Chapter 4 - The Eye and Monopoly
The door shuts. I flip through a few pages in the mission debrief. Someone couldn't have been working form the inside. All of those who knew about this mission were sent to Libya. Sloane killed all of them except for Zanna. Yet, I worked with Sloane for far too many years for him to send his double back in like this. He knows she is going to be under high surveillance. My thoughts are interrupted.
"Jack. Something is not right about all of this. One agent survives; is practically left on our doorstep? Sloane isn't like this. I think it's someone else."
I don't even look up from the file. "This has Sloane written all over it. Look." I reach for the remaining photos from the file and hand them to Dixon. "Look closely at the bodies left shoulders. See were it looks like the ash has been rubbed away. It's the eye of Rambaldi." Dixon slams his fist into the table.
"It seems too subtle for Sloane. There's more here Jack." I can feel Dixon's impatience rising. He still hasn't been able to get a hold of his temper since Diane died.
"I know Dixon, but I can't figure this out either." I hate the feeling of defeat.
*****
I push the elevator down button and wait. My hands are sweaty. I put them in my pockets. I look over at Zanna, she stares unblinking at the illuminated button. "Err . . . I'm sorry about your colleagues."
She looks up at me, "Thanks." The elevator comes and we board. We fall into silence again. This time she occupies her self by examining the two cuts down her left arm.
"I hate it when my cat does that to me." Stupid, she doesn't go for my one-liners. Wait! Did she just flicker a smile? I look straight ahead and then at her again. He face has returned to the blank stare, I've seen that look on Sydney before. I fumble with the linear in my pockets, what is taking this elevator so long. I hear a mumble of words. I look over at her; she closes her mouth. "Sorry, what?"
"I pictured you as a dog person." The corners of her mouth definitely fight a smile this time. I'm floored. Is she really trying to start conversation? I open my mouth to speak back, but the elevator doors open and the ding cuts me off. A short round Chinese man in his late fifties waits in the lobby.
"Zanna Adurea I presume." Zanna smiles as the man and nods her head. "Follow me please." With that the two of them wonder of down the hall through a set of double doors. Damn it. When Vaughn gets back, I'm going to have him teach me the forehead wrinkle. That always gets the girls.
*****
I can feel all the tension in the elevator, why is Eric so nervous about all of this. Is this one of his first assignments? It can't be. They wouldn't send a high security case like this to a newbie. He attempts to make small talk again, but there's no way he owns cats. He's silent again, I can hear his hands moving in his pockets, how does he survive on ops. I decide he's sat over there in panic for long enough. "I can't picture you owning a cat."
"Sorry, what?" Great he wasn't even listening to me, why did I even try. Well I have his attention now.
"I pictured you as a dog person." Just then the elevator doors open. Saved. A man is waiting outside the door for me. He reminds me of my grandfather, if my grandfather had been Chinese. I follow him down the hall and through the doors. Eric doesn't follow. He takes a right and leads me down another corridor. At the end of this hall there is a single door. He opens it and holds it for me. I step into the room. It's your typical doctor's office. There is the paper covered padded table. I sit on the edge. He moves to the counter and washes his hands and then puts on two bright purple latex gloves. He grabs a pair of scissors and cuts away my left sleeve.
"I'm Doctor When. I'd say you gave them a pretty good fight. How bad's the pain?"
I smile, "Not too bad."
He reaches into the upper cupboard and pulls out a bottle of pills, he places two into a tiny paper cup, and then grabs a larger paper cup and fills it with water. "Here take these, it will make this all go a little easier. Don't worry they are just a small dose of codeine." He reaches for the bottle, "see." I down the two pills without the water, and lay down. He fiddles on the counter pulling out different sterile packages.
There's something very comforting about this doctor. I can imagine us going to the parks on Saturday afternoons and playing chess. My grandfather and I use to play chess. Every time I would go and see him we would do some kind of puzzle. I loved my grandfather, he was the one stable person in my life, and the one reason I think I choose to come to the CIA. After he passed away, I was always trying to find something that could fill my life the way my grandfather did. Right after graduating from college I was approached by the CIA, it was the perfect fix for the empty feeling I had.
