X had a look of shock on his face that I would speak to him like that, then that subsided. I think he started thinking about a family he once had and that went to a place he didn’t want to visit. Walsh, you’re not my first pick for this job. You’re too old and you have your kids you want to find and take care of. I also know you will be helping yourself to all our recourses to find them and provide for them. Oh… and your Jewish commando girlfriend, I’m sure you are going to be using our resources to take care of her, too. You know you can’t talk about any sensitive material with her, don’t you?”
I nodded in agreement. I glanced at Nick who was looking over X and avoiding my gaze. How else would X know so much about me? Any private life I once had was now gone.
X noticed my dismay with Nick and quickly addressed the situation. “It wasn’t just O’Brien’s intel that enlightened me about your soldier girlfriend and your situation with your kids. Your name has been on my desk as a likely candidate for a while and we have been… monitoring you. Like I said before, you’re not my first pick for this job, but its slim pickings out there. I’ve lost a lot of good agents to these fucks and they are not easily replaced. I’m quickly running out of options.”
This was all sobering and final. I had to weigh the pros and cons of being in this organization in a couple of seconds. I probably knew too much already. If I declined this invitation, I would probably meet my demise in some “accident” on my way home or to Susie’s. I had a bad feeling about this in my gut, but this was my best option for finding my boys. I only had one option: I had to say yes to all of this.
18 Cold Man Hands
The rest of the meeting was X going over the logistics of my new job. There was a little bit of tension in the room left over between Nick and me. X felt it also and looked at me with an almost fatherly expression on his face saying, “Nick is going to be my liaison with you when I can’t contact you directly. He will most likely be on some missions with you also. So if there are any hard feelings, now is the time to clear that shit up. I can ill afford agents not working together or God forbid not having each other’s backs. When you are on an assignment I expect you to complete it without fail.” X looked at me and then Nick, “Is that clear gentleman?” I cleared my throat and said, “Crystal, sir!” X then looked at Nick who was nodding in agreement.
Nick and I got up at the same time and headed for the thick door leading to the outer office. I still felt a slight sense of betrayal from Nick, but knew I had to get that out of my head. X was right, I would have to have a clear head if I was going to do my job correctly and ultimately find my boys.
Nick closed the door behind me and motioned me towards McCabe’s desk. It was a simple desk with a thin computer monitor, keyboard and printer off to the side. Her desk was immaculate, absolutely no clutter. The only thing on it was a brown folder with my name in the upper left hand corner. She had a plastic red rose in a simple glass vase on the corner of her desk. There was a photo in a silver frame of her and a man with their arms around each other. They were ankle deep in what appeared to be an ocean at sunset. She was wearing a black one-piece swim suit that flattered her curves and cleavage. The man looked as though he was about five years older than her with grey hair that was in a high and tight haircut. He was wearing Oakley sunglasses and had an athletic body. They both had big smiles on their faces and the look of two people that were in love. There were rows of metal filing cabinets that had large locks on them behind her.
McCabe offered me one of the simple metal chairs that were across from her desk and I sat down. Nick patted me on the shoulder as he walked towards the outer door and said, “I’ll leave you two alone so you can get better acquainted.” McCabe shot him a coy smile and I blushed. God I hate that about myself, why can’t I control that? I could feel the blood in my cheeks. McCabe caught this and gave me a quick smile and an ever so quiet giggle.
McCabe quickly switched to “work mode” and locked her eyes on her monitor with intensity. She went through general background questions with ease and we both felt comfortable with each other. There was definite chemistry between us. I started to feel guilty thinking, what about Susie? I wouldn’t appreciate her flirting with a good looking guy.
McCabe asked for the spelling of my name. “Sean or Shawn?” I told her the only way a good Irish boy would spell his name is Sean. She laughed and asked me what part of Ireland I was from. I told her both of my folks were born in Mayo but I was born in Chicago. She nodded her head and smiled. I looked at her and said, “What part of the Highlands are ye from? I absolutely love your accent.”
She shot me a warm smile and said, “Edinburgh. I moved to the states with my family when I was just a wild teenager.” Then she asked, “Marital status?” I told her I was happily divorced and she smiled at me. I looked down at McCabe’s left ring finger and saw a simple gold band. She caught me looking and shot me a half smile.
She then asked me about my kids. I told her basic information such as birthdates and physical characteristics. When I spoke of my children, that brought a warm smile to McCabe’s lips. She asked me for their addresses and my voice cracked as I said, “I don’t know, they’re missing.” There was an awkward silence between the two of us. She looked at me with sympathetic eyes breaking the silence, “I’m so sorry.” I could tell she meant it and it was comforting to me that she cared.
She then asked me for emergency contacts. That broke the somber mood for the time being and it was welcoming. I gave her Ben and Franks information as my contacts. If anything happened to me I could trust both those guys to do the right thing. They were the closest things I had to family left in this godforsaken world. I’m not sure why I didn’t put Susie down as an emergency contact. Maybe it was because we had not known each other for very long.
