by Trevor Scott
“I was Air Force intelligence,” General Graves said. “We served together.”
Jake racked his brain now, trying to extrapolate how the man’s face would have looked a couple of decades ago. But he was coming up with nothing.
The general continued. “You were a captain, while I was a lieutenant colonel. I ran a tactical intelligence squadron in the U.K. while you were stationed in Germany. I don’t think we ever met, but I was briefed on your activities there. I was disappointed when you left the Air Force for the CIA.”
“Life is full of disappointments,” Jake said.
The two of them stood for a moment, the only two people left in the theater room. Jake wasn’t sure where this was going.
Finally, the general said, “I now work for a think tank, where we’ve been lobbying the government to take a tougher stance on rogue countries like North Korea, Iran, and others.”
“Good luck with this government,” Jake said. “They have a hard time finding their own asses in the dark with both hands.”
The general laughed. “I agree. But we won’t always have a Marxist in that position.”
“Yeah, well we don’t have time to wait. And nobody believes false bravado.”
“General Graves. What do you want from me?”
“Everything you said tonight was spot on,” the general said. “We need people like you.”
“For what?”
“To work with us.”
Jake laughed and started to walk away.
“Just a minute, Jake.”
“You don’t know me as well as you think,” Jake assured the good general.
“I know you don’t need financial support,” General Graves said. “I know you love your country enough to come back time and again when the Agency needs your help. I know you’ve put your life on the line more times than anyone will ever know just to do the right thing. I know you can’t be bought.”
“You could describe most former military that same way. Most former Agency officers as well.”
“True. But you have something special. I watched your most recent testimony before the House Intelligence Committee. You cut through the bullshit quicker than anyone I’ve seen. We need a no-nonsense guy like you on our staff.”
Jake thought about what Lori had said in her room that evening, about how the un-named speaker was probably just speaking to make a name for himself. Although this was not true, she was not far from the possible outcome.
“I appreciate the offer, General Graves. But I really don’t see myself living in Washington.”
The man raised both hands in protest. “No, no. You could live anywhere in the world. You would just be a consultant. We would just want to pick your brain on certain issues.”
Jake considered the offer. He was about to surprise himself. “All right. With two provision. First, you leave my name out of everything. I won’t be on your roster of personnel. I won’t physically lobby anyone. Especially politicians. Because my idea of lobbying is grabbing the dumbasses by the throat and shaking them until they come to their senses.”
“And the second provision?” the general asked.
“I won’t do company picnics or Christmas parties. I lied. Here’s a third thing. I’m not a political operative. I’m not a Democrat. Not a Republican. I’m about as independent as they come. I have no use for any politician. We need term limits on every one of the bastards.”
The general laughed. “I’m right there with you, Jake. You got it. But we must pay you.”
“Nothing directly to me,” Jake said. “I’ll provide you with a list of charities where you can send my salary. But you will never attach my name to any of this. Understand?”
The general reached out his hand and Jake shook on the deal. “Thank you, Jake. You’ll hear from me soon.”
Jake half smiled and walked out of the theater, his eyes scanning for Congresswoman Lori Freeman. He wasn’t sure if what he had just agreed to do was right. But if things with the think tank took up too much time away from his fly fishing, he could just tell them to take a hike.
He found Lori and Kim in the bar area, she with a glass of white wine and he with a bottle of water. Good to see the young Agency officer was taking his job seriously.
“Everything all right?” Lori asked Jake.
“Yeah.”
She smiled at him. “That was quite a speech you gave. I can only imagine how it would have sounded in German. Do you really think we’re heading for a conflict with North Korea?”
“Not if our current administration has anything to do with it,” Jake explained. “They’re acting just like Neville Chamberlain in the late thirties. They have their heads so far up their asses the Chinese are recruiting them for their contortionists skills. I wouldn’t be buying a condo in Seoul right now. No offense, Kim.”
“Hey, I’m right there with you, Jake,” Kim said, his eyes suddenly making a double take on the bar entrance.
“What’s the matter?” Jake asked Kim. He turned and saw Pam Suh, the Seoul CIA station chief, enter the bar and head right toward them. What was she doing in Gyeongju?
Pam tried to smile slightly, but her grave disposition gave way.
Jake introduced the congresswoman to Pam Suh, leaving out in this setting her position with the Agency. “Everything all right?” he asked.
“We need to speak privately,” Pam demanded.
He looked directly at Lori and said, “I’ll be back in a minute.” Then he shifted his eyes at Kim, saying keep an eye on her. Kim nodded understanding.
As Jake and Pam walked out of the bar, he couldn’t help but let his mind roam. Had someone somehow found the professor?
Out in the lobby area, away from others, Pam stopped and turned to him. Her eyes were red and puffy and a tear formed at the edge of each one now.
“What’s the matter?” Jake asked.
“It’s Toni Contardo,” she said solemnly. “She’s dead.”
Jake felt like somewhat had just kicked him in the gut. A wave of adrenalin coursed through his body. “How?”