That's how I met Calvin. We were met during field training. There was just something about him that I clicked with right away. I think it was his humor, though eventually I was amazed by his intellect, but he always was making me laugh. We were the top two of our class and both went on for more specialized training. He was always my rock when I couldn't tell anyone what I was going through. I remember right when he met Cassie, how jealous I was to hear about the new girl that was taking up all of his time, but in the end it was right for him. I was able to confirm that after I stole a kiss from him during a mission. No sparks, just lips. Oh God poor Cassie. How am I going to be able to face her? Last time I saw her was right before Calvin and I made the move to London. She was on the front door step, tears pouring from her eyes her hands wrapped around her pregnant belly. She knew that we were only meant to be stationed in London for eight weeks, but she was worried that Calvin wasn't going to be able to see the baby born. I guess she was right. I feel the tears filling my eyes again. I take a deep breath and force all the thoughts from my head.
"I'm not hurting you, am I?" Doctor When peers over his glasses and stops stitching up my arm.
"Oh, no. I didn't even notice that you weren't still at the counter." He gives a giddy little chuckle.
"Yes, yes, codeine will do that to you." He leans back down and finishes off the stitches. "Now on to that lump." He motions to my head. I close my eyes and let him do the work.
"Zanna." I jump that's not Doctor When's voice, adrenalin fills my body and I jump out of the chair, only to see it's just Eric. "Slightly jumpy there." He laughs. I take a deep breath and sit back down. "Doctor When told me to give these to you. Take two every four hours, or one when the pain comes back."
"I must have dozed off." I take the codeine from his hand and shove it in my pocket. Something crumples in my pocket. That's odd. I never have excess things in my pockets on missions. I reach for it and pull out a small card. It's an orange get out of jail free card from the game monopoly. I flip it over, scrawled on the back it reads, "I let you go. Now I need you to let my associate go."
The door shuts. I flip through a few pages in the mission debrief. Someone couldn't have been working form the inside. All of those who knew about this mission were sent to Libya. Sloane killed all of them except for Zanna. Yet, I worked with Sloane for far too many years for him to send his double back in like this. He knows she is going to be under high surveillance. My thoughts are interrupted.
"Jack. Something is not right about all of this. One agent survives; is practically left on our doorstep? Sloane isn't like this. I think it's someone else."
I don't even look up from the file. "This has Sloane written all over it. Look." I reach for the remaining photos from the file and hand them to Dixon. "Look closely at the bodies left shoulders. See were it looks like the ash has been rubbed away. It's the eye of Rambaldi." Dixon slams his fist into the table.
"It seems too subtle for Sloane. There's more here Jack." I can feel Dixon's impatience rising. He still hasn't been able to get a hold of his temper since Diane died.
"I know Dixon, but I can't figure this out either." I hate the feeling of defeat.
*****
I push the elevator down button and wait. My hands are sweaty. I put them in my pockets. I look over at Zanna, she stares unblinking at the illuminated button. "Err . . . I'm sorry about your colleagues."
She looks up at me, "Thanks." The elevator comes and we board. We fall into silence again. This time she occupies her self by examining the two cuts down her left arm.
"I hate it when my cat does that to me." Stupid, she doesn't go for my one-liners. Wait! Did she just flicker a smile? I look straight ahead and then at her again. He face has returned to the blank stare, I've seen that look on Sydney before. I fumble with the linear in my pockets, what is taking this elevator so long. I hear a mumble of words. I look over at her; she closes her mouth. "Sorry, what?"
"I pictured you as a dog person." The corners of her mouth definitely fight a smile this time. I'm floored. Is she really trying to start conversation? I open my mouth to speak back, but the elevator doors open and the ding cuts me off. A short round Chinese man in his late fifties waits in the lobby.
