by S. D. Skye
Mark’s eyebrows rose. “That operation’s dead—the Russians succeeded in making us chase our tails. Ten years, millions of dollars in wasted resources. Langley hasn’t expended this much effort on a mole hunt since Angleton,” he said. Angleton ran the CIA’s decade-long Cold War mole hunt that destroyed the careers of dozens of case officers and never yielded an insider spy.
The duty officer chimed in, “There’s no proof that ICE Phantom even exists.”
“Except two dead sources,” Six replied.
“FBI sources,” Mark injected.
“Yeah, one of which we ran on their behalf until his hand arrived in the mail yesterday,” Six countered. “ICE Phantom or not, we better figure out who the hell is responsible before Golikov sends another—and the next one could belong to the source we can’t afford to lose.”
Mark nodded again. Six had made his point. The most high-placed recruitment they’d ever had within the SVR ranks was in danger. At least until the FBI apprehended ICE Phantom. Losing him would cripple their operations, not only in Moscow, but around the world.
“Agreed. Time to get Langley involved. And someone will need to report this to J.J.,” Mark said as he turned to his colleague. “Six?”
He agreed to deliver the dreaded news. Damn! Six thought to himself. J.J. would conceal her devastation well, but he knew another depression loomed. Losing her second source in as many years, her unbearable guilt for leaving another family without a father, might propel her over the edge this time. He’d warned J.J. a thousand times that her job wasn’t to care. Her job was to recruit and exploit. J.J. cared too much. Loyalty and emotion drove her business—a fatal flaw for an FBI agent. Her steadfast concern both annoyed and endeared her to him. J.J. would succumb to the sadness; she always did. But consolation was just days away. He’d resume his rightful place in her life, help her pick up the pieces—and
then make J.J. his wife.
Chapter 1
Saturday Morning…
The lashing FBI Special Agent J.J. McCall planned to deliver to her traitorous boss must not be tempered by common sense or conscience, and her mind churned over that thought as she arrived on the edge of the bourgeois Northern Virginia suburb. She couldn’t wait for her visit with Jack to end. For J.J., time crept by and the entire morning, dragged. Why me? she asked herself again and again like a tired, broken record. Her burgeoning anxiety was irritating at best, so she leaned on Belvedere despite her promise to Tony. Only a small sip, though. Just enough to soothe the nerves and loosen the tongue.
Except for the barbed wire and armed correctional officers, the state jail looked more like luxury condos than a place to imprison hardened criminals. She took a deep breath, flashed her credentials and ambled inside the detention facility, dreading the moment she’d be forced to see his face, hear his voice. Her heart thanked Tony, the best co-case agent she could ask for. He was already inside waiting on her to arrive, refused to let her go it alone.
A sheriff led her through a series of security doors to the interrogation room where Jack awaited her arrival. The door buzzed, and the lock popped before she walked inside. Her teeth ground as she headed toward her seat, the one farthest from him and closest to the exit.
Jack sat solemn, pensive, shackled at the wrist. He rapped his hands on the table and waited for J.J. to sit down and speak. Seemed relieved, a feeling that no doubt dissipated when he realized the sentiment was in no way mutual.
“Jack,” she spat, unsmiling and cold. She fought the urge to tell him how well he looked in orange. She couldn’t force even a microscopic modicum of sympathy, not after he’d destroyed so many lives and treated her like shit for so many years.
“Didn’t think you’d show up,” he replied, in no position to spout his usual venomous remarks.
She pursed her lips and folded her arms across her chest, gave him “The Hand” with her hardened stare. “If Cartwright hadn’t asked me to come, trust me I wouldn’t have bothered. Now, can we please dispense with the idle pleasantries? Tell me whatever it is that you need to say so I can get the hell out of here. Confinement depresses me.”
Jack’s shame-filled gaze fell onto the table. He nodded and laced his fingers together. “The thing is...”
Then nothing. For seconds that seemed like hours, nothing.
