by D S Kane
He nodded.
“Right. Now tell me you agree to my terms and I’ll be gone.”
She watched McDougal seethe. But with obvious difficulty, he managed to control his evident rage. He bowed his head. “I agree,” was all he said.
Cassie knew it was better not to get him to put his signature on a piece of paper. She already had all she needed to keep him as her “pet dog” for as long as he lived. She turned on her heel and left his office, flicking the Record function of her cell phone off as she reached the elevator bank.
The man sat at the screen of the computer in his office. His anger almost overpowered him. Outside, busy people tracked events and searched for terrorists. He’d closed his door and reviewed his decisions before acting on them.
He took a deep breath to settle himself. Yes, she’d survived. He hadn’t cared whether she lived or died. But that was before her actions destroyed the value of his stock portfolio. She’d cost him tens of millions. Now he’d have to move the money fast before further losses wiped him out.
He opened his cell phone and dialed an international number. “Guten Tag, Herr Flouber. I have a numbered account with the name Ellbert E. Friend. 87-2458-9716-LF. Please close out every open short position with all my stocks on the NYSE and put me back into US Treasury bills, ninety-day duration. Roll them at maturity until further notice. Danke. Auf Wiedersehen.” He picked up the list of identities and accounts and reviewed his progress. He moved down the list, calling each of the others.
He thought a second more. She knew too much. If she hadn’t already put it all together, she might at any time. His complicity in the failed attack would call undue attention to him for sure. But getting her executed would take time and he didn’t have a lot of it left. To keep him out of this, he’d have to use others with more power. Who was right for this? He picked up the phone and dialed another number.
As the elevator dropped slowly to the lobby, Cassie thought about the past year. She’d been so naïve when she accepted her job at the agency, three years ago. She knew her enthusiasm for her job and her country had blinded her to reality. Her only skills of value were econometric forecasting, banking, and computer hacking. All she had learned at the agency was being a thief. This realization hit her hard.
For minutes, she stood in the lobby, looking out the large windows into the busy street.
The world was so different to her now. Fear was no longer her constant companion. She could remain focused even under great stress. The voice in her head now served her as her instincts, honed as a sharp weapon. Her eyes had been forced open.
Cassie thought about her original judgments. McDougal was honorable. Lee Ainsley was a buffoon. Her government was correct to assert its place as the most powerful nation in the world with her as its willing accomplice. All wrong!
She’d been so wrong about so much, especially Lee. Cassie knew she’d have to guard against being duped again. Anger had not served her well. She’d grown too comfortable with vengeance, taking lives. She’d become a horror to herself. To compensate, she’d have to watch herself, remain aware of who she’d become at all times. Cassie wondered if she could ever be normal.
She thought about her mercenaries and her new friends, how she had trusted them with her life and how they had not failed her.
As Cassie left the lobby of the building and walked through the sunlight down K Street, she thought about her future. She wanted to make Swiftshadow Consulting Group a force for a more rational world. There would be at least a half billion dollars left when she finished stealing the remaining cash from the terrorist bank accounts. She’d need to hire her mercs on a permanent basis. She’d need a good-sized office with a few people staffing it. Maybe she could interest Judy Hernandez in a spot as office manager?
She mourned Evan’s death, but then she thought about Lee. Lee had been everything she’d ever fantasized in a man, and after being so close to him for over six months, she was sure she’d never feel as much for anyone else. And she was sure she could depend on him to be her conscience.
She stopped walking, surprised by an unexpected realization. She really was in love with him.
She stood still for several seconds, savoring this feeling while the slow flow of pedestrians moved around her. Smiling like an idiot, she started walking down the street again, singing a blues tune by Chris Smither, “Love Me Like A Man.” She’d heard Bonnie Raitt perform it in concert several years ago:
I come home sad and lonely, feel like I wanna cry.
I want a man to hold me, not some fool to ask me why.
The colors of the world seemed much brighter, and she could clearly see details of texture and deeper shades in the scene around her. She suddenly hoped she could be normal if she and Lee were together. But would he still want her after whatever tortures they were doing to him? Would he become as mangled as she was?
Had she lost him forever?
As Cassie walked past an alleyway on K Street, she heard a pitiful “meow.” She looked into the dark passage. She heard the “meow” again. She searched until she found a tiny black kitten, the size of a cup of coffee, walking among the alley garbage. The starving kitten looked up at her and meowed once more. Cassie reached down. It let her pet it, and it rubbed its head against her hand. She picked up the kitten. It fit perfectly in her hand. She was gentle as she rubbed its fur, and its purr was loud.
The tiny cat was as she had been when she’d first arrived in Manhattan: homeless, alone, desperate. Cassie looked into its eyes. Only trust reflected back at her. But she realized she could change its future by adopting it. It was then Cassie knew she had her life back. She was free again. She could do things normal people did.
As she walked on, she remembered vividly the dream she’d had in Carmel when Lee had awakened her just two weeks ago. She and Lee, much older, with Gizmo the cat and a daughter.
