Polar Quest

23

Roxanne Tao stepped off the elevator onto the seventh floor of the CIA’s original headquarters building. Dressed in a conservative gray suit, her long black hair drawn back with an ornamental clasp, Tao looked more like a vendor making a sales call on an important client than one of the agency’s deep-cover agents.

‘I have an appointment with DCI Barnett,’ Tao announced curtly at the desk of Jackson Barnett’s executive assistant.

Sally Kirsch looked up from her computer screen and glanced at the photo ID clipped to Tao’s lapel. ‘Please have a seat, Ms Tao. The director will be with you in a moment.’

Tao glanced at Kirsch’s multiline phone to see if the Director of Central Intelligence was talking with someone. All the lights were dark. She turned away and sat in the reception area to await her audience.

During her career as an agent, she had spent most of her time in the field gathering intelligence. She had trained at the Farm, as did everyone who worked in the field, and had certainly visited the portion of the Langley campus that housed the Directorate of Operations, but this was her first trip to the hallowed seventh floor.

Tao was more annoyed than anxious over her summons to the DCI’s office. She viewed much of what happened in the agency outside operations as bureaucracy — a necessary evil, but one to be avoided whenever possible.

‘The director will see you now,’ Kirsch said after the clock in the lower right corner of her computer screen reached 2:30 P.M.

Kirsch stood, opened the door she guarded, and lead Tao into the office. Barnett stood at his desk looking over a stack of files.

‘These are ready to go back, Sally,’ Barnett said, handing the files to Kirsch. ‘Ms Tao, I’m so pleased to finally meet you.’

Tao shook Barnett’s hand. ‘And I you, Mr Barnett.’

‘Let’s sit over here,’ Barnett said, indicating a pair of leather chairs arranged around a coffee table. ‘Can we get you anything?’

‘No, thank you, I’m fine. Why did you want to see me?’

‘Straight to business, very well. You are here because the Deputy Director of Operations, a man for whom I have the utmost respect, has informed me of your demand for reassignment back in the field.’

‘Yes, and the DDO has refused my request,’ Tao said bitterly. ‘He feels my talents are better utilized at the Farm training new agents.’

‘He’s right. I prefer to have people with real-world experience teaching the youngsters. Who better to knock those James Bond fantasies out of their heads and show them how to survive than someone who has been there.’

‘I am not a school teacher,’ Tao protested. ‘I am a field agent.’

‘You were a field agent, Ms Tao. One of our finest.’

‘Then why won’t you put me back where I belong?’

‘Because it would be a fatal mistake.’

‘You don’t know that.’

‘You were an illegal in China for over six years. Surviving in deep cover that long is an astonishing achievement, but you can never go back there.’

‘All I need is new papers, a new identity.’

Barnett shook his head. ‘We were lucky to get you out alive. The MSS played one of your operatives against you. Your cover was blown completely. They have your old identity papers, photographs of you, your fingerprints. You are a fugitive and an enemy of state. That kind of interest by the opposition makes it impossible to recycle you.’

‘What about the rest of my network?’ Tao asked. ‘Chun knew only the one cell.’

‘We are cautiously trying to reestablish contact, but it’s dangerous for them and for us,’ Barnett admitted. ‘It will take years to replace your operation, but sending you back will make things worse. Miss Tao, your career in the People’s Republic of China is over.’

Tao stifled a mix of rage and sorrow as she listened to Barnett’s pronouncement. She’d left too many behind, not just agents but regular people whom she had encountered over the years — friends and even a lover. People who had no part in her work but were now seen as suspect by their government, as somehow contaminated by their innocent contact with her.

‘I have given your situation some thought,’ Barnett continued, ‘and I have a proposition for you. A new assignment.’

‘Let me guess,’ Tao said sarcastically. ‘Analysis: West Africa desk.’

As soon as she said it, Tao knew she’d crossed the line with Barnett.

‘If that’s what you’d like, I can arrange it.’

‘No, sir,’ Tao replied, her tone more respectful. ‘What do you have in mind?’

‘A job in the private sector.’

‘You’re firing me?’

‘Reassigning you,’ Barnett corrected her. ‘The agency doesn’t have the best track record predicting changes in technology. Commercial research and development is so liquid that we, as outsiders, have no way of keeping abreast of sudden developments. To address this shortcoming, we created a small company in Silicon Valley. Its a private entity that invests in high-tech firms, works with universities, and forms joint ventures to help the agency keep up with new ideas.’

‘I’m not an investment banker.’

‘This is real intelligence work, and I think you are ideally suited for it. The difference here is that you’ll operate in the open.’ Barnett could sense Tao’s resistance. ‘If you want to stay with the agency, it’s either this or the Farm. The choice is yours.’

‘Some choice,’ Tao said resignedly. ‘When do you want me in California?’

‘The job I have in mind for you isn’t in California, it’s in Michigan.’

‘Michigan? What’s in Michigan?’

Barnett ignored the question. ‘I want you to open a branch office of this company in Ann Arbor. Initially, it will just be you. There’s a man there I want you to meet. He has no formal ties to the agency, but he’s worked with us a couple of times, and I think you’ll find him to be a valuable resource.’