Chapter 12

Admiral Roger Cantrell, Commander for the US Military’s Joint Special Operations Command, had flown into Langley for a formal briefing about the tasking that was coming down to him and his operators. He sat quietly and listened to Hank talk to him about the mission to get Svetlana, but hank stopped short of telling him who the team was hiding.

“The asset we have in custody has a vast knowledge of the inner workings of Russian money laundering and how they get agents into the country. She’s cooperating better than we could have ever hoped for.” Hank told him.

“Is she willingly cooperating or has Denise been putting the screws to her?” He asked Hank.

“Surprisingly, there’s been no need for Denise to do an interrogation. The subject actually gave up information about the Russians bringing agents into the country, how they got here, where they start, and even who is running the program.” Hank replied.

“Who’d have thought it possible.” He said quietly. “What’s the plan as far as the rest of the operation?”

Hank pulled up a map on his computer, showed it to the Admiral, and pointed to the general location of the safe house. “The team is laying low for 2 weeks minimum. Very few people know that the safehouse they have is in Coma-Ruga Spain west of Barcelona. With that being said, the director and myself were wondering if there was any way you could have a Seal team in position to extract them if needed?” Hank told him.

“Are you that concerned?” Roger asked him.

“About the team taking care of themselves, no. But with them having to worry about an FBI agent AND the subject? Yes, I am. The asset they have in custody has information about corruption high up in the government. If word got to the right people that she’s alive, the amount of money that would be spent to find and kill her would rival the GDP of a small country.” Hank told him.

“Who do you have in custody?” The admiral asked.

Hank slid a dossier over to the JSOC commander. He opened it and read the contents. “This is a joke, right?”

“Nope. Svetlana Michaels, wife of the Undersecretary of the Interior, Gregory Michaels Junior, is a Russian agent who specializes in handling money.” Hank replied.

“No wonder you’re so concerned.” He told the CIA man. “Who leaked the asset’s identity and location?”

“The US attorney from eastern Virginia. He’s been looking for a federal bench appointment for a few years now. He figured that this would do it for him. Instead, he’s being allowed to quietly retire.” Hank told him.

“How many people are in the loop now?” He asked.

“The AG and assistant AG, the FBI and CIA directors, you, me, Bruce Schacht who drew the prosecution, and Annette Giancarlo who is defending her.” Hank replied.

“What do you need from us?” Roger asked.

Hank passed him a sealed envelope. “You’ll get the official tasking by the time you get back to your office. But in a nutshell, we’d like to have a fast boat crew meet with the team every second night with one of our couriers to pick up anything that they have for us. Your crews decide the meeting locations, they’ll meet you there. I’ll have their boat registration and the transponder codes for you by the end of the day tomorrow.”

The commander looked over the letter and thought for a moment. “We’ve got a small logistics base on Mallorca, so fueling and maintenance won’t be a problem. When do you want to set this up to start?”

“Two nights from now. We’re still getting secure comms in place, so that will give you some time to react.” Hank replied.

The JSOC commander read over the rest of the letter making notes on the letter as he went. “You want to push the CAG tasking back a month according to this?” He asked.

“Yes. We’re waiting on fallout from this whole thing. After we have the lay of the land, we’ll start back up and move into phase 2.” Hank replied.

“You’re going to send two team members with the platoon when they go into action. What are their roles going to be?” He asked Hank.

“They’re primarily going to be looking at everything you bring out of out. The only time they’ll be going in with your operators is if there are extenuating circumstances. You’ll have plenty of notice if that happens.” Hank replied.

“No problem. I know most of your people, they’re good in the woods.” The Admiral said with a smirk. “By the way, is Garcia going to shoot against the army in the sniper competition?”

“Yes, he’s already agreed to it. The commandant smiled and was already planning on who to place bets with.” Hank said with a smile. “He mentioned your name as well, so just be aware...”

“Don’t worry, I learned a few years ago when I lost on the Army/Navy game. By the way, something I wanted to ask you about.” Roger Cantrell paused to choose his words. “This being an election year, what does the President plan to do with the proceeds from Eldest Son?”

“If I had my way, it would go into the operational budget for the agency. But honestly, I have no idea.” Hank told him. “Knowing him, he’ll put it on a table and hold a press conference saying, THIS is what we took out of the hands of terrorists.”

