Tsunami Connection

by Michael James Gallagher

  The spotter whispered, menacingly, "You can stop it. It's your choice," and Kefira lifted MacAuley's mask from his head.

  Another dousing of water cleared his eyes. His teeth were chattering. He was unable to speak from cold, but there was no mistaking the look in his eyes as he focused on his sister. Kefira was looking at a video monitor as a camera filmed his reactions. She estimated that she had calculated correctly. She placed a blanket around him and he calmed somewhat, but the Mossad agents left Michael, the sister, uncovered.

  "Never talk," said MacAuley, around the rubber ball muffler while shaking his head side-to-side.

  Kefira removed the blanket and returned the mask, followed by another dousing of water. His shaking and chattering returned, but he could not see. The spotter and Kefira whispered to each other and closed the door. Kefira turned on a recording of Michael suffocating during sex that she had made a few days previously. MacAuley forced his bindings to the point of cutting his shins and wrists, and then fainted. Kefira administered a dose of the ring that would make him sleepy, groggy, and generally easier to control until Zak and the new team arrived. She covered him again; taking note of the time to be sure, she would uncover him prior to his scheduled wake up time. Then she and the spotter went into the washroom to confer.

  "I only have 6 doses with the ring left. When do you think Zak will arrive?"

  "We have at most twenty, and now, at the least, fifteen hours to wait. What is the story with you two, other than the obvious?" asked the spotter, still not sharing his real name.

  "You've been watching us, haven't you?"

  "Yes, but from across the street. I could only guess. I moved in closer when I saw him arrive with you earlier today. I was sure you would need back up, so I went outside my mission protocol and crossed the line from spotter to active. By the way, I'm Shafiq's case officer here in Buenos Aires. Do you have knowledge of his whereabouts?"

  "My guess is that his time is limited."

  "What does that mean?"

  "I am following his case closely. The spear clearances govern my actions."

  A sense of awe came over the spotter. "I knew you were special, but that is a clearance we never hear about. I thought it was a myth. Anyway, what about the woman in there?"

  "MacAuley is unbreakable, but did you see his reaction to our punishing his sister?"

  "I sure did. You want to use her to get to him?"

  "It's our only chance. In the concealed compartment under my Streetfighter's seat, I have a compound that causes temporary blindness. When he wakes up, we will administer the compound to her eyes without telling her in advance. She will be terrified and her actions will seem true to him because they will be truthful. They both'll actually believe I've blinded her."

  "Do you have an antidote? I never crossed the line to action like this. I'm a little queasy about damaging her by torture. Killing people is one thing, torture is another."

  "The antidote is warm water forcefully injected over the eyeball with three parts water, two parts soda."

  "Simple, but non-damaging. I like it."

  "I have some knowledge of their relationship. I need to get you to soften him up by forcing him to watch you abusing her sexually. Are you up to that?"

  "I guess most men fantasize about having a tied-up woman. I don't know about pain, though."

  "She likes strangling, can't have an orgasm without it."

  "She is beautiful."

  "She is a man-hater. She should have a strong reaction to you touching her. He will believe it. I think I'll pretend to leave and let you get at it. Make sure the camera is rolling. We need a record of any confessions. She will see me going. Just one thing … no oral sex. She won't hesitate to bite off your penis."

  "Jesus. Good thing you mentioned it. I am in over my head here. Can't we wait for the pros to come?"

  "This is a time sensitive file."

  The spotter nodded. Kefira left without saying anything to Michael and went up to the wheelhouse and started the engine. They needed a more secluded location to complete their work. She had scouted around on her bike when she took a break from Michael and found just the place.

  About an hour later, they arrived at an isolated boat dock and garage, near a summerhouse that was obviously closed for the winter season. Kefira made sure that the GPS was working on her motorcycle and forwarded her location via satellite. She also sent an encrypted email to Zak, detailing her progress. The spotter doused MacAuley with cold water after removing his blanket. He was very groggy but a few hard slaps woke him up. He looked around at his surroundings and started cursing through the gag when he focused on his sister.

