Chapter 32

Meet the Boy

Ryan Butler hopped out of the Suburban with the rest of the CIA team assembled for a last minute raid of Karbala members. The hostage, Amanda King, had been rescued earlier in the day, but IFF had received some intel that several of Birol's lieutenants and members had been spotted at a dive bar in DC called Mike's. He was grateful for some field experience as he did not get a great deal as an analyst. However, this was a last minute tip and they were short on officers. Donning his kevlar vest and carrying his Glock, he was assigned to go in through the back under the direction of IFF agent, Francine Desmond.

When they stormed the bar, one member trying to shoot up the establishment was immediately taken out and the rest appeared to surrender. However, when the bartender created a distraction one female Karbala member grabbed an IFF agent as a human shield. The agent was young, had to be early 20's, and the first thing he noticed was that she was really pretty. That was terrible for that to be the first thing that stood out, but he couldn't help it. She was gorgeous. He surmised it had to be one of her first raids, if not her first as her weapon was stowed. However, he watched this agent's face turn from utter terror to an almost zen-like peacefulness as she reached around, pulled her weapon and fired, taking out the terrorist. Holy shit!

This girl went from sweet and pretty to hottest woman on the planet in a matter of seconds. He had heard that IFF was hardcore. The CIA had intelligence officers, but IFF, The Agency, they were full on spies, living in the shadows, deep cover, 007 shit. The rumor was that 90% of the new recruits scrubbed out in training. This goddess was the real deal. Damn!

She was clearly shaken up after the incident, but still handling it incredibly well. He had to meet this girl. Say something. Do anything. Just talk to her. Another agent had taken out a chair for her to sit outside the bar. As he passed by, he simply said "Hey, you were great in there." He didn't know what to do so he kept walking. He looked back and she smiled at him. His heart exploded. But how would he meet her again? It was clearly not good form to pick up a girl after a raid where she just shot a terrorist. He walked away feeling a little sad. Maybe someday he could track her down.

A couple of weeks later, fate was kind to him. It was an unseasonably warm Sunday in November. He decided to head to a bar in Georgetown with a couple buddies. They walked into one bar with lots of TV's playing the Redskins game. The place was filled with twenty-somethings enjoying a day out. He walked up to the bar and grabbed a beer as they settled back to watch the game. He absent-mindedly scanned the room.

THERE!

Sitting with a girl with dark hair he saw her. She was holding a beer and they were laughing. She turned and looked toward him. His heart nearly pounded out of his chest when she smiled and gave him a little wave. The dark haired girl turned to look at him and turned back to her. She smiled and nodded to her friend.

Did she remember him? What should be do? Come on Ryan, fate is smiling at you. Don't fuck this up and sit there. He told his buddies he'd be right back and took a deep breath and walked over. "Hey, do you remember me?" He said.

"Yeah, you were there on the worst day of my life." She giggled.

"I don't know. That seemed to turn out pretty well for you." Ryan said. Be cool. Just be cool.

"I guess so. Hi, I'm Kristen Adler." She held out her hand.

"Ryan Butler." He said taking her hand and shaking it. Contact - oh the electricity. Pulling himself together not certain if he should say something else given the known secrecy of IFF agents.

"This is my friend and roommate, Tess." Kristen introduced her. Wow, and she's polite too! "She knows what I do." Clearly she realized his discomfort.

"Hey, I'm going to hit the ladies room, Kris." Tess said with one of these female telepathic looks.

"So how are you doing now?" Ryan asked her trying to break the ice.

"I'm doing better. The whole incident seems to have given me some street credibility. I guess it was a good career move." She laughed. "So are you a field officer?"

"Only on occasion. I'm actually an analyst most of the time. Usually Russian intelligence, but they pulled me that day as they were short field agents."

Kristen smiled and said, it's nice to meet you in Russian. Oh my God, she speaks Russian too? He responded with I'm glad I ran into you today in Russian. The spent the next several minutes talking about how they each learned the language. When Tess came back, Kristen gave him her number and asked him to call her.

When Ryan returned to his buddies he saw Kristen speaking happily and saw Tess look at him again and nod her head yes. Did he pass inspection? All he could think was that it was so easy to talk with her. He was not his normal fumbling self where he babbled about running shoes, car batteries or other inane things that popped into his head when he met a pretty girl. He liked her. Really liked her.

Three days later he called Kristen to set up a date for the Friday after Thanksgiving, and she accepted. They met at a little bistro in Georgetown for dinner. They spent hours talking about their homes. He was from Buffalo, NY and she was from Southern California. He'd gone to Columbia, she went to UCLA. His father owned a snow mobile company and his mother was a teacher, her father was an attorney, her mother a musician and music teacher and stepfather a bar owner. They sat at the restaurant and talked for hours until they realized it was closing. They walked for a bit, but the November chill was in the air so they ducked into a jazz bar and talked further. They closed the bar and as they returned to their cars, they kissed.

They had been dating for a couple months now, seeing each other when they could. She told him that she liked the fact that she did not have to hide what she did for a living. He was excited for her when she was able to go to California for her first undercover assignment. They both agreed they were building their careers, so while they were exclusive, they wanted to just date for a while and take it slow. All he knew was that he'd hit the girlfriend jackpot.

Now, she'd invited him as her plus one for the wedding of Lee Stetson and Amanda King. In the intelligence world, they were practically royalty. The best record of any team at IFF and now they were getting married, and having a baby which was not necessarily a secret but not something they were broadcasting. Her brother would be coming out to accompany her on guitar as she agreed to sing at the wedding. There was something there, he could tell, she did not want to talk about it. That was okay. All in good time.

Yep, he was one lucky guy.