The Making of a Spy
Copyright© 2026 by A Well Traveled Man
Chapter 3
During breakfast the next morning, Grandmother asked if they had heard about the CIA director’s car being blown up last night. Grandfather said no and asked Kane if he had heard anything. Kane said no, he slept late and hadn’t read the news online. Grandmother said someone blew up his wife’s Suburban in the driveway and they suspect it was a terrorist attack. William said that doesn’t sound right, as no one was hurt. Terrorists go for body counts and would have blown up the house.
Then the doorbell rang, and William answered it. It was the FBI, and they wanted to ask them questions about the bombing at the CIA director’s home. William said he’s never met the man, but his wife met with him yesterday and called Hattie to the door. Hattie asked if they had a warrant, summons, or an order from a judge. They said no; someone named your family as possible suspects. Haddie asked who named them, and the agents said that was confidential.
Haddie told them to look at the person who named us as suspects. I signed an agreement with CIA Director Dale Wright in his office yesterday afternoon. They asked what the agreement was, and Haddie smiled, saying that’s confidential too. See, we can all have secrets, but let’s call Dale now and see if he thinks we’re suspects. Hattie called Dale Wright and, after several layers of assistants, reached him. She told Dale that the FBI was at their door, saying we’re suspects in the unfortunate bomb at your home.
Do you want to clear that up, or find out who named us as suspects? I’ll put the call on speakerphone so they can ask you personally. Dale told the agents to have their boss call him with the name of the person who named the Armstrongs as suspects. We’re investigating an internal issue, and that person could be a suspect. Now the Armstrongs have no reason to put a bomb in my wife’s SUV. We signed an agreement yesterday afternoon, so leave them alone, or I’ll make some calls for your future assignments, and hung up.
Haddie told the agents, I guess that makes your informant a liar. If I were you, I’d follow the director’s orders and leave us alone. One thing to keep in mind is we have contacts all the way to the White House. So, if you lie to a federal judge to get warrants, it will be you in jail and not us. Ellie said good day and slammed the front door shut. She saw Kane recording the conversation on his phone and said That’s good evidence to have if there’s more trouble.
CIA Director of Operations, Matt Richman, was sitting in Director Dale Wright’s office and overheard the conversation. Matt asked if he really thought the Armstrongs were innocent of the bombing. Dale said no, but there’s no proof they are involved. It could be a warning: “Mess with my family, I’ll mess with yours.” It could also be the work of the rogue group trying to destabilize us. Dale asked whether he had made any progress on the rogue group hunt, and he said yes. Bob Naham admitted sending termination teams after Sofia and Kane.
Dale said shit Kane took out six trained assassins. That explains the look in his eyes in response to their in-house counsel, Greg Beacham’s, statement that they were fools for not bringing backup. Kane scared me with his response, and his eyes said he could do it. But that kid is smart, and at the end of the meeting he asked Greg if he advised on all matters at the CIA. Greg said yes, and Kane asked if he advised on his Dad’s torture. Greg turned red and stuttered, and Matt said Oh my god, that’s a guilty response.
Dale said that’s his belief too, so add Greg Beacham to our list of suspects. The man’s hiding something, and we need to get someone to confess. Dale being a lawyer won’t be hard to break. Let’s start with a polygraph, then move to more aggressive interrogation techniques. Matt said Dale’s the first one identified besides Bob Naham. Bob confessed to everything but didn’t know who else was involved. But Dale had to have contact with the others, so Matt said he would start on him right away and left.
Grandmother said, “Let’s visit Will,” and everyone agreed. Kane got his laptop, and they went to the hospital in the Yukon. When they arrived at Will’s room, a cute female was giving him a massage. Kane said It’s amazing what lengths Dad will go to get a pretty young woman to pay him attention. Everyone laughed, and Kane told him not to turn over. We don’t need any more surprises, and that caused more laughter. The therapist asked Will if the young man was his son. He said, yes, but he’s adopted.
Kane said That’s a lie. Dad’s just pissed that I got Mom’s looks, skin color, and other family gifts. That caused more laughter, and the therapist introduced herself as Tammy and asked Kane where his Mom was. He said she left when I was born and travels extensively for work. So, if you’re asking whether my old man is available, he is. They left the room laughing to give them privacy. Tammy exited the room fifteen minutes later and warned Kane that his dad wants to kill him.
Kane said that’s alright; he’s tried several times and failed. Tammy left laughing, and they entered Will’s room. Kane put his finger to his lips, signaling not to say anything, and began searching for listening devices and cameras. Grandfather saw what he was doing and joined the search. They found a camera in the flowers and two audio bugs. Grandfather flushed the audio bugs and crushed the camera. Kane pulled the memory card from the nanny cam clock and viewed the footage on his laptop.
Grandmother filled Will in on the settlement with the CIA. He was amazed they gave him full retirement benefits, including health care. But what shocked him was the amount deposited in his new Cayman Islands Bank account. Will asked how they got the CIA to agree to such a settlement. Grandfather said it was a group effort. Your Mom and Kane spent days citing state and federal laws they had broken. They even quoted the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the list of powers and restrictions afforded to the CIA by Congress, its Charter of Operation and Oversight, and the Library of Congress.
Grandmother said it was over 150 pages long and was designed to make them settle at any cost. I gave them the option of a trial, but Congress and the media would have copies of the lawsuit. Will said, “Holy shit, that would destroy the CIA.” Grandmother said that was the point, and they settled quickly. Grandfather said that’s not all that happened. Kane caught a man trying to inject something into your IV, and he also caught a trespasser trying to plant an explosive device at our house.
