“Understood,” said Morrison, standing up and extending his hand. Kane rose and took it. “And good luck.”
“Thank you, sir.” He nodded to Chris. “I’d like to talk to my friend before I leave.”
“Of course.” Chris rose from the couch, as did Sherrie. “One more thing, Dylan. You’re rogue. If I’m being watched, you can’t be seen just walking out of here.”
Kane smiled from half his mouth. “I had a funny feeling you were going to say that.” He took Chris into the kitchen. “How ya holding up?”
Chris shrugged. “Okay, I guess.”
“A little pissed?”
A head shake. “No. Embarrassed? Yup.”
“Hey, we’ve all been played, me more times than I care to count. Easiest way to get past it is to focus on the fun part of what happened, and forget the rest.” Kane lowered his voice and leaned in. “And she looks like she’d be a lot of fun.”
Chris blushed and nodded with a smile he seemed almost ashamed to let slip.
Kane punched him on the shoulder. “You dog, you!” He fished a card out of his wallet and handed it to Chris.
“Chiropractor?” said Chris, reading the card.
“Yes, and a very good one. But his fax number is my satellite phone. You can send me secure data bursts if there’s anything you feel I need to know. Encrypt them using my high school jersey number, and my SAT scores. Do you remember them?”
Chris smiled. “Like yesterday.”
Kane grinned, knowing how good Chris was with numbers, and how responsible he’d been for getting those good SAT numbers. “Perfect, now keep your head down, get your job done, and let the guys protecting you do their jobs. Spend as much time at Langley as you can, then straight home with the escort. Don’t answer doors, report suspicious phone calls like hang ups or wrong numbers, and listen to Sherrie.” Chris blushed again. “And if you want a little revenge on her?” Chris’ eyebrows popped. “You two are supposed to be playing a couple. Take it as far as you can. Have some fun!”
Chris shook his head, flashing half a grin. “I’m not you.”
Kane laughed and took his friend’s hand in his. “Hey, I’m not even me.” He looked in his friend’s eyes. “Just take care of yourself.”
“I will,” replied Chris. “You just make sure you follow your own advice.”
Kane nodded, gave his friend’s hand one last squeeze, then left through the kitchen doorway leading to the rear patio. He stunned the guard there with two well-placed beer cap snaps, cleared the fence and was home free with two caps to spare.
He wondered what the report would read the next day, and if he would ever see his friend again.
Chris Leroux Residence, Fairfax Towers, Falls Church, Virginia
Chris opened the door to the apartment and was about to enter when Sherrie held him back, stepping inside first. She flicked on a light switch, and he wondered how she knew where it was, when he realized she probably had memorized everything about him and his life.
Light switch locations were probably on his file.
He followed her in, carrying a small overnight bag they had picked up at her place on the way here, and closed the door behind them, locking it. Sherrie made a quick search of the apartment, then checked the windows, closing the drapes and blinds. Another more thorough search followed that included closets and under beds, while Chris stood in the doorway, unsure of what to do.
After a few minutes, she returned from his bedroom and held out her hand. He handed her the bag and she opened it, removing a small handheld device and began scanning everything. This took several more minutes, and when she was done, she returned the device to her bag.
“Bug detector,” she explained. “We’ll sweep every time we return, no exceptions. And nothing gets said between us except normal couple type stuff until I’ve done the sweep. If anyone is listening in, they have to think we’re two agency employees having an illicit affair against Agency policy.”
Chris nodded.
“And what do we do if we find a bug?”
“Then we know we’ve hit a nerve. And I’ll suggest we go for ice cream, you’ll agree, and off we go to Langley. And speaking of your car, it will be checked when we arrive at Langley each morning, and when we leave at night.”
“What about the windows? I thought they could bounce lasers off the glass and pick up conversations. Stuff like that.”
Sherrie smiled. “They can, and that’s been taken care of.”
“How?”
“While we were at the Director’s, the apartment was prepped. Devices were installed on each window that generates random vibrations, making any vibrations we produce gibberish.” Sherrie approached him and took his hands. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.”
“Uh huh.”
She frowned. “Are you still mad about earlier?”
He looked away, unable to look her in the eye, the embarrassment causing him to flush. He felt her hand on his cheek, pulling his face gently to look at her.
“Hey,” she said, her voice low. “I’m sorry about that. When I went into the bedroom to change, I even called the Director and asked him to let me stop.”
Chris’ eyes widened slightly. “Why?”
She patted his cheek and let go of his hand. “Because I like you, silly. It was a job, but I knew you weren’t some super evil spy. You were being tested to see if you would give up information if someone tempted you sexually, and you didn’t. And I knew from just our day together that you wouldn’t. I didn’t need to take it any further, but the Director insisted.” She dropped onto the couch and patted the empty space beside her. Chris reluctantly took a seat, his confusion worse than before. “Listen, we have to make the best of this situation for as long as it lasts. And we have to make people think we’re a couple.” She put her hand on his leg, her other arm around his shoulders, pulling herself closer.
He flinched, and his entire body stiffened.
