"Oh my God!"
Dorothy could not get over what she had just seen. Her father had just killed two men as casually as when he handed the cashier at Starbucks his credit card. Of course, knowing this detail—that her parents were spies—made a lot of other pieces fall into place. Strange conversations between her parents, sudden departures, and both parents being extraordinarily worried for each other when one or the other was away, supposedly shooting documentaries. Usually, it was her father who was away, but occasionally, her mother was away, and on rarer occasions, both were away, leaving her in the care of her half-brothers, Phillip and Jamie. She wondered if they knew.
"Sorry, Dorothy," her father said as they pulled into the garage. "You were never supposed to know, and certainly not like that. Even your brothers don't know, so please, don't say anything. This is a confidence you need to keep."
She nodded, knowing that he probably was not permitted to tell her. "Please just tell me everything will be okay."
"It will," he said. "But I've called in a favor from an old friend; I know you took off from work to hang out with me, so take advantage of your vacation and go to this address." He took her phone and entered an address on her note pad. "Pack lightly, but enough for three days or so."
"Dad, this is in Ocean City! And who's Francine Desmond?"
"An agent like me. She's retired, and she's really steamed with me right now, but if you tell her that Addi Birol is back, she'll understand."
"Why is she steamed with you?"
"Because I recommended your mother to a job that I didn't want, and thought Francine was being groomed for the position above. Then they shafted her, put in some young buck who didn't have half her experience, and gave your mother the position below. Whole thing was a disaster, and the agency should be ashamed for what they did to her, but Francine still blames me." He shook his head, and then added, "But she won't turn you away, especially not when she hears that Addi is on the loose."
Dorothy nodded again. "I'll get packed and leave right away." Then she hugged her father. "Please, Dad, you be careful, and take care of mom!"
"I will, honey—I promise."
At the agency …
Amanda sat nervously, looking across her desk at the agent with whom Lee was to be working; Alexa Danton, a young, rising star in the agency. Amanda liked her—the woman was like a younger, female version of Lee. Alexa's shoulder length dark hair, parted slightly to the left, bright eyes, and a bright, but slightly cocky smile all reminded Amanda of what Lee was like when she had first met him. Her dislike for working with partners also reminded Amanda of Lee.
Unlike Lee, Alexa was very tech dependent. Where Lee had learned to do his job without the benefit of computers, but integrated new technologies into his repertoire, building on a solid foundation, Alexa did not have the same foundation upon which to build.
Amanda looked at the confident young agent, and hoped that this would not be a problem: Alexa was relatively untested, and the information Amanda had obtained made her wish that there was a more seasoned agent to pair Lee with, but time being what it was, Alexa was at the moment, the best agent in the nest.
"Ma'am," Alexa said, "I don't know why you insist on pairing me with another agent. I work better solo, and I'm the top agent in the nest right now. Time is of the essence, and we can't afford to carry an inexperienced agent on this one."
"You're absolutely right," Amanda said, her voice raised an octave, as though Alexa had just expressed some great revelation. Alexa smiled, not catching Amanda's sarcasm. "That's why you're being paired with the agency's top agent."
"Top agent … but I …"
The door opened, Lee Stetson strode in. His hair was silver, and his face a little craggier than it had been all those years ago, but the sheer charisma of the man still made Amanda's heart leap.
"You'll be working with me, Ms. Danton," Lee said authoritatively. "I hear great things about you—looking forward to it." Lee extended a hand, but rather than shake his hand, Alexa's mouth dropped open, and she looked at Amanda pleadingly.
"You can't be serious, Mrs. Stetson! Your husband's retired!"
"Not for twelve more days," Amanda declared. "Till then, he's on vacation, but like any agent, when duty calls, he's expected to answer."
Agent Danton crossed her arms and pouted. "Fine. What's the mission?"