Pam Suh sobbed and then pulled herself together. “She was tortured and then shot in the head. Her body was dropped outside of Langley.”
Jake wasn’t sure how to react. He and Toni had started off as CIA colleagues. Then they had become lovers. Most recently they had been friends. Toni had saved his ass more times than he could count. He always thought that if things could eventually change, if she could have just left the Agency, then maybe they could be together again. The hit to his gut was followed by a great feeling of dread. He would never hear her voice again. Never see her beautiful face again. How does one deal with such loss? He wasn’t sure if that was possible.
Finally, Jake said, “Someone was sending the Agency a message. They couldn’t make Toni break. Let me guess, the killers were looking for the professor or his work.”
“Kurt Jenkins thinks they were trying to get her to open the files you gave Toni.”
Jake shook his head. “Those were encrypted to five twelve. And Toni wouldn’t have opened the files for them.” He ran his hands through his hair. “They’ll be coming for me next.”
Pam nodded agreement.
“Good. Then I’ll get to kill the bastards.”
The two of them coordinated their efforts for the near future. Both knew they would eventually have to travel back to the States for Toni’s funeral, assuming they would be done with this current situation in time. But if there was one thing Jake knew from his past, something would always come up to deter him from doing what was necessary and appropriate. Maybe he should have been with Toni all these years. But just maybe she had been better off without him.
25
After explaining to Lori that he had lost an old friend and tucking her safely into her room next door, Jake flipped back and forth in his bed and tried his best to keep his head in the game. He just wished he could cry for Toni. But he hadn’t shed a tear since the loss of Anna. And before that? Well, he cou
ldn’t remember that far back. What kind of monster had he become? At one time Toni had meant everything to him. Somehow they had transitioned from colleagues to lovers and back again. It was never easy to go from love to simple friendship, but the two of them had made it happen. One thing was certain in Jake’s mind. He would find those who had killed Toni and make them pay.
Under normal circumstances he would have been asleep by this time of night, considering he long days he knew he had ahead of him. But Toni’s death had sucker punched his ass.
He saw a change in the light under the door crack and instinctively grabbed his gun from under the pillow next to his head. It could have just been someone walking by his room. But then he saw the crack of light turn to near darkness and he rolled out of the bed and crouched behind a chair, his gun aimed at the door.
With a sudden crash, the door gave way at the frame and two men rushed into the room heading right for his bed.
Jake shot four times. Twice at each target. The report from his 9mm Glock broke the silence. Both of the shooters dropped to the floor.
Rushing to the fallen men, Jake kicked away their silenced guns. One man was still alive and tried to reach for something inside his jacket. Jake shot him in the forehead, dropping him for good.
Clicking on a table lamp, Jake set his gun down on the desk and checked over both men for identification. They were both Koreans, but Jake had no idea if they were from the north or the south.
Suddenly another target appeared at the corner of the door. Jake grabbed his gun and aimed it.
“Jake, it’s me,” yelled Kim Chin-Hwa, his gun at the side of his right leg.
“Join the party,” Jake said. “But check on Lori first.”
“I’m here with him, Jake,” Lori said.
Kim and Lori entered his room. Kim holstered his gun. Lori wore only a T-shirt and shorts.
Jake realized he was only wearing his underwear. “Watch the corridor,” Jake ordered Kim.
The Agency officer did as he was told as Jake put on his pants and a T-shirt.
“Who are they?” Lori asked.
“A couple of dead Koreans,” Jake deadpanned.
He strapped on his belt, keeping it loose enough to allow for the 9mm at his back, and then checked on both of his guns. He replaced the partially used magazine with a full one, and then added five bullets to replace those he had shot. Next he picked up the five spent brass and shoved them into his pocket.
Kim turned into the room and said, “Someone must have called in the shots, Jake. What do you want to do?”
He sure as hell didn’t want to answer a shitload of questions about why he had killed two men in his room. The shooting was justified. But he had no diplomatic immunity, and the local cops would want to know why he was carrying two handguns.
Jake found his phone and turned it on. Unusually, he had a dozen missed calls and text messages. Some from the man he needed to call. He added the country code and waited for the call to click through.
Just as someone answered on the other end, Kim said, “We have company.”
“Friend or foe?” Jake asked.
“Looks like the congressional security detail. They have guns out.”
Jake put the phone to his ear. “You were looking for me?” he asked.
The man on the other end, CIA Director Kurt Jenkins, said solemnly, “Did the station chief talk with you?”
“Yes. Thanks for notifying me. But that’s not why I called. Two men just broke into my hotel room. I shot and killed both of them with the guns Toni gave me.”
Suddenly there was shouting at the door, with Kim standing up to the security detail.
“What’s that?” Kurt asked.
“The congressional security detail. They’re going to want answers. I need you to give them the Company line. National security and all that crap.”
“All right. But it’s not like you can just put them on the line with me. Let me make a quick phone call and get back with you.”
“Thanks, Kurt.”
“All right. We’ll need to talk eventually. Since they didn’t get what they wanted from Toni, I’m guessing they’re coming for you.”
