by Mary Alford
Saving Agent Tanner
By
Mary Alford
Chapter One
Do you know what happened to Booth Tanner?
The text message was brief, chilling, and enough to send me back into the shadowy world I thought I’d left behind for good.
Booth Tanner. My husband and the man I once believed was my soul mate. Booth had been the love of my life. So much so that I still couldn’t bring myself to sign the divorce papers after three years. He was the man whose name I hadn’t spoken aloud in almost three years. I couldn’t think of Booth and keep moving forward. I’d severed all ties with him. The life. The person I’d once been.
Which made the message infinitely more threatening in that someone had discovered our past connection.
I’d taken all the necessary precautions to keep my past secret from the diplomat I’d become today.
I glanced around the guest office I’d occupied for the past three days of my visit to the States. Everything was as it had been since our team arrived on Monday, and yet...
My hands shook as I committed the phone number attached to the message to memory, somehow knowing it would be untraceable. After exhausting all of my former espionage skills, I came up empty handed. Whoever sent the chilling message wanted to remain anonymous.
I discreetly closed my door. Once I’d made sure my online identity and that associated with my computer couldn’t be traced, I went to work. It took ten tries, eight more than it would have in the old days to crack the CIA’s secure access code. Hidden in the usual jargon meant to confuse would-be hackers and those with more sinister motives in mind, were two words that jumped out at me.
Cowboy Sunset.
Booth’s code name was Cowboy. He’d chosen it because he thought it was funny, being a huge Dallas Cowboy fan. Sunset was CIA speak for an agent gone missing.
Booth Tanner had gone missing.
It was a long time before I could breathe. Drawing air into my lungs became an impossible task.
It doesn’t mean anything. Father, please don’t let it mean anything.
What happened to Booth had nothing to do with me. He was no longer part of my heart or my life, I tried to convince myself.
I was still sitting there staring at those two words trying to believe I’d put my relationship with Booth in the past when my second in command, Jeff Scott, walked into my office, unannounced. I hastily logged off the website, but not without raising Jeff’s suspicions.
He stopped midway through the door and stared at me. He’d picked up the emotional firestorm the mere mention of Booth’s name brought.
“You okay? You look as if you’ve seen a ghost or something. I’m not interrupting anything am I?”
He indicated the cell phone clutched in my hand and I struggled to regain some of my composure. “No, of course not. I’m fine.” My glance fell on the text message. I didn’t dare save the note. Best not to leave any connection to my past anywhere someone might readily check. I hit the delete button and the message disappeared.
I straightened a bit in my chair and squared my shoulders. “I guess it’s being back in D.C. again. Come in, what’s up?”
Jeff readily accepted my explanation. The excitement of our upcoming meeting with the Secretary of State prior to the start of the latest Israeli-Palestine peace talks had everyone from our embassy working overtime. The Secretary of State’s impending visit to Jerusalem meant security would be at its highest. The entire team had been called back to the States to go over every possible threat before flying to Jerusalem at the end of the week.
News from my past could not have come at a worse possible time.
But this is Booth. He needs you.
“I’m finishing the final agenda plans for the SOS’s arrival. We should be set for our meeting with her team at two.”
I glanced at my watch, my mind working at breakneck speed. It was past ten D.C. time. I had four hours to find out what was happening in Booth’s life that someone felt the need to bring me into his world again. And for what purpose?
“Great, look, Jeff, I have to step out for a little while. I’ll be back before the meeting, of course,” I assured him quickly when I spotted Jeff’s initial shocked reaction.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” His narrowed gaze bounced from the phone to hone in on my expression.
I reached back into my past, to the training I’d received by some of the best covert ops around and somehow managed to pull off indifference, then I grabbed the first excuse to come to mind. “Perfectly.” I waved the phone in the air to emphasize the point. “An old friend. I promised I’d meet her for lunch today. She’s having personal problems and needs a shoulder to cry on. I should be back by one at the latest.”
Worry evaporated from Jeff’s features and his carefree smile returned. “Oh, well, I can certainly understand. But if you’re not back, don’t worry. I can handle this one without you.”
While there was a certain amount of genuine concern in his answer, the bottom line was Jeff wanted my job.
He’d been working under me for a year now and was tired of playing second fiddle to a woman. Jeff had the type of personality that thrived on challenge. He excelled in his work but had been growing bored for a while now.
As the assistant to the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, I was next in line for the ambassador’s job when David Judah retired next year. Since Jeff had learned about David’s upcoming retirement, he’d been angling for a closer relationship with him. Jeff knew how much David valued punctuality and teamwork. No excuse would be good enough for his second in command being a no-show for a meeting. In spite of the fact that the meeting was simply to go over the schedule with the SOS’s team. David would be there. He’d expect his team there as well. That went double for me.
“That’s okay. As I said, I’ll be back in plenty of time.” I grabbed my cell phone and tucked it into the pocket of my jacket, then almost as an afterthought undocked the laptop and took it with me. I had no reason to believe Jeff would sink low enough as to go through my computer documents, but then I had hacked into confidential CIA files. It was best not to take any unnecessary risks.
