Commitment

by Healy, Nancy Ann

  Krause and Alex nodded. “Electronic counter-counter measures is a mouthful. You’re lucky I have such an excellent memory,” Alex winked. “This ECCM language is…”

  “Heady?” Eleana laughed.

  “You could say that,” Alex answered. “Let’s just hope neither of us is approached for any major demonstrations or details or else I fear we may need to employ some counter measures of our own,” Alex winked.

  Eleana pulled the car to the security gate, rolled down her window and handed the guard an identification badge. “Dobroye utro. So monoj vrachi Vays i Karpenko (Good morning. I have doctors Weisz and had Karpenko),” she greeted the guard.

  “Oni ne nakhodyatsya v spiske (They are not on the list),” he replied stoically.

  “Ya ne udivlena. Ikh vizit byl tol’ko podtverzden vchera. Doktor Karpenko budet rabotat’ na proyekte prodolzitelnoj volny radara. Doktor Weusz priletel proshloj nochju na consultatssiju. Prover’te komp’yuter. YA uverena, chto oni v sisteme. (I am not surprised. Their visit was only confirmed yesterday. Dr. Karpenko will be working on a continuous wave radar project. Dr. Weisz flew in last night to consult. Check your computer. I’m sure it has been updated),” Eleana assured him.

  The three watched as the guard reentered his small building. They could see him looking at something intently. “You have a plan B if this doesn’t work?” Krause asked from the backseat.

  “Yeah. Drive like hell,” Eleana responded.

  A few more moments passed, and the man returned to the side of the vehicle. He leaned closer into the window, looked beyond Eleana and addressed Alex directly. “Vy zhe doktor. Karpenko, kotoryy napisal pro impul’snoy modulyatsiu i kodirovaniye? (You are the same Dr. Karpenko who has written on pulse modulation and coding)?” he asked.

  Alex turned deliberately and offered the man a smile. “Okhrannik, zainteresovannyj razvitiem transpondera? (A security guard interested in transponder development)?” Alex questioned him a bit condescendingly.

  The man brightened slightly. “YA na trenirovkakh, chtoby stat’ pilotom (I am in training to be a pilot),” he explained. Alex nodded her understanding. He smiled at her acknowledgement. “Vi svobodni projeszat (You are fine to pass),” he told Eleana.

  Eleana smiled and proceeded through the checkpoint. “That was fun,” she rolled her eyes as she pulled into a lot adjacent to the building. “Here we go.”

  Alex and Krause followed Eleana’s lead into ASA. Passing through the next checkpoint was simple. There would be no reason for anyone to question their presence until they attempted to breach the avionics labs and enter the executive offices. The trio was able to traverse the labs effortlessly, returning the simple greetings offered them and moving steadily forward with evident purpose. “All right, this is it,” Eleana said as they reached a large steel door. “Now we find out if my computer skills are as good as I hope,” she admitted. She lifted her identification badge for one final time and held her breath as she swiped it through a small pad on the door. It seemed like an eternity passed as they waited, but within several seconds the signature beep sounded accompanied by a welcomed green light. “We’re in.”

  “This is crazy,” Cassidy said to her mother. She shook her head in disbelief and turned down the volume slightly on the television. “I can’t believe anyone from that team tried to sell nuclear technology to terrorists. They’re almost all academics. It doesn’t make sense.”

  “I know. I thought we moved past this….Have you talked to Alex?” Rose asked.

  “No. Honestly, I’m not even sure where she is,” Cassidy explained. “Carecom has major contracts in both Western and Eastern Europe. I do know that a good deal of them are military related. With all the posturing going on….”

  “She hasn’t called?” Rose asked with some concern.

  Cassidy offered her mother a smile. “No, but I didn’t expect to hear from her right away. I got an email message last night. She just said that she met a new contact and hopefully she would be able to call sometime over the weekend.”