“My guess as well,” Jake agreed.
“Keep your damn phone on,” the CIA director ordered.
Jake clicked off and wondered how long it would take for Kurt to clear this through the chain. By now Lori had joined Kim in his discussions with the security detail.
Walking toward the door, Jake asked, “What’s up.”
Lori said, “They don’t believe I’m a congresswoman. I left my passport and credentials in my room.”
“Who are you?” asked the security man in charge.
“The Pope,” Jake said. “Who are you?”
The man showed them Secret Service identification.
“All right,” Jake said, “then why in the hell don’t you recognize only one of two congresswomen on this committee? And the other woman is old enough to be your mother.”
The Secret Service agent put his finger to his ear and listened to his ear bud. His eyes looked at Jake. Then he said yes sir at least three times before damn near hanging his head to his chest like a little puppy.
“You spoke at the conference last evening,” the agent said. “It seems as though you have friends in high places. We’ve been ordered to take care of the situation.”
Jake and Kim let the man into the room. Two others remained in the corridor, but Jake guessed that more were on site covering every exit in the building. At least they better be.
Kim rolled each of the dead men onto their backs and took a photo of each with his phone camera, sending them to his office in Seoul.
“Any ID?” the Secret Service guy asked.
“No,” Jake said. “They’re pros.”
“Probably North Korean,” Kim said as he checked over their mouths. “Poor dental care. Although they could be from the rural south.”
“Why’d they want to kill you?” the agent asked Jake.
“They didn’t.”
The Secret Service guy looked confused.
Jake helped him out. “They came in with their guns drawn. But they didn’t shoot. They wanted me alive.”
“Why?” Kim asked.
“I’ve got some information they want,” Jake explained. “They killed an Agency friend a couple days ago when she wouldn’t give up the information. Now they’re coming for me. Of course, I don’t believe these two killed my friend. They’re just some local talent. The killers aren’t this ethnicity.”
Kim’s phone buzzed with a text. He checked it and said, “We got a hit on one of the guys.” He pointed at the one closest to his foot. “This one is a former intelligence officer from the north.”
“What the hell is going on here?” the Secret Service agent asked. He pointed to Kim. “This guy was vetted by my office. But who are you?”
“I’m with the embassy in Seoul,” Kim said.
“Great. A spook.”
“Let’s focus here,” Jake said. “There are no ‘former’ intelligence officers from the north. Well, he’s former now. But he was working for them up until I put two rounds in their chests. Same with this other douche bag.” He considered all that had happened in the past week and wasn’t certain where this case was going. Sure the north could have used Slavic men to torture him, perhaps to throw them off the possibility of that crazy despot being behind this whole thing. The little guy would give his left nut to acquire Professor Tramil’s technology. But did the bastard have the brains to pull off such an elaborate scheme? Only time would tell. He sure wished he had kept one of these men alive. In retrospect he imagined they were coming to try to extract information from him. Which meant they would have had to take him somewhere for interrogation. It also meant that a car and at least two other operatives would have been waiting outside. Probably scattered like rats from a ship now, though.
Jake left the security detail to sort out the details of what they would tell the h
ost nation. He simply gathered up his clothes and bag and hauled off into Lori’s room next door, with Kim in tow.
Leaning against the desk in Lori’s room, Jake said, “I have to get out of here. Away from you.”
Lori considered this statement.
Kim took it head on. “Jake, they’ll come for you wherever you go.”
He knew that. “But if I stay here the good congresswoman might get caught in the crossfire.”
Shaking her head, Lori said, “Maybe that’s what they want you to think. I’ve been involved with this mess since before we went to Montana. I hired you, remember? I put this whole thing into motion. They wouldn’t be coming for you if it wasn’t for me. You’d be back in Patagonia fishing by now.”
Unfortunately she had a point, Jake knew. “You might be right, Lori. But I have a history of people getting shot when they get close to me.”
“You have a few scars of your own,” she reminded him.
“Wait,” Kim said. “How does she know that? Is she talking metaphorically? Never mind.”
Lori sat on her bed and crossed her legs.
Kim’s phone buzzed and he checked to see who was calling. “It’s my boss.” He went into the rest room to take the call.
Jake crossed the room and sat next to Lori on the bed, his hand settling on hers. “Are you all right?”
She shrugged. “I was thinking about making love with you earlier today. Then two men try to kidnap you. I’m not used to this world.”
“That’s what I’m talking about, Lori,” Jake said. “I’m trying to get out of this business. After all these years, my time has about passed. Look what happened to my old friend in DC.”
“I know, Jake. Since we’ve been. . .hanging out, you’ve been kidnapped and tortured, and you’ve killed three men. Before this week I never knew anyone who had ever killed one man. How many people have you killed over the years?”
Jake had a running total in his head, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to let that out for scrutiny. Lori would either be disgusted with that number or strangely turned on. Ambivalence would never be a response to such a high number. And the only person who might have come close to guessing the figure had just been tortured and killed a couple days ago.