They both laughed knowing that it was actually something that he actually would do. “Anything else you need from me Hank?” Roger asked.

“If anything changes, I’ll make sure that you’re the third person I call about it.” He told him. Hank deactivated the SCIF function in his office and shook the JSOC commander’s hand as he walked him out. He stopped next to his receptionist’s desk. “Carla, can you call Michelle and ask her to stop by here when she can, Please?” He asked.

“She told me she was headed downstairs to get an update from Diane Allen, but she said to tell you that she’ll be up as soon as she’s finished.” She told him.

“What would I do with you and her?” He asked her with a grin.

“Probably forget your anniversary at a minimum.” She replied with a smile.

“No, I have that on a yearly reminder with a week’s notice. You know how Andrea is. Trust me, I won’t EVER forget my anniversary again.” Hank said chuckling.

“Does she still remind you about that?” Carla asked.

“Only when she wants something.” Hank said thinking about his wife. Hank had been married to the same woman for 25 years now. He’d met her when he was still at Annapolis. They’d gotten married when he was commissioned. She’d followed him to all the duty stations he went to and supported him in everything he did in addition to raising 3 daughters who were now all in college or on their own. He started to tear up thinking about how much he loved her. “Carla do me a favor and get me the phone number of a florist so I can get some flowers.”

“Speed dial number 9 on your phone director.” Carla said without even looking up.

“Thanks Carla. You’re the best.” He told her as he turned to walk back into his office.

“Damn straight I am.” He heard her say as he closed the door.

Denise, Hannah, and Steven were driving went towards Valencia Spain. They had received a time and a place to meet with someone from the Rota station. They had stopped off before they left Coma-ruga and leased dock space for the boat that Robert and Petra were driving down later that afternoon.

Denise and Hannah sat in the front while Steven had put the seats down and stretched out for comfort. He had his laptop out and looked to be watching a movie.

“I have a question for you Hannah.” Denise asked.

“Wow, this sounds serious.” Hannah adjusted herself so that she was sitting up, turned to face Denise, and took her sunglasses off. “Ok, I’m in serious mode, what’s your question?”

“Schmuck...” Denise said giggling. “It’s nothing serious, I was just wondering what your plans were for after Eldest Son ends. Tali and I were talking last night, and we’d like for you to consider coming to work for the agency. I was serious about what I said back in Paris; you have the gift. I’m almost positive Hank would snatch you up so fast it would make your head spin.” She told her.

“Have you already talked to Director Richards about this?” She asked.

“No, I haven’t. I wanted to talk to you first.” Denise told her.

“I’ll be the first person to admit that I had fun doing that operation. It was quite an amazing experience and I’m glad to have had the chance to do it. But doing it full time, I don’t know...” she told Denise. “Why do you ask?”

“We’re moving into phase two of Eldest Son. Talitha and I are going to need some help in the planning. We’ve got the intelligence mindset, but you have the operational experience and insight to fill in the holes that we miss.” Denise told Hannah.

“What about the guys? They all have more field time than I do.” She replied.

“We do, but your mind is much more organized than ours. Evidence of that is by how well you play piano.” Steven said from the back. “We’re great when you give us a task to do. We can do other small things along the way involving the mission. You, however, can balance 3 different major tasks and still get them all accomplished. Trust me, you’d be good at the job.”

“I’m an operator, not a supervisor.” Hannah said to him.

“You’re both when you want to be Hannah.” Steven told her. “I think you’d be good at the job.” He said giving her a chuck on the shoulder.

“Fine, I’ll think about it.” She said as they pulled into Melia` Valencia Hotel’s parking lot. “By the way, what are we looking for?”

“An SUV with a red folder on the dash.” Denise replied. When they found the vehicle they were looking, it was sitting in the back of the lot away from the rest of the vehicles. “Wow ... Someone who knows what they’re doing.” She said to herself

Steven pulled out three pistols out of his backpack and passed 2 of them to Hannah and Denise. Hannah her Sig Sauer pistol out and looked at it for a minute.