Her patience had dwindled to non-existence, especially given that he’d done nothing but show her his ass over the years. She couldn’t wait to show him hers.
Karma’s a bitch.
J.J. had already decided to swiftly vacate the premises if she experienced even the slightest hint of an itch, any minor discomfort. He could spout his lies to someone stupid enough to believe him, find someone else with whom to share his sob story. She had a source to save and neither the time nor patience for his antics.
“You had every reason not to come here today. And now you have every reason to leave, but I’m asking you to please hear me out.” He rubbed his hands together in a rapid, nervous motion. “Nothing is what it seems.”
What’s this? she thought. Jack’s shoulders slumped and red veins peppered his eyes. He appeared sleepless and pathetic—not a good look.
“I know I’ve been a prick.”
“Uhhh. . . correction,” she interrupted, wagging her index finger. “A racist prick.” Her hand began to tremble so she clasped both together under the table. She attributed the shaking to her welling anger toward Jack.
He nodded and hung his head in shame. “All right. I’ll accept that. I’m a lot of things, not all of them good. But God as my witness I’m not a spy.”
Please, Lord, bring on the itch.
Anything.
She hoped, wished, and prayed. Just one little sign that he was lying. She’d dash out of the interrogation room so fast there’d be nothing left but skid marks and vapors.
She waited and waited. And waited and waited.
Nothing.
Son of a bitch!
He lifted his head and locked his eyes squarely onto hers, didn’t falter, didn’t back down, didn’t cower in the face of her evident doubt. “Somebody framed me, J.J. and I think it may be someone close to us.”
She shot him a skeptical glare and turned her head toward Tony, certain he was standing behind the one-way glass listening to every word. He’d never believe Sabinski. J.J.’s only consolation was that Tony would stand behind her decision, whatever that may be. That was the nature of their relationship, something she could always depend on. “What about the poly? You failed miserably. Twice I might add.”
“I don’t know what to say. They hooked me up and my heart wouldn’t stop racing. Never happened to me before. I have no idea what could’ve caused me to experience such a reaction.”
J.J. wanted so desperately to tell him that being a mean bastard who pops Snickers bars like popcorn might have something to do with his condition, but she resisted the temptation. After all, her snide remarks would serve no useful purpose and certainly wouldn’t repair the damage he’d done to her career or her sources.
“Did you take any drugs, alcohol, or anything that might’ve caused a negative physiological reaction?” she asked.
“No, nothing that I didn’t report.”
Still no reaction, she thought. Damn! He’d probably never been this honest in his life and, just as J.J.’s luck would have it, he batted a thousand at that moment.
“What about the money? I’m told your prints were all over the bag.”
He exhaled, cupped his reddened face in his hands. “I don’t know what to tell you except that I buy trash bags for the house. Maybe the person who framed me got a hold of one I touched and used it to hide the money. Trust me, if I had all that cash, I wouldn’t be living in that piece of shit house or driving my piece of shit Hyundai, that’s for certain.”
Even if he was lying to himself, he certainly believed he was telling the truth. Still no reaction, much to J.J.’s dismay.
“After everything you’ve said to me, put me through,
do you really expect me to trust a word you say? To help you?”
Without hesitation, he nodded.
“Guard!” J.J. called out. “Could we get this man an ice pack, please?”
“Ice pack?” Jack asked.
“Yes,” she snapped. “Because you’ve bumped your head if you think for one moment I’m going to risk what’s left of my shitty little career—no small thanks to you—to help save yours!”
Jack wrung his hands together, desperation seeped through his pores.
“The FBI has a mole. And this one is even more dangerous than Hanssen.”
“Yes, you are.”
“It’s not me!”
She cut him a wicked sideways glance. “We’ve been trying to tell you about this problem for years. And you didn’t want to listen, at least not until the chicken came home to roost. Now it’s roosting like a motherfucker, huh?”
