Deep Cover

by Traci Hunter Abramson

  “There’s another call by Salman that has us confused. Do you know who Taja Al-Kazaz is?”

  Noah sensed a sudden tension in Kelsey, but in an instant, it was gone. “Yes, she is the tutor for Salman’s daughters. Why do you ask?”

  “The phone call we intercepted indicated that Salman is offering a reward for her return.”

  “Her return?” Noah asked. “What happened to her?”

  “That’s what we were wondering.”

  Cullen glanced over at Kelsey and then said, “Taja is a highly respected tutor from Saudi Arabia. Apparently Salman felt she had stepped out of line several weeks ago. To demonstrate his authority, he shot her.”

  “He shot her?” Noah repeated incredulously.

  “Then why would he be looking for her?” Ted asked.

  “She survived the wound, but she disappeared from the hospital,” Cullen told them. “Salman has been looking for her ever since.”

  “If he’s looking for her, she must have more importance than just being a tutor,” Ted said. “After all, in Salman’s world, women aren’t of great value.”

  “The reward is significant,” Manuel agreed. “The equivalent of five million dollars.”

  “Maybe we should put some resources into finding Taja,” Noah suggested.

  “We know where Taja is,” Cullen told him. “And we know what she knows. If necessary, we will use her as bait to bring Salman out of hiding.”

  “Does she know she might be used as bait?”

  “She’s aware of the risks,” Cullen said simply. “For now, we need to focus on the what, when, and where of Salman’s plans. All indications are that it will be within the next few months, but we need more.”

  Noah thought of the information leaks about Medrano’s operation. “Has anyone made any progress in identifying who might be compromising our intelligence?”

  “Both the FBI and CIA are doing internal investigations, but nothing has popped up yet. All we know is that everyone on this taskforce has been cleared. Beyond that, don’t trust anyone,” Cullen answered. “If any of you find anything that will help in those investigations, let me know immediately. If we can uncover a mole, we might be able to get the information we’re searching for.”

  Noah glanced over at Kelsey to see her staring at him. She looked away quickly, but he didn’t miss the way her cheeks flushed.

  As soon as their meeting concluded, Noah couldn’t help but notice the way Kelsey leaned heavily on her cane when she started back toward her desk, obviously struggling more now than she had earlier that morning. Apparently he wasn’t the only one who had noticed.

  Cullen crossed to her and spoke quietly. “What happened?”

  “I stumbled earlier, and it made me a little sore. I’ll be okay.”

  “Call the doctor. I want you in his office by this afternoon.”

  “I don’t have time to go to the doctor every time I have a minor setback. He said this could happen.”

  He lowered his voice further, enough that even at the desk beside Kelsey’s, Noah could barely make out his words. “For this operation to work, we need you at a hundred percent.”

  “I’m telling you, I’ll be fine,” Kelsey said, but even Noah could tell she wasn’t sure she believed her own words.

  “You make the appointment for this afternoon, or I will,” Cullen demanded. “If you can get a four o’clock, you’ll only have to leave an hour early.”

  Resigned, Kelsey nodded. When her phone rang, she lowered herself into her chair, picked up her phone, and, after her initial hello, started speaking to the person on the other end in flawless Arabic.

  The feeling of betrayal still clawing through him, Noah turned back to the work on his desk with one question burning in his mind: who was this woman sitting beside him?

  * * *

  Something had to be done. Too many people had their fingers in the tight web of intelligence he had helped create, and it was only a matter of time before someone punched through to find out who he really was.

  The call from Salman had grated, the terrorist treating him like he was some nobody, like he was simply a robot that could be programmed to do whatever the man wanted. He already suspected he knew exactly who had been feeding information to Bealton. Kelly Park’s arrival was too coincidental, and everything in her reports showed that her knowledge of the Middle East was a little too smug.

  He wasn’t blind to the terror Salman Nassar could unleash on the United States, especially with the flow of weapons Ruben Medrano was providing him with, but their arrogance would serve him well. Both men believed they were untouchable, their egos too big to consider that they might fail. They also thought he was only an informant, a one-way stream of information. He knew he was so much more than that.

  He had heard enough over the past few months that he had a pretty clear picture of what they were planning, especially when he added in the intelligence he had access to. He already knew where the attacks would happen and when. A few more well-placed questions and he would figure out exactly how Nassar planned to carry them out.

  When he finished collecting the necessary information, he would manipulate Nassar’s plans for his own purposes. Nassar thought June 11 would be his finest hour. It wouldn’t, of course. That finest hour would belong only to him.

  Chapter 20

  She couldn’t believe it. Kelsey had hoped the doctor’s visit would be a formality to prove that she was still progressing with her recovery. Unfortunately, the doctor’s opinion hadn’t matched her hopes. That single misstep this morning after her meeting with Lewis had aggravated her injury, causing it to swell. The doctor had drained off the excess fluid, proceeded to take away her driving privileges, and relegated her back to using crutches.

  A receptionist motioned to her. “Miss Park, your driver is waiting for you out front.”