I left diplomatic headquarters located in the shadow of the Capitol building, ignoring the string of cabs sitting out front. No need to draw undue attention to myself. Besides, I could walk the five-plus blocks quicker than a cabbie would maneuver his way through the congested morning traffic.
While I walked at a fast click, I called Dana McIntyre’s phone. Dana was my daughter Ava’s nanny. I’d first met her a year earlier while assigned to the embassy in Israel. Dana was a theology student who’d recently graduated from Trinity Bible School and was taking a sabbatical from her studies to pursue another lifelong dream.
Dana wanted to see the Holy Land. She’d jumped at the chance to live in Jerusalem and had fallen in love with Ava right from the start. But for me, well, old habits die hard. I’d done an extensive background check on Dana who proved to be the real deal and a blessing.
“Hi there, Rach, what’s up?” I could hear my daughter’s excited gibbering in the background.
Although I was worried, Ava’s sweet voice had a way of grounding me and reminding me I wasn’t part of that life anymore. I was being paranoid. “How is she? What are you two up to this morning?”
“She’s terrific, aren’t you, pumpkin. We’re finishing up breakfast. Someone wanted to sleep in today.”
“Is she feeling okay?” My daughter never slept past seven.
“Yes, she’s fine, Mommy. Suffering from jet lag I suppose. Don’t worry.”
As if. “Listen, Dana, I know you two were going to the par
k today, but do me a favor and stay home. Keep her inside or if you go out, play in the backyard.”
“Anything wrong?” Dana picked up on my worry. I was definitely losing my touch.
I forced myself to relax. “No, at least…I’m not sure. To be safe, don’t leave the property today, okay?”
After a moment’s hesitation, she agreed. “Sure. No problem.”
“Oh and if anyone comes around you don’t recognize, don’t answer the door and if you see anyone hanging around the place call me immediately.”
Another tick in time slipped by. “Will do.” I could hear the questions in her voice. Dana knew everything about my past. I’d been honest with her from the beginning. She knew I wasn’t just being a worried mom.
With that small amount of reassurance, I could breathe again. “I’ll explain everything tonight. In the meantime, keep your eyes open.”
While it had been years since I’d left D.C. behind, it seemed nothing had changed. At exactly eleven a.m., I spotted the person I was looking for. His car had been easy to pick out. I simply searched for the flashiest, most expensive one I could find in the parking garage and waited for its owner to emerge.
Agent Michael Bernard didn’t disappoint. I waited until he’d unlocked the Porsche before materializing from behind the concrete support beam next to the passenger door.
“Is it true?”
Agent Bernard did a double take. The fact that I’d taken him by surprise easily spoke volumes as to why Michael was for the most part an administrative person and not a field agent.
“Rachel, what are you doing here?”
He seemed genuinely surprised to see me, which answered one question. Michael was not the one who texted me.
I slammed my palms against the top of the Porsche. “Is it true?”
He didn’t pretend not to know what I was talking about. Michael simply got into the car and waited for me to do the same.
Once I’d slid into the low-slung car, he turned the key and the car’s powerful engine roared to life. Michael cranked the stereo to full volume and left the parking garage. He drove half a block away then pulled into the parking lot of a strip mall.
“How did you find out?”
Michael’s stall for time confirmed my answer.
“Is Booth missing?”
He lowered the volume a decimal then turned in his seat to watch me carefully. “Why do you care? You wrote him out of your life three years ago.”
Those words still hurt to hear. They weren’t true of course, but that’s what Booth believed and what I’d let Michael think as well.
“Someone sent me a text message this morning. Someone knows about Booth and my past. If they know about my connection, they’ll know about Ava. So, I need to know. Is it true?”
“Who texted you?” His habit of answering a question with another was infuriating at the best of times. Today, I was not in the mood to play games. I hated being drawn back into the shadow games, a slang term used by agents across the board to describe the shadow war they fought behind the scenes which most Americans were not aware of.
“I don’t know,” I managed through gritted teeth. I watched him carefully as I added, “I thought maybe it was you.”
“Yeah, right. You’re the last person I’d want involved in this.”
Michael’s contempt was clear. It was hard to believe we’d once been friends. “Then answer the question.”
His next words ripped away what small amount of hope I’d been clinging to since receiving the text. “Rachel, he’s...”
“Sunset. I know. Where?”
“Rachel, you know I can’t tell you anything more. Let it go. It’s not your problem anymore. Stay out of it, okay?”
I closed my eyes, wishing I could do as he asked. “Where. Where did he go missing? Michael, tell me.”
“Near Kandahar.”
“Oh no.” This was everyone in the spy business’s worst nightmare come to fruition. How could this happen to someone as highly skilled as Booth?
Speaking the next question aloud took everything inside of me. “Is he alive?”