"Zanna Adurea I presume." Zanna smiles as the man and nods her head. "Follow me please." With that the two of them wonder of down the hall through a set of double doors. Damn it. When Vaughn gets back, I'm going to have him teach me the forehead wrinkle. That always gets the girls.
*****
I can feel all the tension in the elevator, why is Eric so nervous about all of this. Is this one of his first assignments? It can't be. They wouldn't send a high security case like this to a newbie. He attempts to make small talk again, but there's no way he owns cats. He's silent again, I can hear his hands moving in his pockets, how does he survive on ops. I decide he's sat over there in panic for long enough. "I can't picture you owning a cat."
"Sorry, what?" Great he wasn't even listening to me, why did I even try. Well I have his attention now.
"I pictured you as a dog person." Just then the elevator doors open. Saved. A man is waiting outside the door for me. He reminds me of my grandfather, if my grandfather had been Chinese. I follow him down the hall and through the doors. Eric doesn't follow. He takes a right and leads me down another corridor. At the end of this hall there is a single door. He opens it and holds it for me. I step into the room. It's your typical doctor's office. There is the paper covered padded table. I sit on the edge. He moves to the counter and washes his hands and then puts on two bright purple latex gloves. He grabs a pair of scissors and cuts away my left sleeve.
"I'm Doctor When. I'd say you gave them a pretty good fight. How bad's the pain?"
I smile, "Not too bad."
He reaches into the upper cupboard and pulls out a bottle of pills, he places two into a tiny paper cup, and then grabs a larger paper cup and fills it with water. "Here take these, it will make this all go a little easier. Don't worry they are just a small dose of codeine." He reaches for the bottle, "see." I down the two pills without the water, and lay down. He fiddles on the counter pulling out different sterile packages.
There's something very comforting about this doctor. I can imagine us going to the parks on Saturday afternoons and playing chess. My grandfather and I use to play chess. Every time I would go and see him we would do some kind of puzzle. I loved my grandfather, he was the one stable person in my life, and the one reason I think I choose to come to the CIA. After he passed away, I was always trying to find something that could fill my life the way my grandfather did. Right after graduating from college I was approached by the CIA, it was the perfect fix for the empty feeling I had.
That's how I met Calvin. We were met during field training. There was just something about him that I clicked with right away. I think it was his humor, though eventually I was amazed by his intellect, but he always was making me laugh. We were the top two of our class and both went on for more specialized training. He was always my rock when I couldn't tell anyone what I was going through. I remember right when he met Cassie, how jealous I was to hear about the new girl that was taking up all of his time, but in the end it was right for him. I was able to confirm that after I stole a kiss from him during a mission. No sparks, just lips. Oh God poor Cassie. How am I going to be able to face her? Last time I saw her was right before Calvin and I made the move to London. She was on the front door step, tears pouring from her eyes her hands wrapped around her pregnant belly. She knew that we were only meant to be stationed in London for eight weeks, but she was worried that Calvin wasn't going to be able to see the baby born. I guess she was right. I feel the tears filling my eyes again. I take a deep breath and force all the thoughts from my head.
"I'm not hurting you, am I?" Doctor When peers over his glasses and stops stitching up my arm.
"Oh, no. I didn't even notice that you weren't still at the counter." He gives a giddy little chuckle.
"Yes, yes, codeine will do that to you." He leans back down and finishes off the stitches. "Now on to that lump." He motions to my head. I close my eyes and let him do the work.
"Zanna." I jump that's not Doctor When's voice, adrenalin fills my body and I jump out of the chair, only to see it's just Eric. "Slightly jumpy there." He laughs. I take a deep breath and sit back down. "Doctor When told me to give these to you. Take two every four hours, or one when the pain comes back."
"I must have dozed off." I take the codeine from his hand and shove it in my pocket. Something crumples in my pocket. That's odd. I never have excess things in my pockets on missions. I reach for it and pull out a small card. It's an orange get out of jail free card from the game monopoly. I flip it over, scrawled on the back it reads, "I let you go. Now I need you to let my associate go."