Dangerous Deceptions: A Christian Romantic Suspense Boxed Set Collection

by Lisa Harris

  He smiled. “You don’t know the half of it yet.”

  Chapter Ten

  Frank told me once the Bureau found out Kamila was communicating with Mustafa, the feds had gone to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) to get the necessary legal documentation to investigate an American citizen living in the U.S.

  “You put Kamila Hanim under investigation?” I asked.

  “Yes, and you can probably guess what happened when we began monitoring her activities and obtained a list of her clientele at the Benchmark Rehabilitation Center.”

  I nodded. “You found out Ben was one of her clients.”

  Frank smiled. “Bingo. When one of my agents brought me Kamila’s patient list, and I saw the name Ben Mitchell on there, a Fellow at the Consortium for International Studies, I immediately decided to approach Douglas about allowing Ben to participate in an interagency joint operation with the FBI.”

  Ben said, “Actually, before Douglas called me, I was about to ask the Benchmark manager for a different therapist.”

  “Why? Weren’t you and Kamila getting along?”

  “Yes, but I told you the truth yesterday when I said I’d taken a peek at Kamila’s driver’s license. As soon as I saw her last name, I realized it wasn’t a good idea for me to be doing rehab with the Imam’s daughter when my father was about to begin hearings on Turkey.”

  “But, naturally, you changed your mind after Douglas gave you this assignment,” I said.

  Ben shook his head. “Douglas didn’t give me this assignment. When I met with him, he told me since this was a honeypot operation, the decision was entirely up to me. It was no big deal, so I said yes.”

  A honeypot operation was any kind of assignment that required an operative to initiate a romantic relationship with a target for the purpose of gathering information or influencing the person. In most cases, the covert operative was given the option of accepting or rejecting the assignment.

  “As soon as Ben agreed,” Frank said, “Douglas and I put together a set of protocols for the operation, which we decided to call Operation Crescent Moon, and Ben began pursuing a relationship with Kamila.”

  Ben said, “Like I told you yesterday, when I asked Kamila to go out with me, I was hoping she’d tell me who her father was if I confessed about my father being a senator. When that happened, and we started talking about her father and his problems with the regime in Turkey, I sensed her sympathies were more in line with President Evren’s thinking than they were with her own father’s policies.”

  “You mean she thinks her father directed the PLP to try to assassinate President Evren?”

  “Although she didn’t say that outright, she definitely hinted at it.”

  Frank said, “Once Ben assured us Kamila seemed interested in him, Douglas and I told Ben to show sympathy for her feelings to see if she would divulge any details about her relationship to Mustafa.”

  I looked over at Ben. “Since Kamila thought your expertise was in International Relations at CIS, I’m guessing it wasn’t hard to convince her of your sincerity, but I’m wondering if she realized your views don’t reflect the Senator’s views about President Evren.”

  “We talked about that, but the fact that my father and I are in disagreement about Turkey turned out to be a plus in her eyes.”

  “Is that why she invited you to attend their family dinner at Camp Tamal last Saturday night?”

  He nodded. “After I told her I agreed with her about the great job President Evren was doing in Turkey, she said she wanted me to meet the Imam and the rest of her family. During dinner, I noticed Kamila’s brother, Omer, wasn’t that friendly toward her, and when I expressed agreement with Kamila, he became openly hostile toward me.”

  “What about Imam Hanim? How did he respond to you?”

  “He treated me with respect, even though I said some nice things about the Turkish president. It was a different story with Omer.”

  “Can I assume that’s why Omer confronted you yesterday?”

  “That’s right. It had nothing to do with him being concerned about his little sister. It was all about him finding out I was related to the Senator. He thought my father had sent me to spy on his father, and he wanted to know what was going on between Kamila and me.”

  For one brief moment, I considered telling Ben the Senator had brought me to Langley to find out the same thing—he wanted to know what was going on between him and Kamila.

  I decided now wasn’t the time for such honesty.

