Operation Rebel Dragon, Debriefing
Madison sat in Payne's office. Why the man insisted on being late to every meeting they had was beyond her. Maybe it's a power thing, she thought. He couldn't just be forgetful, you didn't become the top official of a covert agency if you were forgetful. It had to be a control thing. His way of saying, I'm in charge and I can make you wait if I want to. She'd seen it in a lot of the people that tended to flit around her father.
The past few days had passed in a flurry. Now that Ming was a double agent, they had to get the tradecraft worked out. The Chinese operative aspect hadn't changed too much of the plan, it mainly just meant that she had access to more information than originally thought. Her father had introduced Payne as a friend in intelligence and, as far as Ming knew, causally conscripted her to be Ming's handler. Ming had bristled at the idea of Madison being dragged into it, but Madison had talked her into it. That had been an important ruse, the faux conscription would explain why she would suddenly be involved with a covert agency for future operations.
Christopher Payne hustled into the room with his sleeves rolled up and a cigar between his teeth, looking for all the world like a stereotypical angry police chief. "Sorry I'm late Charmer, I just got out of a meeting with the NSC." He stubbed his cigar out in the ashtray on his desk and grabbed a bottle of scotch and two glasses from his desk.
He grinned at her as he filled half of each glass. "Madison" he said, dispensing with the formalities, "You have exceeded even my greatest expectations. A fucking Chinese double agent; that is the greatest catch we've had all year, and on your first operation. You planned this out masterfully, every aspect of it. If this were the CIA, we would give you the intelligence star for it." He chuckled, "But we're not, so this will have to do instead." He pushed a glass of scotch across the desk.
Madison blushed, "It wasn't all that much really. The approach and the seduction were my idea, so was turning Ming in Point Lookout and having my dad make the introduction between you two, but the Chinese really did all the work for us by killing Chao Ji. It's a shame, from what Ming says, he was a great person, but it completely alienated Ming."
Payne shook his head, "Your being too modest, we sent you hunting for a doe and you came back with an eighteen point buck."
Pushing the embarrassment aside, Madison pressed a point that was still sticking in her mind. "So tell me honestly, did the Activity know Ming was a Chinese operative before the approach? It's fine if you did, I can understand why you wouldn't tell me, but seriously, did you know who you were sending me after?"
He shook his head. "We didn't know a thing about it when we sent you out, we only started connecting the dots when we found out she met Wan Yang at the Calvert Ball."
Madison considered his words for a moment. He sounded genuine, and even if he wasn't, there was no way she could know, thus there was no point in her pushing for more answers. So she just took hold of her glass and clinked it against Christopher's.
"To your first asset, and your first successful operation. To Operation Rebel Dragon."
"To the Activity." She downed her drink and enjoyed the comfortable burn of the scotch as it flowed down her throat.
"So," she said.
"What's next?"
Just a quick little cap on Operation Rebel Dragon. I've got a bunch of different ops bouncing around in my head and I've yet to decide which one that I want to use. My first instinct it to go full on assassination or state sponsored terrorism, but I'm going for a John Le Carre feel and he liked to keep it subtle.
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