Covert Affairs: Bonded For Life
CHAPTER ONE – The Meeting
As she arrived a little late to the secret emergency meeting for which she'd been pulled off of vacation early, Annie paused at the non-descript ersatz office building wondering why the meeting wasn't taking place at Langley. She was annoyed at having her vacation shortened because this time, all on her own with no distractions or interruptions, she'd finally felt herself relaxing. Yet her adrenaline got going because something serious was clearly up and security was off the charts. No one was on these streets in Miami as she approached the building but that hadn't been the first sign of the import of this meeting. She hadn't been called, emailed, or paged while on vacation about the meeting; instead Jai had shown up in person. Annie knew something big was up because as she saw him approaching her on the beach as she was heading back up to the hotel after a day of snorkeling, Annie noticed he was not looking at her but at some unknown point past her. She took her cue from him and walked past him without any acknowledgment as she felt a slight bump as his shoulder gently hit hers as he went by. No "excuse me" or anything to indicate Jai even saw her as he walked by, so she just kept walking back toward the hotel. Annie headed to her room and looked in her beach bag and found the hand written note. All it said was:
Miami, 7:30 pm Tomorrow, Prestige Aviation, Informal.
Informal was a code word for her team, which pretty much meant this meeting was off the books and there was to be no record. No record meant she couldn't use the internet to find the location; she couldn't take a cab, or even rent a car at any point. There could be no record that she had even been to Miami, which meant she had to sneak back into the USA – not an easy task to do on your own after 9/11. She immediately showered and changed into a flowing long skirt with a camisole tank and then pulled out her all purpose safari jacket to wear over it. She strapped a knife to the outside of her left leg, which she was pleased to note did not show given the line of her skirt. She added a leather belt to the skirt and although it was really too hot for her safari jacket, even if it was only a cotton mix, it allowed her to carry essentials like a fake passport, cash, and a couple extra clips for her Glock with impunity. The safari jacket also provided cover for her Glock, which she was able to tuck into the belt at the back of her skirt. Instead of her usual kitten heels, as Auggie called them, Annie put on more practical, but still fashionable low heeled gladiator sandals. She left her hair straight and unstyled, face clear of make-up, and as she checked the mirror, she looked like the student/bohemian type as she intended. She could sex up or down her appearance with removal of the jacket . . . and of course, the Glock.
Annie left the rest of her luggage open with clothes strewn about stuffing only some basic toiletries, underwear, two other camisoles, and her bikini into her hobo handbag, which she strapped across her body leaving her hands free and proceeded to walk out of the hotel like she was heading into town for some shopping. The room was paid for the next week and she figured the "do not disturb" sign she had left on the door should take care of things. As far as anyone was concerned, she was still in the Bahamas on vacation.
She'd never been called "informally" before now so she wasn't sure what was up but knew that it was serious since Joan had forced this vacation down her throat due to some agency policy that after x number of field ops, agents were to be give x number of days of down time. Joan had said Annie was already about 7 field ops over what she should have before taking a vacation so Joan had practically escorted Annie out of the building just last Friday. Annie wasn't sure what she would do for her two weeks off, but decided she wanted to escape to a quiet beach somewhere, so off she went to the first tropical island to which she could book airfare and a hotel room. Yet, here it was only three days later, and the agency was calling her back in. She had no doubt she'd be out the money for her hotel room unless she got Auggie on the case. Jeez, she had barely had time to even say goodbye to Auggie before Joan shooed her from the building.
Annie headed on foot into the nearby resort town. She looked at the marina and wondered if she could locate a boat big enough that was heading to Miami on which she could stowaway. She dismissed the idea because there were only yachts and large cruise ships in port. The large cruise ships had too much security and limited access points and the yachts were too small for her to go unnoticed. Annie sighed and headed to the less touristy section of town and managed to catch the bus to Freeport where she figured she'd have more options. While there were a few other "poor" tourists on the bus, it was mostly poor and working class Bahamans and Annie new she stood out but didn't think it could be avoided. Any other method to get to Freeport would leave a trail or take too long.
While Annie had lucked into finding a commercial ship leaving almost immediately for Miami when she arrived in Freeport and had gotten on the ship without difficulty as it wasn't really guarded, the real challenge was getting off the ship unnoticed. It had taken some effort to find a way off the ship in Miami, which was why she was late in arriving to the meeting. She'd ended up having to create a diversion on ship to distract the port authorities when they boarded that involved some poor shipmen's personal "stash" she'd found before heading up on deck to leave. As the port authorities located the "stash," which she'd actually strewn about the front deck, the port authority agents descended on the front deck while she then shimmied down a rope in back and jumped toward the now unattended dock. The diversion may also have involved a small harmless explosion but in hindsight, that might have been overkill. In any event, she got off the ship and managed to hitch a ride into downtown Miami on an unsuspecting Fed Ex driver's truck only to have to backtrack to the airport when she'd found out where Prestige Aviation was located. Annie was angry with herself because she should have suspected the company would be closer to the airport than downtown Miami. While she'd managed to grab a series of city busses for a good portion of the way, she'd ended up having a fairly long walk and finally run (when she realized she would be late) to what was really more of a warehouse than an office building close to the Miami airport. Standing there, contemplating the area and scoping things out she'd gotten her breathing back under control from her run, and casually had straightened her hair and even applied a little lipstick. With 3 days of sun in the Bahamas, she really didn't need any other make-up at the moment.
