by Gray Gardner
“Major Taylor has requested that we meet him,” he said in a clipped explanation, turning and walking towards the offices. The Major had tracked him down out by the trike races, murmuring orders as people brushed past them at the end of the night.
Burton scurried alongside of the captain looking worried.
“Connor, Captain, sir, I assure you that I don’t normally…sit on men’s laps…and run off scared…twice.”
“You aren’t in trouble, Private,” he replied, as they walked in and out of the fluorescent lights of the security lamps. Though he was overly relieved at her admission. “It seems Agents Eubanks and Payne want to see you.”
“Who?”
“Guess the agents have actually found someone on the base they’d like to recruit,” he grinned. “Are you surprised?”
“Well, yes.”
They walked inside the building and knocked on the Major’s door. It opened and they saluted as they entered. Something didn’t feel right as Major Taylor, Eubanks, and Payne all glanced over from the large desk and even larger conference table.
Russian Ghosts and Crushes
Captain Connor had lived for months in isolation and desolation during his tour in Afghanistan. Sometimes his assignments included being part of a larger group, sometimes he was completely alone and undercover. Whichever it was, his sense of danger and discontent was considerably higher than most people’s. And he felt immediate alarm as he and Private Burton entered Major Taylor’s office that night.
Agent Payne was scrambling around between the phone and the printer, vigorously pulling out each hot piece of paper and handing it off to Agent Eubanks, who was placing them on the large conference table and talking into his hands-free phone. Major Taylor was clicking through electronic documents on a large flat screen but turned and greeted the pair as they entered.
“Thank you for coming,” he saluted, as they anxiously stood at ease.
“Sir,” Connor began, eyeing the agents. “I don’t understand why we’re here.”
“We think your private here is the perfect candidate for two of our upcoming operations,” Agent Eubanks interrupted, pressing a button on his handheld device and looking over at them. “Both long term undercover but…she’s used to that already, isn’t she?”
“I’m sorry,” Connor said, holding up his hands and shaking his head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You do, don’t you?” Agent Eubanks confirmed, looking down at Private Burton.
Burton frowned up at him and then looked beyond him to the conference table. If they were some kind of intelligence guys, it might be possible that they knew who she was, where she’d been, and how she’d gotten to where she was. She suddenly became very nervous. And angry.
Slowly and silently, she walked over and found that there were several pictures and files spread around. Chronologically. And she was the star.
Catching her breath, she leaned forward in the soft light of the hanging lamps overhead and gave the first picture a closer look. She couldn’t believe it.
“Major, what is going on here?” Connor impatiently asked, noticing Private Burton’s change in body language. He hated being out of the loop, but he had the feeling that whatever was happening was related to her omission of certain facts about her life.
“You can be quiet or you can leave,” Agent Eubanks softly said, as the 4 men stood in the center of the room and watched the small private in her costume reach out to touch the pictures on the table. “Just watch.”
The lump in her throat made it hard to catch her breath as she ran her fingers slowly across each picture. It was her whole life, there in neatly typed files, blurry surveillance pictures, and even a few professional pictures…right up until that year.
The utter silence of the room came to her attention. She quickly jerked her head around to look at the agents, wiping the back of her hand across her eyes as they burned with hot tears.
“Where did you get these?” she demanded, voice shaking.
Captain Connor realized that he had never seen that much emotion from her since he’d met her. Was she really crying? Why did she look so mad?
Eubanks cleared his throat. Major Taylor looked at both of the agents until Eubanks spoke.
“I think you should tell us.”
“I don’t have to tell you anything!” she shouted, walking towards Agent Eubanks and looking a little childish in her pigtails and schoolgirl outfit. “Most of this information is protected under the privacy laws of the juvenile courts and the rest was supposed to be safeguarded or my life could be over! You have no right.”
“You work for the United States Government, Private Burton,” Eubanks coldly said, staring down at her. “Army. We have a right to know where you’ve been.”
“You know that my knowledge about this is limited! You know that! You’ve known that for years!” she exclaimed, holding her head. “Why can’t you just leave me alone!”
Connor and Taylor stood silently and waited with an almost erupting anticipation of what they were about to learn about Private Burton. What information was supposed to be a secret? What had happened when she was a kid in the juvenile court system? What kind of knowledge was she supposed to have that she claimed she didn’t?
“Because you’re being called to duty, Private,” Agent Payne calmly said, stepping forward. “Your government needs you.”
She took a step back and shook her head, swallowing hard and finding her voice.
“Oh,” she huffed, her dry throat making her voice crack. “I get it. I owe you, don’t I? You turn my life upside down and nearly a decade later you’ve come to collect? Well, agents, you’re wrong! You’ve got it all wrong! You owe me!”
“Private,” Major Taylor began, eyeing the agents. No need to get powerful federal agents infuriated any further than they already looked.
“No!” she cried, backing up across the room and quickly unraveling. “No, they owe me. They owe me a family and a life. That’s what they took and I want it back!”