  “Thank you.” Kelsey used the crutches she now held to pull herself up. As she made her way toward the main entrance, she wondered how she was supposed to know who was waiting to drive her home. Then she moved through the automatic sliding-glass doors and was surprised to see James leaning against a nondescript sedan.

  “I gather you’re my ride?” Kelsey asked by way of greeting.

  “I am.” He opened the door for her, waiting for her to slide into the car before taking the crutches. After putting them in the backseat, he circled to the driver’s side and started the car. Kelsey waited until they were clear of the hospital parking lot before she spoke again. “How did you get stuck with this detail?”

  He glanced over at her and gave her a casual shrug. “Just lucky, I guess.”

  “I’m sorry if this is putting you out. I can call Director Tate to see if he can work something else out. I’m sure he didn’t mean to put you in such an awkward situation.”

  “Actually, he knows about our history. That’s why he asked me to do him this favor.”

  Kelsey eyed him suspiciously. “You make it sound like you’re on pretty friendly terms with our director.”

  He nodded, and Kelsey was a little surprised to see that he no longer seemed to harbor any animosity toward her. “I may not have been thrilled with my first assignment, but my career here has turned out a lot better than I thought it would when we first joined the Agency.”

  “So what have you been doing for the past few years?”

  “I worked the Middle East desk for about a year, and then I went through the career training program. That gave me the chance to do a bunch of minitours. Personnel, European division, security, documentation, and even a few weeks on a TDY to northern Africa.”

  “Sounds like you’ve done it all.”

  “Pretty close,” James agreed. “Right now I’m enjoying my time working in liaison.” He glanced over at her, his lips curving up slightly. “Having dinner and spending time with dignitaries and such is a tough job, but someone has to do it.”

  “I’m glad it’s working out for you,” Kelsey said with sincerity. Knowing him well, she
continued. “Still, I’m sure your time would be better spent doing something other than driving me around. I can see if the Agency can assign me someone from the motor pool.”

  “The director doesn’t want anyone driving you unless they know who you really are.” James shrugged off her concern. “Like it or not, you’re stuck with me until you can drive again. Besides, we both know our jobs aren’t always as glamorous as they may seem.”

  Kelsey simply nodded. They rode in silence for a moment before she mustered the courage to try for a casual conversation. “Are you still going to the singles ward in Annandale?”

  He shook his head. “I’m not really into the LDS thing anymore. It’s tough to keep up with outside activities with this career.”

  She looked at him, surprised. She knew he had struggled with the Church a little early on, enough so that he had never gone on a mission, but she hadn’t really expected him to abandon their religion entirely. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  “It’s not a big deal.” He gave another casual shrug, but he kept his eyes on the road.

  Not quite sure what else she could say, she settled back into her seat, and they rode the rest of the way in silence.

  As soon as he pulled up in her driveway, she struggled out of the car, using her left hand to lift her leg gingerly before sliding out of the seat to the ground. Always a gentleman, James reached for her arm and steadied her before handing her the crutches.

  “Thanks for the ride, James.” She noted that her driveway was without any vehicles, indicating that the contractors had already finished for the day. She guessed it was around five thirty but didn’t want to try glancing at her watch for fear of losing her balance.

  “You’re welcome.” He reached into the car to retrieve her purse for her. “I’ll help you inside.”

  Kelsey cringed inwardly when Miss Patty walked out of her house. She lifted a hand to wave, and Kelsey didn’t miss the look of curiosity on her face. She couldn’t tell if Miss Patty remembered James or if she just assumed he was a random friend.

  She wondered if Lewis had assigned James to drive her because he already knew her real identity or to make sure no one would suspect he was anything but a personal friend. Either way, she didn’t look forward to the potential questions from her neighbors.

  Kelsey let James carry her purse for her until she reached the door. “My keys are in the outside pocket.”

  He fished them out for her and unlocked the door. Then he replaced the keys where he had found them and set the purse inside the front door. “I’ll pick you up at six o’clock tomorrow morning.”

  The idea that she could catch a ride to work with Noah popped into her mind, but after the way he had looked at her today, she didn’t want to make any assumptions. Even though she wasn’t thrilled to have an old boyfriend driving her to and from work, she nodded. “Thank you. I’ll see you then.”

  Once inside her house, Kelsey took one look at the stairs and turned away from them, heading instead for the kitchen. The flooring had already been ripped out, the plywood subflooring exposed. The walls were bare, narrow strips of the drywall ripped away from where the laminate countertop had once been.

  Cautiously, she made her way into the family room, shifting her crutches so she could pull a water bottle out of the fridge. She studied the contents of the fridge, debating whether she should eat something. Last night Noah had asked her to go out to dinner with him, and she was torn between whether she should prepare for the date or assume he wasn’t coming.

  She hoped their afternoon apart would give him time to cool down and come to grips with her reality. After their meeting with Lewis, he had been completely professional in their office, but he had yet to speak to her other than responding to comments made during their taskforce briefings.

  What would it have been like, she wondered, to have a friend who understood the real her? She could barely fathom the possibility of knowing someone who knew what she really did for a living and who also knew her in her private life. She would have even been excited about the prospect of discovering a friendship without security boundaries if she hadn’t been so worried about how Noah was going to react when they were outside of the office.