  Rose watched her daughter’s body language carefully. She knew better than to question Cassidy specifically about Alex’s business trip. She suspected that the business Alex was away on had far less to do with medical supplies than it did with the current state of world affairs. When Cassidy was concerned, she would absently massage the back of her neck. It was a quirk that Rose noticed developed during her daughter’s college years. Cassidy had been rubbing the back of her neck on and off all morning. “Cassie?”

  “Hmm?”

  “Do you want to talk about it?” Rose inquired.

  “Talk about what?” Cassidy tried to ask lightly.

  “Um-hm. Are you worried about Alex?”

  Cassidy took her mother’s hand and clicked off the television. “No more than I ever am,” she said. “To tell you the truth, I am more concerned about Dylan right now. I just wish she was here to talk to him.”

  “Something happen?” Rose asked.

  “School. Teasing. Being seven. Having the man you know as your father all over the news accused of murder. Finding out your parents are having a baby. Having a different name. Trying to figure out who you are in a new family. You know, the usual stuff kids face,” Cassidy sighed her frustration.

  “Oh, is that all?” Rose winked. “Is he upset about his father?”

  Cassidy rubbed her brow and considered her reply. “Well, I guess the kids have been calling him Dylan the villain. That sparked him to start thinking about who he is. I think what has him the most worried is having a different last name than the rest of us,” Cassidy said. “I tried reassuring him, telling him names aren’t important, but you and I both know that isn’t as true as we would like it to be.”

  Rose understood. She remembered Cassidy wrestling with being different from the rest of the family when she was a child. “He wants to be a Toles,” Rose guessed. Cassidy nodded. “Well, that’s normal, Cassie.”

  “Yes, I know and I think it would be easier to handle if he did not have to deal with all this craziness with Chris in the news…”

  “And if Alex were here to help?” Rose asked gently.

  Cassidy let out a heavy sigh. “Yeah.”

  “You don’t have to tell me anything, but I can tell you are worried…and before you argue with me let me tell you not to bother. I changed your diapers, endured your crushes, attended your weddings, and watched you give birth. You’re not fooling me, Cassie. Alex is not Chris,” Rose said flatly.

  “I know that,” Cassidy barked back.

  “Yes. You do, but I know you. You were alone most of your marriage to Chris and most of your pregnancy with Dylan. This is reminding you of everything you faced when you were with him,” Rose began. When she saw Cassidy begin to protest, she raised her hand. “No. Don’t bother denying it either. And, for the record, I don’t blame you. You know that Alex would move heaven and earth for you both. I am sure that she would rather be here than anywhere. If she’s away there has to be a good reason.”

  “There is,” Cassidy admitted. “And, yes, I know she wants to be here for us. The truth is part of her needs the challenge of what she does too. She’s not…”

  Rose smirked. “Cassie, you didn’t exactly marry Betty Crocker.” Cassidy couldn’t help but laugh at her mother’s assessment. “Look, don’t do this to yourself,” Rose cautioned her daughter. “Alex is completely devoted to you, and Dylan will be all right. What about the adoption?” she asked. “You haven’t told him?”

  “No. I don’t want to say anything until we are ready to proceed,” Cassidy explained. “There are still too many loose ends. At least Chris is out of the picture for the foreseeable future.”

  “Do you think he did it?” Rose asked.

  Cassidy closed her eyes and swallowed hard. “I don’t know what I think where he is concerned, Mom. I just know I want him out of all of our lives.”

  “I can’t believe they let him out,” Rose muttered in disgust.

  “
I know. I just will feel better about everything when Alex gets home,” Cassidy admitted.

  Rose patted her daughter’s knee. “You know what I think?” Rose asked.

  “I’m afraid to ask,” Cassidy joked.

  “I think we should get Dylan from school, sit in front of the television and eat junk food all weekend. I’ll buy,” Rose offered. Cassidy quirked her brow in question. “What?” Rose asked.

  “Do crackers constitute junk food?” Cassidy asked.

  “Sure. New plan. Dylan and I will eat junk food, and you feast on your crackers. We’ll even skip the Saltines. I’ll buy you a designer box,” Rose winked.

  Cassidy rolled her eyes. “You always know how to make things better,” she laughed. “Designer crackers it is.”

