Chapter 29

I knocked on the door before entering. "Anya, it's me and I'm alone." I called out then turned the knob and walked in.

I waved back in the direction I'd come from.

"Someone might want to go give his bodyguard a hand. He's somewhat confused and hasn't called the paramedics yet."

Davenport nodded to his young admin guy, who rushed out. I took his seat.

"One down, three to go." I said.

"Three? Who's the third?" the new acting DCI asked me.

"The person at Walter Reed who admitted our two assassins."

"When do you want to take care of that?" Dr. Wills asked.

"Now would be fine with me. Get it over with quickly. No killing this time though. A permanent mental breakdown should be more than sufficient. If you could have Mr. Jones drive Anya and I over there, I should be able to clean that up in less than twenty minutes and we can head right back."

Dr. Wills said he'd let Mr. Jones know and he'd be waiting for Anya and I in front of the building. I got up and held my hands out to the blond woman. She handed me the M-16. I pulled the clip, jacked back the charging handle, expelled the round, reinserted the clip and flipped the switch to the safety position and set it down next to the door.

I opened the door and Anya walked thru ahead of me. "I'll hang on to the pistols for the time being. I'll leave them with Mr. Jones once we're in the vehicle." I said over my shoulder and pulled the door shut.

Anya and I walked out into the reception area where paramedics were loading the body of the Director onto a gurney. The bodyguard and the young administrator stood side by side watching. Their eyes turned to Anya and I as we walked past, heading towards the elevator. The bodyguard began reaching under his jacket for his concealed pistol. The young man put his hand on the man's very large arm and whispered quickly. I smiled at them as we moved past, the smile on my face never reaching my eyes which were locked on the bodyguard. He stopped reaching and let his arm fall to his side.

We waited for the elevator car.

"Anya, are you hungry or thirsty?" I asked the blond in the orange jumpsuit.

"Yes sir." she replied.

I frowned to myself. "Do you need to use the bathroom?"

"Yes sir."

She had turned and was watching behind us, keeping an eye on the paramedics and the two CIA men next to them.

Jeezus... how badly had I screwed this woman up?

"Anya, listen to me very carefully. Your job is to protect me. To do that properly you have to take care of your body. If you're hungry or thirsty, tell me. If you have to use the restroom, tell me. If you're hurt, tell me. I don't want you to kill yourself or damage yourself unnecessarily. Understand me?"

She was silent for a few seconds. "I understand you sir... I think."

"Anya, your life has meaning to me. You are not just a weapon to be used and discarded. Not by me or anyone else."

The elevator opened and we got on. As the doors closed, she looked up at me.

"I need to use the restroom very badly sir." she said.

"Okay. We'll find one for you when we get off on the first floor. And when we get to the hospital, we'll stop and get you something to eat and drink."

"Thank you."

"And my name is Ike. You don't have to keep calling me 'sir'."

She thought about that for a few more seconds. "Thank you... Ike."

"You're welcome, Anya."

When we stepped off the elevator I looked around and saw a set of doors marked as restrooms and we headed towards them. I leaned against the wall.

"Go ahead, I'll wait right here for you." I said.

She seemed anxious. "I can't protect you if I'm in there and you're out here."

I smiled and linked with the woman. I fed her a stream of reassurance and relaxation.

"I'll be fine. I can take care of myself for a few minutes. If anything happens I'll come inside and get you."

She nodded and went inside.

'Looks like you're going to spend more time taking care of her than the other way around.'

"So it would seem."

'I wonder what your ladies are going to think when they meet her.'

"That makes two of us. Izzy and Peggy will probably enjoy learning what she can teach them. Lilly's going to be harder to convince."

'That isn't what I meant.'

"I know."

'She'll have to move in with you.'

"Yeah... I really didn't think this thru too well."

'Face facts... you fucked up by the numbers.'

"Yeah. And if I could undo what I've done, would it make things worse?"

'She would have killed you. She wanted to kill you. It's what she was trained for.'

"Maybe, if I'd taken more time... been less angry, less vindictive..."

'Sometimes there aren't any good choices.'

"I guess." It still didn't make me feel any better about what I'd done. Or less guilty.

I looked around and saw Anya standing next to me, watching carefully.

"You were talking to yourself. In two different voices."

I nodded. "Yeah, I do that sometimes."

"It's... interesting."

"It's annoying is what it is. All set?"

"Yes."

"Good, let's go find our ride then."

We walked out into the main lobby, past the unmanned metal detectors and outside, where Mr. Jones was waiting for us in the SUV. Anya climbed into the seat next to Mr. Jones and I got into the back.

"Dr. Wills said you wanted to go to Walter Reed. Looking for your other mole?"

"Yeah. I want to end this part quickly so we can concentrate on our congressional problems. Oh, I promised Dr. Wills and the acting DCI that I'd turn these over to you." I said, handing him the pair of pistols I'd been carrying.

"Acting DCI? Ahhhh... I see. Was it fast?"

"Faster than he deserved. The medical examiner will probably call it a stroke."

"Good riddance. The man was a political hack; didn't know a damn thing about how to run an operation like this. Davenport would have been a much better choice, but he's a career agent and politically unacceptable."

