Chapter 19

(If you haven’t read the story Calm like a Bomb, this chapter won’t make very much sense.)

“I wonder what this room used to look like before they painted it this crappy shade of grey?” Simone Atkinson asked her husband.

“I don’t know, but whoever did it should never work here again. Look at the splotches and runs on the wall.” He pointed out to her. Mike walked over to the head of the table. Sitting down, he smiled.

“Childhood dream?” Simone asked.

Speaking in a voice resembling the current president, Mike spoke. “You’re fired. Get the hell out of my building before I turn the dogs loose.”

Simone laughed and sat on the table next to him. “I still love to watch the YouTube videos of the people he fired on that show.” She told him talking about the TV show “The Apprentice.”

Mike and Simone both stood as the door to the conference room opened and a woman with dark hair walked in. “Hello, I’m Michelle Viscazi, Director Richard’s PA. Did you have a good flight to Virginia?” She said shaking their hands.

Simone looked at Mike and then spoke “I won’t complain about the trip, we’ve never been on a Gulfstream before.”

“It is a nice plane; I’ve flown on it a couple times myself. If you’re ready, would you please follow me?” Michelle asked them. They got out of the conference room and walked into the staff section of the building. They stopped in front of another office as Michelle ran her badge through the scanner. The door clicked and they all walked inside. Mike noticed that there was 2 men and woman monitoring what looked to be video cameras for the staff area. “Can I have your badges to sign you in please?” Handing them to her, Michelle gave them to one of the officers who logged them in. “Staff security monitoring for the big wigs. After the Petreus debacle, the new director had this whole thing put in. it monitors the hallways, unsecure phones, and electronics.” Michelle opened another door and held it open for them. “This way please.” They walked into what looked a sealed conference room. Simone and Mike looked around at the surroundings. Another door at the other end of the room opened and Directors Richards, Haspel, and Wray walked in.

“Mike, how are you?” Hank said walking over to him.

“Not too shabby these days, thanks. Far cry from the office they had you in 8 years ago.” Mike told him with a smirk as he shook his hand.

“Yeah, I also never have to worry about the air conditioning breaking either.” He looked at Simone. “I’m sorry I never got the chance to meet you before you retired. Henry Richards, your husband and I go back to when I was a field supervisor. Please don’t hold his injuries against me, we had no idea what was waiting for us at the hacienda.”

Simone looked at Mike, puzzled she didn’t know what he was talking about.

“Argentina.” Mike told her.

She wasn’t pleased hearing that but kept her tone neutral. “Pleased to meet you Director.” She said shaking his hand.
“Please call me Hank, I hate formalities.” Turning to Wray and Haspel. “May Introduce the Director of the CIA, Gina Haspel and the Director of the FBI, Christopher Wary.” They shook hands and talked for a moment before
they sat down at the table. Michelle walked over to the wall and pressed the secure button and sealed the conference room.

First thing that happened was Michelle produced Non-Disclosure Agreements for them to sign. Reading over them, Mike and Simone looked at each other and then signed. They handed them back to Michelle and she went and say down next to Hank.

Richards passed two dossier folders to Mike and Simone and started talking. “This is Hanna Symanski. She’s Ukrainian by birth, born in 1979, and immigrated to the US in 2001 where she applied for US citizenship and it was granted in 2003. She’s a licensed therapist working in the DC area. She has a bachelor’s from University of Heidelberg in clinical psych and a master’s from Georgetown in behavioral psych. She’s very successful and has a large client list to include some very well-off people and people with relatives in the government. Her grade point averages from Heidelberg and Georgetown were averaged at 3.99. She lives in Friendship Heights in DC and leases an apartment at Potomac Plaza where she keeps her office. She doesn’t have a PA or even a secretary. Everything to do with her practice, she manages by herself. She’s certified as a social worker, sex and marriage counselor, addiction counselor, as well as a general therapist license.”

“I take it this is who Denise was talking about when I spoke to her on the phone?” Simone asked.

“It is. The subject that gave us the information about her testified that she is a Russian agent.” Hank told her.

“If I may director, the source for this information and the background you have on her ... Another Russian you’ve flipped?” Simone asked.

Director Haspel spoke up. “Half of it is. The subject was involved in an ongoing scam to get charity money from the US into the hands of the Russian intelligence services for payment to terrorists and to be used against the interests of the United States. The rest of the background information came from ongoing FBI investigations.”

“If I may be so bold, Dubai, Qatar, Yemen, or UAE?” Simone asked.

