Asset

by Jack Kassinger

  Jeff Castellanos, the SE officer who Claire had sent to meet them, turned and looked at Mike. “What about her? She going to be OK?” he asked.

  “She’s as hard as nails, Jeff. We need to make sure she’s taken care of,” Mike said as he seated himself in the passenger seat of Jeff’s car.

  They watched the Citation 10 as it taxied back to the runway, preparing to takeoff, heading to an airport in Southern Virginia. Jeff drove away from the building, heading to nearby Reston, Virginia. Twenty minutes later, he dropped Mike at his condo and then headed to headquarters to give the DDO an update.

  ***

  When Marcie got home later that afternoon, she found Mike asleep in bed. She undressed and climbed in beside him. He rolled over and kissed her.

  “Hi, babe. Missed you. It’s good to be home.”

  Epilogue

  Yankee Doodle Went to Town

  Six months later, Mike stood alone and watched a puff of smoke disappear into the late morning air. He thought about his upcoming meeting with Claire as he field stripped the butt of a Marlboro cigarette that he’d been smoking. He tossed the remnants onto the ground and walked back inside the building into the corridor that connected the original headquarters building to the new addition. Smoking, he knew, was unhealthy, but what the hell, so was his line of work as a field operative. He had scars to prove it. Mike was one of a few officers within the directorate who had headed up a Level IV field op, and he surmised that’s what Claire wanted to see him about—that or the status of Nina Lubikov. He had tried to kick his smoking habit several times, but had been unsuccessful. He never felt the urge to smoke at home or while out somewhere with Marcie. It was only when he was in the field or when encountering something disturbingly stressful at headquarters that he would grab a pack of cigarettes from his desk drawer and head to the designated smoking area located in the open-air atrium situated between the two buildings.

  Mike turned and headed down the hallway in the direction of an elevator bank that would eventually lead him to Claire’s office. Lila had called Miss Betsy earlier that morning to schedule a time for him to meet with the DDO. He was greeted by Lila after walking into Claire’s office suite.

  “She’s expecting you, Michael. Go on in.”

  When he walked out of Claire’s office an hour later, Mike was surprised with his new assignment and the fact that she was going to appoint him as the new chief of the Africa Division, but first she wanted him to complete one last field assignment. She wanted him to visit with the doctors at the DEPOT to get a full debriefing from Dr. Richard on Jim Graybill’s status because Dr. Peters had called requesting to use Jim in a false flag patient arrangement to try to validate the secrets they had been told by Mauldin.

  Mike had been to the DEPOT several times to visit with Jim after they returned from the Zimbabwe operation, partly because of guilt and partly because of the urging of Dr. Richard, who told him that personal visits by a close colleague might help Jim restore his senses. He had Miss Betsy call Dr. Richard’s secretary to make an appointment and left the building.

  It took him about two hours to make the long drive from Langley to the CIA’s covert medical facility located in an obscure area of Southern Virginia. Mike turned off Route 605 and drove up a tree-lined lane, stopping in front of a huge gate. He was met by a uniformed guard and cleared into the compound. He drove past the main admin building and later stopped at a nondescript single-story building located at the far back side of the compound. He locked the car, walked up to the building entrance door, and pressed an intercom button. A female voice answered the call while looking at him on a security monitor.

  “Yes. Can I help you?”

  “2405547.”

  “Just a moment, please.”

  A few seconds later, Mike heard a click and pushed the door open. He walked in and stopped in front of a receptionist.

  “Good afternoon,” he said, handing his badge to her while looking over at the armed guard that stood nearby. “I’m here to see Dr. Richard.”

  The receptionist recognized his face. “Yes, sir, just a moment.”

  She inserted his badge into a card reader connected to a computer and then compared the image that appeared on her computer screen to his face. She didn’t know anything about him, even though she had processed him through the system a few times in the past. It was against the rules for her or any of the other lower-level administrative staff to engage in personal conversation with anyone visiting from headquarters. With a smile on her face, the receptionist confirmed his appointment.

  “Dr. Richard is expecting you, Mr. Shocklee. Please place your right hand on the scanner.”

  He knew the process and complied by placing his hand on the scanner exactly above the outlined palm. A white light scanned back and forth to compare his fingerprints to those in the database. Seconds later, the white lights at his fingertips turned green. Another security authentication process had just been completed.

  “OK, you’re good to go,” the receptionist said, returning his badge to him. “Have a good day.”

  “Thank you.”

  Mike left the receptionist and walked to Dr. Richard’s office. He walked in to greet Sandy, the doctor’s secretary.

  “Hello, Sandy.”

  “Oh. Hello, Mr. Shocklee,” she said, looking up at him. “As usual, you’re promptly on time. He’s waiting for you. Go on in.”

  “Thanks.”

  Mike gently tapped the doorframe. The doctor swallowed a mouth full of sandwich and washed it down with a gulp of water while motioning for Mike to come in.

  “Sorry,” he said, “it’s been a busy day, and I hardly had enough time to grab a bite to eat. Take a seat, and I’ll give you an update on the latest with Jim.”

  “Thanks, Doc.”