“You get some new sights on your pistol?” Denise asked Hannah

“I asked Steven to put some fiber optic sights on before the Beckley mission.” Hannah told her. They put their pistols back into the holsters and tucked them into their waistbands. Getting out of the vehicle, they looked at the hotel. Steven looked to the top and noticed a man standing at the railing. He flashed a small mirror at them and then moved away from the railing. Denise and Hannah looked at Steven.

“Hope they have breakfast, I’m starving.” Steven said as they walked towards the hotel.

When they got to the rooftop restaurant, they saw a man sitting off himself watching the three of them as they got off the elevator. Hannah and Steven walked into the restaurant; he took a spot at the bar where he could look at all the people there. Hannah walked over to the railing and started to watch the parking lot and the surrounding rooftops. Denise in the meantime had walked over and gave her contact a hug and both of them sat down and started talking.

“Good to see you Denise.” The man told her.

“Good to see you too Jack, wish it was social and not work-related.” She told him. “When did you get to Rota?”

“I transferred right after you left Berlin for Special projects. The guy they replaced you with was an Obama fanboy, so he was more worried about being PC than getting the job done.” Jack told Denise.

“I’m sorry to hear that. I pushed them to let you have the job since you already knew everything that was going on.” She told him.

“It was never going to happen. I pissed off too many people, besides, I’m happy where I am. I’m usually either home or cycling by 1500 and I only work 4 days a week.” He told Denise.

“Did you ever marry Letty?” Denise asked.

“Yes. We’re expecting another son in August.” He replied. Pausing for a moment, Denise could see tears in his eyes. “I still owe you from that whole fiasco in Germany.”

“Jack you made a mistake that you corrected and recovered from. All I did was give you the second chance you needed, that’s all.”

“Denise, I have a wife and children that I can’t live without, and a career I love. I wouldn’t have any of that if it hadn’t been for you covering my alcoholic ass.” Jack told her.”

“Are you still sober?” Denise asked.

“Three years, five months, and ten days. Leticia keeps track for me. She tells me every night before we go to sleep that she’s proud of me for making it another day.” Jack said quietly. “I would have lost her if it hadn’t been for you, Denise.”

“You keep yourself, your wife, and kids happy and that will be all the payment I need.” Denise said with a smile. “I hate to do it, but we need to get what you brought us and get going. What do you have or us?”

“I didn’t know how many you’d be needing, but I got you 6 sets of the generation 3 PVS 14s with head mounts and the new MAWL-DA IR lasers to go on whatever rifles you have. You also got all the standard communications package, everything’s encrypted and secure. Director Richards also had me bring in six of the upgraded Falcon 3 radios that tier one JSOC units are being issued now.” Jack told her.

“Great, more instruction manuals...” Denise said under her breath.

He chuckled at her comment. “Nah, it’s not that bad. The new radios are a lot like the old ones, they just added more preset choices along with greater range and battery life.”

“What’s the range on them now?” She asked.

“It’s a satellite radio, so anywhere you can broadcast.” He told her.

“No, I mean on UHF.” She asked.

“With a clear line of sight, seven to eight miles.” He told her.

“Really?”

Jack chuckled a bit. “I’ve played with them a good bit, it’s a solid system and won’t let you down.” He told her.

“Ok, not so bad after all. Anything else for us?” She asked.

“Yes. He said to tell you that he’d have the handoff system in place by tomorrow night and that the courier would have something for you and Steven.” He told her.

“Thanks, Jack. I appreciate you getting this for us on such short notice.” Denise told him.

“It’s not a problem Denise. Even if Richards hadn’t told me that he’d skin me if I didn’t get this done, I still would have.” He said to her. “And on that note, you have an appointment with the beach, so let’s get going.”

The four of them walked down to the vehicles and started to transfer the boxes and hard cases to their vehicle. Denise Hugged Jack and got into the vehicle and they drove off. She sat in the passenger’s seat with her eyes closed and a smile on her face.

“So, who was that guy? You obviously have history with him.” Steven asked her from the driver’s seat.

Denise sat up and looked at Steven. “Jack Turner worked for me when I was Berlin station chief. He liked Irish whiskey a bit too much it conflicted with his work.” She said. “I’m glad he’s better now.”

“I heard him tell you that he owes you.” Hannah told her.

