A short tale of what happened to Hannah after leaving Burbank.

Chapter 9

Three months later:

Life in the Toronto office of the CIA was fairly routine for Hannah Giteaux. Three months after transferring in from Burbank California, Hannah had found her groove. She like the apartment she was living in and the Torontians had a friendly feel about them. She didn't seem to mind the fact she was deskbound, her main task was shifting through intelligence reports of what the Ring was up to and where rogue agents surfaced before slinking away again.

Today started off fine. There had been a little bit of rain over-night so when Hannah left her apartment this morning the roads and footpaths were wet. There wasn't a cloud in the sky so Hannah had opted to walk the fifteen blocks to work. She had took her scarf off half way as she had warmed up sufficiently.

She had just settled down in her cubicle with her morning cup of coffee while reading her fresh lot of intelligence reports that came after she had clocked off yesterday when she was visited by her station chief and two other men dressed in dark suits.

Station chief Castro was the one who spoke.

"Agent Giteaux, would you please meet Agents Thompson and Mitchell."

Hannah looked at the two men, they were both white males, aged in their thirties and both were wearing charcoal suits with a conservative blue ties. She stood up and shook the hands of both of the men. After the civilities, the Station Chief made an request.

"Would you please accompany us to the 'Naples' meeting room on the next floor."

Hannah complied with the Station Chief's request. She stood up and got out of her chair and followed the three men down the corridor to the lifts. The lift arrived and they all got in. Hannah had never been to the next level so she was curious to what was on this floor. The lift stopped at the next level and they all exited and the Station Chief swiped his access card and held the door open for all to enter. On this level all Hannah could see was there were no workstations and the meeting rooms were a fair distance apart. They continued walking until they came to a room with Naples on sign next to the door. Hannah, Thompson and Mitchell all entered the room but the Station Chief didn't, he shut the door and the LED light next to the door glowed red. The sound of the door shutting sent the hairs on the back of her neck erect. She turned and noticed the locked door then she looked around the room.

OMG! Hannah was to be interrogated.

"Sit down and take a seat." One of the agents beckoned.

The seat that was offered was at the end of the table, the two suits took seats opposite each other and both had Hannah at right angles.

Straight ahead there was nothing to interrupt the view of the cameras behind the two way glass mirror. She was sure now that this was beyond anything she had previously encountered. She had to keep herself calm and count on her spy training. The risk of interrogation was always an outside chance but to be interrogated by her own side was beyond belief.

Hannah remembered her chantra, stay calm and tell the truth you have done nothing wrong.

"Are You Hannah Elizabeth Giteaux?"

"Yes"

The two of them were flipping the pages of the various reports they had in their possession. Then one would click his pen and scribble something down before cross-checking other reports.

"Is your date of birth February 29, 1988?"

Again the two spooks were flipping the pages of the various reports, scribble something, then cross-checking against other reports.

"Yes"

Again the two spooks were flipping the pages of the various reports, scribble something, then cross-checking against other reports.

"Were you born in Portland, Oregon?"

"Yes"

After a brief scribble one of the agents turned and looked at her.

"What was your first contact with Agent Daniel Shaw?"

"I was stationed in Paris for almost a year when I received a communique. I was given a directive to meet with Agent Shaw in his office in Langley!"

The other agent scribbled something then asked.

"Just like that, out of the blue?"

"Just like that. The communique came from the Paris Station chief."

"The Paris Station chief? Not from Agent Shaw?"

The agent not asking the question was flipping through the files.

"Correct. I first met Agent Shaw in his office in Langley."

By now Hannah realised that the spooks had copies of all reports filed from the Burbank station. She knew that there were cameras that were focused on Agent Shaw.

The two of them were flipping the pages of the various reports they had in their possession. Then one would click his pen and scribble something down before cross-checking other reports.

"What did Agent Shaw want with you?"

"Agent Shaw offered me a mission. I was to provide backup for another agent-in-training."

"And what was the name of that agent?"

"I'm sure it's in those reports your flicking though."

Both agents stopped and turned to stare down at her. Suddenly she felt she was six inches tall.

"Just answer the questions! Drop the attitude!"

Well that put her back in her box. "Agent Carmichael" she said softly.

That sent the two agents to scurry though their notes, after several moments of flipping pages backward and forwards one of them turned to ask the next question.

"What was the objectives of Agent Carmichael's mission?"

"I don't know, but he got the better of two experienced 'Ring' agents. He seemed pretty pleased with himself."

"You don't know what he was doing?"

"I stayed in the First Class cabin whereas he seemed to be in and out of the cargo hull."

"You never saw what he was up to?"

"No."

"How do you know his mission was successful?"

"He just seemed very pleased with himself. Like he was in a state of euphoria, he even order champagne to celebrate, but he never told me anything."

"And then what happened?"

"The plane landed in Paris and I disembarked, Agent Carmichael stayed on the plane and I presumed he flew back to LA."

"Presumed?"

"Well, I never saw him get off the plane, he told me he had to return to LA straight away. He sounded like a man who would really like to see Paris and he seemed genuine in his disappointment when he told me he had to remain on the plane."

That sent both agents to scurry though their notes, after several moments of flipping pages backward and forwards and scribbling a few notes one of them turned to ask the next question.

"How do you know his mission was successful?"

"I did see Panzer and Austin in the secured cells in the Paris station. On CCTV of course."