Now she clearly saw the face of her teenaged daughter. Her eyes misted over. It was Ann Silbee. Cassie decided to return to the Grand Central Station tunnels as soon as possible and get Ann out from there, adopt her. But would Ann still be there? What if something had happened to her? She hoped the teenager was still safe. She’d dreamed about being married, but since Evan’s death she had stopped hoping for it, and hadn’t ever given a thought to being a parent. Now it seemed like the perfect next step.
Family!
She could visualize the life ahead of her. A normal life. Her entire future seemed at once very whole and satisfying.
She thought about finding a vet for the cat, get it vaccinations and something to kill the fleas she was sure it carried. She walked off, carrying the kitten in her arms. Cassie said to it, “Little one, I name you ‘Gizmo.’ You’re coming home with me. I sure hope Lee likes cats.”
She had work to do. Serious work.
Time to live!
Appendix A
Agency Dossier, Cassandra Sashakovich
(copy found by Sashakovich on Pesi Houmaz’s computer)
NAME: Cassandra Sashakovich
AGE: 28
DATE OF BIRTH: May 19, 1983
EDUCATION:
Half Moon Bay High School, Academic Diploma 1998
California Culinary Institute, No Degree, 2002
New York University, BA, Economics, minor in Computer Science, 2006
Stanford University, Ph. D. Economics, 2008
PLACE OF BIRTH: San Mateo, CA
CALLSIGN: Swiftshadow
COVER NAME: Chrissie Card
COVER PROFESSION: Staff Economist, Brewster Jennings and Associates, Boston, MA
LANGUAGES: Arabic, Hebrew, Farsi, Pashto, and Dari
COVER CONTROL: Mark McDougal, Assistant Director
!!!! BURN NOTICE !!!!
COVER ASSIGNMENTS AND CONSULTING WORK:
6/2008Trained in basic intelligence and counterintelligence at The Farm
8/2008Trained in Farsi, Pashto, Arabic, and Hebrew
1/2009Developed MAPEMIN Forecasting Procedures
4/2009Attempted basic forecasts to prove MAPEMIN effectiveness, using US GNP, Balance of Payments, and Agency Budget. FAILED, but procedure shows promise
8/2009Modified MAPEMIN, successfully forecasted US GNP, Balance of Payments, and Agency Budget.
Assigned to Brewster Jennings and Associates satellite office in Washington, DC
10/2009Toured Middle East embassies, introduced to Ambassadors and local staffs
11/2009Developed GNP forecast for National Bank of Afghanistan
2/2010Refined MAPEMIN for second stage forecast
5/2010Developed Consumer Sales forecast for Saudi Arabian Central Bank
Rendered $1.78 million from Al-Zil Muslim extremist organization
8/2010 Further refined MAPEMIN to reduce forecasting errors to below 2% for macro factors
11/2010 Developed Electric Power forecast for Abu Dhabi Rendered $2.5 million from Houmaz branch of Al Qaeda
12/2010Trained at Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, Advanced Middle Eastern Culture
2/2011Riyadh, Electric Energy Demand Forecast; Rendered $2.5 million from Indonesian Fundamentalist Muslim extremists
2/2011Cover blown, attempted assassination by Houmaz, Murdered assassin in self-defense, Employment terminated.
!!!! BURN NOTICE !!!!
CHARACTERISTICS:
STRENGTHS
oWork Capabilities
oEconometric forecasting
oComputer Hacking
oGlobal Banking Security Countermeasures
oLanguage Capabilities (all fluent)
oPashto
oArabic
oFarsi
oUrdu
oHebrew
oRussian
oExcellent swimmer
oLearns very fast, adjusts to changing circumstances with creativity—capable of promotion to management level at the agency
WEAKNESSES
oHas habitual locations:
oVacations at expensive hotels, eats at expensive restaurants
oAttends blues festivals
oPlays an expensive guitar
oBare basic self-defense skills
oDrinks wine and single-malt scotch
oDriven by emotions, including strong sense of guilt
oPride in work
oUnable to relinquish control
oPossible sex addiction, special sensitivity in nipples possibly to compensate for small breasts
!!!! BURN NOTICE !!!!
CONTROL’S NOTES:
10/14/2009 – Cassandra Sashakovich is the most determined and inflexible operative I’ve ever had to control. She often pays little attention to my requests, violates agency protocols, and often puts herself in danger without thinking about the consequences. She is a very frustrating agent to control. Most specifically, she has violated local customs regarding what is considered proper for females in Muslim culture. However, despite these extensive and potentially dangerous weaknesses, her abilities and creativity have enabled her to become one of the most sought-after operatives we have. Her computer hacking skills are by far the best I have ever seen. Her financial forecasting abilities are better than any I know of in the private sector. Her knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of global banking are unrivaled. She has shown herself to be a very fast learner in acquiring new languages.
5/12/2010 – Sashakovich continues to improve her skills. She is the most focused agent we have. I recommend she be given time to improve her self-defense skills, since we have heard several Muslim extremist organizations now suspect her of removing funds from their bank accounts. Unfortunately, this will be difficult, since we now have her backlogged for several urgent assignments.