She entered through a solid metal door that appeared to be the less than welcoming front entrance to the utilitarian building and was immediately presented with a high security screen with a metal detector. The place had looked pretty grungy outside and it wasn't exactly posh as she walked in; but it did seem clean, well-kept, and secure, if a little antiseptic and fluorescently grim. She perused the three large guys in security uniforms and could immediately tell these were not the standard rent-a-cops but serious military types.
"Put your firearms and cell phones on the table, you'll get them back when the meeting is over," the biggest guy said and she saw the ten guns of varying sizes and pulled the small sig out of her purse with theatricality and placed it there with a flirty smile along with her I-phone after a small adjustment. The security guards were all tough, big muscled, well-armed men whose hair was all shorn and they had the square look of military. The shortest one, actually looked rather dangerous with tattoos peaking out from his neck, but they still responded to her usual flirting and standard security song and dance. She'd even managed to get some flustered smiles out of them when she invited a frisking after they had wanded her when the metal detector had gone off from her safari jacket. She'd pointed to the metal buttons where the wand had gone off (also near the hidden pockets where she stashed her extra clips) and was motioned on. The bigger guy dismissively told her to hurry because the conference had begun as she was one of the last to arrive. Security never took her seriously no matter how tough they were, which had made life so much easier for her in the CIA. The biggest guy then grinned stupidly at her as she had cast one last smile back at him, when again the shorter scarier security guy suddenly motioned her forward to the door straight ahead of her. He was more intimidating than either of the other two and he hadn't even opened his mouth.
She walked down a long claustrophobic hallway with low industrial dropped ceilings that felt like a tunnel before hitting a long bank of windows on her right where she was surprised to see a high end conference room filled with some high end people; most of whom she recognized. Annie saw the conference was about to begin and an unknown older man of color was being motioned up to the front by Arthur with great deference. At the head of the table and the front of the room, was a map of Russia and the Ukraine. Annie quietly entered the room and discretely slipped into an empty chair right next to Auggie and began looking around the room at the known and the unknown.
Auggie whispered, "How was vacation, Annie? You seem tan."
She'd stopped even noticing that Auggie always knew she was there despite his blindness and answered succinctly, "Not tan enough," as she continued her processing of the room. She noted Joan sitting up towards the front of the large conference table staking her position of power. As Annie's eyes passed by Jai, sitting on the left of Joan, he acknowledged her with a nod and she moved on noting three older experienced CIA operatives that she only knew in passing. In fact, she noted that she, Auggie, and Jai were significantly younger than most of the people in the room.
She moved on to the unknown. First, she saw a formidable looking self-contained older woman with short white gray hair nodding to the man Annie had noticed Arthur motioning up front to the map moments before, as if the older woman was giving him permission to begin. Annie realized that this woman had the most authority in the room with even Arthur clearly deferring to her. Arthur, in fact, moved back to stand against the wall; choosing not to even sit at the table. Annies' eyes shifted slightly to the right of the older woman and immediately stopped moving as she hit what seemed to be a wall of compact restrained lethal power. Maybe she'd been wrong about the older woman . . .
Without moving her eyes from her final target, Annie leaned to her left and whispered back to Auggie, "Woof. So who's the "ripped blond guy" at the front of the table?"
"Woof?" Auggie gave her a sardonic grin whispering back, "'Ripped blond guy?' Is he the one sitting next to the hot brunette in the pink teddy?" Auggie felt Annie's sheepishness before she answered.
"Sorry. I sometimes forget you can't see."
"Oh, I can see, Annie . . . just not the same things you can," Auggie said quietly.
Annie finally pulled her eyes away from "ripped blond guy" and touched Auggie's arm warmly, moving her head closer to Auggie's with her lips almost touching Auggie's left ear. Annie felt Auggie's breath hitch just before Annie whispered, "Well you always . . . look good . . . to me." Before pulling back almost snorting with laughter.
The moment broken, Auggie broke into a wide grin and said a little more loudly than he intended. "Good lord, that was terrible."
Joan warned with one word, "Auggie." Annie had missed "ripped blond guy" shifting his gaze to her and catching her flirting with Auggie. As Annie and Auggie both tried to hide their grins and focus on the start of the meeting, Annie's focus shifted back to "ripped blond guy," who was now looking intently at the man standing in the front of the room by the map but she had the feeling that she had not escaped his notice. Who was he?
As the room hushed, Arthur said from the wall, "I want to introduce one of the CIA's finest, Felix Leiter who unfortunately has some disturbing intel. Felix."