  The spotter slipped the rubber ball gag back into her mouth and took out a bottle of cooking oil and slowly poured it over Michael's milk white shoulders. His hands rubbed her breasts and he uttered threats about what he was planning to do now that he was alone with her. MacAuley strained at his bindings. The spotter slapped the woman across the face and pinched her nipple. Her gag was preventing her from screaming, but she was blue in the face with anger. The veins on her temple and neck were bulging.

  "Even though this is hot work, maybe I should close that window," he said, as he faced the woman, leaving his back to MacAuley.

  His hands went down between her legs and she squirmed, trying to resist his fingers. MacAuley, behind him, was straining hard at his bonds when Kefira came silently back into the room and put the burlap sack over his head. She could hear Michael saying, "Keffy, Keffy, no, no." Kefira reached around his neck and whispered into his ear.

  "It is just starting. Take this paper in your hand. If you want to stop us, just drop it on the floor."

  When MacAuley held onto the paper, Kefira knew she was making progress. She had found the key to his cooperation. The spotter continued to force himself on Michael. She struggled and MacAuley strained his bonds, actually breaking one of his legs free. Kefira quickly secured his leg again, this time with two tie wraps on each extremity and a large rope that she had found in a tool shed at the bow of the boathouse around his chest. MacAuley listened through his mask, the not seeing making his struggle more intense.

  Kefira came up behind him again. She told him she would administer a chemical in his sister's eye that would make her permanently blind. He shook his head violently.

  "If you are willing to talk, throw down the paper."

  He did nothing. Kefira took off the mask and walked around him to stop the spotter. He told her to hold Michael's head back. The spotter wrapped a towel around her neck and forced the woman's head back. Kefira took out a syringe. She sucked some of the liquid from the packet she had retrieved from her motorcycle's secret compartment. There was a strong smell of solvent in the air. MacAuley did not know that the smell was caused by a bucket of deck-cleaning bleach that she had just uncovered behind him while he was concentrating on his sister. Kefira lifted the syringe and put a finger on her lips, facing MacAuley. He quieted down.

  "I will fill her eye with this liquid. In the second syringe, I have an antidote. You will have a maximum of thirty minutes to save your sister's eyesight. If you say nothing, she will be blind in one eye. Do you understand Mister MacAuley? Her vision is in your power. Just drop the paper and I will administer the antidote."

  Kefira filled Michael's eye with the liquid. She then removed Michael's gag. "Tell him, my Irish wraith."

  Michael shrieked and said she could not see anything. Then she looked at her lover with loathing in her good eye.

  "You used me, just like all those others. You could never do this if you loved me."

  "In the beginning, it was business, but I started to feel for you. Now there are larger issues at stake. I need information on his work." MacAuley dropped the paper.

  Kefira carefully removed his mask, but first she anticipated his probable strategy. She took another towel and asked the spotter to hold MacAuley's head back, too. She filled one of his eyes with the liquid as well. When his vision darkened, he star
ted to believe Kefira. She then removed his gag.

  "Who do you work for, bitch?"

  "Mossad."

  Now he really felt she was telling the truth.

  "Give 'er the 'feckin' antidote. I'll talk in exchange for her freedom. I have grown tired of this game. In years in the business, credit where it is due … you're the first to read me, lassie."

  "She'll get it when you talk, not before. The clock is ticking on her eyesight."

  "Brother Meehawl. This is me, your Deryfur who can't see," shouted Michael.

  "Haven't I always taken care of you?" asked MacAuley.

  "Damn your calm. It's my eye, my sight."

  "She did mine as well. I know what you feel and see."

  Kefira had to take charge of the situation. MacAuley was mustering Michael's strength. Before he could say more, she motioned for the gag to go back in his mouth. The spotter complied, but MacAuley bit his thumb before he could place the rubber ball. Kefira bent over him and touched his neck with the ring. MacAuley's head dropped down. Michael looked at Kefira through her good eye that had started tearing in a sympathetic reaction to the problems induced in the other eye. Kefira realized she could not go through with it. She stepped toward her lover and introduced an eyewash that cleared Michael's sight. Kefira then leaned over Michael and whispered in her ear.