3/2/2011 – With the concurrence of agency Director Gilbert Greenfield, I terminated Sashakovich’s employment for cause. She committed the crime of murder in Saudi Arabia, ignored agency protocol, and insulted local culture. I am sorely disappointed with her behavior. She showed a complete lack of maturity in her sexual behavior, in a culture which could find many reasons to execute her for her crimes in country. She will be monitored by the agency to ensure no information regarding agency operations can be taken from her. If any attempt is made to extradite her to Saudi Arabia, Director Greenfield had consented to terminating her using US-based agency black ops contractors.
!!!! BURN NOTICE !!!!
Appendix B
Cassie’s Original Draft of the Plan to Survive (written on the bus during her escape from Washington, DC, taken from her cell phone)
“Swiftshadow Consulting Group
1.Where it provides an advantage, act like a Muslim extremist. Start by changing my identity. Need plenty of alternates. Need to change my face ASAP, therefore, see a plastic surgeon. Need the ability to plant someone else’s fingerprints and DNA by gathering those from others who are unlikely to have ever been put into any system. Maybe school children? I could be a substitute teacher for a week or two.
2.My first clients would naturally be those I have worked with before, since they know the quality of my work, and couldn’t have sold me out since they knew me only under my cover identity, while the assassin knew my real name. But the agency may leak my separation from them and tell them it wasn’t voluntary. Will there be any that will take me?
3.Can’t meet face to face with clients. Too dangerous. I need a secure anonymous Internet website host with embedded email capabilities, paid for through several financial blinds.
4.To minimize chance of being found by those wanting to kill me, any travel must be via bus, freight train, or if overseas, then by freighter. No airports, ever.
5.Learn survival skills and improve my martial arts skills; the agency’s training course might not be enough.
6.Find places where I can stash new identities and cash when I must leave the area without advance warning. Maybe a locker at a bus terminal?
7.Ultimate goals are to find and eliminate those who want me dead. That means kill them and all the direct links to them. How to do this?
8.Find the bastards at the agency that blew my cover and fix them so they are worse than merely dead. Has to be someone in the analysis section, such as Gault, McDougal, Greenfield, or Ainsley. But who? And what if I’m wrong and it’s someone else? What if it’s an operative in the black section?
9.I need a fallback plan in case everything fails. If I can’t gain safety by elimination of whoever wants me dead—Houmaz, Hezbollah, Hamas, or Fatah—I’ll just hack a retirement fund from the Houmaz bank account for myself, change my identity, slip away and hide forever, someplace tropical and quiet.”
Appendix C
Cassie’s Original Draft of the Plan to Eliminate the Houmaz Organization (written just before joining forces with Lee Ainsley, taken from her cell phone)
Set-up Phase
oSoftware staff recruitment, software development and testing
Recruit Lee (as “director”) and two hacking team leaders—one for banks and one for sat telecom hardware and software.
Staffing required: Cassie, Lee, and two agency hacks.
Estimated calendar time to completion: 2 months for development and one month for testing.
Precursor event: none.
Is precursor to: Arming the Trap and Springing the Trap.
oRecruit attack team leaders
Recruit three attack team leaders for Riyadh covert op.
Recruit one breaking-and-entering team leader.
Staffing required: Cassie and Lee, who is the first recruit.
Estimated calendar time to completion: 1 month.
Precursor event: Recruit Lee.
Is precursor to: all subsequent phases and their tasks.
oObtain materiel and recruit team personnel
100 retired agency staff and military mercenaries.
100 Kevlar vests.
100 Ruger Mini-14s modified automatic handguns and AGENCY ISSUED AMMO.
100 satellite phones for covert use.
&n
bsp; Two satellite transponders with radio-oriented beachball antennas.
Staffing required: Cassie.
Estimated calendar time to completion: 1 month.
Precursor event: Recruit attack team leaders.
Is precursor to: all other tasks in this phase and all other phases.
oOrganize sub-teams and assign tasks
Determine talents and skills of all team members.
Staffing required: Cassie, all recruits.
Estimated calendar time to completion: 1 week.
Precursor event: Recruit attack team leaders.
Is precursor to: all other tasks in this phase and all other phases.
oPlan armed attacks
Riyadh.
Staffing required: Cassie, attack team leaders.
Estimated calendar time to completion: 10 days.
Precursor event: Organize sub-teams and assign tasks.
Is precursor to: Training Phase.
oPlan software hacks and telecom interruptions
Staffing required: Cassie, hack team leaders.
Estimated calendar time to completion: 2 weeks.
Precursor event: Organize sub-teams and assign tasks.
Is precursor to: Training Phase.
Training Phase (all tasks in this phase can be conducted concurrently)
Train armed forces
Staffing required: Cassie, attack team leaders and their organized team members.
Estimated calendar time to completion: 1 month.
Precursor event: all Set-up phase tasks.
Is precursor to: Arming the Trap.
Train hacking force