Sofia took care of eighteen men, and Kane had six for dinner at the safe house. But it’s not over, so don’t let your guard down. Kane said he found out who planted the listening device and camera. It was an orderly, and he showed everyone the footage. Will said that guy has been in here several times a day. Kane took his laptop to the nursing station, showed the orderly’s picture, and asked where he could find him. One nurse said he hangs out in the maintenance room at the end of the hall.
Kane left his laptop in Will’s hospital room and went to the maintenance room at the end of the hall. He quietly opened and closed the door, seeing the orderly watching porn on a laptop. Kane put him into a deep sleep with pressure points, then located the receiver/recorder for Dad’s room. Kane downloaded his worm to the orderly’s laptop, then stood him up and kicked him in the balls twice. He replaced him in the chair and took the recorder/receiver to Dad’s hospital room.
He showed Grandfather the device and said the orderly must have gotten cash to monitor Dad’s room. He asked about the orderly’s condition, and Kane said, “inflamed balls,” which caused everyone to laugh. William told Will if he came in again, scream Don’t hurt me and press the call button. That will get him banned from your room, but he might be out of service for a while. They said goodbye to Will and stopped by the nursing station.
The nurse who told Kane to find the orderly asked if he had located him. Kane said yes, but I don’t know how to put this delicately. He was masturbating to porn, so I left him alone. The nurse said, “Oh my God,” and called security. As they were leaving, Grandfather said That will temporarily fix our problem, but he will be replaced. Upon arriving home, Grandmother made them a late lunch.
While eating, she said that Will looked better, and they all agreed. Kane said it could be the massages, and everyone laughed. Grandfather said, “Now that Will’s out of the CIA, he needs to divorce Sofia.” There’s no security clearance issue anymore, and he needs to find some companionship. Grandmother asked Kane how he felt about it, and he said it was fine with him. But he would support it more if she had a daughter his age, and everyone laughed.
After lunch, Kane continued programming his new email program and finished it. Then he remembered the hospital assassin’s laptop and opened it. After hacking in, Kane checked the emails first and found only two from the same Hotmail address. So, this was his work computer, scrubbed clean after every job. He checked the other files, and there wasn’t anything useful. Kane was ready to shut it off and thought, what the hell. He loaded his new email program onto the laptop and selected the Hotmail account.
Then Kane drafted an email with the subject “You Set Me Up.” The message was: Your information on the target was total crap. The target had protection roving the halls wearing a nurse uniform. When I got past that, there was protection inside his room. I got caught and beaten severely. It was brutal, and they were professionals keeping me in a cold room for days. But during a break, I was able to escape. You owe me double on this one, and whoever supplied the intel should be shot.
Kane routed through six foreign servers, sent it, and hoped the person ordering the hit would open and read it. Bob Naham’s search turned up little except that he was a mole hunter. Jay Watkin’s, the CIA Assistant Director in Charge of Congressional Affairs, was a delivery man for Congressional bribes. He needed to interrogate and torture him for information. But Kane did not expect much, and now there was the in-house counsel, Greg Beacham. He needed to research him.
Grandmother calling dinner was ready broke his train of thought, and he shut off the computer and then went to the kitchen. Grandfather said we should be able to resume our normal schedules now but must keep on guard. The CIA is dealing with internal issues now, and with the car bombing, it should keep them occupied. They finished dinner and went to bed.
Over the next week, not much happened except Dad caught a man in his room late at night by his IV. As he reached into his white doctor’s coat, Dad stabbed him in the stomach with the switchblade Grandfather gave him. It was the type that shoots out the end, and the man left bleeding badly. The nurse called them, and Grandfather and I followed the blood trail down the stairs and out into the parking lot. It ended at a parking spot, so the assassin reached his vehicle.
Returning to Dad’s room, Grandfather said we should check the news. The man was bleeding severely, and he couldn’t make it far without bleeding out. Grandmother asked Will how he knew the man dressed like a doctor was an assassin. Will said doctors give the nurses orders to distribute the medication. While they were there, Kane changed the batteries in the nanny cam, downloaded the data, and cleared the memory card.
Oh, and while riding his e-bike on Saturday, Kane saw a yard sale. He saw a new-looking gaming computer with two monitors, a custom keypad, and a mouse. Kane asked the lady what she wanted for everything. The lady said $1,000, and he bartered it down to $800. Kane paid the lady, and it took three trips to bring it home. On the last trip, Kane asked why she sold it, and the lady said it was her son’s. He died drinking energy drinks and playing in a gaming marathon.
Kane asked if her son was on the computer, and she said no. He was playing the marathon on his Xbox during the weekend we were away. He made the last trip and was thankful the fool didn’t die while on the computer. Kane set up the desktop computer and wiped down the keyboard and mouse with alcohol wipes as a precaution. He was surprised by how much of a difference it made when he powered it up. The dual monitors and custom keyboard improved his programming dramatically.
The lead on CIA in-house counsel Greg Beacham turned out to be a dead end. Kane checked HR files, and they had him listed as inactive. So, the stunt Greg pulled during their settlement conference must have brought him to the director’s attention. He’s probably going through an intensive interrogation as Dad had, and being an attorney, he wouldn’t last long before spilling everything he knew.