"Well, with a little luck we can influence their next choice. Hell, my Colonel in Saudi could run this place better."

Mr. Jones put the pistols away in the hollowed out center armrest between himself and Anya, shifted into drive and pulled away from the curb.

"If he has any kind of practical Intelligence experience there isn't much chance Congress would ever approve him to be DCI. They might let him be Ambassador to some rinky-dink third world country though."

I grinned slightly. "Just imagine how happy they're gonna be when they find out about me."

"I'm looking forward to seeing it. I'll be upfront with you... I thought the Doc was nuts offering you his job. At first anyway. But the men I sent along with you when you went home had nothing but praise for the way you handled yourself and the situatition. Everything I've seen with my own eyes confirms what they told me, and then some. You may be young, and you undoubtedly still have a lot to learn, but I think you'll do well when the time comes."

"Thank you, Mr. Jones. But let's hope that time comes many years from now."

We arrived at Walter Reed and Mr. Jones parked the SUV in the back lot. We entered thru the basement and stopped off in the small cafeteria to get Anya something to eat and drink. While she gobbled down sandwiches and soda, we drank coffee.

"Who do you think your mole is?" he asked me, between sips from the styrofoam cup in his hand.

"I honestly don't know for sure. I know who I hope it isn't, but I won't let that stop me from finding who it is."

"I didn't figure it would. You have a rather strong sense of purpose. Once you get going and it's like trying to stop a snow plow with streamers of crepe paper."

I smiled slightly. "No one's ever put it quite that way, but I wouldn't say you were wrong."

By the time Anya had eaten her fill it was nearly 4 P.M. The three of us walked down the hall to the elevators and took the car up to the seventh floor.

"Mr. Jones, would you keep an eye one the elevators? Do you know Captain Rossi by sight?" He said he did. "Right, don't let him or Colonel DeBerg leave. Anya and I are going to see if we can find them."

The two of us went around the corner to the row of offices and I knocked on Colonel DeBerg's door.

"Come in!" a muffled voice called out.

I opened the door and Anya followed me in. I shut the door and Anya stood in front of it while I took a seat in front of the Colonel's desk.

He'd been reading the contents of a manila file and hadn't looked up when we came in. I linked with him and paid close attention to his heart rate.

"Yes? What is it?" he muttered absently, leafing thru the pages in the folder.

"Good afternoon, Colonel. How've you been?"

His emotions reeked of puzzlement and minor irritation. He lifted his eyes from the folder and peering over his reading glassed, saw me sitting there in front of him.

He was happy to see me. Relieved, concerned, pleased and very happy. His heart rate increased slightly, but my own was pounding. What a load off my mind. I really did not want it to be him.

"Ike, how are you? Where the hell have you been? I heard you were injured downtown and were in the ICU and then later I was told you'd disappeared, along with Lilly and Peg."

I grinned. "I'm fine. Yes, I was hit by a car and in the ICU. The CIA was going to move me to a safe house, but I got... re-directed, along with my sister, Lilly and Peggy. The girls are good; they are in protective custody right now. In fact, we'd like to invite you out to the house so you can see for yourself how they are."

Colonel DeBerg looked over and saw Anya standing in front of the door.

"Don't I know you, young lady? You are one of our newer patients, aren't you?"

Anya looked at me for guidance.

"Colonel, this is Anya. She was, or rather is, a CIA field agent. She, along with a man who was ex-CIA, were put on the ward in the guise of patients. They were here to kill me."

Colonel DeBerg's mouth dropped open for a brief moment. He regained his composure and shut it with a snap.

"Someone on my staff falsified their files and records. There's a spy here?"

"You're quicker than I was. It took me a couple of days and a long talk with Anya to figure that out. Yes, you have a spy on your staff. That's why we're here. We're going to find who it is and shut them up."

He sat back and removed his glasses. "You said Anya here was sent to kill you? Who sent her, and why isn't she trying to kill you now? I'm afraid I'm more than a little confused."

I nodded. "It's very confusing. The semi-short version is like this: The Director of the CIA loaned Anya and a man named MacGruder to a U.S. Senator, who is also in league with a Congressman. The Senator and Congressman sit on sub-committees that have oversight of Dr. Walls' department. Neither of them wants me to become his deputy. The Congressman is the one who arranged to have me taken from the ICU and the girls snatched from CIA custody. The Senator had her spy on your staff play fast and loose with the records so Anya and MacGruder could be put on the Ward as patients and be in position to kill me. Their plans must have been thrown off somewhat by my trip home, so the first shot they had was the weekend trip downtown with the rest of the patients. MacGruder is the one who hit me with the car. I realized before we left that something wasn't right with the pair of them, but I assumed that they were Dr. Walls' people keeping an eye on me. While I was in the ICU it occurred to me that I might lose Anya and any chance of finding out who had sent her, so I came up here, captured her and turned her over to Mr. Jones for safe keeping. That night I was taken out of the ICU by the Congressman's people who were masquerading as Dr. Walls' people and taken to a farm house down around Spotsylvania, along with Izzy, Lilly and Peggy. We escaped, came back up here to CIA headquarters and have been in hiding since then. This morning Anya told me about the Senator and the CIA Director's involvement, and I made her my personal bodyguard in the process."