“May I ask how you know about this?” Haspel asked as Richards eyes widened.

“As I’m sure you already know, Mike and I do occasional contract work. Mike was doing security for me when I was overseas working on server security for a particular government when I accidentally ran across a lone application and file that the minister of security kept for national security things. Suffice it to say, there were more than a few things on that server that showed money going in and out and who sent it. Some of the codes were ones that Russian intelligence uses to move money around.” Simone told them.

“You didn’t think about letting us know?” Director Haspel asked.

She looked at Hank first. “My apologies for what I’m about to say, it’s going to come out as petty, but at the end of my explanation, you’ll understand.” He nodded his head knowing where this was going. She looked back at Haspel. “Mike and I love our country, otherwise we wouldn’t have stuck around as long as we did to defend it, please know that.” Simone said to Haspel. Her expression changed to one of disgust when she started talking again. She pointed her finger at Hank. “You and your assholes that were in Argentina with him, almost got my husband killed because you underestimated Solomon and his security. I’ve seen the pictures and read the intelligence from before and after the assault. How could you miss an extra 20 people in a compound that small? Your satellites should have seen the upswing in security. Not to mention all the cars on the ground might have been a dead giveaway about it. Mike spent three weeks in a hospital bed with a punctured lung, a bullet hole his shoulder, and dealing with the subsequent infections that happened. That’s me as a wife to the man I love more than life itself sticking my middle finger up at your agency.” She looked at Haspel. “My professional reasoning is because everything I sent up to your offices to be assessed or sent forward was blown off as inconsequential or pure here say. I had managed to piece together Solomon’s life and how he ran his empire right down to the trips he made to the various vacation spots he went to. And when I met with and gave this to my section chief, he looked at me like I was crazy and told me that he wouldn’t be that stupid to maintain a regular pattern of behavior. I handed him to you on a silver platter, but you blew me off and chose to focus solely on the middle east instead. How many people would have been saved if you had gotten off your collective asses and actively gone after him? I can tell you for sure that it would have been in the thousands. But hey, that’s ok. You keep your heads in the sand and keep going the way you are.”

Simone stopped talking when Mike slid his hand into hers. He looked at Hank. “The last reason is that She and I are professionals, and we don’t work for uncle Sam anymore. Reputations are everything in the contracting world. When we take a job and the client says here’s the NDA, we sign it and stick to it.”

Director Wray leaned over to Haspel and whispered, “Remind me to not EVER piss her off...”

Haspel smiled after hearing that. “Chris you have NO idea.” She whispered to him. She looked back at Simone. “Not to try and get on your good side, but I regularly donate to the scholarship fund of your Lost Vets charity. Everything you’ve done for vets and their families is nothing short of amazing.” She told her with a sly look in her eye.

Simone smiled knowing exactly what she was saying to her. “Thank you for your donations Director, it’s a privilege to help them where we can.”

“Please continue with what you were talking about Director.” Mike said.

“The Russian we flipped was a wealth of knowledge about Symanski. Her business as a VERY high-end escort is lucrative.” She handed them a partial list of names they received from Denise. “This is a few of the names on her client list.”

Mike pointed to that name and both of them laughed. “Didn’t Washington DC just have a problem with the police chief, his assistant chief, and corruption?” he asked.

Simone pointed to another name. “She’s head of the Senate media group ... CEOs from AT&T, Pfizer, Phillips, and Anheuser ... Oh look, the Maryland governor. And you’re telling us this is a PARTIAL list?” Simone asked.

“It is.” Hank told her. “The informant told us that there’s video of some of the encounters of the more ‘connected’ people.”

“How many politicians are on the list?” Mike asked.

“We don’t know for sure how many, but we’re told that there’s many more politicians than business moguls.” Hank answered.

“We’ve tried to hack her servers at her office, but she has no internet connection at work. She has an internet connection at home, but it’s used for streaming television.” Director Wray told her. “We’ve only done a basic investigation so far, but we’re expanding as we find new avenues of information.”

“So, what are you wanting Mike and I to do?” Simone asked.

“In short, we want you and Mike to plan and execute an operation to get her out of circulation and if possible, get her complete client list and anything else you can lay your hands on.” Hank told her.

“I can certainly see how this would be a problem if it got out.” Mike said quietly. “What do you think?” he asked Simone.

“I think I’d like to know why you want everything she has.” Simone asked.

Director Wray spoke up at that point. “I’m going to spare you the ‘National Security’ excuse and unless Directors Haspel and Richards have any objections, I’m going to tell you the unvarnished truth.”