  “Mr. President, you have to make a response to these accusations,” the president’s chief of staff observed.

  “So, you think I should hold a press conference and deny the Russians’ accusation without any verification at all?” Strickland asked sarcastically. “That would be foolish; don’t you think? Before I speak, I want to know everything there is to know about Dr. Devin Montgomery. Are we clear? I want to know what cereal he ate every morning. The man is being accused of brokering a deal for nuclear material to terrorists. Do I believe it? No. Do we need a statement? Yes. Do we need to know who we are defending?” Strickland leaned menacingly toward his chief of staff. “I would say that would be prudent. Understood?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Twenty minutes or sooner. I want it in my hands. Have Bob ready with a statement,” Strickland ordered. “And, Jeffrey?” he called to his chief of staff. “Don’t presume to tell me what we need again.”

  Eleana sat at the large desk typing in combinations of words and numbers, hoping for the magic sequence that would unlock Viktor Ivanov’s personal computer. Krause closed the door quietly and made his way next to Alex, watching each keystroke of Eleana’s fingers. “Bingo!” Eleana proclaimed triumphantly as she maneuvered Ivanov’s files expertly.

  “Stop,” Alex directed. “Right there. Pip, look.”

  “What is it?” Eleana asked as she scrolled through a long list of numbers. “Looks like a list of locations….God, they’re all over the globe,” she observed. “But for what?”

  “Scroll back up. Right there,” Alex pointed to an open field. “I want you to type this in…41 169412 80 51717,” Alex rattled off a series of numbers.

  “What is this? Latitude and longitude?” Eleana asked. Alex and Krause watched as Eleana entered the numbers, revealing a new screen full of data.

  “Son of a bitch,” Krause looked to Alex. “They’re not coordinates at all.”

  Alex shook her head as she read the information that continued to populate.

  William James Brackett

  United States Navy

  CEI date 1963

  Spouse: Sandra Moran Brackett–no affiliation

  Father: James Donald Brackett CEI date 1941

  Mother: Eleanor Fitzgerald Brackett–no affiliation

  Children:

  Claire Eleanor Brackett CEI date 2012

  Assigned:

  United States Military Operations Southeast Asia 1965-1973

  Senior Officer KGB/CIA internal operations Washington D. C. 1974-1985

  Rear Admiral/ Defense Initiatives Operations Chief 1985-present

  “What the hell is this?” Eleana asked.

  “If I didn’t know better, I would say we just stumbled on The Collaborative’s roster, or at least part of it,” Alex surmised. “Try this 41 67259 94 04100.”

  Eleana followed Alex’s directions. Alex repeated the exercise several times with Eleana. Each time revealed information about an individual tied to The Collaborative and its dealings. Some names were expected; others were unfamiliar. It was clear that the network was both vast and diverse. “Where did you get this?” Eleana asked.

  “It was in my father’s office along with a list of codenames. I just assumed it corresponded to locations that had some significance for The Collaborative…safe houses, something. Pip and I have been researching the coordinates for months looking for some common thread; nothing. We were looking at the wrong language,” Alex surmised.

  “It’s so subtle. How did you even figure out these were code?” Eleana asked.

  Alex shrugged and began scribbling numbers frantically onto a piece of paper. “Language is language. Numbers aren’t that different from letters, actually. You just have to see the sequences. When you pulled up that first file, there were too many numbers that repeated for it to be coordinates. It’s like music. Like a rhythm,” Alex explained.

  “Eleana,” Krause interrupted. “Download as much as you can of that. Somehow, I don’t think it’s complete.”

  “It’s not,” Alex offered. “My best guess is the database is broken up. Maybe the senior members can access it through different points, or maybe each only has access to a portion as a safeguard.”

  “Do you think Sphinx is in here?” Eleana asked.

  Alex looked at Krause and shook her head. “I don’t know,” she admitted. She handed Eleana the paper she had just filled with the numerals she had committed to memory. “Keep working these. See what you get. Those were all on my father’s list,” Alex said. Eleana continued working as hurriedly as her need for detail and caution allowed.