  "It was a trick, love. Your sight was never at risk. It seems I don't have the stomach for this kind of game. Your brother there got the upper hand. He'll sleep for a few hours now. I'll leave the dirty work to my colleagues. I let my impatience cloud my judgment," said Kefira, more aloud and to herself than to anyone in specific.

  "Untie me, Keffy."

  "Would that it was so simple."

  Kefira leaned over her and touched her skin behind her neck with the ring. Michael became a lump almost instantly. Kefira clipped the tie wraps around Michael's arms and signaled to the spotter to come and help her. She also turned off the camera and was about to erase the incriminating evidence of her poor judgment when the spotter snatched the camera from Kefira's hands.

  "I think we might need a record of that little fiasco," he said as he opened the camera and slipped the film into a zippered pocket on his jacket.

  The zipper closing made a final sound and Kefira shrugged a feigned indifference. She knew that the spotter had to protect his own career; besides, she was certain that success was what would matter in this case, not details. MacAuley was still in her custody and Zak was on the way. Nothing had been lost other than face.

  "Help me with this one, will you? I am going to clip her ties and attach her to the bed with this rope. That's it. I want to attach her legs with ties again, but together this time."

  "Like this?" asked the spotter, more at ease now as he had something to do.

  "No. I want to cover her legs with a cloth so we can tie them tighter without damaging her."

  "I didn't know we were worried about their well being here," said the spotter sarcastically, taking on a controlling tone of voice similar to the manner of MacAuley earlier on.

  Kefira turned to the spotter, grew some balls, and drew the ceramic blade from under her upper arm. Her next move was pure Capoeira. She ended up behind the spotter with her hand cutting his skin just near his jugular. He froze, knowing he was out of his depth.

  "You will go back to spotting now, if you value your life. Your role is clearer there," said Kefira as she dug the ceramic blade a little deeper into his neck, while she unzipped his jacket pocket and removed the video tape.

  "Wait! You can't do that. That'll make me the fall guy if you remove any of the recordings."

  "Trust me. Have you ever heard of the spear?"

  "Everyone's heard of the spear, but it's more like a legend."

  "Well, now you've met her. Go outside. When we arrive back at the dock, find your perfect spot again, and do your job. We have less than twelve hours to wait until the whole team arrives," said Kefira, asserting control and reassuring the spotter at the same time.

  "Sir," snapped the spotter, saluting her crisply because there was no one to see it.

  He left the room and went onto the boat deck. Kefira sat beside her sleeping lover and doubted her resolve for the first time in her career with Mossad. Her actions had risked her safety and the success of the mission. She removed a lock of hair from Michael's eyes. Her sleep looked so peaceful. Kefira wondered if parents felt this way when they watched their sleeping children. Terrorists have families that love them, reflected Kefira. She knew now that she felt protective of Michael, despite her duplicitous history of treachery with MacAuley in the past. Somehow, she had let the political activist into her heart. Their relationship had conflicted Kefira. She was grateful that Zak would be here. He would be able to judge how to resolve the problem, she thought, as she got up and moved to the wheelhouse room in the foredeck. She walked out the same door as the spotter.

  "Watch them. I'm going to take us back to the original dock."

  Kefira steered the boathouse away from the hidden dock after she asked the spotter to cast off the lines. The engine started on the second try, after some adjustments to the choke. Activity relieved some of the unresolved tension in her heart, permitting her to plan with more peace of mind. It was only fifty minutes back to the slip where she had first seen the boathouse. The spotter secured all of the lines and disappeared without a word. Kefira put the burlap over MacAuley's head and then went to lie beside her lover. She did not embrace her unconscious form; instead, Kefira set her watch alarm for ninety minutes and passed out cold.