“He only thinks he does. I just helped him out with a month of ‘special duty’ to clean up and get straight.” She replied.

“You’re one of the good ones Denise, don’t ever forget that.” Steven said.

Robert and Petra were standing on the dock where the boat was waiting for them. The salesperson was showing them things about the boat and telling them everything that they needed to know as new owners.

He opened the hatch to where the engines were sitting. “This is the compartment where the engines are housed and it’s easy to access in case of emergency and that it has plenty of room in case you need to make emergency repairs at sea. However, we inspect the engines thoroughly if it’s a trade-in. This particular boat only has about one hundred hours on the engines and is less than a year old, so I would not worry about breaking down. If you do call us and we’ll get it taken care of as fast as we can. We pride ourselves on our customer service.” He told them.

“If we’re out on the ocean, how are you going to fix the problem?” Petra asked.

“The insurance you and your husband have will pay for it to be towed back to port. And because your husband had a three-year warranty included, we’ll fix whatever is wrong with the boat, no expense to you.” He told her.

“What about electrical problems?” She asked. “I have some sensitive electronics that I don’t want to get fried from a short circuit or power surge.”

“The boat was ordered from the factory with ground fault outlets, so that won’t be a problem.” He told them.

“Excellent.” She replied. Turning to Robert, she slowly slid her arm around his waistline and smiled. “You made an excellent purchase baby. Remind you to reward you properly when we get out onto the ocean please.” She said with a smirk.

“Trust me, I’ll be sure to get my reward from you...” He replied squeezing her closer to him.

The salesman was finishing his checklist and handed his clipboard to Marcus. “If you do not have any more questions, would please sign at the bottom that I have talked to you about everything on the list.” Marcus signed his name and handed it back to him. “Thank you, sir, for your purchase and like I said, if you have any problems, we will make it right by you.” He told them as he shook their hands and walked back to the office.

Robert picked up his pack but noticed that Petra had her pack and another suitcase to get on board. He grabbed it and hefted it onto the aft platform.

“Holy lead weights Batman, what do you have in this thing?” He asked her.

“I’m a girl and I went shopping. What do you think I bought?” She asked.

“Ask a stupid question I guess...” he said smiling at her.

“Yup.” She said as she walked into the cabin area. About 15 minutes later, Petra appeared wearing a white crochet cover-up over a red micro bikini. Robert noticed out of the corner of his eye that the top barely covered anything on her. Shaking his head thinking to himself how hot she is, he chuckled a bit as he started the boat up.

“Can you grab the rope on the front and untie it please?” He asked Petra.

“You want me to cast off the bow line? Want the stern line done also?” She asked him with a smirk.

“Aaannnnd there’s the word assuming making an ass out of me but not you ... Yes, please cast the bow line off. I’ll take care of the stern.” He answered shaking his head.

She walked towards the bow and grabbed the line on the port bow, untied it and threw it to the worker on the shore. Robert cast the stern line off and climbed back into the cockpit. He reversed the boat and idled it out of slip they were sitting in. When Robert had cleared the dock, he turned and made his way to the harbor area and out to the open water.

“So how fast will this thing go?” Petra asked him as she leaned in close to Robert sliding her arm around his back.

“It’ll only do about 30 knots. I’m not too worried about it.” He told her watching the harbor around them.

“Oh, pray tell why not?” She asked him.

“When we’re out on the boat, we’ll have stuff that goes bang on board in case of unwanted attraction from unscrupulous people.” He told her.

“Anything that goes boom instead of bang?” She asked him.

“A couple things that go boom actually.” He said wrapping his arm around her.

She slid her other arm around his front and pulled herself closer to him. “I enjoyed last night.” She said to Robert quietly. “I understand how you feel about relationships on this job. But I am putting you on notice. When this is over, I’m going to want a relationship with you.”

Robert leaned down and kissed Petra lightly on the lips. When he pulled away, he looked her in the eyes and spoke. “I will look forward to that day and the rest after it.” He said smiling and giving her another kiss.

“Would you mind if I wrapped my arms around you if it’s just the two of us and we’re alone?” She asked him.

“I’d be disappointed if you didn’t” he replied.