“You know we can’t do that,” Agent Payne said, interlacing his fingers and pressing them against his mouth in thought. “And you know we didn’t take those things from you, either. But you can help us. You’re the only one who can help us.”
She shook her head and backed into a wall. Payne continued, appealing to her conscience and hoping that it would work.
“There are problems, huge problems, all over the world, and a lot of horrendous acts happen here in the States, too. Children, teenagers, are being hurt here every day, just like you were. The only difference is, they have absolutely no one to turn to. No resources, no help…except for you. You can help them.”
Connors muscles bunched to hard little knots at the thought of her being hurt. He looked pleadingly at Major Taylor, willing him to let Baylor leave so that he could comfort her. Tears streamed down her round, pink cheeks and he couldn’t stand it anymore.
Burton closed her eyes. The agent was just trying to confuse her. She hated him and hated who he worked for. She reached out for the door knob and yanked the door open.
Everyone stared as she paused in the doorway and finally turned her eyes up.
“You’ve got the wrong girl,” she softly cried, briskly walking out of the room.
Eubanks and Payne turned and gave Major Taylor and Captain Connor that earnest look of resolution.
“We’ve been to seven bases since the last five of our youngest agents blew their covers,” Payne sighed, rubbing his eyes. “And judging from what we just found deep in our files, she’s perfect.” He looked down at the stacks of papers and pictures on the table.
“She’s the one we need,” Eubanks said, pointing at the opened door. “She has the training, she has the motivation, and look at her. She’s the only one who can handle our adolescent undercover ops.”
Taylor glanced back at Connor, who sighed heavily as he rubbed his neck. Neither of them could really say no, and Taylor knew that Connor
and Burton had some kind of connection. But what kind of adolescent undercover operations were they talking about? And what was with all the secrets about her teenage years?
“You’ll have to go and get her,” the major exhaled heavily, against his better judgment.
“Give me twenty-four hours to get her back here, and she’ll talk to you,” Connor said, looking concerned. “But you have to let me in on a little bit of this. She’s my responsibility and I refuse to send her spiraling.”
Taylor nodded in agreement as he looked back at Eubanks and Payne.
“All right, bring her back her in twenty-four hours and all will be revealed,” Eubanks agreed in a half mocking tone.
“No deal,” Connor replied, shaking his head and stepping forward, still in his swim trunks, but with a t-shirt and tennis shoes on at least. “I want to know more. She looked so confused and angry. She said she knew you, and that you owe her. I have so many questions, I just need to know what you can tell me. Give me something.”
Eubanks nodded at Payne who stood between Connor and the conference table as he tried to look at the papers. He wanted to see what had made her so horrified.
“Those are for her to tell you in her own time,” Payne said, hands folded behind his back. “But I can tell you about the current operation we’re running if you want.”
“The one that you’re going to throw her into?” Connor asked, getting a little emotional, too. If she had already dealt with them and had been thrown into this kind of emotional mess, he didn’t want to further her pain. He looked cautiously at the agents.
“The one that’s going to help hundreds of kids now and in the future? Thereby saving them from a life of crime, destitution or even death? Yes.”
Connor shifted his weight and crossed his arms over his chest, ready to listen as Major Taylor did the same. They had to admit, their curiosity had won out over chasing after the private.
Eubanks nodded from the corner of the room as he poured a drink.
“Did you know that Private Burton is fluent in Russian?” Payne asked, putting a pair of glasses on.
A piece of the mystery revealed, though the small victory still left Connor confused. So, she was bilingual? The only disruption in her voice was a slight Virginia twang that most people around these parts hardly noticed. He waited for Payne to continue. Payne nodded.
He walked over to a political map on the wall. “Her ancestors came over from Petrograd, but were originally Ukrainian. That’s all I’m at liberty to tell you, but it’s a fortuitous coincidence for us, I can tell you that.”
“Yes, how?” Connor asked.
“We’re CIA,” Payne nodded. “And post-Cold War we thought we’d hardly need any Russian emissaries, but we were wrong.”
“She’s American,” he snapped, arms now at his sides. This was all very cryptic and made no sense. “And a devoted one, too. And how in the hell is it a coincidence that she speaks Russian?”
“Because we have no agents who are fluent in Russian and who could pass for a Russian kid,” Payne replied, shrugging his shoulders. “Can’t blame the intelligence community. Our focus has shifted from the Russians over the last fifteen years. And internationally, we need Arab speaking and Arab looking agents. However, on the home front, we’re desperate. There are terrible things going on inside our own borders, even worse than you saw during your tour, Captain.”
Connor glanced at the Major, then nodded at Payne to continue. Okay, so they had information about him, too.
“Human trafficking, drug trafficking, slavery, forced prostitution, and people will pay top dollar.”
“So,” Connor said, shaking his head. “You see her in her little get-up tonight and decide she’s good enough to send her in to break up this ring of purchasing and selling Russian children?”
“We send her in, from the motherland, all of the way to whoever pays the most for her,” Eubanks nodded. “And unfortunately, we’re pretty sure we know who will. We just need to set up a sting to get the higher ups, you know? We have to take it down from the inside or this pattern of abuse will continue.”