Annie sat up straighter. Wow, so that was the famous Felix Leiter. She thought he'd be bigger. He was a field agent who'd come in to be an administrator like Arthur, hated it, and gone back out as a field agent. The first and only time an agent had successfully transitioned back and forth with no damage to his career or reputation. He was somewhat of a legendary figure at the CIA operating cowboy style, now, pretty much on his own. Annie's thoughts were interrupted by Felix who didn't even acknowledge Arthur's introduction.
"You've all been asked here today because of the special skills each of you have. This op will be off the books for each of us because of serious concerns about leaks given the intel. You all have been checked and re-checked and have been determined completely secure . . . at least for purposes of this mission."
Ouch - Annie was struck by not only the less than ringing endorsement of trust expressed by Leiter, but the "each of us," and wondered what he was talking about. Suddenly, the door opened and two more men walked in. Annie smiled and nodded to Eyal Lavin, the Israeli agent she'd worked with a few times and immediately figured out that this obviously involved more than just US covert operations. Eyal tilted his head slightly at her and smiled a wolfish grin before turning and heading towards Arthur with has hand outstretched which Arthur took and shook with genuine respect. While she should still be annoyed with Eyal after he stole her intel on that last job even after she rescued his ass, she couldn't help but return his grin. He had wished her a happy birthday after all.
Then her smile fell as she saw that the other man walking in behind Eyal, was Ben. Annie was frustrated that Ben still made her heart drop into her stomach when he walked into a room, but the slight smirk he gave her seeming to note her response turned that frustration to annoyance. He really believed he could come and go on a whim, not even saying goodbye, and that she would just keep opening her arms to him over and over and over again. She was pissed at his cockiness and focused back on Leiter, Ben forgotten. She missed the disappointment on Ben's face at her dismissal, but "ripped blond guy" did not. Ben took a seat across the table from her next to one of the older CIA Agents and Eyal leaned against the wall next to Arthur.
Leiter didn't even acknowledge the late comers going on, "We don't want the targets to know they are even on anyone's radar and ultimately, we don't want to start a worldwide panic." Good Lord, this sounded beyond bad.
Leiter proceeded to explain the problem of a rogue well-armed Russian group that had split off from the Izmaylovskaya gang but with a decidedly bigger international focus due to a very ambitious leader named Anton Novikov. While information on Novikov was sparse, the new group was known as the Labanov Bratva. Most recently and the reason we were all here, is that the Labanov had reached out to al-Qaeda who were floundering after Bin Laden's demise. While the CIA and other international covert organizations were use to the less powerful Chechen mafia organizations reaching out to various Islamic fundamentalist groups, this was the first time a well-organized dangerous Russian based bratva with a highly competent ambitious leader like Novikov had reached out to what had been the best organized dangerous Islamic terrorist group. These two forces joining would not be a good thing for any western country and in fact the world. According to Leiter, the action was happening in Russia right now, but word was that this Russian group intended to use al-Qaeda to target the west for the Labanov's own economic advantages. These attacks of terrorism would be violent, but the ultimate terrorism was to be economic terror that followed. With world economies already teetering dangerously, this was happening at a most inopportune time for the west. Annie realized this Anton Novikov must be as brilliant as he was dangerous.
Just as Leiter got to the part about the CIA, MI6, and Mossad all being compromised, Annie felt a prickle at the back of her neck and shifted her eyes towards the bank of windows without moving her head, where she peripherally saw three to four armed men all in masks lifting up their weapons toward the window. It was almost instantaneous that she pulled her gun out, pushed Auggie to the ground, and yelled, "Gun" as she and the gunmen began shooting simultaneously. She realized someone else had yelled "Gun" with her from inside the room and was also shooting at the gunmen. Glass was flying as everyone else hit the floor. She immediately deduced that the gunmen had bullet proof vests because she'd hit one in the chest and he didn't fall. Jai and Eyal had immediately flipped the table to provide some cover for those in the room who were being sprayed with Uzi fire. Instead of heading behind the table for cover, Annie had headed forward low toward the door where she saw that "ripped blond guy" had done the same and was the only other person in the room who'd apparently "bypassed" security's weapon confiscation and been shooting with her. She'd given security a small Sig and did a sleight of hand and flirt to keep her Glock and clips with her. Annie hadn't even thought about it – it was what she always did when faced with security.
While they were seemingly vastly out-armed and trapped, Annie knew that Uzi's, while spraying many more bullets faster than her Glock and "ripped blond guy's" Walther could, were not an accurate weapon while Glocks and Walthers were dead-on accurate with the right shooters. "Ripped blond guy" motioned Annie to the left and motioned to his chest and then his head. Annie nodded somewhat dismissively as she had already realized they needed to aim for the heads. He mouthed "on three" as bullets continued to fly into the room, they counted and both stood up at the same time seemingly right in front of the hail of bullets and quickly took their shots and then there was silence. Amazingly, she and "ripped blond guy" seemed not to be hit. She looked out the broken window and down to the floor and saw four men, each with two bullet holes close together in their foreheads with vacant eyes staring back at her through the masks.
"Ripped blond guy" was standing next to her as she said, "Wow" realizing they each had hit the four men with almost the same headshot. He smiled slightly and said, "We haven't yet been introduced. The name is Bond. James Bond."