“I think we owe it to them to be as honest as possible, so they have the full picture of what they’re getting into.” Haspel replied.

He paused for a moment to take a drink of water. “The Russian agent we captured was Svetlana Michaels, wife of the Undersecretary of the Interior of the United States. The Michaels family comes from very old money. They can trace their roots to before the Revolutionary War. We know that Svetlana’s target was Michaels senior, but he’s devoted to his wife. So, Michaels junior became the mark. She got in, married him, and for the 10 years they were married, she helped the father launder money and help him to hide assets and protect them from the IRS. When she was captured, she voluntarily told us that Michaels senior is involved in corruption on a scale larger than Al Capone was in the late 20’s. We have examples of at least 5 instances where he inflated his price above the others and was still awarded government contracts. His wife is being investigated for murder for hire, extortion, and assault. When Svetlana came to the US, her handler was working for a group called Linear Solutions...” He paused as Simone looked over at Mike. “You’ve heard the name before?” Wray asked her.

“I have, and I will explain it when you’re finished with your information.” She said politely.

“Good enough ... Linear Solutions we now know is a jumping off point for Russian agents coming into the country. The man that runs it, Sacha Davynskov, is old school KGB and has brought 15 or more foreign agents into the United States. Symanski is one of those agents. Svetlana was friendly with her and they talked at least three times a week, more if she was in DC with her husband. We don’t know if Davynskov is Symanski’s handler or if she’s a single and working on her own mission. We want her captured and everything she has from her client list to every video of who she’s had sex with.” Wray finished telling them.

“Would, now, you please tell us how you know about Linear?” Director Richards asked.

“Solomon used Linear to recruit security and domestics for his properties.” Simone told him.

“Who was your section chief when you were at NAS Rota?” Richards asked shaking his head.

“Neil Stevens.” Simone told him.

Director Wray had a puzzled look on his face trying to figure out where he knew that name from.

“Simone, I can report to you that karma kicked him the ass, hard.” Richards said with a smile. Looking over at Wray, “He was the one that got caught on Air Force One banging the secret service agent in the flight crew area. Also, the agency investigators found three ounces of coke in his desk over the course of the investigation. Suffice it to say, and this is no joke, he’s an assistant manager at Walmart now.”

“I remember that schmuck. He was an Obama fan boy and was more worried about being PC than getting the job done.” Haspel told them. “So, Colonel and Mrs. Atkinson, what’s your opinion about what we’re asking you to do?”

Mike looked at Simone who shrugged her shoulders. “You definitely have a problem. As for what Simone and I can do for you, we’d need a LOT more information on her before we could even plan an op. What’s the time frame you want this done?”

“Two weeks max.” Richards told him.

“Impossible. That’s barely enough time to establish everyday habits, restaurants, bars, or other places she frequents, much less who her friends are. Where does she go to the gym? Does she have a significant other? Does she take the same route home every day, or does she change it up? Is she an introvert or extrovert?” Simone asked him.

“Unless we get lucky and find it or she’s a total idiot and tells us where her information is, there’s no way we could find her client lists. She’s better off being killed in a home invasion and torching her office and home.” Mike told them.

“Of course, if we somehow manage to pull this off, you’ve got another problem. One Russian agent getting killed is an accident. Two Russian agents killed or missing screams conspiracy and will prompt them to take very serious action.” Simone told the directors.

“How about I put you in touch with Katerina Cirillo?” Richards asked.

“Katerina who?” Simone asked.

“Svetlana Michaels is now Katerina Cirillo, Greek national.” Wray told them. “She already told us she’ll answer anything we want to know about her.”

“How would you handle that?” Simone asked.

“Denise would fly down, pick her up, and take her to an Embassy. You can talk to her as long as you want.” Haspel told her.

She looked at Mike who nodded his head. “Can you pull this off in 24 hours?”

“Actually, Denise got to her house this morning.” Richards told her. “I anticipated this happening, so I had her fly out early this morning to meet her. She’ll be calling about 1400 local.”

Simone lifted her eyebrow at Director Richards. “I’m not used to the bosses being THIS proactive, it’s rather ... unnerving.”

Mike chuckled hearing her say that. “Old dogs CAN learn new tricks.”

“Apparently...” She replied.

“It’s a different agency now and we have the support of the executive branch to get the mission finished.” Haspel told her. “We replaced all the previous administration’s problem children with people that were willing to go above and beyond the job.”

“While we’re waiting, the cafeteria usually serves an excellent buffalo burger on Tuesdays.” Director Richards told them...