Amanda smiled. "I thought you'd never ask, Agent Danton." She activated the large flatscreen monitor behind her desk, showing a map of Washington D.C. Taking on a more serious tone, Amanda continued. "At 06:00 this morning, we confirmed that Karbalah has obtained the materials needed to make a nuclear bomb." Lee stood impassively, while Danton's eyes widened. "They intend to detonate said bomb on U.S. soil; our sources say that Washington D.C. is the most likely target. Their intent is to build a dirty bomb, not a level the city. Now, this resurgent Karbalah is being led by this man."
Amanda clicked her remote, and the image on the screen changed from the map to an image of a Saudi man in his sixties. "This is Addi Birol. He was a Karbalah agent back in the eighties. Lee, Agent Desmond, and I spent two years dismantling Karbalah's organization in the U.S., and finally put Birol away. Last week, he escaped while being transported to a new facility."
"Birol will be thirty years out of practice, and thirty years without communication from the outside," Lee noted. "But Karbalah had to have an inside person to both tell them where Birol was, when he would be transferred, and what the rout was."
Amanda nodded. "We've captured the mole in question. He spouted the usual—our people are oppressed, we're fighting for freedom, America is evil, blah, blah, blah. This guy grew up in Iowa, and has never left the U.S. His father is an orthodontist, and his mother a schoolteacher. But I guess growing up in the free world only makes him feel more oppressed."
"We've seen this before," Lee noted. "Recruitment of Muslims in middle America. They get these kids when they're in their teens and early twenties, when kids tend to be rebellious, and take advantage of them."
"That's exactly what happened," Amanda confirmed. "He was recruited through Facebook."
"Has he given up the location of Birol?" Danton asked. "And have we applied enhanced interrogation to him?"
"No, and no," Amanda replied. "We've let him go, faking not having enough evidence to hold him. He was confused, but happy, not knowing that he's been microchipped. Now, another matter …"
Amanda clicked a button, and Mara Petrak's image appeared on the screen. "This woman, Mara Petrak, is part of Lee's family, codename Nightcrawler. She was instrumental in our bringing down Birol thirty years ago. She's gone missing, and we have every reason to believe that she's been kidnapped in an attempt to lure us out."
"With all due respect, ma'am," Danton said, "the nuke is the bigger threat. Petrak may just have to end up collateral damage."
"No," Amanda said sternly. "That's not how this department works. Now, here's where it all intersects." Another map appeared on the screen, this one of the Westmoreland Industrial District in Rockville, Maryland. "Mara Petrak is microchipped too, likely not discovered by Karbalah as of yet. Her signal is coming from this location …" A red dot appeared on one of the buildings. "This is the best lead we have. Go in, get Petrak out, and take any Karbalah operatives alive if possible."
"No tall building nearby," Danton noted, "and not a lot of escape routes that we can't cover."
"I know," Amanda said. "However, satellite surveillance does not reveal any radioactive components. It's possible that they have them well shielded, but typically, there are signs of radioactive material, particularly with an operation as small as this new Karbalah, and none of those signs are there. It is possible that other components of the bomb are there, but you need to find all of it, and find the ones in their organization who are building it."
Amanda turned off the screen. "They've already made an attempt on Lee, so Birol is out for revenge. Let's use that against them. They almost certainly are using Petrak to draw Lee out, but they'll be expecting him to find her the old fashioned way, which takes time. They won't be expecting you two to show up with a team of agents. It happens at midnight tonight, so be ready."
"Yes, ma'am," Danton said.
"Good. Agent Danton, you're dismissed. Agent Stetson, I need to go over some things with you privately."
"Yes, ma'am," Danton replied, leaving Amanda's office.
As soon as agent Danton was gone, Amanda locked the door, and Lee took her in his arms, kissing her deeply.
"Thought I'd never get an opportunity to kiss you."
Amanda giggled. "You know, Lee, this office is soundproofed. We don't have a lot of time; an hour at most. I think I may need to give you a … performance evaluation." She began unbuttoning his shirt.
"You're the boss," Lee said, now working at the buttons on Amanda's blouse.
She giggled and kissed him, using her remote to dim the lights.