  ZAK IN TIGRE

  March 12, 2012

  The Learjet easily seated the four of them and their electronic gear because the set-up crew had removed four seats. Zak conversed with Sam at Mossad headquarters on an ultra-secure satellite connection, and Sam informed Zak that he had included some scuba gear with rebreathers in case the team had to approach the houseboat by water. The two of them shared screens and Sam showed Zak a streaming feed dedicated to the houseboat.

  "Even if MacAuley finds the homing device inside the front tire of the Ducati, we have him now on visual. The boat is still tied up at the dock and we have her phone on GPS, approaching Tigre. They should arrive at the dock in about twenty minutes," said Sam.

  "She's going to be alone with that pig for at least eighteen hours before I can get there. I knew I shouldn't have let her go," interjected Zak.

  "I told you not to get involved that first day when she gave the Capoeira demonstration. Besides, it wasn't your call. She knew what she was getting into. No one knew her instincts would win out. She was the only one to insist that he would go to Buenos Aires. Moreover, I put someone from the embassy on the ground, a spotter. She's not alone," added Sam.

  Zak was trying to figure out how Kefira decided to go to Buenos Aires to look for MacAuley. All the evidence suggested that he was in Asia, especially because of a fluke coincidence. The CIA had spotted the back of a tall foreigner during controlled drone flyovers of Aceh Province, after the Russian-made tsunami struck.

  The USS Ronald Reagan, at that moment, was coordinating search and rescue in the devastated area. The carrier group had arrived on scene in a very timely manner and had gotten unlimited access to the area in a bid to operate a serious humanitarian effort. The carrier's global repositioning now seemed uncanny to some observers, and the good being done covered perfectly for the clandestine and darker side of the mission; namely, the identification of the whereabouts of mujahedeen fighters in Aceh Province.

  For some years, since September 11 and the collapse of the World Trade Center Towers at Ground Zero in New York City, various anti-western fundamentalist groups had been sending fighters to training camps in Indonesia, especially in Aceh Province, one the oldest bulwarks of Islam in Asia. Despite all the advanced technology focusing on following these fighters, they seemed to vanish into the jungle in Sumatra. On the ground, the environment was not favorable to penetration and had resulted in the deaths of many
agents that had tried to investigate.

  The tsunami now gave American Black Hawk helicopters and Navy Seals unlimited access. The Seals discovered, as they undertook serious humanitarian aid, as well as search and rescue, a network of underground tunnels under Aceh Province, much the same way tunnels under the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea or in Vietnam were part of war there. Many of these underground constructions were concrete, protecting the fighters even from the havoc wreaked by the tsunami. Some of the fighters were less fortunate. After the waves passed, drones and helicopters found fighters literally coming up for air from less well-built caverns and passageways. The storm wave spread their bodies amongst the dead. Only their obviously non-Indonesian origins set them apart. In addition, some of the bodies were holding Kalashnikovs or other assault weapons not common amongst the local population.

  One flyover mission included a drone and a low flying Black Hawk. The cameras recorded a Western man, judging by his build and size compared to the locals, coming out of a tunnel. The man looked like MacAuley from behind, but there was no frontal view to confirm the likeness, only a profile.

  "Come in, Rescue Command. Request permission to pick up target in current film."

  "What's your fuel status?"

  "We'll be on fumes when we return."

  "Negative that request. High tail it on the double. Repeat! Do not risk 'copter. Overall mission paramount."

  Zak looked at the film again. He thought of his connection in the CIA and wondered if she had been set up somehow. He made a mental note to warn her in their next communication. The only way these films could have been released was if there had been a leak at the CIA. His double was at risk because she was at the meeting where information was shared. Inter-agency rivalry went to great lengths to discredit competing groups, even after executive orders had forced the agencies to cooperate. Nevertheless, Zak could not see why Kefira had insisted that the picture was too convenient. She had gone on to say she did not trust coincidences. They were too convenient. Her gut reaction won the day. In fact, it was not MacAuley.