CHAPTER2
CLANDESTINE CONVERSATIONS
JACE
Iglance toward the restaurant asItake off my suit coat and lay it in the back seat of my car.ThenIremove my tie and add it to the backseat, too.Therestaurant is nice, and although most— if not all— of the men in there will be wearing suits, they aren’t required.
Withas nervous as my asset typically is, my goal is to make him feel calm and not intimidated.Mygoal isn’t for me to fit in, soIleave the suit behind.Fouryears ago,Iwas on a mission inCaracasthat hinged on me turning an asset and getting vital information from him.Ihadn’t learned that lesson yet, and it didn’t end well.
Iundo the button at my neck asCharlie, who is both my sister and my handler, says into my earpiece, “Okay,Giannajust called the asset’s wife.She’spretending to be someone in finance at the wife’s work, trying to file a budget report by a deadline, and panicked because she needs some info from the wife.Thatshould get her to step out of the restaurant at any minute.Because, really, who’s going to want to talk budgets and finance with an audience?Well, who wants to talk about that ever, really.”
“Charlie.”
“Goingsilent.”
Ishut my car door and head toward the restaurant. “Isee her,”Isay just barely loud enough forCharlieto hear.Ibrush past the middle-aged woman in the deep blue dress who just stepped out of the restaurant, a phone to her ear, looking a little stressed and a lot annoyed that she is dealing with work in the middle of dinner.
AsIstep into the restaurant and the door closes behind me, the noise from the street immediately fades away.Theplace is nice.Darkwood, cream fabric.Fancy, yet cozy, with low golden lighting and a staff dressed likeGordonRamsayhimself inspected their appearance before they stepped foot on the restaurant floor.Totallythe kind of place to take your wife to for an anniversary dinner date when you’re also meeting with aClandestineServicesAgencyintelligence operative to pass along covert information about the shady dealings of some people you work for, all while keeping it a secret from your wife.
Itonly takes a quick glance to spot my asset,Carl, seated in a booth against the north wall.Iam the one who turned him, butIwould recognize my contact even if we’d never met based solely on the way his gaze darts around the room and his hands twist his cloth napkin.Itisn’t the first timeCarlandIhave met so he can pass me information.Iassumed that, by now, the man would stop looking likeI’vejust asked him to jump out of a plane with me at thirty thousand feet, but nope.
Earliertoday,Igot a whispered phone call fromCarlon the encrypted phoneI’dgiven him.Hesaid he’d gotten some information that was time-sensitive and wanted to meet tonight.Buthe also said that he wasn’t about to cancel his anniversary dinner with his wife and definitely wasn’t about to let her in on his extra-curricular spying.
Anasset can be motivated to gather intel for us because of at least one of four factors: money, ideology, coercion, or ego.ForCarl, it was money.Heworks with us and he doesn’t have to ever tell his wife about the money he unwisely pulled from their savings to invest in his friend’s startup treadmill shoes business. (“Youdon’t even have to leave your chair to get a workout!”)Buthe’s also motivated by ideology, andI’vesince learned that it’s also a tiny bit of ego, soImake sure to stroke that, too.
Itake a seat across from him in the booth— in the spot his wife just vacated.Theseat is still warm, but the mostly-finished lobster bisque in front of me is getting less so by the moment.Theentrees haven’t been served yet, so they aren’t in danger of getting cold, which was some pretty impressive timing on my handler’s part.I’msuddenly wondering if there are cameras in this place thatCharlietapped into so she could timeGianna’scall perfectly.It’ssomething thatCharliewould think of.
Theway to be an effective field operative is to always be in control of the situation and to never let external factors dictate how the mission is going to go.Whetherthose other factors are an asset, a target, a bystander, the weather, anything— stay in control.It’swhyIgo fully prepared into every situation.
“Giannasays you’ve got at least four minutes,”Charlie’svoice says in my ear, “but she can push it to eight if you need it.”
“Hello,Carl,”Isay, making my voice come out calm, confident, and un-rushed.
Carl’seyes dart to the door, then to the couple behind me, then over his shoulder.
“Carl,”Isay, “eyes on me.”
Theguy’s eyes finally meet mine, andItry to hold them on me by sheer force of will. “It’shard to appear nonchalant when you’re putting your napkin in a headlock.”
Carllets out a breath and his shoulders relax asI’mguessing he lets go of the napkin in his lap.Itry to help calm his frayed nerves even more by pulling a device from my pocket that looks like a regular cell phone and placing it on the table between us.
“Thisdevice will make it difficult for anyone outside of this booth to hear us.Noticehow loudlyI’mspeaking.Keepit under that, and you’ll be fine.Italso jams any transmissions from phones within a twenty-foot radius.Wearen’t being overheard.”Thedevice isn’t perfect, but it’s a good precaution.Nothingbeats observation by trained eyes.Andmy trained eyes are telling me that no one in here is paying particular attention to us, even surreptitiously.
Andno one nearby cares what we are saying.Theolder couple in the booth behind me are currently debating whether there are any plot holes in the true crime documentary they’ve been binging.Thecouple in the booth on the other side ofCarlare discussing what’s behind their first grader’s distractibility at school. (Theprevailing argument is that it’s the kid’s candy addiction and possibly red dye issues, in conjunction with the fact that his after-school snack of choice is handfuls ofSweedishFishfrom aCostco-sized bag.)
Thetable to my right and diagonally behind me currently has no one sitting at it and hasn’t been bussed.Andthe table to my right and diagonally in front of me has a couple on a first date, based on the body language they both had as the woman took a selfie of the two of them and the introductory-type things they’re talking about.Well, mostly the guy is talking, non-stop, trying hard to make his voice smooth and confident, while also trying to make his job as a security guard sound impressive.
Noneof them have given us a second glance.
“Iknow you don’t want your wife involved in any of this.Don’tworry— she’s on the phone with one of our best intelligence operatives,Gianna, who is pretending to be someone with a work issue at your wife’s company.Gianna’sgood at keeping people on the line for as long as needed, andI’llget a head’s up when their conversation is coming to an end.”
Carlnods.Hiseyes stay on the door for a moment, but the muscle at the side of his neck seems to stop pulsing like it belongs at a night club.Heturns his focus back to me. “Wehad a company meeting today.Everyonewas supposed to attend, soIstayed behind to see ifIcould find any lose papers or something inHendrickson’soffice.ButwhenIgot close,Iheard voices.”
Theguy glances around again.Iwant to nudge him to hurry but as twitchy as he is,Idecide calm patience is whatImost want to exude.
“Ididn’t catch everything, because they were already talking beforeIgot there, butIgot the important parts.They’repassing off the ‘key’ to their buyer tomorrow morning at eleven-thirty.”
“Andyou’re sure this ‘key’ has to do with theEradicationproject?”