McCabe finished her questions and printed out a small stack of papers for me to sign. I signed my life away without reading every page. That would’ve taken all day and I guess worse things could happen being trapped with McCabe at her desk all day. She shot me a smile and said in her sexy Scottish accent, “Picture time!” She instructed me to stand up against the wall and she took my picture with a digital camera. She motioned for me to sit back down and she took her seat behind her desk. She plugged her camera into her Computer and smiled looking at the Image on her monitor. “Perfect. Very handsome indeed.” She motioned for me to get up and look at her monitor. I got up and bent down slightly next to her to look at my picture. I was close to her and could smell the essence of shampoo in her hair. I also had a good view of her cleavage that I was admiring earlier.
I felt guilty for looking and she grinned at me raising one eyebrow catching me in the act. “What do you think? Of your picture that is.” I quickly set my eyes forward at the monitor feeling slightly embarrassed and said, “I don’t like pictures of myself, I guess this one will do. It’s a good thing I wore a suit today.”
I sat back down and let out a sigh of relief. McCabe printed out my ID and laminated it. She attached it to a plain black lanyard and I stood up and took it from her hand. There was my photo with “Captain Sean Walsh” under my picture. There was a barcode on the bottom and no other identifiers on it.
Nick walked in with a smile on his face and asked, “Are you done with our boy?” McCabe smiled and said, “You can have him, I’m done with him for now.” I got up and shared direct eye contact with McCabe and said my goodbyes and thanked her.
Nick and I walked out the door and he put his hand on my shoulder, “So did you behave? Do I have to have a chaperone for the two of you next time?” I told him he was delirious and needed some professional help. We both laughed and it felt like the old days. I didn’t think twice that we were in a secret underground bunker in the HQ for the intelligence branch of the new government.
Nick walked me down along hall and told me it was time for my physical. Oh, great. An army doctor physical. This should be fun. I’d had my fair share of army physicals and none of t
hem were pleasant. Lots of poking and prodding in places where you don’t want to be poked or prodded. We reached a large metal door at the end of the hall that had a sign on it with the word “Medical” on the outside. Nick smiled at me and motioned for me to open the door.
I turned towards Nick and said, “So what’s the deal with X?” Nick turn at me with a serious look and said, “X has an impressive pedigree. He was a navy seal and is a hard-core operator. X is a certified badass that has been involved in many covert operations. He rose up in rank quickly and in the shadows. He was also a devout Family man. His wife and daughter meant the world to him. I’m sure you noticed the scars on his head face and hands. He got those trying to pull his wife and daughter out of their car that was on fire as a result of a suicide bomber. He was torn up bad, but couldn’t get the door open to the car to save his family. He literally watched them burn to death. McCabe was there also but was knocked out by the blast.”
That would explain X’s colorful adjectives for Arab people. I shook my head, understanding that kind of hatred.
“Okay that explains X, what about McCabe? She was there when all this shit went down. They must be pretty tight.” I said looking at Nick who was almost to the point of being emotional.
Nick let out a sigh, “Yes, they are very tight. X and McCabe served together when they were both new to the military. McCabe and X’s wife became good friends. X and his wife helped McCabe after her husband was killed in action in Afghanistan. They took her in and made her part of their family.”
I looked at Nick and asked, “So, Are X and McCabe doing the nasty?”
He looked shocked at first and then burst out laughing, “You are a sick bastard! No. None of that. X still carries a torch for his dead wife. Like a wolf, one mate for life. Just so you know X is extremely protective of McCabe. She is off limits to you and anybody else. Besides, you are a taken man now.”
I smiled and nodded thinking to myself, “Yes. I am a taken man now.”
Nick opened the door to medical and ushered me in. There was an outer office with clipboards that had medical questionnaires attached. Nick grinned at me and said, “It will take you a while to fill out all this paperwork. When you’re done knock on the door and somebody will let you in.”
I filled out the mountain of paperwork and banged on the cold metal door. A woman in her late 40s with Gray hair in a bun wearing a white lab coat ushered me into an exam room. I endured the usual poking and prodding that a proper army doctor would inflict on any of their patients. I gave many vials of blood and was inoculated with whatever serums were deemed necessary for me for abroad or local. Who knows how much of this shit was experimental. The government was good at using soldiers as their guinea pigs.
She then escorted me to a different room that looked like an operating room. I certainly didn’t like the looks of this. I was already wearing a terry cloth robe and she had me take the top part off. She disappeared for a little bit and came back with gloves, gown and eye shield. She had a metal tray on rollers that had two small devices on them and a large jet gun. She told me to lay still and breathe normally. She dropped the first object into the top of the gun and told me to close my eyes. I did and felt the cold of the metal object on my chest. I felt a sharp pain in my left upper chest and she told me to relax. I opened my eyes in time to see her reload and repeat the procedure. The good doctor told me to take my time getting up because I might be a little light headed. She then escorted me to the original exam room where my medical adventure began.