Connor rubbed his eyes and leaned back on the desk, saying, “You do realize that she’s twenty-six, don’t you?”
“Does she look like she’s in her mid-twenties?” Payne asked.
“No,” Connor nodded, as the picture became clearer. “You got one look at her in that costume. That’s why you did this extremely thorough background check.”
“All right look,” Major Taylor began, pacing around on the creaky hardwood floor. “The Captain will bring her back tomorrow evening, and you will discuss with her in detail what you want. She knows about honor and duty, and she’ll do what she thinks is right, but you have to let her decide. I can’t say that I’m thrilled we’re losing a private as talented as Baylor Burton. Ones like her don’t just up and join the service.”
Eubanks and Payne nodded as the major turned to Connor.
“Go and find her, and don’t leave her alone tonight. Take her to the medical center if you have to, or to your place, I really don’t care. Don’t let her out of your sight until you are both back in this office, though. I have the feeling she might try and defect.”
“Yes, sir,” Connor saluted, quickly exiting the office. He didn’t know why he was so excited to find her. Maybe he was just worried. Maybe he couldn’t wait to get his hands on her. Any way the night went, though, he was getting some answers.
Burton sat in the darkness, the only light coming from the occasional appearance of the bright moon between clouds. She stared out over the track onto the field, her ass freezing as the cold metal of the bleachers pressed against her legs underneath her short skirt. It always seemed that the more she tried to escape her past and the more she really thought she’d moved on, it inevitably came back and attacked her. She couldn’t get the images on the papers out of her head as the cool breeze blew leaves across her feet. Everything her life once had been was on that table. She pressed her face into her hands as she heaved sobs.
There were times when all she wanted was that life back.
The bleacher she was sitting on jolted, so she looked over to her left and then right, and found Connor sitting there, leaning over on his knees, staring out onto the field.
“Oh God,” she choked, sitting up and turning her head as she wiped her eyes. That was mortifying.
“Rough night, huh?” he said, still not looking at her and giving her time to wipe her face. “You had to dress like a kid, deal with me and deal with two government assholes.”
Burton let out a short laugh before she looked over at him. He was trying to make this easier for her.
“Do you think I’m crazy?” she asked in a hoarse voice.
Connor sighed as the moon appeared and he could see the remnants of tears sparkling on her cheeks.
“I think you’re just as crazy as everyone else.”
She gave a half grin and looked down at her tennis shoes, whispering, “I feel like I might really be crazy sometimes.”
“Is that why you won’t talk to me or Dr. Yas? You’re afraid of what we’ll find?” he asked, sliding off of the bleacher bench and kneeling on the grass in front of her.
She peered over at him and slowly nodded. She was much calmer now.
“All right,” he began, rubbing his hands together as another cool breeze came. “I’ll tell you something about my craziness.”
“But you’re not crazy.”
“Oh yeah?” he asked, grinning up at her. “Ever heard of Captain Crunch?”
Her mouth fell open as she stared at him. He knew? He knew that everyone on the base called him Captain Crunch and he wasn’t horrified? She nodded, finally replying, “Then it’s really true?”
“Part of it is,” he said, turning his glance down. “About two years ago my girlfriend left me. I was the happiest man on earth before I came home and found a note on the ice box and all of her stuff gone. Apparently, I put the uniform first and her second.”<
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“So, then you started crunching privates?” Burton asked, frowning.
Connor laughed. “I might have beaten up one poor private, but that’s only because he kept running away from me in a scandalously short skirt.”
Burton gave him a strange look, then finally turned her head and broke out into laughter. He really had a way of getting her to relax.
“So,” he said, in a leading tone. “You feel crazy because of the super-secret spy agents?”
“Yeah,” she nodded, glancing anywhere but at him. “And I don’t know.”
“Come on.”
He grabbed her knees and looked up at her.
“Tell me. I can help you,” he said. “I’m trained for this kind of stuff.”
“Not for this,” she mumbled, shaking her head.
“Burton,” he began. Why was she being so cagey with him? They were all alone and no one even knew where they were. He’d opened up to her, why couldn’t she open up to him? “Will you just trust me for once?”
She groaned as she held her head and leaned over on her knees. He waited as she grumbled for a while and gestured for her to continue when she flipped her head back up and gave him a look.
“I think… I mean, I’m pretty sure that there’s a possibility that I have some pretty serious feelings for you,” she stuttered, rubbing her eyes and sighing. There. It was out there.
Connor frowned as he sat back on the cool grass and looked up at her. She had feelings for him. Serious feelings. Well, he did, too. The whole situation was a little unprecedented. The crux of this conversation, though, was that she liked him.
“I’m really, really sorry for just blurting that out,” she said, standing up quickly. He hadn’t replied. And now it was time to curl up in a hole and die.
He quickly stood, too. Emotions suddenly surfaced, and he felt a calm wash over him. He didn’t know what else to do but cradle her face in his big hands, lean down, and kiss her. She kissed back, taking his arms in her hands and pulling him closer.