  “First of all, we’ve made tremendous progress with Jim since you were here last. When was that? About three months ago? Anyway, you are going to be surprised. The new drug that we’ve been giving him has worked better than we thought it would. He no longer moans in his sleep, which means he’s no longer reliving or re-experiencing some of the treatment he received during the period you guys were held in captivity. He’s gained weight and strength, and we have started him on a physical therapy regiment. I hope to move him to a less restrictive ward in the near future. With any luck, we might be able to release him in another few months.”

  “That’s good news, Doc. It makes me feel a hell of a lot better about making the trek down here. By the way, Dr. Peters wants to put Jim in with Dimitry Mauldin to see if he can validate some of the secrets Mauldin’s told you folks about Project 626. You have anything to say about that?”

  “The folks in the S&T directorate, the ones responsible for gathering military intel, think it’s a great idea. Me, I don’t think Jim is ready for something like that. It’s too early in my opinion, and I’ve told Peters that. However, since you’ve brought it up, he’s obviously disregarded my opinion and taken his proposal up the chain for approval.”

  “Thanks,” Mike said, getting up from his chair. “I’ll speak with Peters before I leave. Another three months, huh?”

  “Yes, I think so, assuming you can keep Peters away from him.”

  Mike walked down the hall to an elevator bank. He pushed the call button for the upper floors. He inserted his badge into a slot and then pushed the third-floor button. Up they went, and Mike walked off seconds later, heading to the nurse’s station. A nurse approached as he walked up to the desk. It was the same nurse he had seen on past visits.

  “He’s in Room 306 today, Mr. Shocklee, just around the corner. He’s in good spirits. I think you will enjoy your visit.”

  Mike nodded at her, smiled, turned, and left. He walked past the open doors of other rooms, noticing curtains pulled around some of the beds. He was unable to tell if the rooms were occupied with new patients. Minutes later, he was standing in the doorway looking at Jim, who was sitting in a chair and staring at a TV screen. Jim had the r
emote in his hand, surfing through the channels. Mike rapped on the open door. Jim looked up at him and grinned. The smile spread across his entire face. He stood as Mike approached his chair, and then they embraced. Mike could feel the improved strength of his friend’s arms.

  “How are you?” he asked

  “Much better. I’m doing much better, Mike.”

  That really caught Mike by surprise. It was the first time Jim had spoken his name since their days in Zimbabwe.

  They moved in the direction of a small table sitting on the far side of Jim’s bed. They sat across from each other. Mike looked at the dome-covered camera situated above the doorway. He knew that they were being watched, perhaps even by Dr. Peters.

  “Dr. Richard tells me that you are making great progress, which is really good news. For a while, you couldn’t remember my name or anything about me and the operation we were on.”

  “I know,” Jim said with a distant stare. “But I remember things now.”

  “OK, then I need to ask you a few questions. What can you tell me about Carlos?”

  “Oh, that guy. I was on my first field assignment, posted to Beirut, when I learned about Carlos. He was a badass and killed lots of people. We were instrumental in tracking him to a hideout in the Sudan. We captured him and gave him to the French Intelligence Service.”

  “That’s a pretty good. Really good. What else can you tell me about the op?” Mike asked.

  “Oh, there’s not much more to tell. We had an informant telling us everything about him and his plans to kill the ambassador.”

  “Did you get involved?”

  “Yep, of course I did.” Jim suddenly opened his pajama shirt. “Look at these if you don’t believe me.”

  Mike looked at the scars and then turned his head away. They were scars from wounds Jim had received in Mozambique when they were captured.

  “OK. Let’s talk about something else. The doctor tells me he needs another two or three months and then thinks you can be released to return to duty.”

  “No, no more duty. I don’t want to go back to duty,” Jim said.

  “OK, it’s your decision, Jim. No one is going to force you to go back to work.” He had seen enough to know that Jim was making progress as Dr. Richard had told him, but he still had a ways to go. Mike sincerely hoped that he would continue to improve. Jim deserved it, given everything he’d been through.

  “I have to go now, Jim, but I will come back again soon to visit. You keep getting better, my friend, and I’ll see you next month.”

  “Thanks, Mike. See you next month.”

  Mike walked out and headed for Dr. Peters’ office. He didn’t have to go far. The doctor was standing at the nurse’s station when Mike got there. As they stood waiting for the elevator bank, Dr. Peters commented that Mauldin was making great progress.

  “You guys did a great job getting him out of Russia and here to the DEPOT. How did your visit go with Mr. Graybill?”

  “He’s not ready to be put in with Mauldin, Doc. He hasn’t fully recovered.”

  “What do you mean? I watched you two discussing your operations. You said that he had done a good job telling you about the past.”

  “What did you want me to say to him? That he had it all backward? I told him that story about Carlos when we were in the field. I was the station officer in Khartoum when we discovered Carlos’s location and informed the French Intelligence Service. Jim had no part in the operation in Beirut. No, Dr. Peters, you’re not going to run Jim against Mauldin. You’ll just have to keep treating the man with your miracle drugs. Good day, sir.”

  Mike walked out the main door of the DEPOT ready to head home. Jim was getting better, much better; he just needed a few more months of treatment. He was excited about the visit and couldn’t wait to tell Marcie the good news: about the job and Jim’s improvement. He could be heard whistling as he walked toward his car.

  Yankee Doodle went to town, a riding on a pony. Stuck a feather in his hat and called it macaroni.

  About the Author

  205