“And reactions like that could get us killed.”
And he realized she was right. He tried to relax, but it was hard.
“Here, let me help.”
She swung in behind him, and he began to have flashbacks of earlier.
“Don’t get any ideas, big boy, this is just a massage so you can get used to me touching you without jumping six inches.”
Chris nodded and dropped his head as her soft hands kneaded his neck and shoulder muscles. The sensation was different than before, and although he couldn’t help but get aroused slightly, at least it wasn’t the firestorm of desire in his pants he had had earlier.
When she was done, she hugged him from behind, resting her head on his back.
“You smell good,” she said, inhaling deeply.
“Uh, thanks. Umm, so do you?”
She squeezed him harder.
“In real life, you’d be exactly my type, I think.”
Chris chuckled.
“That, I doubt.”
“No, I’m serious. I like smart guys who aren’t all full of themselves. You know, the shy types.”
She’s got you pegged.
“And you know, you may not realize it, but you are very cute.”
Chris felt his chest tighten, stomach flop, and pants get tight. This was too confusing, but then he thought of Kane’s words. Have some fun. But he wasn’t Kane. To him sex and intimacy wasn’t something to be trifled with, it was meant to be done with someone you cared for, loved, who might be ‘the one’. And though twelve hours ago he was convinced Sherrie was ‘the one’, she definitely wasn’t now.
But why not? She was just doing her job. Should she be blamed for that? Probably not, but that didn’t mean he should just forget what had happened and try to fire up a long-term relationship.
“I don’t know you,” was all he managed to say.
“I’m the girl you met for coffee and had dinner with. Ignore the stuff at my apartment, that was the job, I’m not normally like that.”
“You can’t be seriousl
y suggesting that we try to make this, whatever this is, work?”
She extricated herself from behind him, and sat in the corner.
“I guess not.”
He looked at her and felt a pang in his heart. She actually looked hurt. But was it an act? Argh! This is so frustrating!
“Look, I’m sorry,” he said, his voice low, looking at her, then away as soon as her hopeful face made eye contact. “I’m just not like that.”
“A one night stand kind of guy?”
“Exactly. That’s never been me, never will be.”
“Good. I’m not like that either, unless the job requires it.”
He looked at her. “But how can you, you know, sleep with a guy you don’t even like?”
“Well, I haven’t had to yet. I’m relatively new on the job, this is only my third assignment, but they needed somebody young, willing to have sex with their target—yes, that’s actually part of our profiles since not all of us agree to that—and able to come in on such short notice.”
“So I—”
“Would have been my first.” She grinned. “Kinda romantic, isn’t it?”
He raised his eyebrows, dropping his head slightly. “I’m not sure it’s a Kodak moment.”
Sherrie laughed and Chris had to admit it warmed his heart. She was beautiful, there was no denying that, but she also seemed like she was just a girl, who wanted the same thing he did. To be loved. Right now, curled up in the corner of his couch, looking vulnerable, she was the girl from the office that he had become infatuated with in so few weeks, and only one coffee break. If he focused on those memories, she was a girl he could fall for, but the sexual hijinks from earlier kept flashing back. But at least now he wasn’t as embarrassed that they had happened, instead he was embarrassed that they still turned him on.
“Just so I don’t shock you later, we have to sleep in the same bed.”
Chris flushed.
“Why?”
“Well, we can block audio, but thermal is another thing. There’s no way we could insulate this place in time, so if anybody is observing, they’re going to see us through the walls, and we need to be seen as a couple.”
“Umm…”
“No, we don’t have to have sex. Couples don’t have sex every night, and my guess is with your brains, you’ll have this figured out pretty quick and our relationship will be over.”
Chris didn’t like the sound of that. He was still trapped between how he felt about this girl only hours before, and the truth of what had happened. All her assurances that she liked him, that he was her type, only added to the confusion. Hearing her so cavalierly announce the impending end of their so called relationship actually hurt his feelings, leaving butterflies in his stomach.
She seemed to sense this and darted across the couch, wrapping her arms around his neck, burying her head in his shoulder. “Let’s enjoy the time we have together,” she whispered, squeezing him tight. His arms lay dead at his sides, then slowly, tentatively, wrapped around her.
They held each other tight for several minutes, Chris relaxing, his head buried in her hair, enjoying her scent. It was easy to forget what was really going on, and in fact, that was exactly what he was trying to do. Forget. Just enjoy the moment, enjoy the couple of days they’d have together. No sex, just a young couple trying to get to know each other. Besides, when he thought about it, being seen with her at work would definitely give him some street cred amongst the other women he had always thought out of his league.
But then they were no Sherrie. The attractive ones seemed all stuck up, and the ones who thought they weren’t attractive, the shy types, were too shy to come out of their shells, just like he was. And there were lots of those at the CIA in analytics.
When this was done, he was going to try and get to know some of those women, and perhaps go on a few dates. It would build his confidence, their confidence, and who knew, there might actually be something there.
Because Sherrie was a dream, unachievable, and not even real.
She let him go and headed for the bedroom.