US Embassy, Bern Switzerland

Denise, David, and Lana were driving through Bern Switzerland. Lana had picked the pair up at the airport in Lyon and they had driven straight through to US Embassy in Bern. Both Denise and David could tell a difference in Lana when they met her in Lyon. Her whole demeanor had changed, and she was noticeably more relaxed than she had been when she was in Spain.

“I cannot explain it other than to say that for the first time since I was 10, I feel free to be myself and not worry about much of anything.” She told them.

“You look better, how’s your ankle?” David asked.

“I took Robert’s advice and am using intervals to get back to where I can run again. It still aches if I push it too hard, but I am pleased with the progress. I am planning on hiking the Pas du Riot the month after next if everything goes well.” Lana told him.

“That’s a beautiful mountain trail, you’ll enjoy it.” Denise told her.

“You have been there before?”

“I have. I took two weeks leave and hiked the whole thing. It was the best thing I could have done to unwind and relax mentally.” Denise told her. “Another one I did was the Cretes du Jara near Geneva. If you like mountains, that’s the one you want to hike.”

“What part of the year did you walk it?” David asked.

“I did it in July, and I STILL had to bring cold weather gear with me. It gets cold on top of the Alps, even in July.” Denise told him.

“I will pack accordingly, thank you for the information.” Lana told her.

As they got closer to the Embassy, Denise made a phone call.

“JJ, it’s Denise; we’re about three blocks from the embassy ... Ok, see you in a few minutes.” She said hanging up. “Sorry to do it, but we need to change drivers.”

“It is not a problem; I would like to stay off surveillance cameras as much as possible.” Lana said pulling over to the curb.

“Where are we going?” David asked.

“We’re meeting the station chief at the dignitary gate in the rear.” She told him.

David held his pinky finger up. “Oooo, VIP treatment, we’re fancy now.”

Lana chuckled. “Does this mean that we get to have dinner with the Ambassador?”

“No, but I think they have a ‘I visited the US Embassy in Switzerland’ t-shirt for us as we leave.” Denise replied.

As they pulled up to the check point, the Marines on duty walked over to the car. She rolled all the windows down and handed him all their passports and ID badges. “Please step out of the car for a moment.” He asked. Lana flipped the hood of her sweatshirt up and they all got out while the dog checked for contraband or bombs. “Thank you, please return to your vehicle and give us a moment to get you logged in.” He told them as they got back into the car. The Marine NCO came back and handed them their ID’s and told them they could proceed. “Mr. Jacobs is waiting for you to the left about 100 yards ahead. Thank you, Captain,” he said saluting.

Denise returned the salute. “Semper Fi devil dog.” She heard him reply with ‘hoorah’ and walked back to his post. They drove into the parking garage and saw Jonathan Jacobs standing by the building entrance.

“Long time, no see Denise. How’s things”? The CIA station chief asked her.

“No complaints JJ. Allow me to introduce David Miller from the FBI, and Katerina Cirillo.” She replied.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you both.” He said shaking their hands. He looked at Katerina. “Greek?” he asked her.

“Thessaloniki, good guess.” She told him thickening her accent more than usual.

“How’s your family JJ?” Denise asked.

“John Jr and Anna both love Switzerland and plan to attend college here. Both are in the top 20% of their classes. John wants to study history and be a college professor. Anna spent some time volunteering at the hospital after I divorced their mother, and now wants to be a nurse.”

“I told you they’d thrive here.” Denise told him.

“Speaking of their mother, Miranda came close to marrying a stockbroker in New York but was dumped right before the wedding when he found why I divorced her.” He replied. Denise laughed as David and Lana looked on, puzzled.

“She tried that cuckhold shit with him too huh?” Denise asked.

“Yup.” JJ told her. “He had paid to have her crap packed up and FedEx-ed to her parents’ house in Iowa while she was at work. He jerked his grandmother’s engagement ring off her finger when she got home and then had the police escort her out of the apartment building.” JJ said chuckling. “But you’re not here to shoot the shit, so let’s get you to the SCIF and set up for your call to Langley.” They walked into the Embassy to the main elevators. JJ swiped his ID badge and typed in a code on the keypad. The elevator took them to the sub-basement where the SCIF was. They all produced IDs and were logged in.

“When you get inside, hit the red button by the door frame and it will seal you in. The communications section already has your call scheduled, so you don’t have to do anything but wait till it connects. Have security page me when you’re finished, and I’ll buy dinner.” JJ said as they walked into the SCIF. Denise closed the door and hit the button to seal them in.