More scribbling for the notes.

"When next did you hear from Agent Shaw?"

"I was in Paris for four days before Shaw send me a ticket to fly to Los Angeles."

"Did you use that ticket?"

"Yes."

"So you flew to Los Angeles?"

"Yes"

"So what happened once you landed in Los Angeles?"

"Shaw rang me and told me which hotel he wanted me to stay in. I booked in and waited for Agent Shaw to contact me again."

"When did he make contact again?"

"The following morning he arranged to met me in the restaurant at my hotel for breakfast."

"What did he want the discuss with you?"

"My new cover, he knew that Carmichael and I talked on the plane and how Carmichael said he could get me a job to secure my cover."

"And what was this cover?"

"He said he could get me a position at the Burbank Buy More. He said his boss owed him a million favours."

"What did Agent Shaw think of this job offer?"

"He approved. Taking a job in the Buy More would allow me to be close, real close!"

"How close did you get?"

"We, as in Agent Carmichael and myself started dating."

"Later Agent Shaw told me the relationship between Agents Walker and Carmichael was turning toxic. I must say from my observations Shaw seemed to be correct."

"And what did Agent Shaw suggest to solve this problem?"

"He offered me to be Agent Carmichael's handler."

This time the agents didn't consult their notes.

"Why did he offer you that position?"

"He wanted to replace Walker with me. He wanted Walker to accept a command position in Washington. He thought that if Walker could see that Agent Carmichael was in good hands then she would be happy to let go of her protection detail. He said that order to take down the Ring we needed these two to be operating at their peak."

Now the integrators were scribbling madly on their notepads.

"Did you accept the position?"

"I didn't get a chance. Unfortunately Agent Carmichael and myself had a serious relationship breakdown." She said sadly.

She just knew the question they would ask next.

"Did you sleep with Agent Carmichael?"

"That's a bit personal, isn't it?

"Answer the question!"

"Yes! Several times."

By now Hannah realised that the spooks had copies of all reports filed from the Burbank station. She knew that there were cameras that were focused on Agent Carmichael.

The two of them were flipping the pages of the various reports they had in their possession. Then one would click his pen and scribble something down before cross-checking other reports.

"You said that you slept with Agent Carmichael, where you ordered to?"

Hannah was starting to get hot under the collar; the room's air conditioning wasn't doing a darn thing, even though it was pushing out cool air.

"No."

Again the two spooks were flipping the pages of the various reports, scribble something, then cross-checking against other reports.

"Were you ordered not to sleep with Agent Carmichael?"

"No I wasn't….."

Hannah stopped herself from saying anything more, she felt belittled, the two spooks both turned and stared through her, God it was embarrassing, she had to say something, anything, the first thing that came into her head.

"I wanted to. I instigated it. He was….sexy."

That comment caused the two spooks to scribble something, then do their cross-checking. They had a habit of ignoring her when they that did it.

"Look Shaw ordered me to get close, real close, but he didn't order me to do anything I felt uncomfortable with. OK? Chuck has a great ass. And a great sense of humour. I wanted him. I made sure that I got him!"

Hannah was boiling now, she was hot before but now she was boiling. She was still sitting with her jacket on and now she was overheating. Throw in the looks she got from her interrogators just kept raising her temperature.

As the spooks returned their attention to their reports Hannah asked.

"Can I take my jacket off?"

The two spooks both turned to look at her before returning their attention to their reports.

"Sure!" one of them said.

So while the spooks had their noses buried in their paperwork Hannah took her jacket off. They didn't turn their heads. That really annoyed her, so she decided to unbutton a few to see if that would change anything. Hannah wasn't being indecent, she was naturally a petite figure, so she didn't have a large cleavage to distract the men. She studied the two men after she took her jacket of, there was no change in their behaviour towards her. These two must have been eunuchs, there was no noticeable response from either of them.

The round of questions continued, Hannah was basically asked the same questions over again but with maybe slightly difference wording, changing from progressive to passive etc.

Hannah answered these questions the same way and the two integrators would scribble down the answer then crosscheck.

After the interrogation, which took about ninety minutes Hannah returned to her cubical. Sitting in the next pod was her friend Angela.

"So" Angela said in a low voice, "What did they want?"

It was against protocol but Angela was the office gossip and she could also be a wealth of information. Hannah thought she was pretty harmless so she answered her.

"They asked me about my time at my previous posting. They wanted to know what happened in Burbank."

"Did they tell you why?"

"No."

"Hannah. Don't you know? Station Chief Daniel Shaw went rogue!"

Her comment shocked Hannah, Agent Shaw was the last person she would suspect to do something like that. She could not believe it. Suddenly the gears inside her brain started to spin at high speed and a series of irrational thoughts filled her sub consciousness until a more rational one occurred.

"Did Walker go rogue too?" Hannah was trying to regain her composure, "So was there anyone killed? Were there any casualties? "

"From what I've heard, Shaw acted alone, and no one has been killed but the leak of intelligence has been extensive!"

It wasn't the fate of Agent Carmichael that concerned her more it was the fate of Agent Walker. For Agent Shaw had put a lot of time and effort into cultivating Agent Walker. For Agent Walker was one of the best and the CIA couldn't afford to lose the best unlike Agent Carmichael, who somehow managed to bungle his way through every assignment, it was a miracle that people that work with him aren't killed.