  “Alex,” Krause began. “If your father had a portion and Viktor has a portion…”

  “I know. It stands to reason both Edmond and the admiral do as well. You thinking what I am?” Alex asked.

  “We make a stop to see Edmond,” Krause answered. Alex agreed.

  “What the hell was that?” Alex asked as a banging noise filtered in from somewhere outside the door.

  “I don’t know,” Krause replied as he made his way to the door. “Stay here.”

  “Where are you going?” Elena asked.

  “Just stay here. I’ll be right back,” he said.

  “Is he insane?” Eleana asked Alex.

  Alex chuckled. “Probably. How’s it coming?”

  “I’m going as quickly as I can. I doubt anyone has accessed this much all at once. I don’t want to send up any red flags,” Eleana explained.

  Krause snuck back into the office and closed the door gently. “Wrap it up, Eleana. We have company,” he said as he moved behind the desk to look over her shoulder.

  “Just a couple more minutes,” the young agent pleaded, desperately increasing her pace.

  “Now, Eleana,” Krause ordered. “Kargen and Ivanov are down the hall.”

  “Shit,” Alex grumbled.

  “What the…” Eleana stared at the screen in front of her for a moment and then looked over her should to Krause. Krause turned his attention to the computer screen in an effort to see what had startled Eleana. He closed his eyes for a split second and shook his head in frustration. “Jonathan?” Eleana asked.

  Alex stood by the door listening intently to everything surrounding her. “Voices, moving closer….you’d better move it,” Alex instructed.

  “Jonathan?” Eleana whispered.

  “Not now,” he snapped at her. “Wrap it up. Alex, you take Eleana and get out of here.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Alex questioned her partner.

  “You heard me,” Krause said as he moved around the desk. “Now! You get Eleana out of here. Ian will be waiting at the south gate to take you to the safe house in Cherepovets. I’ll meet you there,” Krause assured his friends. He started to open the door slowly when Alex pushed it shut with force.

  “Are you out of your mind?” Alex scolded her partner. “We came in here together. We leave together. Jesus Christ. I’m not leaving you in here.”

  “Jonathan, she’s right,” Eleana urged him.

  Krause looked at Eleana. His eyes conveyed his warning. He lifted his sights back to Alex at the door. “No, you’re not right this time, Alex. Dimitri and Viktor will not be shocked to see me sitting in
this office. They expect nothing less of me. You two on the other hand….No one can know Eleana is alive,” he reminded Alex. “Alex….”

  Alex pinched the bridge of her nose with some force and exhaled a breath of frustration. “They probably already do know,” she reminded him.

  “Maybe. We don’t have time to debate this,” he said as he cracked the door open again. “Eleana, you take the lead. Go, before they make their way here,” he instructed her. “Alex will be right behind you…three paces.” Eleana reluctantly acquiesced and made her way past him.

  “Pip….” Alex started.

  “Alex, you know I’m right. At the very least, it will buy you both some time, maybe even keep the goon squad from harassing you in the computer lab. We can’t risk losing what we just found. Go. If I’m not there by morning…”

  Alex grabbed hold of Krause’s arm. He watched her eyes narrow to pin holes as she spoke. “You will be there tonight. No other option. Do you understand me?” Alex demanded.

  Krause’s lips curled slightly. “I’ll see you tonight,” he promised.

  Alex shook her head and grasped her friend’s hand. “Make sure that you do,” she said as she headed out the door.

  Alex grabbed Eleana’s arm and pulled her back into a small hallway. “Shh…I know that voice,” Alex said.

  “What?” Eleana asked.

  “Listen,” Alex directed the younger agent to listen to the sounds coming from the room they needed to enter. “Here that?” she asked. “That man talking?”

  “Who is it?” Eleana asked.

  “NSA and no good. He will know us the minute we walk through that door.” Alex said.

  “So, what do we do?” Eleana asked. “Go back the way we came?”

  “Too risky. Are you sure there is no other place you can access what we need for that keycard?” Alex questioned Eleana.