  She checked the time. Surely Noah would be able to look past the deceit and understand why she chose such a career. As an FBI agent, he had to share some of her desire to keep their fellow countrymen safe. He had to recognize the numerous threats that, if left unchecked, could unravel their very way of life.

  Her cell phone chimed, indicating a text message. Her mood brightened a little. Moving slowly because of the torn-up floor, she made her way back to where James had left her purse to retrieve her cell phone.

  Kelsey unlocked the screen to see that it was from Noah, but the message was definitely not what she was hoping for. Can’t make it tonight. Work-related problems.

  The hurt cut through her, sharp and piercing. She looked out the window beside the front door, taking in the peaceful, idyllic setting. She pressed a hand against the glass, the thin barrier separating her from the perfect spring weather. Who was she trying to fool? She didn’t belong in this life. She hadn’t belonged for years.

  * * *

  Noah still wasn’t sure whether he was relieved or disappointed that Devin’s call had prevented him from deciding whether to talk to Kelsey tonight. It was still early, not quite six o’clock, but with rush-hour traffic still snarled on I-95, he would never make it home on time to pick her up for institute, even if he wanted to. If he was honest with himself, he would admit that he wasn’t quite sure whether he was prepared to see her tonight at all.

  The house keys he had given to Lewis had been returned to him right before he left work, both his and Kelsey’s. When he had walked in the door, he’d discovered that the agents who had swept his house for bugs had also provided a real cleaning service. The house was spotless. He took several steps toward the kitchen before he realized he had changed his nightly routine of going straight upstairs to change.

  When his cell phone had rung, he’d actually been surprised to see his partner’s cell phone number illuminated instead of Kelsey’s. He tried to put her out of his mind when he climbed out of his car at the hospital where their wounded teammate had been brought after the shooting in Lorton.

  “Thanks for meeting me.”

  “No problem.” Noah waved a hand in the direction of the hospital. “Is everything okay? You said it was urgent.”

  “Carter is doing okay. It’s something else I need to talk to you about. This was just a convenient place to meet without raising suspicions.”

  “What is it?”

  “I think I found the mole.”

  “Seriously?” Noah asked excitedly. “Who is it? How did you figure it out?”

  “I don’t have his name, but he’s CIA.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Today I was looking over the cell phone communications for our dead gunrunners.”

  “We looked at that right after the shooting.”

  “Yeah, but you know how several of the phone numbers were unidentified?”

  Noah nodded. “We figured they were burn phones.”

  “They were. All except for one.” A combination of excitement and trepidation danced in his eyes. “The phone number wasn’t just unidentified. It was scrambled. You know, like when someone from CIA headquarters calls but the number on caller ID isn’t really their number.”

  “You think it was a government phone?”

  “I know it’s a government phone. Not only was I able to track it back to the CIA, but when I followed the phone activity on it, I was also able to trace one of the numbers to a known terrorist operating out of Abolstan. A guy named Salman Nassar.”

  Noah struggled against the knowledge that he couldn’t tell Devin he was confirming the information the taskforce had already uncovered. “How can you be sure he wasn’t an informant?”

  “Because that’s not all I found. One of the other numbers I t
raced had some scary ties of its own. Not only had this guy talked to our gunrunner and Nassar, but there was also phone activity to that Canadian businessman who was killed in Abolstan.”

  “What?”

  “Three calls, all within the last forty-eight hours before he was killed,” Devin told him. “If the Canadian was really CIA, it would make sense that the owner of the phone was his handler, but when you tie in the other calls he made . . .”

  “He could also be the mole,” Noah finished for him.

  “I called in a favor from a friend at the CIA. She couldn’t confirm if the Canadian was one of their assets, but I did manage to get a name.”

  “You know who the mole is?”

  Devin nodded. “He’s the chief of station out of . . .”

  A car engine sounded in the parking lot, but Noah was so focused on Devin that he didn’t notice it until a squeal of tires accompanied the sound. He turned just in time to see a gun barrel poke out of the driver’s side window of a black SUV.

  “Gun!” Noah shouted the word and dove for cover behind a concrete pillar as shots rang out. In an instant, he had his weapon in his hand. He crouched down, took a moment to check for innocent bystanders, and returned fire.

  The vehicle peeled out of the parking lot, the hand holding the gun disappearing back inside the window. His eyes trained on where the license plate should have been, and then he looked over to where he had just been standing. That’s when he saw Devin crumpled on the sidewalk.

  “Someone get a doctor!” Noah yelled to whatever bystander might still be in hearing distance. He hurried to his partner’s side, pressing his hands against the blood seeping from his chest. “Hang on, Devin. The doctor’s coming. You’re going to be okay.”

  The words were barely out of his mouth when he felt someone rush up beside him. He caught a glimpse of the scrubs the man beside him was wearing and heard the shout for a gurney. He could hear the woman crouched across from him calling out vitals, but his focus stayed on Devin’s face and the color slowly draining out of it.

  “You need to step back, sir. We’ve got him from here,” a doctor told Noah.