She told me I could get dressed and she would let Nick know that she was done with me. I looked at her in the eye and asked, “I suppose you can’t tell me what kind of gizmos you just put in my chest, can you?” I knew she probably couldn’t but I thought I would give it a shot. With a serious look on her face she said, “I’m sorry I’m not at liberty to discuss that. It will all be explained to you later.” With that she disappeared and I put my suit back on. I left the tie off though, I hate ties. As I left the room I thought to myself, I’m sure those are GPS and my suicide helper that just got put in my chest. I didn’t like any of this as I rubbed my new wounds.
Nick was in the outer office where this all began. “So you are still in one piece I see. I hope the good doctor was gentle with you.”
I chuckled and said, “She had cold ‘man hands’ that were especially unpleasant during the prostate and hernia part of the exam. And I do want to talk to you about my new friends that were put in my chest.” Nick gave me a coy smile and ushered me out into the hall. “Don’t worry about those old chum, as he pointed at his chest and smiled. Now you really are in the club.”
19 Bubbles and Bullets
Nick led me to a different door and we went inside a conference room. On the table was a Satellite phone, laptop computer a tiny ear piece and an old fashioned flip-phone.
I looked at Nick holding the flip-phone, “I had one of those a few hundred years ago. Is this some kind of wise crack about my age?”
Nick took the phone out of my hands and flipped it open smiling, “This can do a lot more than your ‘smart phone’ that works some of the time. Alpha has secured communication satellites that work most of the time and this is also a satellite phone. It also has some other goodies. If you press 000, this baby is also a small explosive with a five second delay. If you press 999 one of those devices in your chest will send a lethal electrical charge to your heart, stopping it dead in its tracks. Don’t worry, if you use it as an explosive it won’t set off your heart charge.”
I shook my head chuckling. “999 you mean XXX? That doesn’t show much imagination. Who else can cancel my stamp via remote control? You?”
Nick’s mood became serious, “Yes. I can set off the devise in your chest and so can X. He can set off mine also. Don’t worry, after a while you don’t even remember it being there.” He also informed me that the second implant in my chest was a GPS unit. I’m not sure which thing in my chest I hated more. Nick wouldn’t let me know which devise was the GPS unit or which one was my suicide device.
I picked up the black satellite phone, unfolded the antenna and asked Nick what this did. Nick smiled at me and said, “It makes and receives phone calls. It has much better range and battery life than the flip satellite phone.”
That was a little bit of a letdown. Nothing cool about that piece of equipment.
I didn’t find any of this reassuring. Nick moved on to the lap top computer, ear piece and Satellite phone. He explained how they worked and they even came with instructions. The lap top computer was weather-proof and would synch to either phone. There was video capability and that is how I would get specific intel such as maps or photos regarding my assignments. One of the biggest assets to this computer was real time video from above of bad guys. If there wasn’t too much atmospheric interference it would come in quite handy.
The ear piece would synch to either phone and the computer. It would receive messages and transmit voice. It could also be used person to person in shorter distance situations.
I smiled at Nick checking out my new possessions. “Okay. These are some impressive pieces of electronic gadgetry. But what about weaponry?” Nick smiled at me and opened up a small black leather bag with foam insulation on the inside. Cushioned inside the foam was a myriad of syringes and bottles containing liquids. There was also what appeared to be different types of writing instruments. Nick gave me a short course on how to load the various writing instruments with the assortment of poisons in the pouch. Some of these instruments looked like Fountain pens and regular ink pens. Some we’re spring loaded that could shoot a small projectile at close range. The rest I would have to use up close and personal.
“Before I forget, there is an ample supply of stimulants when needed.” Nick held up a bottle of pills in the bag grinning. I remember taking those in my army days. Always got a serious gut ache, but could stay awake and alert for extended periods of time.
I was expecting t
o be escorted to a large armory next. I looked at Nick and asked, “So, is this the part where you take me to your armory and outfit me with all the appropriate goodies?”
Nick shook his head and said, “We don’t have an unlimited supply of guns. I know you’re pretty well-equipped with weaponry. I’m sure you have an assortment of rifles, pistols, and who knows what else. Don’t worry though, I won’t let you leave empty handed.”
Nick got up and put all my new goodies in a black canvas bag and handed them to me. “Here you go. Be careful with this stuff and don’t lose anything.”
Nick and I walked out of the conference room and led me to the gun locker so I could retrieve my hardware. We then went up to the floor we started this little adventure on. Nick walked me over to a retina scan device and told me to put my ID on it so it could scan the barcode on it. I did and Nick played with the keypad underneath and told me to look into the device so it could scan my retina. I did and with that I was officially okay to go in and out of this compound. Even though I didn’t know exactly what all this was or what all was in here.
I stopped and looked at Nick, “So I don’t really know what else is in this compound. I don’t suppose you are going to give me the grand tour.”
Nick grinned out of one side of his mouth, “Hell, I don’t know what is all in this place. There are plenty of areas that are restricted to me and certainly to you. This is all on a need to know basis and you know all you need to know for now. One more thing, this place is code named “Gobbler.” Many years ago this was a supper club that kinda looks like a UFO. It was actually called the Gobbler. It had long since been abandoned but Its architecture was considered cutting edge for its time. The government bought it before the war and built quite the compound out of it.”
Mad City: Book One of the Sean Walsh Post Apocalyptic Series Page 10