The Athena Project

CHAPTER 11

DENVER, COLORADO

As far as geeks went, Vicki Suffolk could have done worse; much worse. At least Ben Matthews was a halfway decent-looking geek. One of those Colorado guys into road biking, mountain biking, and backcountry skiing, he had a killer body, and that helped boost him from a seven to a solid eight in her eyes. Not that his rating on a one-to-ten scale mattered. Matthews was simply a means to end.

“So?” Suffolk asked as he poured her a glass of wine. She was sitting on a stool at the kitchen counter of his loft wearing jeans and an almost see-through peasant blouse. “What are we celebrating?”

At twenty-five, Vicki was about four years younger than he. They had met in a café not far from her apartment. It was one of the free wi-fi places she used so that her internet traffic couldn’t be reliably traced. She had noticed him a few times before, but she noticed everyone when she walked into a room, just like she noticed where all the exits were. It was simply how she had been trained. But it was the book he was reading on one particular visit to the café that had caught her attention. The title was very interesting, American Conspiracies: Lies, Lies, and More Dirty Lies That the Government Tells Us by Jesse Ventura. She filed it away in her mind and did nothing about it, until the next time she saw him. By then, she had read the same book, as well as four more listed in the bibliography, from cover to cover.

He appeared to be a creature of habit, always sitting at the same table in the corner, away from the windows and most of the bustle of the café. He struck her as a bit of a loner, which made him an even more perfect mark.

On the day she had set to make her move, Suffolk arrived at the café earlier than usual. When she got there, she took a table in the same corner and discreetly baited her trap.

Twenty minutes later, Ben Matthews walked in, ordered his usual large coffee, and sat down at his usual table.

Vicki had dressed down for the occasion; a lot more geek than chic. Her long, black hair was pulled back in a ponytail and she was wearing glasses. She had on a tight black sweater and jeans.

She didn’t need to look up to know he was looking at her. She had noticed him checking her out before. He might have been a loner, but he was still a man and he definitely found her attractive.

Looking over at him, she asked, “Can I help you with something?”

Matthews immediately dropped his eyes. “No.”

“There must be something you want, because you haven’t stopped looking at me since you sat down.”

“Actually,” he said, “I was looking at one of your books.”

Suffolk had a couple of conspiracy theory books, a notepad, and her open laptop on the table in front of her. “What about my books?” she asked.

Ben pointed to one of them, The Mammoth Book of Cover-Ups. “I read that one about a year ago. It absolutely opened my eyes to what’s going on in the government.”

She reached over and picked up the book he was referring to. It was one of the titles listed in the bibliography of the book she had seen him reading. “This one?”

He nodded.

“It’s not bad,” she replied. “I think Jesse Ventura’s book was better, though.”

“You’ve read Ventura’s book?” he exclaimed. “I’m reading him right now.”

Suffolk smiled and, thawing the frostiness in her voice, said, “Now that was an eye-opener.”

Pointing to the chair across from her, Ben replied, “Do you mind?”

Suffolk invited him to sit and with that, she had him hooked. Matthews fell for her instantly.

From just that one book she had seen him reading, she had learned everything she needed to know about him. He was perfect for her plan.

Now, sitting at his kitchen counter with a glass of wine, Vicki hoped he had good news for her.

“Ben,” she said. “You’re killing me. What are we celebrating?”

Matthews smiled.

Vicki looked at him, her eyes widening. “You got it?”

Nodding, he reached into his back pocket and pulled out his new Transportation Security Administration credentials.

“You got it!” she squealed, throwing her arms around his neck. “You got the promotion!”

Ben laughed. “Can you believe it?”

“Of course I can. They should have promoted you a while ago.”

“I don’t know about that,” he said. “I haven’t been there that long. But pretty cool, considering it all started over a random box of pizza.”

Suffolk smiled to herself. There was nothing random about it. The TSA was so hard up for employees that they had actually started advertising on pizza boxes. She had picked the pizza delivery place on purpose. Everything she did she did for a reason.

The TSA ad was the perfect segue for suggesting that Ben take a job at Denver International Airport. If he could get wide enough security clearance, Vicki Suffolk would be only steps away from the most innovative attack the United States had ever seen.

“You know what this means, don’t you?” she said.

Ben nodded, and an even bigger smile spread across his face. “Lots more airport access.”

Vicki stole a glance at her watch. This was a huge development, and she needed to let her handler know. None of them had expected Ben to get promoted this quickly. But now that he had, they needed to decide what their next move was going to be. They were finally going to have someone who could get all the way inside the airport.

“Earth to Vicki,” Ben said, waving his wineglass in front of her. “Are we going to toast or what?”

“Absolutely,” she said, getting control of her thoughts. “Here’s to your promotion.”

“Here’s to our exposé on what the government is really doing beneath Denver International.”

They clinked glasses and as she drank, all she could think about was getting out of there and reporting in. She hadn’t seen her handler in weeks. They’d communicated, but he hadn’t wanted to meet in person. He’d said it was too dangerous. But with this development, he’d have to meet with her. At least that’s what she hoped.

“So, I think we should go out and celebrate tonight. That is, unless you’d rather stay in,” Ben said, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

There were multiple motivations that could be played upon when recruiting someone to spy-money, sex, ideology, excitement, and coercion were the primaries. If you could hit on one of those when recruiting someone, you were good, but if you could hit on more than one, you were golden, and the subject would do anything you wanted. Vicki Suffolk had recruited Ben Matthews based upon his distrust of his own government and had cemented his loyalty to her through sex.

She hadn’t been able to figure him out at first. Any other man would have jumped at the chance to sleep with her. Secretly, she had suspected he might be gay. But then she started to worry that perhaps he was playing her. The night the thought had popped into her mind, though, Ben had taken her to bed and he had been eating out of the palm of her hand ever since.

Vicki set her wineglass on the counter. “Actually, tonight wouldn’t be the best of nights to celebrate, if you know what I mean.”

“Why? Are you going out with somebody else?”

Vicki slapped Ben playfully across the shoulder. “Honestly.”

Ben was not an expert on female anatomy, but Vicki Suffolk had the most erratic menstrual cycle of any woman he’d ever met. “I understand,” he said. “We don’t have to have sex. We can just go out and have a good time. Or we can order in and watch a movie.”

“One of my professors has evening office hours tonight. I told you about it a couple of days ago. Remember my dissertation?”

Posing as a grad student at the University of Denver was part of her cover, and the dissertation had been her go-to excuse for everything.

“Maybe you can come by after?” he said. He sure hoped so. Vicki Suffolk was one of the most sexually adventurous women he had ever been with. Until her, he had considered himself pretty straitlaced, but she had unlocked something wild in him and he couldn’t get enough of her.

Vicki laughed and kissed him as she stood up. “We’ll see what happens. I’ll text you later.”

“That’s it?” he complained. “You’re going? You haven’t even finished your wine.”

Vicki kissed him again.

“Okay, okay,” said Ben, kissing her back. “I don’t have any plans to go out, so you can text me as late as you want.”

Vicki was halfway to the door already when she said, “We’ll see, okay?”

“Right,” he said, a bit dejectedly. “Drive safely.”

“I will,” she told him as she reached the door.

“Love you,” Ben said as the door closed. He had no idea whether she had heard him.

Crossing the living room, he looked out the peephole to make sure the hallway was clear. Stepping away from the door, he pulled out his cell phone and dialed the number of someone he had very purposefully not told Vicki about.

“She’s gone,” he said as a voice answered on the other end. “When can we meet?”