  Eventually, though, I’d probably have to tell Ben the truth.

  I wasn’t looking forward to it.

  I questioned Frank about the intel the Bureau had on Kamila, and whether he was certain she was the person in touch with Mustafa.

  He leaned forward and gestured at me with both hands. “One of the protocols for Operation Crescent Moon was for Ben to get us access to Kamila’s cell phone, and once he was able to do that, and we downloaded all her data, we found plenty of evidence to prove she’s in contact with Mustafa. The data confirms it.”

  I asked, “Have you been able to listen in on her conversations with Mustafa yet?”

  “Yes, and what we heard on Monday night was very disturbing. It’s the reason we decided to accelerate the operation’s protocols.”

  At that moment, Dwight walked back in the living room and asked Frank to come and look at the feed from one of their surveillance cameras.

  Before Frank followed Dwight down the hallway, he motioned toward Ben and said, “While I go check this out, why don’t you go ahead and tell Titus the status of the operation.”

  After Frank left, I asked, “What was so disturbing about the phone call Kamila had with Barat Mustafa on Monday night?”

  When Ben looked away, I thought he was about to refuse to answer my question, but then I realized he was just reluctant to tell me what the FBI had learned from the phone call.

  Seconds later, he looked me in the eye and said, “Would you believe Mustafa has convinced Kamila to help the Turkish president facilitate the kidnapping of the Imam from Camp Tamal on Friday night?”

  For a moment, I was speechless.

  “President Evren plans to kidnap Kamila’s father?”

  Ben nodded. “According to Mustafa, there’s a cell of NTI agents here in the area whose assignment is to arrest Faraji Hanim and do their own personal extradition of him to Turkey.”

  The National Turkish Intelligence Service (NTI) worked directly under the Turkish president and were tasked with carrying out covert operations both at home and abroad.

  In the intelligence community, it was an open secret the NTI’s main responsibility was to engage in targeted assassinations overseas and to bundle—a term they used for kidnapping—dissidents and return them to Turkey.

  “Has Kamila been in contact with this NTI cell?” I asked.

  “We don’t know that yet. Mustafa told her the cell leader would initiate the contact.”

  “I’m assuming Frank has Kamila under constant surveillance?”

  “Of course, I do,” Frank said, as he came back in the room. “She’s been at the rehab center all day and hasn’t received any phone calls.”

  “Have you—”

  “If you’re about to ask me if I’ve considered the cell leader might pose as one of her patients and make an appointment with her, the answer is yes. I have some people looking into her patient list now.”

  I motioned over at Ben. “Has Kamila given you any hint of her plans for Friday night?”

  “Nothing in regards to the kidnapping, but she has invited me to go with her to her mother’s seventieth birthday celebration at Camp Tamal on Friday night.”

  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “You mean you’ll be at the compound on Friday night when the members of the NTI cell plan to kidnap Faraji Hanim?”

  “I know what you’re thinking,” Frank said. “Why would Kamila want Ben there? We believe her objective is to make sure she’s not accused
of being connected to her father’s kidnapping. What better alibi could she have than being in the company of the son of a U.S. Senator when a terrorist cell shows up to kidnap the Imam?”

  “What about having backup for Ben? I know Douglas won’t let Ben go inside the compound without someone there to watch his back.”

  Frank nodded. “That was Douglas’s major objection to Ben accepting Kamila’s invitation, so we’ve been working on having some Bureau people inside. Naturally, we already have agents keeping an eye on the place. In fact, the wooded area surrounding the compound is under twenty-four-hour surveillance.”

  “I’m guessing that’s why you chose this place for your safe house,” I said. “This property adjoins Camp Tamal, doesn’t it?”

  “I’m not even gonna ask you how you know that,” Frank said, “but yeah, that’s the reason the Bureau purchased this house when it went on the market a few months ago. After Dwight and a female agent moved into the house, we set up our control center for Operation Crescent Moon in the family room at the back of the house.”