“Big day ahead of us, better get some rest.”
Chris followed her, half fearful, half hopeful, of what the night might hold.
Jason Peterson “Residence”, Somewhere in North Korea
Three Days after the Kidnappings
Jason stepped into his ‘new home’ and closed the door. He was exhausted. They had spent the entire day pretty much ignoring each other as much as possible, while making sure all of the equipment was still functional. It wasn’t. But that wasn’t that big a deal, it would be within a matter of days. They had left instructions with their handlers, and apparently an engineering crew would be in that night to get as much done as possible.
He entered the kitchen to find his wife and kids sitting at the table. They all jumped from their chairs at the sight of him, and rushed him, smothering him with hugs as they all cried. He found his own chest tightening, but realized he had to be strong for them, at least for the kids. For his wife, he might indulge the tears he was bottling up inside in the privacy of their bed, but not here, in front of the kids.
“Everything is going to be alright,” he said in as calm a voice as he could. “Let’s just all sit down, and I’ll let you know what’s going on.”
They sat around the table, Darius in his lap, refusing to remove his arms from around Jason’s neck, and Ayla sitting on her mother’s knee. Maggie sat, eyes red, biting her lip as she held out her hand. Jason took it and squeezed.
“Okay, I’ll tell you everything I can. We’re in North Korea.”
A cry erupted from Maggie and she quickly stifled it, but not before Darius began to whimper. Jason patted his head.
“Hey, big guy, what are you worried about? You’ve never even heard of North Korea. There’s nothing to worry about, it’s just a place.” He turned back to Maggie. “There’s a place here called the International Cooperation Center. They’ve got a job for Carl and I…” He paused, then looked at Maggie. “And Phil.”
“I thought he was dead!”
Jason shook his head. “No, in fact, this entire thing is his doing.”
“What?”
Jason could see some of the fear leave his wife’s face, anger pushing it aside.
“Apparently he got wind the project was going to be canned, and we were all going to be fired. He agreed to work for a Chinese company in exchange for a payout of ten million dollars once the job was complete. He told them it would take about a year, and he needed us to complete the work.”
“That mother—” Maggie stopped and took a deep breath. “Why are we here?”
“Leverage.”
“What’s that mean?” asked Darius as fear returned to his mother’s eyes.
“It means they’re going to kill us if Daddy doesn’t do what they say!” cried Ayla, bursting into tears and burying her head in her mother’s chest.
“No, that’s not true. They’re not going to hurt you because I’m going to cooperate with them. You’ve got nothing to worry about,” said Jason, trying to be as reassuring as possible, even though he personally felt the words coming from his mouth were a load of lies. “There’s a school here for you kids to go to and make some new friends. Hon, you’re allowed to go out and about. Apparently there are stores. There’s just a curfew between eleven at night and six in the morning, and you can’t leave the compound.”
He stared at Maggie’s red and swollen eyes, pleading with his own eyes for her to be strong for the kids’ sake. She nodded, and made several attempts before successfully forcing a smile on her face.
“Well, that doesn’t sound so bad then, does it?” She tilted Ayla’s head up, their twelve year old, brimming with confidence only a few days ago, now turned into a puddle of terrified pre-teen. “There’s a school, I’ll be able to walk you there and pick you up. We can go shopping, and before you know it, we’ll be heading back home and you’ll have a really cool story to tell all your friends.”
>
This piqued Darius’ attention and he looked up at his father.
“Can we tell people when we get home?”
His voice sounded so hopeful, so excited, that Jason decided a little white lie might be worth it if it meant getting through the next few days, months or year, with an eight year old ready to cooperate so he could tell his friends.
“Absolutely,” smiled Jason. “I’ll bet none of them have been to North Korea!”
Darius jumped from his father’s lap and faced Maggie.
“I’m hungry.”
And with that declaration, the conversation ended, and the Peterson family agreed to become cooperative citizens of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, where the only semblance of democracy that night may have been the tiny kitchen table they sat at.
CIA Headquarters, Langley Virginia
Today, Six Days after the Kidnappings
Chris felt Sherrie’s hand grip his, and he immediately began to worry about whether or not his hand was sweaty. Which probably made things worse. But she grasped it in such a way that it didn’t matter, interlacing their fingers and keeping their palms apart. Either her file on him was incredibly detailed, or she was just very considerate.
Or she had dated a guy with sweaty palms before, and assumed he’d have them.
He wasn’t sure how long he’d last playing this charade. It was times like these that he wished he were Kane. Kane was always cool, calm and collected. He wouldn’t be worrying about his palms sweating. He’d probably have his arm around her, holding her close, whispering sweet-nothings in her ear.
Whatever the hell those were.
As they entered the main lobby, Sherrie released his hand, and they became all business. Apparently their affair was to be known to those who paid attention, but not blatantly obvious so as to force someone to report their relationship as against regulation. There were lots of flings in the office, and it was quietly tolerated. His unaired theory on it was that they’d rather have you fulfilling your sexual needs with a fellow CIA staffer, than with some stranger who might actually be an enemy agent.