like a newbie.”
Chen interrupted. “Gentlemen! Please let me speak with Simo for a few moments. Perhaps we can calm this situation down.”
“Agreed,” Smith replied and promptly left the room.
“We’ll be back in five. Don’t touch anything,” Booker said to Chen.
Chen waited until they were out of earshot and turned to a very angry giant. “Simo, you can’t help Jessie by letting yourself get angry.”
Simo sighed. “Chen… my worst nightmare is going to come true. Just wait.”
“Granted. But try and calm down and see if there are any other avenues. This is very unlike you. Get into your tactical mode… I am here to help.”
Simo had his hands on his hips and was turning to and fro. He took a breath and sighed. “Thank you, Chen. I’ll try.”
Chen waved them back in.
Booker and Smith took their seats, as did Simo and Chen. Booker was the first to speak. “The FBI is involved. She is listed as a person of interest, but we would like to keep this in-house… I want you to look for her if she doesn’t show up for the ceremony.”
“And if she has gone rogue?”
“We can’t have rogue agents…” Tom replied.
Simo glared at Tom for a long moment. “What training has she had?”
Smith leaned forward. “Assassination, psychological warfare and ops, covert operations… urban and desert. She is rated expert in hand-to-hand, knives, rifle, and handgun. She graduated cum laude from Virginia Military Institute. Bachelor’s degree in two years.
All while training at Peary and Point. She was quite the remarkable young woman. ”
“Was?” Simo looked to Booker.
“Like any job, Simo, you can’t not be in contact with your boss and not suffer the consequences.” Booker sighed.
“Did you rule out kidnapping or her being in some hospital?” Simo retorted angrily.
“Yes. We ran her image through the NSA’s facial recognition database. Nothing.”
Chen spoke up. “Could it be she is deceased?” He gave Simo’s glare a consoling smile in return.
“It is a possibility, though doubtful,” Smith replied.
“What are her resources?” Chen asked.
“Who knows? She had a considerable sum of money in the trust her mother left her,” Smith replied.
“Enough to retire on?” Simo asked.
“Perhaps to a Central or South American country. And yes, we did check,” Smith responded.
“Simo… let’s go over options here. I am hoping she just got a case of nerves and will show up. She’ll be reprimanded and will have to bear a black mark on her record, but that is not a career ender.”
“Booker, I want to know why I am up here in a building where Chen and I are not welcome. Answer me directly. What are you going to ask me to do?”
Mike Booker sighed heavily. “What you asked Ari to ask us so long ago. We agreed. You wanted to bear her responsibility… now you will have it. It’s better for everyone in the end this way. I’m sorry.”
“You should have listened to me, Booker,” Simo growled.
“You got your part down tight?”
“I do,” Victor replied.
“You are going to hear and see things that will hurt your heart. Don’t lose control and don’t fuck it up. It’s your life if you do.”
“Got it. Hey… is Veronica your real name?”
“No. Any other stupid questions?”
“Yeah… I still don’t know everything, do I?”
Jessie smiled and patted Victor’s cheek. “And ruin the surprise?” Jessie laughed.
“Fuck.”
“Radio check. Check, one, two…”
Victor held his finger to his ear. “Check. I hear you.”
“Head out and good luck… I’ll be watching.”
Victor was out of his apartment and across the street at the flower shop.
He bought a dozen red roses and stepped out into the chilly, early evening sunlight.
He walked down his road until he came to the small hole-in-the-wall café and found a seat.
He ordered a decaf, as Veronica, or whatever her name was, suggested, saying that too much caffeine would make him jittery.
He knew in his guts that something bad was going to happen, and that it involved Tatiana.
He couldn’t fathom the idea of a man wanting to hurt a woman, especially one as sweet as Tatiana.
He felt a spurt of anger at the idea of men who enjoyed that.
He never could even handle seeing movies where women were attacked or…
raped. It bothered him to his core. Veronica had him pegged.
He wondered where Veronica trained… and how she ended up with a Russian girl. He should have asked where…
The radio in his ear burst alive with Jessie’s voice. “Look down, NOW!”
Without a second thought, he put his head down like he was looking at his phone.
“Wait… wait… wait…” she said. “Wait… ok, count to five and return to your decaf.”
He did as he was told and took a sip. Though his heart was hammering at the reasons why he had to look down so suddenly. He hadn’t seen anyone.
“Ok… now comes the very hard part, Victor. I won’t lie to you. What happens in the next ten minutes is going to tear at your heart and soul. You HAVE to wait until I say go… and do and say EXACTLY what I tell you to say or…” She paused.
“Or what?” Victor whispered.
“Or Tatiana will end up dead before you or I can help her.”
“What? Oh my God. What is going on?”
“You said anything… be prepared. Now MOVE! GO!”
With Jessie’s voice bellowing ‘move’ in his ear, he jumped up, grabbed his flowers, and headed up to Tatiana’s apartment.