  “Are you running all your surveillance teams out of here?” I asked.

  “That’s right,” Frank said. “There’s a shopping center on Falls Point Drive about three-quarters of a mile to the west of the back of this property, and that’s where our surveillance teams park their vehicles. It’s an easy hike over here to the safe house from there.”

  “What about video surveillance? Do you have cameras set up around the compound?”

  “Of course we do.”

  After a few seconds of silence, Frank began shaking his head. “Wait a second, Titus. Why are you asking me all these questions?”

  “I always like to know what I’m getting myself into.”

  “But you’re not part of this operation,” Ben said.

  “Not yet, but I’m planning to ask Douglas if I can be your backup when you’re at Camp Tamal on Friday night.”

  Although I was only toying with the idea of asking Carlton for permission to join the Crescent Moon operation, the moment I said it out loud, the better it sounded to me.

  Strangely enough, it was Frank, and not Ben, who questioned my motives. “I’m already making arrangements for someone to watch Ben’s back while he’s at the party,” Frank said. “I don’t see any reason for you to get involved, unless you think I can’t handle it.”

  “It has nothing to do with you, Frank, and I’m certainly not questioning your competency. To be truthful, I’m sure you’ve worked everything out down to the last datapoint.”

  “As a matter of fact, I have,” he said, reaching over and grabbing an electronic tablet off the table beside him. “I can show you the scenarios I’ve come up with right now.”

  Before Frank had a chance to open up his device, Ben looked over at me and said, “Don’t tell me you’ve already come up with an idea how you could be my backup.”

  Frank said, “You better believe it, Ben. Titus is always full of ideas.”

  “You’re right, Frank, and I’m pretty sure Douglas would approve of my idea.”

  Suddenly, Frank laid aside his tablet, got out of his chair, and walked over to look out the window.

  “Well, Titus, here’s your chance.” He motioned toward the window. “Douglas is meeting us here this afternoon to go over our revised protocols, and his driver just dropped him off. You can share your brilliant idea with him right now.”

  Sure, I had the germ of an idea about how I could serve as Ben’s backup, but I questioned whether my idea could survive being put under Carlton’s microscope.

  I was about to find out.

  Chapter Eleven

  I knew Carlton had to be surprised to see me sitting there when Frank opened the door and let him in, but other than one raised eyebrow, he was able to control his facial expression remarkably well.

  Frank tried to make a joke about me. “We found this guy sneaking around outside and hauled him in for questioning.”

  Carlton managed a smile. “I don’t doubt that for a minute. He’s a sneaky kind of guy.”

  I nodded at him. “I learned my craft from the best.”

  After a few seconds of awkward silence, Frank said, “Would anyone like a cup of coffee? We also have bottled water and soft drinks in the kitchen.”

  “Sure, Frank, I’ll take a cup of coffee,” Carlton said. “Make it black.”

  I said, “I’ll have the same.”

  “I’ll take some water,” Ben said, getting up from the couch, “but I can get it myself.”

  Carlton put his briefcase down on the coffee table and said, “Frank, would you mind if Titus and I had a moment alone? I have a few things I need to discuss with him before we get started.”

  “Oh, sure, Douglas. Take all the time you need.”

  After Frank and Ben left the room, Carlton walked over and sat down in the armchair previously occupied by Frank. Once he took a deep breath, he said, “I need to apologize for not telling you what was going on with Ben. I should have realized you were concerned about him and would try to figure stuff out on your own.”

  I could count on one hand the times Carlton had apologized to me.

  It wasn’t that he was reluctant to apologize for something; it was just that he seldom needed to apologize. Instead, the person who usually needed to ask forgiveness was me.

  “There’s no need to apologize, Douglas. You were following Agency rules, and I respect that.”

  “I admit I thought you might realize what was going on after I mentioned the advice I gave you about Nikki.”

  “Well, the statement you made—when it comes to issues of the heart, we’re often blinded by our own misconceptions—baffled me at first, and when I finally figured out you were referring to Ben and Kamila, I had already followed Ben up here to the safe house.”