“J.J., he’s compromising every sensitive HUMINT operation we’re running. At this rate, all FBI assets will dry up. We’ll never get another well-placed recruitment. Human intelligence in the FBI, as we know it, will cease to exist. This is serious. It’s no game. And it’s because of our history that you’re the only one I can trust…if you agree to help me.”
Everything in J.J. wanted to smirk, but deep down she knew Jack had finally come to his good senses. He’d spoken a lot of hard truth. Nobody would trust working with FBI counterintelligence. The Bureau’s foreign partners would no longer share intelligence. The CIA was just looking for a reason to cut the Bureau off from their most sensitive human intelligence. The FBI would be isolated and unable to effectively conduct any kind of intelligence operation. And at the end of the day, the country would suffer. Even though J.J. knew her days at the Bureau were numbered and she fought every urge to give a damn, the truth could not be denied.
“Mhm-hmm. I see. So why’d you ask me to come here? What do you expect me to do? Run some rogue investigation to help free you from the bondage of your own willful ignorance?”
“If you’re half the agent I think you are...then, yes. I do.”
A slight sensation emerged behind her eyes, causing her to blink. Of course, that would be the one answer he’d lie about. Made perfect sense, though. Why would he believe she’d trust him under these or any other circumstances?
“Flattery doesn’t suit you, Jack.”
Without another word spoken, she stood and raised her arm to signal the guard to open the door. She wanted his jaw to hit the floor; she wanted him to feel a fraction of the hopelessness and frustration she’d felt over the years.
When she turned to make her grand exit, Jack said, “Walk away if you want, but take this with you. If he set me up, do you think he’ll have any problem doing the same to you?”
J.J. froze where she stood. Jack’s remark, however desperate, got her attention. She returned to her seat so she could ask a few more questions. After all, he must’ve had some inkling or suspicion that drove him to believe the mole was in the FBI as opposed to the CIA or some other agency. “So, if you had to guess—”
“The bigot list,” he said. “It’s someone from the bigot list.”
Director Russell Freeman controlled a “bigot list” that contained the names of personnel with access to “the vault,” an ultra-secure Headquarters facility. Agents planned and executed the nation’s most complex and damaging espionage cases from this space. Only employees with “need-to-know” could enter. Inside, secure file safes locked in four secure breakout rooms held key intelligence from the most valuable counterintelligence sources. One compromise, one dead source, one slip of the tongue to a dimwitted congressman with no sense of national security, and hell would be paid—and the bigot list ensured the FBI knew exactly where to start the search.
An innocent man, prick as he was, had been unjustly arrested, and there was little she could do to spring him. Certainly couldn’t stroll over to the U.S. District Attorney’s Office and say, “Drop the charges. He’s not lying. How do I know? Well, my generational curse gave me the power to detect lies, and he didn’t make me itch. No, really.”
That idea was a non-starter. Taking on this mission meant conducting an unsanctioned mole hunt for the man who made her work life a living hell. She shuddered when she thought about the vile comments he’d made about her and the McCall family name just days ago, and now he expected this? She’d be required to gamble with what was left of her career. Going rogue to help him? Not a chance she was willing to take.
Chapter 2
Two days before…
Thursday Morning at FBI Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
J.J. searched for serenity in bottom of a Belvedere bottle. The wait for his sugar-coated lies had dragged on for too long; she’d lost patience. After glancing around the small reception area to ensure no one was watching, she removed from her purse a silver flask and smiled. It was filled to the brim with relief. One small gulp and the soothing burn slipped down her throat, calming her prickly nerves. Inside she felt on the brink of dissolution. The 10 am swallow was just a necessary evil. It would get her through the meeting, until time for her next dose of repose.
Another dead source. She couldn’t stomach the thought of his demise. Two had been more than her fair share. The unceasing cycle of loss had worn her resolve thin. She’d refused to let another family suffer that pain if she could in any way prevent it. J.J. wanted to tell the FBI where to stick her badge and gun, but she had promises to keep. Promises to Viktor. Promises to herself. No matter what Cartwright said, she’d see her case through until the end. And the end was as near as nightfall because the op was simple and would go off without a hitch.