She smiled up at him, pulled away from him, and stepped over to the lounge area on the terrace. “Just so you can’t call me a liar...” She said as she pulled her bikini cover off. She looked over her shoulder at Robert who was smirking at her and then she untied the top and then the bottom to her bikini. She turned around and seductively ran her hands up her stomach. “Want to oil me up sailor?” She asked.

Robert laughed at her comment. “I would love to oil you up, but we wouldn’t make it to the house until well after dark.”

“And that’s a bad thing why?” She asked.

“This is going to be a long trip.” Robert mumbled to himself as Petra turned around, put a towel on the cushion and started to put tanning lotion all over herself.

The rest of the team was waiting for Robert and Petra when then got to Coma-Ruga. Petra had put on a pair of yoga shorts and a t-shirt over her bikini before they had arrived. As they pulled into the slip, Laura tossed a mooring line to Petra and watched as she expertly tied it off. Steven was already on the boat and Dominic had tossed him the stern line.

“So, what do you think?” Dominic asked as he shut the boat down.

“It’s definitely what we need. What’s the inside look like?” Denise asked.

“Come aboard and see for yourself.” Petra suggested. “It’s pretty roomy in the cabin and it’s got plenty of space.”

Dominic was standing on the dock watching the team explore the boat. Robert jumped off the port side of the boat and walked over to stand with him.

“Couldn’t keep the promise to yourself I see...” he said.

Robert smirked. “What gave it away?” he asked.

“You have the same look in your eye as I did the second time I went out with Michelle. Did you explain your line of thought about relationships on the job to her?” Dom asked.

“Yeah, she understood and told me, quote, when this is over, I will start a formal relationship with you, unquote.” He told him.

“Got it bad for her, huh?” Dom asked with a chuckle.

“Yup. I get it now...” Robert told Dominic.

“What’s that?” Dom asked him.

“I get what you were saying about you and Michelle and how you knew she was the one.” He told Dom. At that moment, Petra looked up from what she was doing; she smiled a megawatt smile at Robert.

“Someone has it as bad as you do brother.” Dom said.

“Yeah ... I’m glad too.” Robert replied. “So ... where is our charge and her watcher?” Robert asked him.

“She’s finishing up the outline and some of the colors on her sleeve and shoulder tattoo.” Dominic told him.

“How did her stylist appointment go?”

“You won’t recognize her when you see her.” Dominic replied.

“That well huh?”

“Yup.” Dominic told him.

Steven came walking over to them and stood and looked at the boat. “You did good brother.” He told Robert.

“Yeah, it’s not too bad of a boat. I wish it was a bit faster, but it’ll do for what we need it for.” Robert replied. “Speaking of that, when’s our first link up with the courier?”

“Tonight. The courier that’s coming is going to have information for us. What it’ll be is anyone’s guess.” Dominic told him. “How fast can you get this thing stocked?”

“I made the call when I got up this morning. The seller needs 6 hours to get the items to us and then it’s just a matter of no one watching us to get it on board. I figured 4 long cases and a dozen or so boxes with ammunition.” Robert told him.

“Specifics?” Steven asked.

“He’s holding two M-79s, six SCAR 17 rifles, and enough 40mm to hold us over for a bit.” Robert told him.

“Not thrilled about the SCARs, but where did he find the grenade launchers?” Dominic asked.

“He had a couple that were left over from a deal that went south in the Philippines. He offered them and ammunition to me at cost since I manage his retirement fund.” Robert told him. “As for the rifles, I never had a problem with them, and he wanted to get rid of them, so I got a deal on them.”

“RPGs?” Steven asked.

“No, they’re too hard to hide on a boat this small.” Robert told him.

“Robert...” Robert looked up when he heard Petra talking to him. “Where is the cooler you said was on the terrace?”

“Lift the bench section of the couch behind the cockpit.” He told her.

“Women and their new shiny things...” Steven said shaking his head.

“I heard that...” Laura said looking at him with a scowl.

The men looked at her and then each other and shook their heads. “Lock the boat up and let’s go, I want to see the house,” Robert said walking up the gangplank to shore. They piled into the vehicles and drove off for the compound.

