The Target

Chapter 7

Evan Tucker stared across at her. They were in a SCIF at Langley. Technically, Langley was one big SCIF, or Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, but Tucker had become paranoid and had demanded an extra layer of protection from prying eyes and ears at keyholes.

Tucker’s waist had thickened over the last month and his hair had turned whiter. In fact, he seemed to have aged even more since his meeting with the president in the Situation Room complex.

Amanda Marks looked back at him.

“So it’s a go?” asked Tucker. “I told the president it was.”

“They both agreed to it, so I’d say yes. It’s a go.”

“Like they had a choice,” muttered Tucker.

“Well, they did. It just wasn’t much of one.”

“And you have eyes on them now, just in case? They’re slippery, Marks, trust me. I speak from experience.”

“I’m sure you do, sir. To tell the truth, we lost them for a bit this evening. It seems they wanted a quiet word with one another.”

Tucker came halfway out of his seat. “You lost them?” he exclaimed.

“Only temporarily, Director. They went their separate ways and we regained surveillance. Robie is at his apartment and Reel is staying at a hotel.”

“Don’t let that happen again. You have carte blanche in the way of assets to throw at this sucker, Marks. Do what you have to do. But do not lose them again.”

“Understood. And now a question for you, Director?”

“I’m listening.”

“What outcome do you want on this exactly?”

“They’re going to the Burner Box.”

Marks nodded, crossed her legs, and placed her hands in her lap. “I understand that. But what exactly is the endgame here?”

“You put them through their paces. You put them through their paces hard. I want to see if they still have it. And I’m not simply talking about shooting straight and kicking someone’s ass. By what they just accomplished I have little doubt they’re fully qualified there, but I don’t want that personal assessment to cause you to let up on them one iota, Amanda.”

“Rest assured, it will not. I was a trainer at the Burner for two years. I do not let up on anyone, most of all myself.”

“What I’m most concerned about,” began Tucker, “is what’s going on up here.” He tapped his head. “You know what Reel did?”

“I know the allegations.”

“They’re not allegations,” he snapped. “They’re facts. She’s admitted to them.”

“Yes, sir,” she said quickly.

“And Robie was sent after her, disobeyed orders, and joined forces with her. Under any other scenario they would both be in prison right now. Hell, Reel should be executed for treason.”

“Granted that, sir. But the men she killed, weren’t they also traitors?”

“That was never proven. That is an allegation, but from a less than trustworthy source.”

“My apologies. I spoke with APNSA Potter and—”

“Potter just came on board and doesn’t even know where the damn bathrooms are in the White House. He’s the national security advisor, Marks. He works for the president. You, you work for me.”

“Indisputably,” she replied. “Which gets me back to what you want to accomplish here.”

“If they pass the Burner they’ll be deployed on a mission that is currently shaping up. It is a mission to end all missions, and I have to know that they’re ready for it, because there is no margin for error.”

She looked at him curiously. “We have lots of teams that can do those sorts of missions.”

“I told the president we were vetting Robie and Reel for it. And that’s what we’re going to do.”

“And do you want them to pass the Burner, sir?”

Tucker looked at her warily. “That’s not up to me. Either they pass it or not. It’s up to them.”

“If you say so, sir.”

Tucker took off his glasses, laid them on the table, and rubbed his eyes. “But just so we make this as clear as possible, you are to stretch them to their absolute limits. And then you are to keep going. If you can break them, break them. If you can, they’re of no use to me in the field. They will not qualify for this mission. I have a Plan B standing by just in case.”

“It’s not a question of if. I can break anyone, Director.”

“One reason I selected you for this task.”

“And made me the DD?”

“Hand in hand.” He tapped his head and then his hand dipped to his chest. “Those are what count, Amanda, the head and the heart. If they’re not with us, with me, then they are against us. Against me. I cannot have agents going rogue, I don’t give a shit what reasons or grievances they have. Rogues cause international incidents. International incidents can get this country embroiled in unnecessary conflicts. That will not happen on my watch.”

“But it seems that they acted to avoid just such an international incident,” said Marks. “And they succeeded. I think that’s why they have such powerful allies, starting with the man in the Oval Office.”

“I’m quite aware of that, thank you. But your friend today can be your foe tomorrow. It all depends on what happens on the ground.”

“And conditions on the ground can be dictated, as I’m sure you are aware.”

“You just do your job and see how it shakes out.”

“And no preference?”

“If they pass they get the mission. It’ll be the most difficult one they’ve ever attempted so they might die trying. And if they don’t pass the Burner, well, that’s their problem.”

Marks rose. “Understood, sir.”

“Do you really understand?”

She looked taken aback by this. “I’m on your side, Director.”

“I thought others were on my side too, but it appears they weren’t.”

“I’m not sure who you’re referring to. I just arrived on the scene and—”

“That will be all, Marks. I want hourly reports on how my protégés are doing. Make sure I get them.”

“Consider it done, sir.” She turned and left.

As soon as the door was closed Tucker rose and poured himself a drink from the small bar in a cabinet behind his desk. A bar behind a desk at CIA seemed very Cold War-ish. But he didn’t care. With this job one needed a belt of booze every once in a while. Well, perhaps more often than that.

He envisioned having to stand up at an AA meeting one night and say, I’m Evan Tucker. My job is to keep all Americans safe. And I’m a raging alcoholic.

He sat back behind his desk.

There were forces aligned against him here, he was aware of that. Someone had tipped off Reel and Robie about the mission in Syria. Forewarned, they had taken advantage of that intelligence and escaped a fate that they shouldn’t have. Someone here had done that. Tucker had suspicions of who that might be. But he needed more than suspicions. And he aimed to get it.

Along with two rogue agents.

He stared at the doorway that Amanda Marks had walked through a few minutes before.

He had brought her here principally because she had the reputation of being both a ball buster and a company person through and through. He hoped that she lived up to that rep. If not, she would be assigned to a place in the middle of nowhere, with no possibility of ever getting back.

But he didn’t really care about her. His fixation was Robie and Reel. Jessica Reel was in his crosshairs. She was the trigger woman on his former DD and an analyst whom she had shot in the back.

Illegal. Treasonous. Unforgivable.

Tucker didn’t care what her reasons were. That was why they had courts and judges and juries. And executioners. Reel had taken it upon herself to be all of those things. Then she had jumped right to the execution part. For that she had been allowed to walk free and even given a medal.

That stark injustice made Tucker seethe.

Well, he was not without influence or resources. He would use both to make sure that the appropriate punishment was meted out to her. And Robie too, if he was idiotic enough to stick with her.

The fact was, Tucker knew that he would likely be resorting to his Plan B on the upcoming mission. The odds were very high that Robie and Reel were not going to make it out of the Burner Box. So if justice could not prevail in a court of law, it would still triumph somewhere in the wilderness of North Carolina.

Tucker knew that he was staking everything on this. The mission he was engaged in with General Pak would be the pinnacle of his career. Or the catalyst for his downfall. For what they were proposing to do was quite illegal, even if the president had signed off on it. Tucker had not believed that the current occupant of the Oval Office had the cojones to make that sort of call. But the president had surprised Tucker and done so. Now the die was cast. There was no going back.

In a perfect world, the mission would succeed and Robie and Reel would be history.

A perfect world. The only problem was, his world was about as imperfect as it could possibly be.

He cradled his drink, took a sip, and sat back. Another long day of keeping everyone safe. It was a dirty, filthy business, what he did. And no one involved in it was anything other than filthy.

Including me, thought Evan Tucker. Most of all, me.