J.J. stiffened her back and squared her shoulders as the elixir took effect. Her posture mirrored that of the powerful yet graceful eagle perched atop her FBI badge. She’d eyed it, waiting for the carefully choreographed denial and deception ritual to begin.
Blur the truth. Fool the enemy. Protect the state—or the Bureau as it were.
From Naomi Jones McCall to Johnnie Mae Gibson to J.J. McCall, the long-practiced routine hadn’t changed much. Forty years and still the same old shit. For almost a decade, she’d operated under the blind faith of equal opportunity for all, but J.J. finally lost her last modicum of hope that positive change was inevitable.
“Agent McCall,” Assistant Director of Counterintelligence James Cartwright called from the door of his vast office. Only Director Freeman’s office was larger. A wave of apprehension gripped J.J. as she smoothed her hair down to the shoulder and stood to face him. She’d been twiddling her thumbs for twenty minutes, waiting for him to deliver the promotion board results.
Cartwright’s jaw tightened and his face contorted before he said “Please come in and have a seat.”
“Yes, sir.” Her tall slender frame towered over his as she offered a respectful nod and strode inside. She flipped her navy blue suit jacket backward before parking herself in the burgundy leather executive chair facing his desk.
Cartwright pressed his lips together and grimaced, expelling a long breath as he closed the door behind her. Once seated, he clasped his fingers together and tightened his lips. “You’re looking a little tired. When’s the last time you took some time off?”
J.J. didn’t understand why people had taken so much effort to tell her she looked like crap in recent weeks. A few sleepless nights had begun to take their toll. All she needed was a good night’s rest and she’d be better than her usual “okay.” But her appearance was not what she had been called in to discuss. He knew it. And she knew it. “Come on, Mr. Cartwright,” she smirked. “You didn’t call me in here to talk about planning my Disney vacation. I’m fine.”
“Listen, I’ve had a long discussion with Jack and the members of the board today. Even though you’re long overdue for a supervisor slot, they...I can’t recommend you during this cycle. However, you should know that your co-case agent, Antonio Donato, is still in the running.”
She leaned forward in her
seat, her expression incredulous. She’d spent the last twenty-four hours mentally preparing for the inevitable, but an unexpected burst of rage rushed through her at the sound of his hollow words. “Tony? You mean the junior case agent that I’ve been training for the past year? The one who’s been shadowing me on my cases?”
Three class-action suits over the last 15 years. Tens of millions in discrimination settlements. Zero lessons learned. The FBI hadn’t changed one iota. The speech should’ve been old hat. After all, she’d heard the same one, almost verbatim, three times before. Somehow, the sting cut just as deep as the first.
“I see.” She shifted in her seat and braced herself. The tired and overdone “we need you on the street” portion of his speech was next.
“This decision in no way reflects on your performance. If I may speak frankly, you’re one of the best counterintelligence recruiters the Bureau’s ever had—no one disputes that.”
“With all due respect, sir, no one could. I think my record speaks for itself.”
He nodded and shifted his gaze toward the window. Then he turned toward her and dropped his head into the palms of his hands in. His frustration was apparent. “Summa cum Laude at Howard University. Top of your class at Quantico. Your mother would be proud of the woman, of the agent, you’ve become. But please understand, my hands are tied right now,” he implored. “With this mole situation, the Bureau...hell, the country can’t afford to lose you—or your sources. We need you on the street.”
“Ugh!” she grunted as her leg jutted out. He’d lied and the itch felt more like a stab…in the back.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, it’s nothing, the thing, you know,” she said, shifting in her seat, trying to brace for another untruth. “Anyway, you and I both know, if this was about the streets, I’d be working out of Washington Field, not Headquarters. I was really hoping for something a little more original this year.”