Collide T Minus 289 Days June 2009
Jail looked down at the display of his ringing cell phone as he entered the CIA field office in the basement of the London Embassy. The caller ID read Arthur Campbell. He hadn't talked to Arthur in quite a while, not since he was working in Cairo.
"Hey, Arthur. How's DC?" Jai said as he walked toward his desk, ignoring John Rochman and the rest of the office staring at him.
"I wanted to talk to you before the notice came out, but the e-mail was sent this morning." Arthur tried to explain.
"E-mail? Talk to me about what?" Jai threw his suit coat on the back of his chair and sat down at his desk. Roach walked over to this desk and handed him a piece of paper. Jai scanned the paper quickly. "Is this real? It's not some kind of joke?"
"No, Jai it's not a joke. Your father announced his retirement and I'm going to be replacing him."
Jai stared blankly at the piece of paper; his father was leaving the CIA. His father was no longer the Director of Clandestine Services. He was free. He took a deep breath, taking in the information. "Wow."
"Yeah, wow."
"Congratulations Arthur." Jai said still not noticing that all eyes from the field office were on him.
"You're doing good work there in London." Arthur began, "And I want you to know that I don't want this to change our relationship. You're still one of our best agents and I count on you."
Jai was still taking it all in, did Arthur his new DCS just give him a compliment; yes he thought he heard that. "When is it effective?"
"End of the month. I assume you haven't talked to your father."
"I haven't talked to him in quite a while." Jai answered.
"You might want to give him a call, I have a feeling he may have some re-entry issues."
Collide T Minus 280 Days June 2009
The asphalt parking lot did nothing to temper the blazing summer sun on the campus of Camp Peary. There was an odd collection of cars scattered across the parking lot and the students were assembled near a red Dodge Durango, some of them sitting on the hood and leaning against the SUV.
"Howdy folks" George Potter said as he sauntered up to his class. "Bet you can guess what we're doing today."
Ever the brown nose, Mike Flynn answered for the group. "Hot wiring cars?"
"Stealing and hot wiring cars, yes, that is the lesson for this afternoon." George said as he dumped an odd collection of items on the asphalt. "Tools of your trade. I know none of you have been convicted of stealing a car; otherwise you wouldn't be here. So I assume no one has experience doing this."
"Looks like junk…" one of the students said under his breath.
"It is junk." George said spinning around to see who had called his stuff junk. "But it's useful junk. Each item here can help you gain entry to a car. Select your tools carefully. Flynn, grandpa's lock pick set in your pocket doesn't count." George said standing in front of Mike holding out his hand. Mike pulled out the lock pick set and put it in George's palm.
"Busted." Annie laughed at her friend.
"Ready. Grab something and break into a car!" George yelled.
The laser cane made Auggie's life infinitely easier; he only wished that he were able to take it with him on the outside. Using the lights from the lasers, he followed their path down the passage outside the management offices of the DPD. He knew the stairway to the bullpen would be a few more steps ahead.
"Auggie…" the sound of his boss's voice stopped him before he could descend the stairs.
"Afternoon Joan." He said turning toward her voice.
"Can you step in here for a moment." Joan asked from the doorway to her office.
Auggie turned around and followed the path of the lasers back to Joan's office, while running the back of his free hand along the wall counting the doorways to her office. "What's up?"
"Arthur is here with us." Joan said as she sat at her desk.
"Don't believe I've had a chance to congratulate you in person." Auggie said, listening for the sounds of Arthur's suit jacket.
"Thanks." Arthur responded "I'm still on sixth floor for another 10 days."
"What can I do for you?" Auggie wondered why he was called into Joan's office with the new DCS.
"Joan was telling me about that virus you wrote to track down the S&P hackers." Arthur started. "Wonder if you might be able to modify it for other uses?"
"With enough time, I can pretty much make it do anything I want." Auggie grinned.
"Excellent."
"We've been watching some chat rooms on a radical student website." Joan explained. "We were hoping that you might be able to help us track down some of the leaders."
Auggie thought about the project for a moment, "You want me to pose as a radical student?"
"Not necessarily.." Joan continued, "We already have someone in place in the chat room, someone that has built a trust. We need you to work on your virus so we can infect the computers to find the source."
"It won't be that easy." Auggie thought out loud. "Many of these students are well versed in computer security."
"That's why we need your expertise." Arthur told him.
"Give me a few days to work on the virus and test it before we go forward."
"Take all the time you need." Joan said.
"Just get it done as soon as possible." Arthur finished. "Could you have it done yesterday?"
Auggie detected the playful tone in Arthur's voice, "No pressure there." He said with a laugh. He was going to like working for Arthur Campbell.
"I'm in!" Annie exclaimed as she tossed the tennis ball in the air and caught it before and jumping inside the Ford F-150 pickup truck.
Mike looked up from the old Buick sedan he was working on with a coat hanger. "You did that with a tennis ball?"
"Yep, saw it online once and actually used it when I locked myself out of my car at my sister's house." Annie said as she reached under the dashboard to pull out the ignition wiring. After a few minutes of fiddling with the wiring, the pickup roared to life. Proud of her accomplishment, she got out of the driver's seat and sat on the open tailgate waiting for the inevitable.
"Ladies and Gentlemen we have a winner." George said loudly as he walked up to a victorious Annie. "More cookies for Walker."
Collide T Minus 276 Days – June 2009
"You look so worried." Enny told Jai as they sat on a blanket in the grass of Regent's Park in London.