Michael blew out a deep breath. “Does it matter? Why do you care? This has nothing to do with you anymore, Rachel. You wanted out. You’re out. Let it be. We’ll handle it. Go back to your pretty little diplomatic lifestyle and leave the real patriotism to those who have the stomach for it.”
I ignored Michael’s familiar jab. “What are you going to do?” His silence confirmed the seriousness of Booth’s position. “You can’t leave him there. Michael, he’s your friend.”
He shifted in his seat to glare at me. “He’s behind enemy lines. We haven’t heard from him in days. If he isn’t dead, he’s been captured. Either way, we can’t help him. Booth can take care of himself. If he’s physically able, he’ll find a safe house and contact us.”
“If? Michael, you can’t leave him there.”
He turned away. His stony expression made it clear he hated my involvement. “It’s out of my hands.” He continued to stare straight ahead, not looking at me. I knew what that meant. Booth had been sent on an “unscheduled” mission.
Which meant no one but Booth’s handler knew where he was. Wherever he’d been sent, he’d gone there to kill someone big.
I leaned into Michael’s line of sight, forcing him to look at me. “That’s ridiculous and you know it.” When he didn’t answer, I reached for the door handle and made to leave the car. “Fine, but I won’t stand by and let him die because your people sent him out as a ghost.”
I yanked the handle and tried to open it, but Michael grabbed my hand. “Stay out of this, Rachel. You don’t know what’s involved here. I’m warning you, if you get in the way, I’ll personally have you arrested.”
The steely resolve in my voice surprised me. I knew he could carry out that promise and more, but Michael wasn’t the only one with a few cards left to play. “Try it and I’ll forget I owe you anything and go public with what I know. I think there are a few things Hughes and your precious CIA wouldn’t want Joe Blow Public knowing.”
Michael took the threat as real. We both knew I had enough details to bring certain key people in the CIA to their knees.
“You wouldn’t dare. Rachel, you owe me your life and your child’s. If it weren’t for me, you’d probably be dead by now.”
“Maybe, but I owe Booth something more.”
The sneer in his otherwise handsome features told me he didn’t believe my motives. “I’d say it’s a little late for that, don’t you think? You didn’t think twice about dropping Booth from your life the minute he was no longer convenient for you. You never bothered telling him he’s a father.”
I jerked away from Michael’s restraint and shoved the door open. “I’m not having this discussion with you again. If you won’t help Booth, then I will.” I got out of the car then turned back and leaned into the open door. “And if you don’t have enough nerve to stand up to your commander and help your best friend fight for his life then stay out of my way.”
Chapter Two
Brave words. I’d barely made two blocks before I’d begun to regret voicing my intentions to Michael. He’d probably been on the phone to his superior officer before I cleared the first block.
The information I had to work with was next to none. I didn’t know where Booth might have gone missing beyond somewhere near Kandahar. In that particular region of Afghanistan, there were virtually miles and miles of rugged terrain, mountainous caves reputed to have hidden the worst terrorist known in U.S. history. Booth could be hiding anywhere amongst the caves. He could be held captive. He could be dead.
I slowed my steps as I tried to formulate a plan. With my diplomatic position, I could find a way to travel to the area without drawing too much attention to myself. But if the wrong people were to find out that I was of Jewish heritage, not to mention my former history with the CIA, then I might find myself in the same position as Booth.
I couldn’t think about
Booth or the history we shared and not worry about my daughter.
Michael had been right about one thing, though. I owed him an awful lot. My life. Ava’s. Thanks to Michael, I’d been lucky enough to get out. Booth couldn’t, or more to the point, wouldn’t leave the CIA. He lived for the thrill of the game we played, and in the beginning, I’d been attracted to the adrenaline rush as well. Booth’s drive and determination, his dangerous edge, had been an incredibly handsome before we became...involved. Afterward, well, the tension and constant fear we faced well, it just made him that much more attraction.
Unfortunately, it didn’t take long before living in the shadow of death, the constant fear of being found out by the enemy, took its toll on me and my marriage with Booth.
The thrill began to pale in comparison to the risk. But it was the realization that no matter how many enemy threats we stopped, there would be thousands of new recruits waiting in the wings as determined to complete their mission that had finally done it for me. I’d fell back on my faith in God after leaving Booth and the CIA. If I hadn’t had that faith, I think I would have lost it.
I’d seen things with Booth I wished I could purge from my memory. Horrible things that brought home the reality of how truly evil human beings could be. Especially when they believed in a cause. Terrorism was a name attached to a belief, depending on which side you were on, either terrorist or patriot. I’d come to realize, when threatened enough, the most civilized person could become a terrorist.
Some within the same agencies sworn to have our country’s best interest at heart.
* * * *
“She knows.” Michael watched as Rachel Weiss disappeared around the corner of Washington and James. It only took a second for the impact of his statement to hit home.
“How did this happen?” Director Tom Hughes demanded in the loud thunderous voice he’d become famous for when properly angered.
For reasons Michael couldn’t begin to explain, he decided to keep details of his conversation with Rachel between them. He’d do a little checking on his own. She was right about one thing. He owed as much to Booth.