Back in Washington DC, Greg Michaels junior was sitting in his apartment a day after attending Svetlana’s memorial service. He was looking at a picture of them standing over the Grand Canyon from their fifth wedding anniversary. He remembered how the week went. They had hiked eighty percent of the trails in the area. They’d been to all the overlooks that rimmed the canyon. He remembered how wonderful it was to be away from everyday life and not have to worry about the mundane details of his life. In truth, he was bored with his life. He liked his job well enough, but the politics of it were wearing on him and he was debating on submitting his resignation and finding something else to do with his life.

Snapping back to reality, he heard the doorbell to his apartment chime. He got up and walked over to open the door. He looked through the peephole and saw that it was his mother. He unlocked and opened the door for her.

Barging her way into his apartment, she started talking to him. “Gregory, you didn’t answer my call after the memorial service or when I called again this morning. I wanted to check on you and see how you’re getting on.”

“Mom, I’m fine, I just wanted...” He started to say but was interrupted by his mother.

“Your father and I think we might have found someone that you might be interested in.” She told him.

“Can I have a day or two, or maybe a week to mourn and get past Svetlana’s death before you start playing power couple matchmaker ... please?” He asked her.

“We’re having dinner with her parents and you’ll be there to meet Megan.” She said completely ignoring his question.

“Megan? Let me guess, she graduated from Columbia or Vassar at or near the top of her class in business management, and her father is contemplating a merger with dad.” He told her.

“So, what if they are? I’ve met Megan and she’s perfectly wonderful and would complement you very well.” She told him.

“Mom, I appreciate the fact you’re already trying to make me happy again. I know Lana was a disappointment to you since she had no family and was only a CPA. But I did love her.” He said almost sarcastically to her.

“You’re right, she was completely beneath you.” His mother told him. “You could have done much better than a simple CPA with no family. And older than you? She was three years older than you Gregory. I told you before that men in your station do ... not ... marry older women. Besides she was a redhead and all wrong for you.”

“Yeah right...” He said quietly to himself.

She stood in front of him and stared at him with a condescending look on her face. “You better snap out of your funk young man. In your job, you can’t afford silly emotions like love, compassion, and empathy. You are an Undersecretary of the United States. You don’t have the luxury of emotions. Your father and I want to see you go far in politics.”

“Wow ... I’ve always thought you were a cold and heartless bitch. Thank you for confirming it for me.” He told her.

She very quickly brought her hand around and slapped her son across the face as hard as she could. “YOU WILL NOT SPEAK TO ME LIKE THAT, I AM YOUR MOTHER!” She forcefully told him.

“Yes mother...” he quietly said to her rubbing his cheek.

“Now...” She said straightening her clothes and looking at herself in the mirror. “Meet us at Kinship at 6:30 this evening for drinks. Your father has a table reserved for 7:30. Do not be late and embarrass us. We want you to make a good impression to Megan and her parents.” She told him.

“I’ll be there ten minutes early as a usual mother.” He said to her.

“Good...” She said kissing him on the cheek. “See you tonight.” She told him as she opened the apartment door and walked out without closing the door.

Gregory stood in the foyer and felt his cheek where his mother slapped him. He was almost in tears that his mother would attack him like that. He closed the door and locked the front door. Walking back to the couch where he was sitting before, he reached into the couch cushions and pulled out his .45 pistol. He put it to the side of his head but couldn’t bring himself to pull the trigger. He started to sob at how weak he really was. “I can’t even do that right...” He said sobbing...

Back in Spain, Robert was walking through the basement of the house and seeing how well the walls were built. Denise and Talitha had paid to have the outer walls lined with spray-in foam insulation, not only to cut back on heating and cooling costs but to cut down on internal thermal signatures. But the basement was heated and cooled by geothermal power. When he got over to the bookshelves that lined the back wall, he looked at a few of the books until he found what he was looking for. He started to pull on the copy of Tolstoy’s War and Peace. Instead of coming off the shelf, an almost inaudible click was heard, and a door swung open in the bookcase. He stepped through the door and looked at the safe room that doubled as an armory. The racks held enough weapons for a rifle platoon and stacked in the corner were crates of ammunition for the rifles. He looked in the other corner behind the door and saw the radios and communications equipment already set up. He walked out closing the door behind him and then upstairs to find Denise. He looked outside and saw her lying by the pool.