The day was a perfect summer day with a slight breeze and very few clouds in the sky. As beautiful as the day was, it couldn't help Jai's mood. His father had not returned any of his calls since the retirement announcement. He couldn't share this with Enny because she thought he was Mitt from India and Mitt from India's parents were dead. "I am fine, just concerned about an uncle that has not returned my calls." Jai tried to make it as real as he could with out blowing his cover.
"How long as it been since you have talked with him?" Enny was glad that he was opening up to her.
"About two weeks." Jai answered as he absentmindedly traced his finger up her calf to her knee.
"Can you go see him? He must be very busy not to call you back."
"He is in America and I am sure he is very busy." Jai appreciated her concern. "He usually returns my call in a few days, but a few weeks is unusual."
"He will call." Enny said confidently.
Jai smiled at her, her positive attitude was one of the things that he liked about her the most. He really wished that he had met her at a different time in his life and when he was Jai Wilcox, not this cover identity dreamed up by Roach. "I hope so…"
"He will." Enny gave him a soft kiss on the cheek. "Do not let it get you upset anymore."
Jai returned her kiss; he really wished he could introduce Enny to his mother.
Collide T Minus 274 Days- June 2009
"Are you ready for this?" Bill Davis asked Henry as he walked into Henry's office and surveyed the sum of Henry's personal belongings packed into two small boxes on the conference table. "After 35 years, I would think you'd have more stuff."
"CIA protocol, travel light." Henry said joining Bill by the conference table. "I'm going to miss this place."
"You're going to miss the power." Bill goaded him a bit. "Don't let anyone kid you."
"Good thing you weren't that honest with me when I was your boss." Henry patted him on the back as they headed toward the door.
"Saw Lila Ferguson go through security when I was down on first." Bill mentioned as they walked toward the elevators.
"Damn, really?" The last person Henry wanted to attend his retirement party was that old bat from Kansas. "Did you see Hal Kelly too?"
The elevator opened for them and the men stepped inside. "That would make your day complete, wouldn't it?"
"There's not enough whiskey for me to take the both of them in the same room at the same time." Henry sighed.
"My last official act as the Director of Asian Operations." Arthur remarked as he closed the file folder on his desk and set his pen on top of it with a theatrical flourish.
"Feels good, doesn't it?" Joan walked toward his desk.
"Feels amazing." Arthur stood up and buttoned his suit coat, he said giving her a quick kiss. "We're going to have to be more careful now that I'm your boss."
"We're in the CIA, we were trained to be discreet." Joan said with a smile.
"True." He said taking her arm. "Shall we go kick Henry Wilcox out the door now?"
"Thought you'd never ask."
The large meeting room on the second floor of Langley was a cavernous room, the distinct lack of furniture and tile floors made for a dull roar that Auggie found it hard to distinguish the various voices of his co-workers.
"I'm heading to Alan's for some real drinks after this." Conrad said as he joined Auggie near the back of the room. "Care to join me?"
Auggie was never so glad to hear a familiar voice, even if it was Conrad. "I'll be there. Something about this punch is so…."
"Fifth grade birthday party." Conrad observed as he swirled the bright red punch in his plastic glass.
"You think that Henry would have sprung for something to spike it with."
"That would have to be Junior Prom.." Conrad laughed.
"And that was bad because?" Auggie grinned as he took another drink of the sugary punch.
"Looks like the guest of honor has arrived." Conrad told Auggie as Henry walked through the door.
Across the room, Henry Wilcox surveyed the crowd that came to see him off. He realized as he took a look at the faces watching him that he knew very few of the people that worked for him. He also realized how much he really didn't care that he didn't know the people that worked for him.
"Henry looks like you have a mighty fine sunset to ride off into." Hal Kelly said as he gave him a pat on the back.
"That's because you shoved me," Henry growled quietly.
"It was time." Hal responded. "You'll love retirement."
"How would you know?" Henry asked.
"I just know…..Lila, so glad you could join us." Hal greeted the Senior Senator from Kansas.
"I wouldn't miss it." Lila said as Hal kissed the back of her hand. "Henry, you know how to throw quite the party."
"Rather it wasn't for me, thank you. I know you two are enjoying every minute of this." Henry retorted and he grabbed a glass of punch from one of his staff that was walking by, taking a drink. "Least you could have done is throw in some Vodka."
"Henry, this is for the best and you know it." Lila said quietly without moving her lips as she looked out into the room. "Play nice with everyone and enjoy your retirement."
Arthur and Joan's arrival at the party brought a hush over the crowd. Arthur realized that he wasn't even officially the DCS yet, but he was already being treated with respect. It was something he knew that he would come to enjoy. "I think we need to all give a round of applause to Henry Wilcox." Arthur began. "Thank you Henry for nearly 40 years of dedication to the CIA." He put his hands together to clap and the rest of the crowd joined in.
"I really should go say hello to Arthur." Lila excused herself without looking at Henry and Hal followed behind her.
"Having fun yet?" Bill asked as he took a spot next to Henry.
"No." Henry answered flatly. "And I wished they weren't so damned smug about the whole thing." Henry's mind began to swirl with possibilities. He would let Arthur enjoy the throne for a while, but he was already hatching a plan to get his kingdom back.
Note: Sorry this took a while to get posted; I had a little bit of a writer's block when I sat down to write this next chapter, perhaps it's because all of the 'big events' have happened. Heck, I don't know why, I just hope it doesn't happen again. Anyway, it's a little shorter than my usual chapters, but I figured a short chapter was better than no chapter at all. I still have "10 months" to go with this one, but I'm going to try to finish it in five or six chapters. We'll see how the plan goes.
Thanks for reading.
M