  “I suppose you just barged in here and demanded to know what was going on?”

  “Yeah, pretty much.”

  Carlton squeezed the bridge of his nose for a few seconds. “Were you able to convince Ben to give you the details of his assignment?”

  “No, Ben kept his mouth shut. It was Frank who spilled the beans.”

  “Is that right? Now that you know what’s going on, what’s your assessment? Do you think an NTI cell is capable of kidnapping the Imam and returning him to Turkey?”

  “If the Imam’s daughter is helping them in some way, I’m sure it’s possible. I’d say it probably depends on the protocols you and Frank have put together to stop them.”

  “You mean Frank didn’t give you those as well?”

  “No, he didn’t give me the protocols, and I was too concerned about Ben not having a backup on Friday night to ask him about them.”

  “It’s worrisome to me too, but Frank’s been working on it.”

  “Actually, Douglas, I have a suggestion about someone who could keep an eye on Ben at the compound.”

  “Why does that not surprise me?”

  Even when I finished making my case that I could serve as Ben’s backup, I didn’t know if Carlton agreed with me or not.

  However, a few seconds later, when Frank stuck his head in the door and asked if we were ready for coffee, I had my answer.

  Carlton said, “Yes, I think we’re ready now. Titus has been trying to convince me he should serve as Ben’s backup on Friday night, and I think his idea has some merit to it.”

  Outwardly, I tried to appear nonchalant about his answer, but on the inside, I was doing a fist pump.

  After Frank handed Carlton and me each a mug of coffee, he sat down in a leather recliner and gestured at Ben who resumed his seat on the sofa next to me. “Ben and I were just having a discussion about his backup, so this is perfect timing. What’s your idea, Titus?”

  “It’s pretty straightforward. Since Ben is supposedly employed as a Fellow at the Consortium for International Studies, I doubt if Kamila would be opposed to him inviting another CIS employee to attend the birthday celebration with them on Friday night, especially
if this person was Titus Ray, a Senior Fellow in Middle Eastern Programs at CIS, and someone who’s eager to meet the Imam.”

  Frank took a drink of his soda and nodded. “I agree. That sounds plausible to me.”

  Ben didn’t immediately respond to this idea, but by the look on his face, I figured he was going over the whole scenario in his head before giving me his opinion.

  A few seconds later, he said, “If I bring up your name, I know Kamila will look up your profile on the CIS website and see what you’ve written on the subject of Turkey. Do you know if Titus Ray has written any articles or books about Turkish politics?”

  “I haven’t checked out the CIS website in several months,” I said, “but I’m sure someone in Legends could answer that question for us.”

  Legends was the Agency department responsible for creating, maintaining, and updating a covert operative’s false identity, and as soon as I mentioned the department, Carlton set his coffee cup down and pulled out his cell phone. “I’ll give Legends a call and find out.”

  While Carlton was talking on the phone, Frank offered to show me the family room where the FBI had set up the control center.

  I suppose he figured since Carlton hadn’t vetoed my offer to be Ben’s backup, I was an official member of the joint operation now.

  Even though Ben still hadn’t said whether he thought my idea for being his backup was viable or not, when we left Carlton talking on the phone in the living room, Ben followed Frank and me down the hall to the large family room adjacent to the kitchen.

  I had no doubt the previous homeowners would have been amazed to see how the feds had transformed the place.

  Three remote monitoring workstations, with six screens to each station, were taking up most of the space. The screens were displaying images from what I presumed were the hidden cameras surrounding Camp Tamal, plus there were views of the outside of the Imam’s residence, as well as other buildings at the compound.

  Besides Dwight, there was only one other person in the room.

  Frank introduced her as Marcia, one of the Bureau’s counterintelligence agents, and when Frank pointed out the neighbors thought Dwight and Marcia were the homeowners of the house on Old Post Road, I thought Marcia looked a little embarrassed.